Chapter Sixteen #2
Amy? Adrienne hadn’t even heard Amy. But Vivian was right.
Adrienne could see Amy swimming past her line of vision toward the beach.
Her hair was so matted against her head that it looked like she’d gone through a spin cycle.
Would Adrienne look like that too when this challenge was done with her?
The thought was terrifying, which was why she forced her eyes back to that lopsided wood knot in the pine and focused on it like it was her only lifeline.
Nobody spoke anymore. Then, out of nowhere, Vivian’s voice boomed. “DROP TWO!” The winches groaned, and the wooden slats went down another two inches.
Adrienne was just about to turn her head to see if everyone had survived the drop, but then suddenly a wave lapped over Adrienne’s chin, filling her ears.
Out of nowhere, saltwater rushed straight up her nose, her eyes flew open, and without meaning to, she swallowed a massive gulp of the Aegean Sea.
Everything burned. Her life flew in front of her eyes in a series of Instagram stories—the miserable morning her parents had dropped her off at the Institut Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland, her first pair of red-soled Christian Louboutin heels, crashing her brand-new matte-black G-Wagon into a manicured hedge in Beverly Hills, running down the Spanish Steps in Rome holding Dua Lipa’s hand, seeing Valerie in that hideous golf shirt aboard The Valentine—and before she knew it, her fingers slipped from the wet slats, and she was on the other side of the lane.
“ADRIENNE’S OUT OF THE CHALLENGE!” Vivian called before Adrienne even registered what had happened.
Shit!
But she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little bit relieved. Being out of that coffin had to be better than being in it. It was up to Valerie now. “You can do it, Val,” Adrienne called just as Niko popped up next to her, wiping hair out of her eyes. “For fuck’s sake,” she spat.
“NIKO’S OUT!” Vivian shouted. “WHICH MEANS NIKO AND AMY ARE IN THE BOTTOM TWO AT THE NEXT SENDING.”
By the time Adrienne made it back to the beach, the Downward Press had taken out Sienna as well.
Although more elegantly than anyone else.
She walked out of the water in a one-piece Hunza G like a Baywatch babe.
The only ones remaining were Valerie, Isla, and Tamera.
If any one of them were to succumb to the rising tide, they’d be on the chopping block alongside Niko and Amy.
Which was why Adrienne was literally biting her nails.
What felt like an hour had only been fifteen minutes, according to Vivian.
Adrienne had asked for the umpteenth time whether all three women had survived the third drop, and somehow, they had.
Then she spotted a swell rolling in from the deep blue.
“I hope you have gills, Val,” she muttered under her breath. “Oh, please have gills.”
Seconds later, her prayers were answered. Tamera’s head popped up behind the frame, gasping for air. Which meant...
“AND THAT’S IT!” Vivian called. “SIENNA AND TAMERA WILL JOIN NIKO AND AMY IN THE BOTTOM TWO AT THE NEXT SENDING!”
ADRIENNE WAS STILL shaking. She didn’t think she’d ever stop shaking.
The walk back from the challenge felt more tedious than usual, and she furiously smoothed her hands up and down her bare arms, trying to friction-burn some warmth back into her goosebump-covered skin.
It wasn’t so much that the air was cold.
In fact, it was deliciously warm. The goosebumps were from the near-death experience she’d had earlier.
As far as she knew, seeing your life flash in front of your eyes meant one was on the verge of death. Death. Adrienne Vale had nearly died.
She was just about to ask if anyone else had nearly lost their life today in that challenge, but then Sienna stopped abruptly in her tracks. “Did we go the wrong way?”
“What do you mean?” Niko asked. She was sulking at the back of the line, feeling terribly sorry for herself.
Adrienne would’ve acknowledged just how little sympathy she had for the hairdresser, but frankly, she was too bent out of shape after that challenge.
“Why? Can’t you see our camp? We should be close. ”
“I don’t know what I see,” Sienna replied. Then, in almost the same breath, she gasped so loudly that everyone’s heads snapped up in her direction. Adrienne was at her shoulder in seconds, and then she too gasped because how could she not?
Right in the center of camp, beside the fire pit, which had been cleaned up, production had laid down a massive jute rug topped with thick Moroccan Berber rugs.
Scattered across them was a sea of oversized linen floor cushions in a dreamy palette of washed primrose pink, sage, and pale terracotta, all bordered by plush ivory shearling poufs that were begging to be collapsed into.
But it was the low-slung bamboo tables flanking the rugs that caught Adrienne’s attention.
Atop the tables were crystal bowls of glistening purple Mission figs, clusters of grapes, and thin ribbons of prosciutto draped over what looked like rosemary-infused focaccia.
At one side of the table was a tiered tower of macarons, and on the other there was a silver ice bucket holding three sweating bottles of Veuve Clicquot Rosé.
“Did I die?” Adrienne asked, her eyes catching onto the canopy of warm, twinkling fairy lights that had been woven through the low branches of trees at the edge of camp. “Did I drown in that challenge? Am I in heaven?”
Valerie laughed. Her voice was a melody. “You’re as alive as the rest of us.”
But Adrienne had a hard time believing her.
The next minute, two production assistants in crisp white linen shirts stepped forward.
They carried neat, stacked bundles held together with white ribbons.
Adrienne held her breath. Were those slippers?
It appeared they were. The production assistants laid out cloud-white waffle-weave spa robes with a matching pair of faux fur slippers and a sealed packet of hydrating sheet masks for each of them on the jute rug.
“I think this is the best moment of my life,” Safiya said, already helping herself to a prosciutto-draped slice of focaccia. “It even beats my wedding.”
Niko headed straight for the silver ice bucket. “Didn’t you get divorced?”
Safiya laughed, and then everyone else did too. But not Valerie. She turned to face Adrienne and stuck out her hand. “Come. Forget the challenge and let’s enjoy ourselves,” she said.
Adrienne looked at Valerie’s hand for half a second before taking it. Valerie was right. They should enjoy themselves.