Chapter Eight
Tamsyn knew the rewards after the challenges usually involved contestants engorging themselves with ridiculous amounts of delicious food.
She’d seen it on television plenty of times.
The groaning, the promises to stop after one bite and then not stopping, the inevitable stomachaches that came from indulging in rich, salty, buttery things after surviving on bland rice and beans for days.
But experiencing it in real life was a whole other level.
“This was so worth getting nailed by that rope swing,” Tamsyn said, barely even feeling the sting of a small scrape along her palm.
Not only was the food a welcome numbing agent, but the fact that she and Isla were going to give the whole friendship thing a bash helped too.
Tamsyn was more than prepared to put their past behind them for the sake of the game, and the obvious choice was to be friends.
Just friends. Not two people who had once hooked up.
Not two people who had spent the first day out here playing a particularly vicious game of silent treatment.
Just friends.
“I thought my shoulders were going to pop out of their sockets,” Petra added, swinging her arms as they walked toward a long wooden table stretched out beneath two towering red gums where platters and platters of food lay waiting. The reward was a delectable feast overlooking the ranges at sunset.
Tamsyn couldn’t be more ecstatic.
By the time she climbed over the bench and settled into a sun-bleached teal cushion, her mouth was watering.
The smell alone was enough to make her dizzy.
Slow-roasted lamb rested on a carving board, with juices pooling beneath it.
There were thick wedges of damper bread wrapped in cloth, a bowl of whipped butter melting at the edges, and a jar of tomato chutney.
Plates of grilled halloumi sat beside roasted pumpkin and charred corn, and Aggie, who was the only one still standing, was opening a bottle of unlabeled white wine.
“This. Is. Amazing,” Josie said, tying back her short brown bob into the smallest ponytail Tamsyn had ever seen.
“Should we dig right in? Or is there some kind of protocol?” She glanced back at the camera crew who were, as always, trying to look inconspicuous.
The first day at camp had felt awkward with them following everyone around, but now Tamsyn barely noticed them.
Petra reached for a cube of grilled halloumi. “Why not?”
“How about we toast first?” Aggie asked, reaching for a wineglass. She poured a generous amount of sparkling wine into the glass and had to open another bottle to fill up all six. Then she proceeded to hand them out with a ceremonial slowness that made Tamsyn’s eyes twitch.
All Tamsyn wanted was to dig in. Her fingers were itching under the table.
She had to keep them on her lap. Isla did too, it seemed.
Tamsyn glimpsed her across the table, staring so intently at the slow-roasted lamb that she seemed to have forgotten how to blink.
Tamsyn tried to catch her eye, but nothing.
She was locked in. Tamsyn couldn’t blame her.
She’d never expected to feel this hungry after only two days out here.
That egg-mayo bagel she had eaten felt like a lifetime ago.
“I agree,” Aggie said, flicking a thick strand of blue hair out of her eye. “A toast. To the six of us who hung off big, scary ropes and nearly dislocated shoulders and still managed to look hot doing it.” She looked at Petra, who nodded solemnly.
They all clinked their glasses. And then it was chaos.
Tamsyn didn’t even pretend to pace herself.
She tore off a thick piece of damper and used it to mop up the lamb juices pooling on the carving board before finally cutting herself a slice of meat.
She layered on a tomato chutney and then took a bite so big she had to put her hand in front of her mouth.
“The last time I played, I only got my first reward ten days in. Can you imagine eating only rice and beans for ten days?” Petra said between mouthfuls of pumpkin.
Tamsyn couldn’t. And more so, she hoped she never would.
Petra flicked a few strands of her long, dark hair out of her face.
Usually, she kept it back in a braid, but now it was hanging like a black curtain over her shoulders.
“I made the mistake of absolutely demolishing two plates of Pad Thai. Less than an hour later, I was puking my guts out behind the banana trees.”
“I remember that,” Aggie said, laughing.
She had a deep belly laugh that rumbled across the table and shook the wine in her glass.
Tamsyn couldn’t help it. She laughed with her.
The others did too. “You didn’t even make it to the banana tree.
I also remember watching a rerun of that episode with my wife, Kath, and all she said was, ‘I saw that coming. We all did.’”
Petra winced through a smile and then pointed her fork at Aggie. “What’s the moral of the story?” She waited for Aggie to reply while she wagged the fork.
Aggie laughed again, then said, “Pace yourself, people.”
Not that anyone slowed down. On the contrary, Tamsyn deposited a handful of grilled halloumi on her plate together with two scoops of charred corn before she swallowed back half her glass of wine.
She wouldn’t finish the wine, not yet. Not until she’d properly lined her stomach.
So, she broke off another piece of damper and layered it with halloumi and corn before turning to Isla, who had just caught her eye over the rim of her wineglass.
“What about your first reward?” Tamsyn asked. “Did you eat too much?”
Isla set her glass down and shook her head.
“We had massages after lunch. I was more excited to get the stiffness out of my back from sleeping on bamboo poles than the lamb burgers.” Then she paused and frowned as if a memory had swooped right past her like a bird.
“You know, thinking back on it now, I might’ve seen Sabine and Talia making out at the rock pool,” she said slowly.
“Really?” Tamsyn asked, immediately leaning forward. Season One was ages ago, but even to this day, Pat and Gloria from Outlast Her Unpacked brought up Sabine and Talia’s sneaky behind-the-scenes relationship. Four seasons later, they were still the only contestants to ever leave the game together.
“Yes,” Isla said, smiling. “I remember looking up and seeing something. But then the massage therapist pressed into a brutal knot in my shoulder and I kind of lost track of reality. Later, when I remembered what I’d seen, I just thought I had imagined it.”
“I would’ve loved to be at that Sending,” Tamsyn said. She’d watched that episode with her jaw on the floor. “Even Vivian looked completely stunned.”
Isla laughed. “It was definitely something.” Then she reached toward the bowl of butter at the same time Tamsyn did.
Their fingers brushed. Tamsyn didn’t pull away immediately.
She was more than just surprised when Isla didn’t either.
The moment stretched just long enough for Petra to eye their fingers and for both of them to notice her looking.
Then Isla snapped her hand back, and Tamsyn did too.
The moment was gone.
Petra sighed, “I’m just going to say it.”
Just like that, the air took on a thick, almost dense quality. Tamsyn could practically taste it, and frankly, it tasted stale.
“Ever since we got here, the two of you have been acting weird.” Petra pointed to Tamsyn with her fork, then to Isla.
“What?” Tamsyn said, though her voice was wobbling, and only liars had wobbly voices. “We’re not acting weird.”
“You are,” Petra insisted. “Yesterday you two spent the entire day ignoring each other, and today you’re laughing and smiling.
I have eyes; it was obvious. I tried asking Isla about it, but the ice princess over there didn’t let anything slip.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that you two have fucked each other at some point before this game. ”
There was a gasp. Then Tamsyn realized she was the one who had gasped. Surely they weren’t being that obvious.
Petra continued, “Now, I’d like to propose an alliance with the two of you, which I can’t do unless we get some truths in the air. Honesty is my policy,” she said, looking every bit as serious as a judge. “And I’m sure Aggie can agree with that.”
Aggie nodded once. “I can.”
Petra folded her arms across her chest. She was wearing a sports bra that pushed her breasts forward.
Twice Tamsyn had found her gaze skirting Petra’s chest, which she’d quickly diverted because it wasn’t that she wanted to look, more that she couldn’t help it.
Not that Petra seemed to mind. Or even notice.
“So, what’s going on between the two of you?
” she said, tilting her head to the side.
Tamsyn wasn’t sure where to begin. Or whether she should tell the truth at all.
How did one admit—on national television, no less—that they’d fucked someone in some fancy Upper East Side penthouse, said goodbye assuming they’d never see them again, and then run into them on a survival show, only for that person to act like they didn’t know the person at all.
Then there was the part where they had agreed to a truce, a clean slate, and a chance to be friends.
Honestly, it was all just a complicated spiderweb.
But before she could say a word, Isla spoke up. “We did hook up,” Isla said, looking down at her empty plate. “It was six months ago and a one-time thing. A mistake, frankly.”
“A mistake?” Tamsyn blurted. Seriously? She wasn’t sure why she was so surprised. Maybe because they were friends now, and she hadn’t expected Isla to admit something like that. Or maybe because deep down, Tamsyn had never thought of that night as a mistake at all.
“Yes,” Isla said plainly.
“I’m sensing some tension,” Nadine chimed in, clearly trying to act as the buffer. But Tamsyn didn’t need a buffer; she needed honesty, the deep-in-the-soul kind of honesty, because surely Isla didn’t actually believe it was a mistake.
“There’s no tension,” Isla snapped, then she flicked her gaze to Tamsyn. “There’s no tension,” she repeated, softer this time. “I’ve apologized for lying. We’re friends now and—”
“What lie?” Petra interrupted.
Isla didn’t hesitate. “I pretended I didn’t know Tamsyn when I saw her for the first time at the start of the game.” She exhaled as a weight fell off her shoulders. “But we’ve sorted it out. We’re good. That’s all you have to know.”
Petra smiled. “Now everything makes sense.” She cocked her head to the side, and her smile turned into a full-blown grin. “Thank you for telling us. And in exchange for your honesty, I’d like to propose we work together. I think we should form an alliance.”
Tamsyn was still in shock, but the word alliance ripped through her like a spark in a dry patch of spinifex. This was exactly what she had been hoping for. “I’m listening,” she said.