Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
“Hell yeah. Even without ice cubes, I’ll take it.” I reached for the bottle, but she moved her hand before I got to it.
“You can’t drink alcohol out here, Archer.” She rolled her eyes.
My single note of laugher was unamused. “I’m pretty sure I can, actually.”
Setting it outside of my reach, she said, “Alcohol is a diuretic.”
“Whatever that means.” I shrugged. “I’m not planning to chug the whole bottle at once, Lo.”
“Don’t call me that,” she said sharply.
I looked to the sky and then back at her.
“I’m adding you to the list of people who could use a couple of swigs from that bottle,” I said. “So far the list has me and you.”
“Well, neither of us will be drinking any of it. The last thing we need is something that will dehydrate us.”
I stood up, brushing sand from my shorts and legs. Lauren was already on my last fucking nerve.
“You do whatever you want, but you’re not stopping me from having a drink,” I said, crossing my arms. “You knew we were going to be partners, but I just got hit up with that news recently. And I’m single-handedly cutting and hauling wood, and building our shelter while you walk along the beach finding your Zen.”
She stood, too, her eyes wide and her lips parted. “My Zen? Are you out of your fucking mind? Like I could ever feel at peace in your presence.”
I threw my hands in the air. “Here we go. I’m the worst guy ever, just because I didn’t want to get married when I was eighteen.”
“Not because you didn’t want to get married, Archer.” Eyes narrowed and voice raised, Lauren was pissed. “You dumped me to chase women and money and fame, and you never looked back.”
Anger flared in my chest as I said, “You think you know it all, don’t you?”
“You broke my heart.” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “I know that.”
Seeing her so emotional got to me. I sighed heavily and said, “Losing you broke my heart, too, Lo.”
“Don’t call me that. And just stop with your bullshit.”
“I wanted you to come with me when I got drafted,” I reminded her. “You’re the one who chose not to.”
“Because I refuse to follow any man around like a groupie. I said we’d have to be engaged for me to uproot my whole life and go with you.”
I forced myself to count to ten before speaking again. I had to rein in this conversation. Lauren and I were sharing some deeply personal stuff in front of a rolling camera.
“This is exactly what the producers of this show want,” I said. “They paired us with our exes so they could film drama and arguments and broadcast it for entertainment.”
Lauren looked over at Nutter and then down at the ground.
“Let’s get this stuff back to camp,” she said, looking sheepish. “And then I need to go find the well, because we need to be drinking lots of water.”
“I’ll go with you,” I offered.
She put up a hand, refusing me. “You work on the shelter, and I’ll get the water.”
The argument about the whiskey was forgotten as she set it back in the wood chest, closed, and latched it. We each took a handle and carried it back to our camp in silence.
Lauren took the map and headed into the woods with both canteens. I replayed our breakup as I built the frame of our shelter.
I’d expected her to come with me when I made the move from Iowa to Minnesota. We’d been together for two years by then and were very much in love. Her ultimatum had caught me off guard.
She was hurt that I hadn’t wanted to get engaged? I shook my head as I used thick blades of foliage to lash branches together. I guess she’d never considered what it felt like to me. The woman I loved with my whole heart had told me I could either put a ring on it or she was done.
I’d been hurt too. Love wasn’t supposed to come with conditions.
I was the villain in Lauren’s story, though, and nothing I said would change that. Whether we made it a month or another couple days, our stay on this island was going to be really fucking long.
CHAPTER FOUR
Day Two—Sixteen teams remaining
Lauren
The sound of breaking waves was interrupted by pecking. It hit me all at once—I was on a remote island with Archer, and that sound was probably a bird. Our first night was in the books, and we’d survived.
I shifted and sat up, sand sticking to the side of my face that had been on the ground.
“Morning,” Archer said from the log he was sitting on near the fire he’d built yesterday.
I squinted against the bright sunlight, licking my dry lips and tasting grains of sand on my tongue.