I rolled my eyes and turned to the others. Michael gave me a shy smile, and I returned it, wondering if he knew about the note Paige had somehow had delivered to my private dressing room, in which she informed me Michael had told her what Melvin meant and thanked me for not taking advantage of "Michael's momentary loss of reason". Um, you're welcome?
Jim high fived me. Greg did too, with his left hand, showing off the word 'love' tattooed on his wrist in a fancy script I'd seen before on another tattoo. I looked up at him, a grin spreading over my face. "Really?"
He nodded, clearly delighted, and I gave him a hug, then we all took our seats as I wondered why everyone else could get together but Kent and I couldn't.
After a few quick questions for my guys, Peter brought out Kent's remaining women. Lily took the seat opposite Greg's, Ashley took the seat beside her, and Summer...
Summer walked straight to Kent and stood in front of him. "Stand up."
He did, looking afraid.
As well he should have.
She slapped him hard across the face. "That's for being stupid," she said over the gasps of the crowd, and I gripped my skirt's hem in both hands to keep from attacking her. How dare she?
Before anyone could do more than gasp, she said, "And this is because you're the best man I've ever met," and kissed him on the mouth.
The audience cheered, but I didn't. While I'd hated seeing her slap him, watching them kiss was like hydrogen peroxide on the stump of an amputated leg, even though it wasn't remotely passionate. Just her pressing her lips against his. Like on their island.
The show had broadcast the whole thing. After the phone call contest, Kent had been defending his lack of knowledge about me for ages when he finally lost his temper and stormed from camp. Summer went after him, and he pulled her into his arms and began whispering in her ear. She'd listened, then drew back and kissed him. It lasted barely a second.
Certainly nothing like our kisses, and if that was the so-called 'snuggling', it looked more like people who'd realized that whispers into ears didn't get picked up by the cameras than like people in love.
The crowd cheered again, and I returned to the present at precisely the wrong moment, in time to see Kent draw Summer close and bury his face in her neck, his arms wrapped around her as I longed to have them around me.
*****
After a commercial break, during which Peter asked some audience-submitted questions, most of which involved the latrine or how bad we'd smelled, he said, "We've put together a highlights video. Be ready: I'll stop frequently for your comments. Enjoy."
Unlikely.
The lights dimmed and three huge screens lowered from the ceiling, one behind each court for the other court to watch and one behind Peter for the audience.
Our initial attempts to adjust to our new lives played, and like when I'd watched the episodes with Liv and Craig I was amazed at how different everything looked from how it had been. Polished and sanitized somehow, not as raw.
A hidden camera had caught Aaron's attempted seduction, but the lighting was so poor it could have been any two people on the path. Our voices, however, were crystal clear, and I couldn't help blushing as he suggested that we get together.
Before the on-screen me had a chance to reply, Peter paused the playback. "You don't waste any time, do you? End of the first full day on the island. Aaron, tell us the truth. Were you really interested, or going for game play?"
I knew he had been interested but I didn't think he'd admit it, so I wasn't surprised when he said, "Game play." The crowd booed, and he said, "Hold on, would you? At that point, I was after position in the game, no question. But as time wore on I ended up respecting how she handled things. We weren't always easy to live with, but she held it together really well." Shooting me a grin, he added, "Until she stopped eating and went mental."
Ignoring my mock glare, he said, "We wouldn't work out relationship-wise, Peter, but... I wish I felt different. She's quite something."
Touched, I put my arms around him, and he hugged me hard as the crowd cheered. "You're not so bad yourself," I said into his ear, and he said, "Don't you forget it, baby."
We released each other and settled back into our chairs. Peter started the playback again, and my reply to Aaron sounded calm and controlled, not at all how I remembered feeling. The recording's sound quality wasn't so great after all.
The crowd's delight when I slapped Phillip filled me with giggles I had to force down. I couldn't bring myself to look at Phillip, but I did end up smiling at Kent when his applause continued well after everyone else had stopped.
"Like that, do you, Prince?" Peter said.
"Hell of a thing to say," Kent said. "He deserved more than one slap."
"I did not." Phillip continued even through the booing. "She did sleep with us all, and--"
"So what?"
I'd known this would come up, so I'd rehearsed my response. My voice came out strong and clear, and it silenced Phillip, and the audience. "Over the sixteen years I've been dating, I've slept with twelve guys. Is that so shocking? How many women have you slept with?"
Phillip floundered for a moment before saying, "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."
A woman shouted over the crowd's boos, "How would you know?", and I had to laugh. Nice one, Liv.
"Excellent point. Would a gentleman have tried to embarrass me like that?"
"I didn't try, I--" Phillip shut his mouth.
"You did embarrass me, that's true. I don't embarrass quite so easily now, though. I don't regret my choices, and I know I didn't do anything wrong."
The crowd, and a few exes on both sides, clapped and cheered.
"Any further comment, Phillip?"
He didn't even acknowledge Peter's question.
"All right then." Peter smiled at me. "You say you don't embarrass any more?"
I returned his smile. "I said not as easily."
"We'll have to work harder."
I rolled my eyes, and he laughed and resumed the clips.
I turned to Kent, wanting to thank him for standing up for me, to find him watching me. When our eyes met, he flashed me a brief thumbs up sign then looked away. Taking the hint, I returned my attention to the screen.
The audience groaned in sympathy for my fall then sighed as Kent held me while the medic did his work. When the hydrogen peroxide hit my second knee and I clung to Kent's hand, my pain and his compassion touched me but I stayed focused, wanting to again hear him call me 'angel' as he talked me through the torment. I'd been stunned to hear that while watching the episode, had made Liv replay it endlessly. Would I ever hear it from him again?
Despite my emotions, the interpretive dance contest left me crying with laughter. The audience laughed too, and so did my exes, even Phillip, though he was probably laughing at the dancers not with them. In fact, the only person not laughing was Kent. His exes definitely were.
Peter paused the clip. "Ladies, you obviously weren't trying. Why?"
They looked back and forth, then Faith said, "He didn't try the day before."
"You mean when the Princess fell?"
"And he stopped to help her," Faith said.
"No, he didn't," I said.
"He slowed down, though," Kayla said, "and we might not have lost if he hadn't. Plus he was all over you after. We didn't like it."
I blushed.
"So you threw the contest," Peter said, "because he caught her before she fainted?"
His tone made it clear what he thought of this, and Kayla bristled. "Those stupid knowledge contests don't count anyhow."
Peter raised his eyebrows. "Oh, they count. In fact, they'll determine which Court wins the second part of the overall competition." As we sat frozen, no doubt all trying to remember the contest scores, he said, "But we'll get to that in a bit. Let's keep watching."
Summer kissing Aaron to steal the arm wrestling contest got tons of laughs and cheers. Aaron hid his face in mock embarrassment then called to Su
mmer, "I demand a rematch."
"Any time," she said, and shot him a smile so suggestive I was embarrassed being in its vicinity and Aaron was stunned to silence.
Unfortunately, not for long. He whooped with the crowd as on screen Kent and I moved into our first kiss. I looked down at my lap. I couldn't watch, couldn't relive how amazing it had been. I'd watched it with Liv and Craig, but then I'd still thought he would call. The second kiss got even more audience reaction, with people hooting like morons, but I kept my eyes down for it too, and for us jumping into bed together. To my surprise Peter didn't stop to discuss the kisses. I didn't look at him, afraid I'd somehow remind him.
I did look at Kent, though, when I realized what the next clip was showing. I'd been so touched by it at home and I wanted to see his reaction. He had to have felt me staring, but he kept his eyes on the screen and his face neutral as he watched himself speaking directly to a camera at his camp, asking the producers to let me call my father. "Her brother and mother died when she was only six. If you can let her make that phone call, even if it's not today, I know it'd mean the world to her."
The audience said, "Aw," and Kent at last turned to meet my gaze.
"Thank you," I mouthed. He blinked twice and looked away again.
And then the final contest. The producers skipped straight to the end, and I watched, nervousness filling me even though I knew the outcome, as Kent stepped down from his post and walked toward me. My heart twisted at his words and the look on his face. That was love in his eyes, I'd bet the million dollars on it. So what happened?
As the lights came up, Peter said, "Well, that was fun. So, anyone want to know who won the knowledge contests?"
All the oxygen seemed to disappear from my lungs in an instant and my heart raced.
"Now, several contests awarded points and no prizes. These collectively were what we called the knowledge contests. You were confused why you could tie," he said, turning to me, "but it didn't matter if overall you didn't tie. Which you did not."
Knowing I could be a whole lot richer in moments made my stomach flip.
Peter went through the contests. "The Princess won the etiquette lunch by two points, but lost the island knowledge contest by four."
Putting Kent two ahead.
"The Prince lost the interpretive dance contest by three, and dating knowledge was a tie."
He paused, milking the moment, and I remembered the score of the final contest and kept my face calm with an effort, forcing myself not to grin.
"The Prince's Court won the final one, testing their knowledge of their own Court..."
Another long pause, during which I struggled to restrain myself, before he finally said, "By three points, meaning overall they won by two."
My guys groaned, and I buried my face in Aaron's shoulder to hide the happiness I couldn't hold back any longer. Kent was still in, and I still had a chance to beat him for real.
Kent's exes clapped and cheered, but when I pulled away from Aaron I saw Kent barely responding to Summer's delight. He looked worried, which didn't make sense. Unless he wanted me to win the money and was afraid I wouldn't?
Peter said, "I guess the only kind thing to do now would be to go straight to the final piece of the contest and find out who wins the million dollars."
My mouth went dry.
With an evil grin, he said, "So let's take a commercial break and we'll be right back."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
"And we're back. Now, our online forum members all want to know what the Prince thought I was going to say about his night with the Princess, what made him quit the final contest. So," Peter said, turning to Kent, "what did you think?"
"It had nothing to do with that. I was tired and I had to quit."
"Right then?"
Kent gave a curt nod.
Peter glanced at me then said to Kent, "Then you don't mind discussing that night?"
"Of course not." The casual tone nearly worked. But not quite.
Obviously picking up on it, Peter said, "Great. What did you think I was going to say?"
Kent crossed then uncrossed his legs. "If I'd thought about it, I would have assumed you'd ask questions about us having kissed, and they didn't need to know the details."
"So you quit so they--"
"I quit because I was exhausted. I didn't want them to hear about that right then, no, but I left the game because I had to."
They locked eyes, and I watched, bewildered. Peter clearly didn't believe Kent, and I wasn't sure I did either but the other explanation didn't make sense. Kent must have known the show would air our kisses. Not a chance they'd have kept that to themselves. Besides, our exes had already known we'd kissed. If he did quit to hide the details, all he accomplished was sparing me momentary embarrassment.
A shiver ran down my spine. Momentary, but he'd still spared me it. And thought he was losing himself a million dollars in the process. Had he really quit to avoid us being teased? Surely not.
"You had to," Peter repeated. "Had to because you were tired, as you say, or to stop me bringing up something else?"
I frowned, and Peter said to me, "You don't know what I mean, do you?"
I shook my head.
"We didn't think you did." Back to Kent. "But we know you do. And it's time for everyone to know what happened that night."
The crowd cheered, the lights dimmed, and Kent covered his microphone with his hand and leaned toward Peter. "I'm begging you, don't."
Peter's face tightened and he looked away. I sat still, hopelessly confused by Peter's obvious discomfort and Kent's pleading, then turned to the screen as a clip began.
Kent and I lay in that big white bed, locked in each other's arms.
I stared, hardly hearing the crowd's glee. My head rested on Kent's shoulder and my arm across his chest, and his arms were wrapped around me, like we'd always slept when we were together. The night vision camera gave us an eerie green glow, and the resemblance to a sordid sex tape horrified me. That camera must have been in the bed's canopy, and a shudder swept me at the violation: what if we had done more than sleep?
On-screen-Kent's eyes opened slightly and he began trying to disengage himself from me. Without opening my eyes, I muttered in protest and burrowed into him. He tried again, then relaxed and pulled me even closer.
"Do you remember that, Prince?"
"I don't remember anything."
"You were awake, though. How could you not?"
"I wasn't. I don't remember anything."
The broken record technique and apparent lack of emotion didn't seem to be convincing Peter, but he did stop asking the question. Unfortunately, he turned to me instead. "Do you know how you ended up together in the first place?"
I shook my head, too stunned to talk, and Kent claimed not to know either.
Another clip rolled, showing us asleep, beside each other but not touching. Then there was a loud crash off-screen.
"Someone knocked over your dinner dishes," Peter said.
On screen, Kent and I both startled and sat up partway.
"What was that?" I muttered.
"Nothing." Kent looked around with bleary eyes. "We're okay."
He lowered himself back onto the bed, but I stayed upright for a second more, hardly able to hold my eyes open, before settling down again.
With my head on Kent's shoulder.
After a moment his arms went around me, and I snuggled in closer, sliding my arm across his chest, and gave a contented sigh. The screen froze on the image.
"Did you know about this, Princess?"
"I..." My voice didn't come out right, so I gave a cough and tried again. "No, I didn't. I don't remember that." But I did remember waking up feeling relaxed and so calm. Was that from being in Kent's arms?
"It was apparently your idea," he said, and the crowd cheered. "Any comment?"
I looked at myself entwined with Kent, and shook my head. "I didn't know."
"True, but you know now."
I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. We looked so comfortable, so together. I'd remember that picture forever. I knew the person I'd been before would have been horrified by what she'd done, but I wasn't that person any more. I wouldn't end up with Kent, but I'd have that moment to hold on to, that one sweet moment. Unless Peter ruined it.
He took a breath to speak again, but I cut him off. "You want to know what I think? I don't understand why you're making such a big deal."
Taken aback, Peter started to talk but I didn't let him. "You showed exactly how it happened. And it's not like we--" I swallowed hard and changed direction, not wanting to bring sex into it. "I don't feel bad at all. I was asleep. Not responsible for my actions. If anything, you should feel bad for showing it and hoping it would embarrass me."
The audience applauded, Peter's eyebrows skyrocketed, and I let my eyes drift to Kent. He was staring at me like he'd never seen me before.
"Well," Peter said, "that's not the reaction I expected. We have a clip of you going beet red for asking where the latrine was. You've changed, haven't you?"
"Life's short. Too short to lose out on things by being--" Two thoughts slammed into me at once. I'd lost Kent the first time over embarrassment about something that wasn't a big deal, and he'd have known how much snuggling up to him in my sleep would have embarrassed me. The old me. "--self-conscious," I finished, trying to seem like I'd been searching for the right word and not like my mind was spinning.
"Good point," Peter said. "And a great lesson to have learned on the show." Turning to Kent, he said, "You can understand why we were suspicious of the timing. But since you don't remember anything, and the Princess isn't upset, perhaps we were wrong."
He obviously didn't believe his own words. Kent said, "Yes, you were wrong. And even if I did remember, I wouldn't have quit for that. She's right, it was no big deal."
His last sentence sounded desperate, and Peter leaned forward, looking like a lion moving in for the kill. "When you had that first lunch alone with the Princess, she told you what she thought was the worst part of the show. Do you remember what she said?"
Kent drew back in his chair, retreating from Peter. What had I said? I struggled to recall, but the clip started before I could. On-screen, I said, "I hate being on camera overnight. I'm such a sound sleeper, I'm afraid I'll do something weird in my sleep and humiliate myself."
Seven Exes Are Eight Too Many Page 24
