Outback Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 1)

by Stoker, Susan

  The women went through challenges and won “prizes” such as small group dates with Al and even a visit to a hot spring to soak in the soothing waters. There were four more women who’d been “voted off”—Candi, Nikki, Brandi, and Jennie. The women came back to camp after Jennie left to find that one of the bunkhouses had disappeared and they’d all be staying in one. That was a tough adjustment for most of the women because they’d gotten used to the space and only having four or five of them in each bunkhouse.

  Sam was surprised she was still around. For the most part she avoided Kathi, Courtnee, and Missy. They certainly weren’t friends, but at least they weren’t enemies either. Apparently the last run-in with Kathi and the threats that hung in the air between them was enough to chill Kathi out. Sam hung out mostly with Amy and Lori. They didn’t have much in common, but when a person is put in a situation where there isn’t much to do, comradeship is forced.

  The women who were left were Ashley from Toledo, Cindee from Albany, Lori from Colorado Springs, Kiki from Miami, Courtnee from Pensacola, Missy from LA, Amy from El Paso, Kathi from Knoxville, and Sammi. It was an interesting mix of women. There were definitely cliques that had formed. Kathi, Courtnee, Missy, and Kiki had banded together. They acted like they were the “popular” girls in high school. They sat together, got ready in the mornings together, and probably most importantly, they helped each other in the challenges. That wasn’t exactly illegal, but it reminded Sam of the Alliances that were formed in the game of Survivor.

  Today was a big day because the prize for being in the top three of today’s challenge was a one-on-one date with Al. So far in the show there hadn’t been any of those types of dates. They’d all either been the entire group together or four or five of them at a time. They were all hoping to win one of the personal one-on-one dates, but Sam knew the “clique” would do everything in their power to win. Sam hoped, however, that since there were four of them and only three slots for the individual dates, it would work against them and their so-called friendship might not be able to handle that type of competition.

  The nine women were told to wear their bathing suits and to be on the bus by nine in the morning. Obviously this was going to be a water competition. Sam was nervous, while she had a pretty healthy body image, there was no way she’d be able to compete with the other women. She was heavier than them, and she knew if she had to stand next to them while they were all wearing their skimpy swimsuits that she’d definitely be at a disadvantage.

  The bus pulled out at precisely nine in the morning. The bus ride turned out to be one of the longest they’d been on to get to a challenge so far. Sam suspected it was because they had to drive quite a ways to get to a body of water. Finally they pulled up to the most beautiful lake Sam had ever seen. It was crystal clear and huge. The production staff had obviously gotten there earlier because they had all the cameras set up and there was what looked like an obstacle course set up in the water. Sam smiled to herself. If this was a water swimming challenge, she was set.

  They piled out of the bus and went to stand in front of Robert, who of course, looked immaculate. Courtnee and Missy had already taken off their tops and were wearing shorts and a bikini top. Al looked gorgeous as usual. He was wearing his usual blue jeans, but had substituted his button up shirt for a white T-shirt.

  Sam tried to covertly look at Al. Over the last week she’d gotten to know him a little better. She hadn’t had any time alone with him, but she honestly thought they were clicking. Of course, every time she thought it, she’d then see one of the other women plastered all over him. She gave herself a mental smack in the head. Sam thought they were clicking…but that was what he was supposed to do with every contestant. They were all supposed to feel like they were the “one” for him.

  Sam, Beth, and Christina had a long conversation about this very thing before she left for the Outback. Every time they’d watched a reality show, they’d laughed at how emotional the women were and wondered how in the world anyone could say they were in love with someone who their whole relationship with was in front of a camera and therefore probably fake. But she got it now. It was a very intense atmosphere. There were no other distractions. The only focus was on the other person. It made for an intimate setting, manufactured, but intimate nonetheless. Sam was brought out of her musings when she heard Robert start talking.

  “Welcome, ladies!” Robert boomed once everyone was in place and the cameras were rolling. “Today, you’ll be competing against each other for a one-on-one date with Al. The three women who finish the course the fastest will each get to spend half a day with Al on a date of his choice. Here are the rules. Each of you will be going through the course individually. You’ll enter the lake here, swim to the first buoy...attached to the buoy at the end of a rope is a small weight. You’ll need to swim down to the end of the rope and untie the weight and let it fall. Then you are to swim to the next buoy and untie the weight at the end of the rope that’s hanging from that rope. You will continue around the buoys until you have untied all the weights. The weight on each rope gets heavier and heavier as well as deeper and deeper as you swim around. You will then swim back to the starting point and once you cross the finish line your time will stop. The three women who either finish the course the fastest or go the furthest in the shortest amount of time will win the one-on-one dates with Al. Are there any questions?”

  The contestants were given time to examine the course from the shore. On TV it always seemed as if the people just went right onto the game, but in reality that wasn’t the case. There was an obnoxious amount of time spent on safety talks and explaining over and over how it was done. One of the producers even demonstrated the entire course so they would understand what they needed to do and wouldn’t screw it up once they were on camera. It was exhausting and exasperating. Sam just wanted to get started already.

  Once they were ready to start, Cindee asked what order they’d be competing in and Robert told her that Al would be pulling their names out of a hat to see the order they would go in. Sam almost laughed out loud. This competition had her name written all over it. She knew she could easily beat most, if not all, of the women. She hadn’t been on her state champion winning water polo for nothing! Al pulled the names out of the hat and as luck would have it, Sam’s name was chosen eighth. Kathi’s was chosen to go last.

  Sam felt way too giddy about being able to spend some time with Al alone. She again tried to warn herself that what she was feeling toward Al was manufactured and in no way could be real, but she couldn’t help herself. Al was hot, and she had a major crush on him. Every time she felt his eyes on her she daydreamed that maybe, just maybe, he was feeling the same way about her.

  First up was Courtnee. Since she already had her top off, she slowly shimmied out of her shorts, leaving her standing in nothing but a skimpy black bikini. Sam groaned softly. It didn’t look like there was an ounce of fat on her. Her legs were long and lean, her boobs big, but not too big. Basically, she was perfect. The camera operators were getting close up shots of her body as she sauntered to the starting line. Hell, even her ass didn’t jiggle! Al was standing by the lake to wish each of them good luck before they started. Sam and the other women couldn’t hear what was being said, but by Courtnee’s body language, they could tell that whatever he was saying to her was quite intimate.

  The producers put up a set of bleachers for the women to sit on while they were waiting their turns. They watched as Courtnee went into the water and started paddling toward the first buoy. The distances weren’t that far, maybe fifty yards, but it looked like Courtnee was struggling before she even got to the first buoy. She was doing a kind of dogpaddle mixed with breaststroke. Finally she made it and grasped the floating buoy as if it was a lifeline. Slowly, she started to haul the rope up to the buoy.

  Sheesh. Sam thought to herself. She’d go a lot faster if she’d just swim down to the weight rather than pull it up to her! The women and the cameras on the bank watched
as Courtnee slowly went from buoy to buoy. They could see that as Courtnee got to the buoys further on in the course, it got harder and harder to pull them up to the surface because the weights got heavier and heavier. Finally, after resting a few minutes on one of the last buoys, Courtnee motioned that she was done and wasn’t going to attempt to finish the course.

  “Five buoys in 23:34,” Robert announced. That was the time to beat.

  Again, this was another non glamorous part of a reality show. The course had to be reset after each woman went through. That meant that one of the production team had to swim out to each buoy, dive down to get the weight and reattach it. It seemed to take forever to reset. This challenge was going to last all day.

  Time passed as each of the other women took their turn in the lake. Some used the same technique as Courtnee, trying to pull the weights up to the buoy, while others tried to swim down to the weight and let it free. The top times with two women left to go were Ashley finishing the course in 26:12 minutes, Kiki finishing the course with a time of 26:30 and Missy making it through six of the seven buoys and weights in 25:42. Finally, it was Sam’s turn.

  Sam slowly walked down to the bank where Al was waiting. She’d dreaded this part most of all. Al had gotten a good look at the other women, who were mostly all wearing string bikinis of some sort. Lori was the only other woman who’d been wearing a one piece suit. Sam took off her shorts and then whipped off her T-shirt. It was better to treat this like a Band-Aid, get it over with quickly rather than slow and painfully. She stood before Al in her one piece black suit. It was one of her practice suits. Back home, she tried to get to the pool at least once a week, and this was her most comfortable suit. It was cut high in the legs, but had a keyhole back. She and Al stood there, looking at each other for a few seconds before Al broke the silence.

  “You ready?” he asked with a smile. “Do you think you can beat those times?” He sounded hopeful and was looking at her with a pleading look.

  Sam knew she could, but the question was did she really want to? She knew beating Missy probably wasn’t the smartest thing she could do, it wouldn’t help the others like her, but at the same time, Sam was a competitive person and she knew she wouldn’t be able to not compete and try to win. Besides, she’d really have to make herself look like she couldn’t swim in order to pull it off. She tried to ignore the little voice in her head telling her that the real reason she wasn’t willing to throw the competition was Al himself. She wanted the one-on-one time with him. For once in her life she was going to be selfish. Even if whatever was between her and Al didn’t work out in the real world, she’d take this gift that was given to her and enjoy it while she could.

  Realizing Al was waiting for her response, she said cheekily, “I know it, Al, just start thinking about where you want to go on our date!” With that she winked at him and ran toward the water.

  Alex laughed and stared after her. Her one piece was definitely more modest than the suits the other women were wearing, but it was no less sexy. In some ways it was sexier. Al watched as the material clung to Sammi’s body as she ran. She filled out her suit and then some, and it was sexy as hell. Al had thought her ass was perfect in a pair of soaking wet jeans…well, it was nothing compared to her ass in the black suit as she ran toward the water. She was muscular, but he’d noticed that she still had a small bump on her stomach. Somehow that imperfection was real. She was real. She wasn’t perfect, but her imperfections made her seem more real. The other women were so model perfect they were almost untouchable. Alex knew if he touched Sammi she’d feel like a real woman. He was also surprised at her show of almost defiance and playfulness. This was a side he hadn’t really seen before and he was eager to see more of it. He hoped she could back up her cockiness with action. He wanted her to be in the top three. He wanted the one-on-one time with Sammi.

  This was one of the hardest challenges Eddie and the other producers had set up so far. They figured for the first one-on-one dates they wanted to make the women work a bit harder. Alex and the other women watched as Sam gracefully made her way to the first buoy. She disappeared and Alex was surprised to see her head pop up about a third of the way to the next buoy.

  “Not fair!” Missy cried. “Did she even release the weight?”

  While Sam was swimming to the next buoy, the producer reassured the women there were cameras attached to the weights and she’d definitely released it. They all watched as Sam glided through the water toward the other buoys. She made it look effortless. She swam a graceful freestyle stroke. It was obvious to all of the spectators that Sam was comfortable in the water and had possibly swum competitively. Finally, she reached the bank and walked up to the finish line. She’d completed the course in fifteen minutes and four seconds. Sam quickly wrapped a towel around herself and smiled at Al as if to say “told ya so.” Alex smiled hugely in return. She’d done it, it felt good to win.

  Kathi was the last woman to have her shot at winning the one-on-one date with Al. She’d watched Sammi swimming through the course with growing anger. It wasn’t fair that she would get one of the coveted spots. There was no way Al would choose her in the long run. She was short and dumpy. Kathi recalled their conversation in the tent a week or so ago and knew this was her chance. She knew she wasn’t going to complete the stupid course. She wasn’t that fast or strong of a swimmer. Her idea of “swimming” was to hang out in a hot tub for half an hour. She could hold her breath for a long time, however, but she couldn’t swim through the water that quickly. She thought fast and came up with a plan. If what Sammi said was true, she’d come out the true winner in this challenge.

  Kathi peeled off her clothes and sauntered toward the starting line and Al. She put an extra swing in her step and swayed her butt with her walk. She knew she looked good in her slightly too small red bikini. She put on her best “come hither” smile and walked up to Alex, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. Alex was surprised. Kathi had always been pretty aggressive, but this was different. She was licking along the seam of his lips, seeking entry. There was no way Alex was going to kiss her in front of the other women. It wasn’t right, seeing how he hadn’t chosen his winner yet. He refused to open his mouth to Kathi’s questing and hopeful tongue and peeled Kathi off of his chest.

  “Are you ready?” he asked a bit peevishly.

  “I was born ready,” Kathi responded. She jogged off toward the water.

  They all watched as Kathi reached the first buoy. Like Courtnee, she pulled the rope up rather than swimming down to it. When Kathi reached the second buoy she swam down to the weight. It was quite some time before she resurfaced next to the buoy. She went down again. Obviously she wasn’t able to unhook the weight on the first try. Finally, she came up again and swam for the third buoy. She dove down again to untie the rope. Everyone waited for her to come up again. And they waited, and waited some more. Finally, when everyone started to get nervous, they saw Kathi’s head break the surface. It looked like she was having some difficulties, though. She bobbed up, then went under again. She came up again and then went under again.

  Sam started for the lake, but since Al was already there he was faster. He tore off his shirt and started swimming toward the place where they’d last seen Kathi. Everyone was holding their breaths. They saw Al dive down into the water and after what seemed like hours, but in reality was no more than a minute, they saw Al come up with Kathi in a classic lifesaving hold. He had a hold of her around her chest and was swimming the side stroke to shore. Sam could hear Kathi coughing, so she knew she was going to be okay. Coughing meant she was breathing. The adrenaline was flowing through Sam’s body and she finally had to sink to the ground. She’d been ready to go out there and find Kathi herself. She didn’t like her, but she wasn’t going to let her drown!

  Alex’s heart was beating double time as he swam back toward the shore. For a minute he didn’t think he was going to be able to find Kathi. He’d never been so scared. He was glad to hear that she w
as breathing, but he knew she was going to have to be looked at by a doctor. She’d been under the water for a long time. As Alex neared the shore, he turned Kathi around and held her in his arms. He carried her to shore. Kathi’s arms were around his neck and she was still coughing sporadically. He looked at Eddie who by now was also standing lakeside.

  “Get a car,” Alex said gruffly to Eddie.

  Alex gently put Kathi down on the ground near the lake. She curled to her side and continued to cough. Alex rubbed her back and told her to hang on, that they’d be getting her help soon. The other women stood back a bit and watched as Kathi coughed and tried to catch her breath.

  She turned toward Al and said hesitantly, “Will you stay with me?” Al nodded and grasped her hand in his.

  The producer finally came screaming up with the car, sand spewing everywhere as the car skidded to a halt near the duo. Alex carefully lifted Kathi in his arms again and started for the car that would take them to the hospital to have her checked out. Kathi snuggled into his arms and laid her head on his broad chest.

  If Sam hadn’t been looking right at Kathi she would’ve missed it. Since Sam was standing right next to Courtnee she saw Kathi subtly wink at Courtnee before closing her eyes and lying against Al again. Sam was confused for a second, she heard Kathi moan a bit and wrap her hand around the back of Al’s neck and run her fingers up into his hair. Sam glanced at Courtnee and saw she had a small smirk on her face.

  Sam suddenly realized what she’d just seen and was furious. Kathi was faking it! Sam recalled their conversation about a week ago and knew she’d inadvertently given Kathi the idea. Al was a protector. He’d do everything in his power to protect them, simply because they were women. It wouldn’t matter if he liked the woman or not, he’d do whatever he could to make sure they weren’t hurt, and if they were hurt, to nurture them. After all, that was what he’d done with her. Sam felt sick. She couldn’t believe Kathi would stoop so low. But it’d been effective. She was wrapped around Al and on her way to the hospital where he could lavish some more TLC on her. She had found a way to get her one-on-one date with him without having to win the competition.