Body Games (Games #5)(56)
Author: Jessica Clare

It was just that…I felt like I’d gotten so much more out of the experience than just money. I’d come out with a sense of who I was again.

And I’d gotten Jendan. Just thinking about him made me smile, and I scanned the stage looking for him. There, seated between Rusty and Kip, was my honey. He looked fine as hell, too. His tan (and his muscles) were nicely offset by the open-throated white dress shirt he’d worn.

I’d worn a white dress too, so we could be all matchy-matchy like dorks. Because that was how we rolled.

When I looked over at him, he winked at me. I blew him a quick kiss.

The crowd went nuts. Months of rampant internet speculation? Just confirmed. The Endurance Island fans were going to have a field day with that, but I didn’t care. Let them make gifs out of something besides my boobs bouncing in a challenge.

The roar of the crowd quieted when the lights flickered, and I sat at my designated seat next to Alys, who was glammed up and looked fabulous. We hugged quickly, and then sat and adjusted our clothes, waiting for the final vote to show up on the screens. The finale played while those of us on stage waited, and we watched along with the audience as Alys, Kissy and I fought through the last few days of the game.

As we waited, Alys nudged me. “Is that what I think it is on your hand?”

I beamed and showed her my engagement ring. A month after Jendan and I had more or less moved in together, we were engaged. Jendan liked to joke that he was never impulsive about anything except for me.

(He’d said it’d take him a week to tell me that he loved me. In reality, it took about two more days. Like I said, impulsive.)

“It’s huge,” she mouthed to me, and I beamed proudly. Okay, it was a huge ring. Jendan, it turned out, made a really good living as a stuntman. I felt a little guilty that he’d given it up to be with me, but he was excited about starting a martial arts school and turning over a new leaf. I guess being lit on fire for the camera got old, even to people as steady as Jendan.

“It’s time to reveal our final vote,” Chip said, interrupting our silent gossip. The crowd cheered again, and I felt an excited tingle in my stomach. As blasé as I tried to be about the whole thing, being here on the stage with all these people just emphasized how much I wanted to win.

The gigantic screen flashed and changed to the last night of the game. I watched the screen as it showed an up-close of the voting booth, the box of slates waiting. On screen, Rusty walked into the booth, scribbled something on his slate, then turned and held it up to show the cameras.

ANNABELLE, it read. Rusty began to whisper. “You were always real nice to my wife and you played hard, even when you played dirty. At least you had the balls to tell things how they were. I hope you win.”

The crowd roared their approval. I gave Alys a faint, awkward smile. We both knew the ‘no balls’ comment was for Alys, who’d skated through the game trying to be sweet and nice to everyone and in the end, couldn’t make a single decision on her own.

The camera flashed to Jendan’s vote next, and the crowd roared again. He confidently wrote down my name, flipped his slate and showed the camera, smiling the entire time. I could barely hear his words over the cheering. “Hey, Annabelle, no hard feelings. I know it’s just a game, and I’m really proud of how you’re playing. I hope we can have dinner when we both get off the island. Clothing optional.” He gave the camera that wink I was so familiar with, and then dropped his slate in the box.

My heart hammered with love and I looked over at Jendan, where he sat with the rest of the jurors. He winked at me again and gave me a thumbs up, and I knew it was to reassure me.

Was I that nervous? I mean, sure, a sweat had broken out on my forehead and I was trembling, but this was no big deal, right?

Kip’s vote was the next one. He thought for a moment, scribbled something, and then held up his slate. He said nothing, just flashed a peace sign.

His slate read ANNABELLE.

Holy shit. Even Kip had voted for me. My heart was pounding like a gong in my breast when the camera switched to Saul, who quickly wrote Alys’s name down. That was expected. No problem. I clasped my hands and pressed them to my mouth, waiting to see Emilio’s vote.

He wrote slowly, drawing little hearts and stars all over his slate, but when he finally turned it around, one word stood out boldly amongst the rest.

ANNABELLE.

“Annabelle,” Chip said, barely audible over the roar of the crowd. “That is four votes and enough to win. You are the champion of Endurance Island: Power Players.”

I sat there, stunned.

Alys grabbed my hand and dragged me to my feet, embracing me. “Congratulations,” she shouted in my ear over the roar of the crowd. I looked around, dazed. Everyone was on their feet, and Jendan rushed to my side, picking me up in his arms and swinging me around.

“You did it, baby,” he yelled in my ear even as I began to cry and confetti rained down on the stage. I could hear nothing but the roar of the crowd and Chip’s garbled voice in his microphone.

I’d won.

Holy shit, I’d beaten everyone and won Endurance Island.

Sometime later, when the crowd had calmed and we were all seated, Chip took turns interviewing everyone. There were lots of questions about myself and Jendan. Lots of commentary about the nudity. A short segment with Kip, who was outraged that I’d been ‘poisoning him’ with unboiled water. He’d found out when the show aired and was apparently pretty pissy that he’d had the shits for a month after the game.

He told Chip he would have changed his vote if he’d known.I simply smiled serenely. If he’d have gotten his own water or even asked about it (which Chip had also pointed out), it would have never been a problem.

“And I’d like to go back to Annabelle one last time before we close the show,” Chip said, turning to me. He waited for the cheers of the crowd to die down, and then flashed his megawatt smile in my direction. “Of all the returning players on the show, you wanted to return the least. According to my staff, you were extremely hard to convince to return. Is that correct?”

I nodded, a sheepish smile on my face. “I didn’t have the greatest time with my first outing, and I had a lot of people seeing how I was on TV and assuming that was who I am in real life. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and I didn’t want to play again and risk making things worse.”

“So what motivated you?”

“Money,” I said immediately. The crowd roared with laughter.