Body Games (A Games Novel) (28 page)

And here we were, back at the live finale, ready to see who’d won the money.

I almost didn’t care. I’d come on the show to change my reputation, and to knock Kip down a peg. I’d done both, had come away a TV hero, and I’d gotten the guy. Of course, if I won the million dollars, I’d happily take it. I wasn’t stupid. I was a broke college girl – or I would be, once the semester started. I needed the money as much as the next person. The participation money had been a nice fifty grand, but most of it had gone to catch up my student loans. I’d take the prize money for sure.

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.

Chip smiled. “Nothing else?”

I bit my lip, then looked at Jendan, seated a few rows behind me. “Actually, it wasn’t just the money, if I think about it. After the last game, I think I lost the sense of who I was. I got wrapped up in what I thought was reality, when none of it was real in the slightest. And seeing it played back on TV made me ashamed of who I thought I was. So more than the money, I think I wanted to find myself again. I wanted to play how I should have played the first time. I wanted to make a game plan, and stick with it.”

“Well, you did,” Chip agreed. “On day one, you had a plan – get rid of Kip, and win the money. And you did both. Any regrets, looking back?”

I thought about it. I thought about the first game, when I’d been so naively stupid to chase after a guy that was using me. I thought about how much it had hurt to see myself on TV and realize that I didn’t like what I saw.

And I thought about
Endurance Island:
Power Players. I thought about Jendan, and how I’d constantly wondered if I was making the right choices in holding him at arm’s length. How I’d played fast, hard, and dirty…and still won the money. How I’d been able to watch every episode and say to myself,
yes, that’s the real Annabelle. That’s her, with the sunburn on her girl parts, sand between her toes, eating boiled bats and gritty seaweed. That’s her voting out the guy she likes to stick to her guns. That’s her deliberately sabotaging others to get ahead…because she finally realizes it’s a game, not real life.

And that’s her with a million dollars, pride in herself, and in a relationship with the
right
guy.

So I smiled at Chip. “No regrets.”

** The End **

Need more Games?

All of the Games books are available wherever ebooks are sold!

Wicked Games

Abby Lewis never pictured herself on the survival game show, Endurance Island. She’s just not the ‘survival’ type. But when her boss offers her a spot on the show and the opportunity of a lifetime, she packs her bags and heads to the tropics to be a contestant.

Once in the game, it’s clear that Abby’s in over her head. The game itself is full of competitive, aggressive people, and no one’s more aggressive than sexy, delicious – and arrogant – Dean Woodall. Sure he’s clever, strong, good at challenges, and has a body that makes her mouth water. He also hates Abby just as much as she hates him. That’s fine with her; she’ll just ignore the jerk.

But the rules of Endurance Island are working against them. Abby and Dean are teamed up – alone – on the beach. It’s either work together, or go home. Stuck with no one else’s company but their own, they learn they do make a good team after all.

And that with just a little bit of kindling, the flames of hate can quickly turn to flames of passion. This book features enemies, lovers, enemies who become lovers, and lots and lots of tropical heat…

Playing Games

Katy Short doesn't want to be on The World Races. She’s not a social butterfly like her brother (and partner) Brodie. In fact, she’s just as happy to end up in last place as in first.
But when her brother makes a selfish move that pairs her up with silent and surly rock star Liam Brogan, everything in the race changes. Now Katy’s fighting to stay out of the Loser Lodge, just so she won’t have to suffer through all that alone time with Mr. Tall, Dark and Arrogant.
Except Liam? Kinda hot. He’s sexy, pierced… and not nearly as surly as she thought. There’s one good thing about a game with partners -- lots of one-on-one time…

Ice Games

Zara Pritchard is a has-been. Once an Olympic darling, she’s been reduced to skating in a dinosaur costume and giving lessons at the local mall…which is why she’s excited when she’s offered a chance to sub on a TV show, Ice Dancing with the Stars. If she wins the show, this could be the break she needs.

There’s just one problem – her partner.

Ty Randall is a MMA bad boy looking to fix his image problem. Sure, he’s got the nickname of ‘Ty the MMA Biter’. Sure, he might have bit a guy’s nose off in the cage. But putting him on a reality TV show? A skating reality TV show? He’s not interested. He’ll do the minimum to fix his image and call it a day.

But when wash-out meets flame-out, sparks fly and tempers flare. And Ty and Zara start to realize that maybe this partnership might be just as steamy off the ice as on it…

Bedroom Games

Kandis Thornton isn’t afraid to lie, scheme, and sneak her way to the grand prize money on the Reality TV show, House Guests. That prize money is the only thing keeping her mother from losing her house (and thus moving in with Kandis). She needs that money, and if she has to step on a few people to do so? She’ll do it. House Guests is a show all about outplaying your house-mates, after all, and she’s not there to make friends.

But Kandis didn’t count on the fact that someone else was going to be playing just as hard as her. And she didn’t plan on teaming up with her nemesis, or scheming their way to the top.

Nor did she plan on sleeping with him.

But these things just happen when you’re stuck in a ridiculous house with nothing but time on your hands and a hot guy sharing your bedroom…

Reindeer Games (novella)

When mouthy Luna is voted off of Endurance Island: Alaska first, she’s a little bitter about it. The only thing that assuages her pride is knowing that Owen(the sexy-but-douchey guy that ousted her) was out next. This means, unfortunately, that they’re spending a lot of time at the Loser Lodge together. But will their fiercely competitive natures bring them together for the sexiest Christmas of all?

From the Author

Thank you for reading this book! Seriously – thank you. Somewhere out there, a unicorn just farted a rainbow out of sheer happiness. And your hair sure is pretty today! Have you lost weight? No? Well, keep doing what you’re doing, because you look fabulous.

Anyhow…

If you are the type that likes to review what you’ve read, I’d love for you to leave me a review – let me know what you thought. Feedback is super important to people like me that juggle three or more series at once. We love feedback like chocolate loves peanut butter. And the more feedback I get, the more it tells me what I need to work on next. So if you want more Games books, let me know!