Chapter 29: Leith

He'd always hada sort of sixth sense for when things were about to fall apart and, today, Leith's internal sirens were blaring. The sensation was familiar. He'd known it all his life, like when he'd come home from school and the stale air in his family home would just be…off. Those were the nights he'd known to hide away in his bedroom.

There was nowhere to hide in Honeymoon Manor.

The best he could do was tense up and wait for the blow.

And Lainey did not make them wait long to deliver it.

"First, I'd like to congratulate Willow and Leith for being the only couple to successfully complete this parenting challenge. You've pulled through impressively and have, hopefully, given our other Honeymooners some goals to strive for. But is completing the challenge enough?"

It better be.

"Well, I've leave that up to y'all. We all knew that failures in these competitions would come with consequences. Given the—frankly—catastrophic level of it today, though… Well, we have no choice but to force you all to administer the consequences. Ladies, I'd like you to line up on my right side. Boys, please line up on my left."

With Earl still strapped to his chest, Leith moved on autopilot. Static crinkled in his ears and sweat poured down his forehead, his back. He tried to ground himself, tried to register the blades of shorn grass against his feet and the beat of the morning sun against his skin. Something inside of him urged him to find Willow's eyes and let the deadly things lasso him back to earth. Instinct, though—the one he couldn't kill, even in adulthood—thrashed against that urge. It said to fold himself and stare at the ground. It said to find invisibility in broad daylight.

Contestants now in position, Lainey continued. "Ladies, you'll be responsible for choosing the boy we'll evict from the manor today. Boys, you'll be responsible for choosing the girl. The decisions must be unanimous so we've given you all until this evening before you present your final choices. Does everyone understand?"

His urges won against his instinct, Leith's head snapping up. Across from the guys, all of the women huddled together, their arms around one another's shoulders and their heads hung solemnly. But that was all in the background, his focus narrowing on Willow. All he wanted was to comb her wild hair back from her face and take it in his fist. Make her look at him and remind her that they had nothing to worry about.

Only, he couldn't.

He didn't have those reassurances to give.

Lainey hadn't said that their success in the challenge made them immune to this—which, in Leith's opinion, was bullshit. But that just meant that they were in more danger than they could have anticipated. What if the other couples decided that they were too strong? What if this was their opportunity to vote out their largest competition?

His sirens blared louder.

It was a good thing he'd already sewn the seeds of distance, though he hadn't consciously known why at the time.

He'd never had the luxury of fading into the background but maybe he could make the guys forget about Willow. If he just didn't look at her, maybe they wouldn't either.

God, this was going to be the hardest day of his life.

"So I think the best thing to do is to go one-by-one and list pros and cons of each girl," Killian announced after they'd returned their plastic children to Lainey and had settled themselves around the exercise equipment. Killian stood in the middle of the group, his hands placed confidently on his hips, though his eyes kept shooting over to where the girls had set up camp on the sunbeds.

Silas, his arms crossed as he leaned against the weight rack, nodded along. He offered no pretense of not being pissed off.

"Let's start with—" Killian glanced around at each of the guys, clearly weighing the least offensive option "—Cora."

Maxon whistled. "What do you think, Foster? She's your bird."

"What are you, eighty?" Silas asked.

Maxon ignored him and waited for Foster to respond. The surfer had spread himself across one of the benches, staring up at the cloudless sky. "Cora's cool."

A chorus of blinks around the group. All the girls were cool. It didn't necessarily bode well that that had been all Foster could produce about his partner.

Killian had a little mercy on him. "That's not really what we meant. Do you have any reasons why she should stay over the others?"

Foster shrugged. "I think they all deserve to stay."

Honestly, what else had they expected from him?

"But does she put out?" Maxon prodded.

Killian, Silas, and Leith all scowled but Foster scoffed. "Not with me."

"So why keep her? It's not like you two are in love?"

"And are you in love with Maia?" Silas challenged.

"No."

"And are you, uh, getting…any?" Killian struggled through that question and they all felt it.

Maxon pouted. "No. Put her on the chopping block, too, for all I care."

Silas rolled his eyes. "If that's your method of elimination, then we're gonna be here for a while. You haven't gotten your dick wet since you've been in this manor."

"I haven't sampled Eloise or Willow yet."

Leith coughed, the comment pulling him, unwillingly, into the conversation. Silas beat him to a response. "And you won't."

"This isn't a cheese tray at a party, Maxon," Killian attempted to admonish. "You can't just?—"

"It is, though, isn't it? We came in here with a group of other people to see who we're compatible with. How am I supposed to know if I'm compatible with Eloise or Willow if I haven't been given the opportunity to honeymoon with them?"

Silas's response was strained. "If either of them wanted you, they would have chosen you last night."

"Regardless," Killian snapped, "we're not making this decision based on which of them would fuck Maxon. That's disgusting."

Maxon threw his arms up, clearly deciding that was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard. "Then we're back to Cora. Why should she stay?"

"Cora's, like, everyone's biggest fan. You can't vote her out," Foster said.

Why he hadn't said that the first time around was anyone's guess.

"But is that reason enough to keep her?" Killian asked gently.

"I don't know. We haven't talked about anyone else."

Killian took a breath, then nodded. "Okay, so…Eloise?"

"Eloise stays," Silas growled.

A little bit of tension dropped from Killian's shoulders but Maxon crossed his arms. "Why?"

"Because I want her to stay," he answered. Like it was that simple. Maybe it was. "Don't act like she doesn't deserve to be here more than fucking anyone."

Leith didn't know that that was true, really. But he supposed that not everyone knew Willow's reason for signing up like he did. Should he speak up? Argue? But he didn't want to call attention to her when her name wasn't even on the table, nor did he really want Eloise to go.

He kept his mouth shut.

Maxon rolled his eyes. "Fine. I guess Eloise stays. Maia, then. It's not like she wants to be here, considering she reminds us every five minutes."

Killian shook his head. "I'd like to keep exploring things with Maia."

"And if we keep Maia but the girls decide to vote you out? Then what?" Maxon asked, eyebrow raised.

"Do you think they would vote me out?"

"We don't know what they're gonna do. We have to think strategically."

That was exactly what Leith was afraid of.

But Killian pressed a hand to his forehead in frustration. "This isn't a ‘strategy' kind of thing, dude. You shouldn't have to have a strategy to fall in love."

"And how many of us are actually doing that?" Maxon sneered. "You don't find love on a TV show."

"And that's exactly why you don't deserve to be here!"

"If the girls agree, they'll vote me out then. It's not for you to decide. God, you think you're so?—"

"Alright," Silas interrupted, stepping forward to play mediator. The role didn't really suit him. "Let's just come back to Maia, I guess. Who's left?"

"Danica," Maxon shot back. "And you already used your veto."

"You're going to vote out the only woman who can stand to be around you for more than five minutes?" Killian asked.

"I didn't realize your mom was here."

Killian dropped his jaw and searched the faces around him. "Did he seriously just make a Your Mom joke?"

Foster nodded. "Think so."

"Was it just me, or was it kinda funny?"

"Can't lie," Foster said with a shrug, "I wanted to laugh."

Apparently, that was all it took to bring a little levity back into the group and Leith was surprised it had come from Maxon. It didn't forgive the baffling combative behavior he'd just displayed but it did force them all to back up a bit.

Leith didn't even notice that Maxon had changed the subject away from Danica because, suddenly, all he heard was, "So that just leaves Willow."

There was static in his ears again. Maxon had said Silas used his veto. Did Leith get one? Would speaking up only paint a target on her back? Maxon had admitted to thinking strategically. If the other man was after the money, he'd probably want to vote out the only couple who'd actually completed the challenge.

Silas's voice broke through the static of Leith's thoughts. "Fuck no."

"Yeah," Killian agreed. "We're not voting out the only girl who literally doesn't deserve to be eliminated. And we're not doing that to Leith." So Leith wasn't the shadow he'd fancied himself for a moment there. Killian stepped up beside him and patted him on the shoulder. "We're not voting out your girl," he assured him.

Leith could have puked. Out of relief, sure. He was fucking thrilled that he hadn't fucked anything up for Willow. But also because he should have been the one defending her. He should have spoken up. He'd promised to take care of her, hadn't he? Clearly, he couldn't handle that like he'd thought he could. Not when his own head was getting in the way.

He owed her an apology.

She had no idea what he'd done but he owed her a damn apology.

Leith spoke for the first time. "I need to talk to her."

"What?"

"We haven't made a decision yet?"

"Don't tell them our strategy!"

Their protests met only his back as he charged across the backyard, sights set only on Willow. She was stretched perpendicular across one of the sunbeds, on her stomach. Her hands propping up her head and her silky ass wiggling every time she spoke. He tried not to notice when he approached.

The girls cut off their discussion by the time his shin hit the bed. All but Willow stared at him, her gaze fixed on the waistband of his pants as an excuse to not meet his eyes, he was sure. He was tempted to dwell on it, let the guilt eat at him because he knew he'd drawn a line between them today.

And he knew that, despite her confidence, Willow was sensitive.

"I need to talk to you," he told her, parroting what he'd told the boys.

That did not get her to look at him. "Right now?"

"If you can."

She did turn her head then but not to look at him. She looked at the girls and did not move to get up until they'd offered her their nods.

Leith didn't know where to lead her. Their only private conversations had been in the shower and now really wasn't the time for that. They couldn't get in the pool, either, considering they were still clad in their pajamas.

But he didn't really need privacy from cameras for this one, did he?

He ended up just walking her inside and tucking them under one of the staircases. Instinctually, he used his body to block the bulk of her and it relieved him to know he could at least do something right. Yet, that feeling fizzled when Willow finally did meet his eyes and he found pure panic there.

"They're sending me home?" her question was whispered and wavy.

Leith knew then how it looked. Like, perhaps, the boys had made their decision and he'd wanted to warn her.

She kept talking, though. "You didn't kiss me earlier. Did you ask them to vote for me? I thought—I mean, with the way you were acting…I thought we were a little—" She cut herself off. Took a breath. "If you wanted to break up, you didn't have to vote me out. We could have just—I don't know. I don't think I could do it without you, anyway."

His brain knew that her admittance was well-crafted. That, to him, she was saying that they had little chance of winning the money if they weren't together. To the viewers, though, it was her declaration of love, practically. A sweet, heart-wrenching way to say that it was him or it was nobody.

And what would she think if he wanted that one to be true?

"Say something, Leith," she urged. "Just tell me if it's me."

Leith still hadn't quite found his footing to speak coherently yet but he couldn't let the fear sit. He reassured her with his mouth. Gripped her waist and drew her to his body so he could lean down and capture her lips.

Against her, he found his voice. "For me, it's you."

He liked that he didn't have to explain himself to her. That he could say something of that magnitude and know she wouldn't mistake it for betrayal.

Willow pushed herself back into the kiss and let her hands drag up his arms until she'd wrapped herself around his neck. Hooking him.

Didn't she know he'd been hooked from the beginning?

He wanted that tether and, more than anything, he wanted that tether to be real.

Would he ever know if it were real if it only ever happened in front of an audience?

Leith broke their kiss but Willow did not unlatch. He fought to stay lucid. "The cameras?—"

Willow launched herself up, her legs circling his waist. Her grip on his neck tightening even more. Her lips again on his.

"Fuck the cameras."