All in the Game (14 page)

Had she made a major tactical error in showing up here
on the island today? Ty had looked very pleased to see her, but maybe any man would get an ego boost at the sight of his previous night's conquest.

She'd acted on impulse today, but when it came to her behavior with Ty, that was par for the course. He seemed to activate impulsivity in her…along with many other feelings.

“Here's my first guess, Shannen. Maybe you'd like to hear me admit that your appearance here is most timely?” Ty paraphrased himself from last night, his voice wry.

Shannen felt as if fireworks were going off in her head. Besieged with uncertainty, she knew if he'd made some cocky sexual comeback about his prowess and her craving for him, she would have gone as nuclear as the network executives facing the expense tally.

And then she would've had to grapple with being wounded by his insensitivity and arrogance. Been there, done that, nine years ago, even though he'd thought he was being noble. And nine years ago there had been no sexual intimacy between them to make the pain ever sharper. This time around…

Thank heavens they were more in sync this time around! His gently humorous reply validated her instincts for coming here.

“Your first guess is right,” she said softly.

A broad grin creased his face. “I admit it, your appearance here is most timely, Shannen.”

“Wow! That's the truth!” Heidi joined them just in time to catch the end of his remark. “You really must have that twin ESP going on strong! You
knew
your sister needed you!”

Heidi pointed to Lauren, who was swaying perilously, gripping the pole with both arms. Moments later she slipped off the post into the water.

Before anyone on the beach could react, Rico jumped in after her and pulled her to her feet.

“Just keep filming!” shouted Clark. “Nobody go in the water! The girl's okay, and we don't want to ruin the drama by cluttering up the scene with the crew.”

Shannen ignored him and ran into the water, sandals and all. Within a split second, Heidi caught up to her and grabbed her arm, following another order from Clark.

Shannen began to struggle. “Get away from me!”

“You're not even supposed to be here,” exclaimed Heidi, trying harder to hold her back. “Tell her, Ty,” she pleaded to Ty, who'd followed them both.

“Tell her not to go to her sister who practically fainted in the water?” snarled Ty. “Forget it.” He handed the camera to Kevin, who had raced in, too. “I'm not filming this.”

Shannen successfully broke free from Heidi and ran toward Lauren and Rico. The pair were approaching the shore, hanging on to each other. Both looked fatigued and sunburned, and it was hard to tell who was supporting whom.

Shannen threw her arms around them both. “Oh, Lauren, you poor thing! And, Rico, you're a hero for jumping in after her like that, without even thinking twice.”

“We got that part on film,” Reggie called.

“Thank God! The rest we'll have to edit out,” announced Clark. “Pan to Cortnee and to Konrad.”

Cortnee held her hands to her cheeks and looked tearful.

Konrad was smiling. “I'm the last one standing, so I win immunity.”

Shannen barely heard him as she prepared to tell Clark Garrett exactly what she thought of him.

T
he network executives wanted to watch the tribal council in person, so Shannen would stay on the island until they all returned to the resort by boat later in the evening. The contestant who was voted off would go with them.

“Keep that crazy twin out of camera range,” Clark said to Ty. “Put her on a leash if you have to, just don't let her get filmed by mistake. Editing can only fix so much.”

Clark wiped sweat from his brow with his already-damp handkerchief. He was looking haggard after an encounter with the enraged Shannen. Brimming with white-hot rage, she had reviled him, quite effectively, in front of everybody.

Ty, who had witnessed many a verbal annihilation directed at the Howes, recognized her as a true master of the art.

Silence had descended, and not even Bobby Dixon tried to deliver one of his annoying platitudes. Nobody cared to risk incurring the wrath of Shannen.

When she'd proclaimed, “Somebody better get my sister and Rico something to eat and drink right now!” even the network executives hurried to fetch food and water.

“Ty, I want you to know I appreciate you going into the water to try to stop that demented bitch from ruining the terrific scene of the two losers staggering in together,” continued Clark. “
Twins!
Who knew they'd go psycho? We won't be casting twins in
Victorious Two,
I can promise you that.”

Ty shook his head. He was disgusted with Clark's callousness toward Lauren's fall into the water, and to make matters worse, the obtuse executive producer had misinterpreted his lunge into the water after Shannen.

Ty had gone in to help her with Lauren, to show his support for her, not to restrain her, as that blockhead Garrett believed.

But Shannen hadn't needed Ty's intervention and refused it when he offered.

“We're fine. Go back and get your camera,” she told him, slipping her arm around Lauren. “You'll get in trouble. Clark is throwing a tantrum as it is and—”

“Screw Clark Garrett!” cursed Ty.

Shannen flashed a sardonic smile. “I'd rather not.”

Ty arched his brows. “You'd better not!”

Rico and Lauren laughed weakly.

And then the production assistants hauled away the two contestants, leaving Shannen and Ty to wade ashore together.

“Ty, seriously, you have to do your job,” said Shannen. “You have to start filming or else—”

“I could be fired? I'm so worried.” Ty was sarcastic.

“We all have these take-this-job-and-shove-it moments, Tynan,” Shannen explained patiently. “And everybody has had at least one boss who's a jerk, but—”

“Shannen, I'll get my camera and film the contestants, but please dispense with the pep talk,” growled Ty.

It was bad enough he was trapped in his own stupid deception. Hearing her try to console him about it made him queasy with guilt. He had too many deceptions going on in his life—his name, his career and his past relationship with Shannen.

Only she knew most of the truth, but he'd kept a vital fact from her too: his wealth.

How to tell her?
When
to tell her? Because he knew now that he wanted her to know the full truth.

Shannen, unaware of his dilemma, thought he was still mired in a take-this-job-and-shove-it moment.

She gave him a bolstering thumbs-up and headed toward Lauren and Rico, who were guzzling bottles of water.

 

Now it was time for the voting, and as the Final Four sat in the tribal council area, Bobby delivered a ponderous homily about four being narrowed to three.

Konrad clutched the immunity totem as if it were a priceless antiquity. Lauren, Rico and Cortnee looked tense and eyed each other warily.

Shannen stood next to Ty as he filmed. “It's kind of sad,” she whispered to him. “I remember when those four were a solid alliance, maybe even friends. Well, sort of. But now they don't trust each other.”

“It was inevitable, Shannen. They're each playing for themselves now.”

“I know, I know.” She sighed. “It's all in the game.”

She saw Clark Garrett and the production assistants stealing nervous glances at her. And she noticed for the first time that the entire crew had taken positions well away from her and Ty.

“I see you've been chosen to be the human sacrifice and rein me in, should I suddenly go berserk,” Shannen mocked, her eyes locking with Clark Garrett's.

It gave her a naughty thrill to see him brace himself, as
if expecting her to suddenly fly at him like a rabid vampire bat.

“Stop terrorizing Clark, Shannen,” Ty admonished dryly. “You've already carved him up with that sharp little tongue of yours once today, and he's dreading another attack.”

“My verbal skills have advanced beyond trite kid stuff like ‘condescending, self-righteous jerk,' haven't they?” Shannen was pleased.

“Well beyond, honey. Remind me not to cross you.”

“I will,” she replied playfully. “Every chance I get.”

“It's time to vote,” Bobby's voice boomed, drowning out even their muffled whispers.

“Uh-oh!” Shannen's lighthearted mood evaporated. She met Lauren's eyes and held up her hand, her two fingers crossed for good luck.

Lauren bit her lip and looked away.

As always, the votes against each contestant were announced by Bobby with melodramatic flair.

“Cortnee.” He held up a card and read the name.

From her position behind the camera, Shannen saw the voting cards for the first time. She recognized Lauren's handwriting immediately.

“Lauren,” read Bobby, and Shannen thought the penmanship on that card looked girlishly embellished. The way Cortnee might write?

“I think the two girls just canceled out each other's votes,” she whispered to Ty, who made no comment. “They should've stuck together.”

“Rico,” Bobby's voice boomed, and he held up a card with printing so atrocious, Shannen guessed it to be Konrad's. He'd often boasted of his school failures, and perhaps printing was one of them.

“Three votes for three different people.” Bobby stated the obvious.

Shannen resisted the urge to rush him and snatch the remaining card from his hand.

“This is the last vote, and the name I read will be the person who will extinguish their flashlight and leave the island,” Bobby intoned solemnly.

Dragging out the moment with agonizing slowness, he studied the card. Finally,
finally
he read it: “Lauren.”

Shannen and Lauren each drew in a short, sharp breath, then simultaneously schooled their expressions into smiles of acceptance.

Ty watched, his eyes darting from sister to sister, fascinated by their identical responses.

One camera lingered an extra few moments on Lauren, but her smile didn't falter. Ty filmed Cortnee hugging Rico and then Konrad in turn.

“I'm sorry, sweetie,” Ty whispered to Shannen.

She shrugged. “We were lucky to make it this far. And Lauren will win five thousand dollars for being the fourth of the Final Four. That's great!”

She gave him such a sunny smile, he felt perversely glum. Would five thousand dollars after taxes be enough to even fix their grandmother's roof, let alone cover the diner's expenses?

“Anyway, Jordan can keep on buying those powerball tickets,” Shannen said, even more brightly.

“Shannen, it's okay to express disappointment,” Ty murmured. “You don't have to put on a front with me.”

The camera recorded Lauren extinguishing her flashlight and then turned to focus on the others. Immediately afterward, Lauren rushed over to Shannen and began to cry.

“Oh, Shan, I'm so sorry! I should've given you the immunity thing instead of keeping it for myself. You never would've fallen off the post. And nobody would've voted against you, either. I'm such a flop!”

“Lauren, no! You are not!” Shannen hugged her sister and rocked her in her arms. “You played a good game.
We both did. It was even fun, in a hellish kind of way, wasn't it?”

“It was horrible!” Lauren wept. “I wish we'd never come here, I wish I hadn't dragged you to the audition. Oh, Shannen, I just want to go home!”

Heidi approached, giving Ty an apprehensive look. “It's time to get Lauren's things and for both of them to leave the island.” Heidi addressed Ty instead of the twins.

“I'll take them,” offered Ty and stepped between the sisters, holding a twin with each arm. “Let's go.”

Everyone's eyes were upon them.

“The crew is looking at you like you singlehandedly tamed the shrew,” Shannen said as they walked along the path to the camp. “Was I
that
scary when I yelled at Clark Garrett? The heartless boor could run the ice concession in hell,” she added fiercely.

“You made an impressive show of fury unbound,” Ty allowed, his eyes gleaming. “But you didn't scare me. It takes a lot to scare me, Shannen.”

“I'll keep that in mind, Tynan.”

“Are you two ever going to tell me how you know each other?” Lauren had stopped crying and was watching them.

Shannen and Ty exchanged glances.

“We'll get back to you on that one,” said Ty, speaking for them both.

The network executives were impatient to leave the island for the resort and insisted that Clark Garrett hurry the twins along. He did, but with obvious trepidation.

“All of a sudden I feel like we're moving at warp speed,” complained Ty as he walked with Shannen to the boat.

Lauren, clutching her few possessions, was a few feet ahead of them with Clark. The network bosses and the driver were already in the boat.

“While we were filming the immunity contest, time crawled by,” Ty continued to gripe. “Why do some hours
have sixty thousand minutes in them and other hours are only sixty seconds long?”

“If you don't mind me quoting Gramma again, ‘Time flies when you're having fun,'” said Shannen. “Although I'm not sure if it applies here. Watching Lauren collapse into the water and then get voted off the island wasn't fun.”

“No, but being with you is,” Ty countered huskily. “Even under these less-than-ideal circumstances.”

“I'm glad I came today,” she said.

Her words, her tone, were almost perfunctory. Ty sensed her withdrawal increasing in direct proportion to their nearness to the boat.

The frustration within him soared to this morning's high, before Shannen's appearance on the island. Maybe even higher, because he knew there would be no surprise visit by her tomorrow. She couldn't play the twin separation card because Lauren would be with her.

When was he going to see her again? Not knowing was intolerable!

“Come onboard, young lady!” Ed, the network executive in the pale-peach shirt, shouted from the boat.

Clark Garrett and Lauren had just boarded, and the driver revved up the engine.

“I'll get the crew boat and come to your room tonight,” Ty said quickly.

“Ty, you can't.” Shannen gazed up at him, her blue eyes wide. “You won't be allowed to go—there's no film to take to the network bosses. They've been here all day.”

“I won't be marooned on this stupid island simply because I don't have an official okay to leave.”

“But, Ty, if you don't have permission to take the boat, you—”

“Permission?” Ty repeated scornfully. “I'm taking the boat, with or without
permission.
”

“That's Tynan Howe talking, not Ty Hale,” reproved
Shannen. “You might've been able to do as you pleased when you were rich, but now you have to…”

“…take orders from idiots like Clark Garrett and those network stooges?” Ty was incensed. “I could buy and sell all three, many times over!”

“Not any longer.” Shannen laid her hand on his arm. “That was then, Ty. This is now,” she reminded him gently. “Now you work for them and—”

“Shannen, they're ready to go,” called Lauren.

Ty exhaled sharply. “Shannen—”

“Ty, even if you did manage to come to the resort tonight, I wouldn't let you in my room,” Shannen's voice was low and urgent. “Because—”

“Oh, of course, there's Lauren,” Ty said. “We'll get her a room of her own. Don't worry, I'll pay for it myself.”

“It's not because Lauren will be sharing my room, Ty. I've done a lot of thinking since last night and I…I decided that I can't go to bed with you again.” She expelled her declaration in a breathless rush.

“What?” Ty felt as though he'd been clubbed over the head.

Maybe he had been. Maybe Konrad had sneaked up and whacked him with the immunity totem.

He must've sustained a substantial blow, because he seemingly had lost the powers of comprehension. Shannen couldn't have said what he'd just heard.

“Last night we went too far too fast, Ty.” She sounded tense and edgy. “We have to slow down, to back up and…and get to know each other.”

“Shannen, one thing we can't be accused of is rushing things. We've known each other for nine years!”

“When you put it like that—”

“It sounds ridiculous? That's because it is, Shannen!”

“No, it sounds like a twisted argument. We
knew
each other nine years ago, Ty. That's a big difference from
knowing
each other for that long. We parted on bad terms
and we certainly didn't keep in touch. When we remet here on the island, it was like two strangers meeting for the first time.”

“Keep in touch?” echoed Ty. “Is this retaliation for not calling you on your twenty-first birthday? I explained why I thought you wouldn't want to hear from me at that time. Or any time after. As for being strangers to each other—”

The boat horn blasted, sounding as loud as the start at the Indy 500, drowning him out.