Love or Lust (LOL): Part 1

“I’m so sorry,” I say once I’m on my feet.

“No reason to be. I’m the idiot that pulled you down on top of me,” he replies, pushing himself off the couch and shooting me a wink. “Plus, all you did was rub against me, and now I’m going to be fighting a raging hard-on for the next hour.”

“I thought I damaged the goods?” I protest, jutting out my hip and resting my hand there. He made me think I’d kneed him in the balls when really, I’d only grazed them and turned him on.

“If your knee had gone any higher”—he leans down and whispers in my ear—“we’d be having a different conversation. I’ll take a hard-on over crippling pain any day, especially when I was halfway there already just by smelling you. Why do you think I pulled you on top of me in the first place?”

Well, fuck me. I didn’t even put perfume on. He’s either smelling my deodorant or my shampoo. And he likes it.

Taking a step back before I add Drake to the list of guys I’ve kissed, he nods his head in understanding and opens the door for me, placing his hand on the small of my back as I walk past. He keeps it there all the way to the lawn where we’re expected to meet.

We’re already five minutes late when I realize I forgot my items back at the villa. Drake sprints off, returning a few minutes later out of breath with my stuff and his tie in hand. Well, aren’t we a perfect pair?

“Now that everyone is here,” Ed begins, shooting daggers at Drake and me. “Here’s how today’s competition is going to go.”

The course is basic. Which you would think is great until Ed explains how our items come into play.

The guys are coaching the girls through the course. We’re blindfolded with their ties, in high heels, using the hairbrush as a baton to pass off. As soon as we reach the end of the course, we switch places, coaching the guys as they race the course in high heels, blindfolded. The kicker, our hands are going to be tied together with rope, making it harder to switch places.

“Just focus on getting to the end as fast as you can. We’ll figure out how to swap once we’re there. Deal?” Drake asks as we stand side by side, waiting for someone to come and wrap each of our wrists with rope. I already have his navy-blue tie wrapped around my head. It’ll rest above my eyebrows until it’s time for us to run the race.

“The first part looks easy enough,” I say as I stare at the orange cones they’ve set out on the grass. “All I have to do is weave around them, right?”

“Yup. It looks like they’re numbered. The second part is going to be harder. I’ll try and give you the best instructions I can. I don’t want you to fall on your ass.”

Yeah, easier said than done. They expect me to walk up a wooden ramp and back down the other side. Blindfolded. In heels. I can barely walk in heels on a normal day.

“The last obstacle looks simple, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be. All I can see are four Hula-Hoops and a large cone. I think you have to stack them, but I won’t be able to know until we get closer.”

Oh, great. Picking up things, with bound hands, and putting them somewhere else. All while walking in the grass with two-inch spikes.

Someone is going to break their ankle. That someone is probably going to be me.

We’re shuffled into the barn after our wrists are bound. The teams are going one at a time and we’re not allowed to watch. It would be nice to see how others complete the course. I enjoyed going first yesterday and watching what the other teams did to try and make good time. Today, we’re the last team.

Which means I’m standing in the barn, impatiently waiting as the rest of the teams are called. Jace and Bella are up first. He attempts to wave at me with his bound hands as he walks out the large doors. Milo and Teegan are next. There’s a bit of shouting coming from outside and it makes me wonder if it’s Jace cheering them on or ragging on them. One by one, everyone else is called to participate until it’s only Lennon and Courtney standing next to Drake and me.

“Good luck,” I holler after them when their names are called.

“You’re gonna need it,” Drake teases, and Lennon rewards him with two middle fingers before he blows me a kiss.

“What do you see in him? I have to know.”

Drake’s question catches me off guard. Probably because I never really gave it much thought.

“He’s sweet. I don’t know. Why?”

“Because you’re all he talks about when the guys are alone. Jace, too. They’re staking their claim on you. We’re not even allowed to look because they’re convinced it’s going to be one of them. Almost like their teaming up against the rest of us.”

“That’s ridiculous. That’s not how the game is played,” I snort.

“Is that what this is to you? A game? Because if that’s the case, you might want to let them in on it. I think they’re taking this more seriously than you are.”

I hear the warning in his voice. Before I can reply, our name is called and we’re walking out of the barn toward the course. Everyone else is sitting off to the side, ready to see how we do. I’m suddenly more nervous than I’ve been all week and am relieved when Drake pulls the blindfold over my eyes.

“Listen for my voice, block everything else out. Okay?” I nod and then I’m moving. Following the sound of his voice. Taking directions. We breeze through the first obstacle. I’m dizzy and disoriented as we move to the platform. Taking a breath, I count to five to get my bearings and then walk up the platform and carefully down the other side.

“Good job, let’s keep going,” Drake encourages, but my next step isn’t as graceful as I had hoped, and I go down hard.