Love Elimination Page 14

  ‘Thought so. Therefore, I am taking you to the pub.’

  ‘There’s a pub nearby?’

  ‘Absolutely. We can drink some cocktails, have a chat and still get you back in plenty of time for you to engage in some beauty sleep before tomorrow.’

  ‘Is something happening tomorrow?’

  ‘Yep. The big announcement.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘As if I’m going to tell you,’ Kate replied, tapping Anna on the nose like she used to when they were young.

  As they emerged onto the street, Anna forgot about the show and let herself appreciate a night away from it all. With every step the smell of seaweed dissipated and the air felt cleaner and a tight constraint lifted from her chest.

  Kate glanced across at her. ‘How are you doing with the show? Apart from the boredom.’

  ‘What else is there besides the boredom? It’s the worst. Can’t I go home now? You’re not using me in dates any more …’

  ‘Aw, I’m sorry!’ Kate’s sympathy was undercut slightly by the grin on her face. ‘Luke seems to really like you.’

  ‘Oh yeah? Then why am I sitting in the villa by myself?’ Anna raised an eyebrow. The gesture was lost in the darkness. It had been a week of dates for the other women, punctuated by a live show where Sandra went home. Anna had spent the entire next day practising her boxing. God, she was so pissed that she was still there. Even more so that it had been a week of missing out on Luke’s company. Not that she should care.

  A full month had passed since filming started. That was a month away from her café. The days she was stuck in the villa blended together. The easiest way to keep track of the days was the live shows, every Sunday, getting her hopes up about going home. But she hadn’t been in the bottom three again. The experts just publicly humiliated her each week, instructing Anna to keep opening up and to tell Luke how she felt. Meanwhile, it was getting harder and harder to make decisions about her renovations via text messaging.

  ‘You’re not alone. There are still seven people left. The producers are making Luke spend time with other contestants. We need some suspense. The show doesn’t work if everyone thinks you’re going to win.’

  Anna bit down on her lip. The longer she stayed on the show, the more she felt like a proper contestant. Every time Mason Lockier showed up, her hopes rose. She kept telling herself she was just bored—it was just the show, designed to make her think about Luke Westwood. And she was bored. But she also missed his company. Was this Stockholm Syndrome?

  ‘How can I still be the favourite? I haven’t been on a date in ages.’

  ‘Are you jealous?’

  ‘No!’ Anna cried. The conversation was getting entirely too serious. Every time Anna replied in a light tone, Kate kept pulling it back. ‘Do you remember the part where I came on this show as a favour to you? Or how I’m not interested in dating your famous athlete?’

  ‘You like him.’

  ‘You ripped me away from my life, cut me off from normal civilisation. How are you surprised that I enjoy spending time with him? There’s nothing else to do! You chose a man who is fun and interesting. Wasn’t that the point?’

  ‘So you are attracted to him!’

  ‘Kate! Are you listening to yourself? This is a television show. Your whole job is manipulating the contestants to fall for Luke Westwood.’

  ‘And it’s working.’

  ‘Fine, I have a crush. That doesn’t mean I’m going to marry him, or even make it to the finale!’

  ‘Why not? You haven’t been going on the dates because we haven’t needed to send you on the dates—Luke asks the other contestants about you. They all talk about you. The audience loves you. As hard as we try to promote one of the others, you are the favourite on this show. We show a full two minutes of footage from Sandra’s family—like what Ben did for you on the first live show—and she still goes home.’

  Never, not once, had she imagined herself in the finale. But Anna was saved from replying by the appearance of a small wooden building with a wide veranda where three groups of people sipped on beers and cocktails. Top 40 music drifted from a radio in the corner of the bar.

  ‘So you’re filming them bitching behind my back?’ Anna asked, stepping into the pub.

  ‘It’s not as bad as it sounds.’

  They headed for the bar. A blackboard covered in colourful chalk drawings hung over the counter. There was a sketch next to each special. Anna wasn’t usually a big drinker, but she desperately needed a night out with her sister.

  With the chaos of the drink menu, Anna didn’t notice the patrons sitting at the counter. So she didn’t see it coming when Kate gasped and shoved her to the side so she was obscured by a heavy table.

  ‘Ow,’ Anna complained, rubbing her head where it had hit the corner of a chair.

  ‘Stay down,’ Kate hissed, her lips barely moving. She straightened and plastered a smile on her face, then approached the bar.

  ‘Kate!’ said a familiar voice, sounding delighted to see her. Obviously, whoever it was hadn’t witnessed Kate’s unprovoked violence.

  ‘Joe! What are you doing here?’ Kate moved further away, distracting him from where Anna was hiding. ‘I thought you were going to talk to Luke tonight.’

  ‘I have.’ The man paused. ‘Are you here alone?’

  ‘Y—yes.’ Kate stuttered her reply. A neon sign would have been less obvious, but Joe didn’t seem to notice.

  ‘Would you like to join me for a drink?’ Joe’s voice grew softer and more difficult to hear over the other pub patrons. Peeking around the table legs, Anna watched as Kate fought her instinct to look back to where she was hiding. Her knees were starting to hurt. They were pressed up against the hard floorboards. Her thighs weren’t that happy with their current situation either.

  ‘Oh, I’m good. Thanks.’

  ‘Didn’t you just walk in? You’re getting a drink anyway, aren’t you? Why not have it while sitting at the bar with me?’

  The director was unusually inarticulate. Anna guessed it had less to do with the drinking and more to do with Kate.

  ‘Um … Sure.’

  Joe guided Kate to the bar. He didn’t notice as she looked over her shoulder and mouthed a word at Anna. It wasn’t too hard to figure out what she wanted Anna to do. After the allure of a night away from her prison cell, going back to the villa was not going to be easy. Still, Anna couldn’t let herself get caught outside the Love Elimination bubble. Not with the money and Kate’s career hanging over her head.

  As soon as the director turned to the barman and ordered, Anna dashed for the entrance. She kept her body at a crouch until she rounded the corner—and slammed into a hard surface.

  ‘Ouch!’ Anna forgot she was trying to be inconspicuous. Thankfully the din from other conversations drowned out the pain of being knocked down for the second time that night.

  ‘Are you okay?’

  Anna looked up and saw Luke smiling down at her.

  ‘Shit. You never saw me here!’ She tried to slip past him, but he snaked an arm around her waist.

  ‘Too late. What are you doing?’

  Her traitorous skin broke out into goose bumps at his touch. She closed her eyes and prayed he would blame the nip of cold in the night air. He didn’t take his arm back. His breath touched the side of her cheek and made her skin tingle. It wouldn’t take much for him to lean down and kiss her. His lips were close and hers ached at the idea of pressing against his.

  ‘Kate snuck me out for a drink.’

  ‘Ah. Did Joe see you?’

  ‘No. Kate’s in there distracting him.’

  ‘Wouldn’t take much. The poor man is head over heels.’

  Anna gnawed her bottom lip. Her sister and the director? If she weren’t so wary of getting Kate in trouble, she’d crawl right back in and spy on her. Could there really be something going on between Kate and Joe? If there was, what did Anna think about it? Part of her felt betrayed. The man was the ultimate puppet m
aster. Anna could never like him. She’d seen him play on the vulnerabilities of every single woman on the show.

  ‘Give me a sec to say goodbye and I’ll walk you back to the villa,’ Luke said. He slipped past her to the bar.

  Anna shook her head and emerged from her stupor. Her heart beat faster. She scurried from the veranda and down the street. It wasn’t like she could get lost. There was one street and two turns in the entire journey and she’d already taken one of them.

  About twenty-five metres later, she heard footsteps thudding behind her.

  ‘Hey, wait up!’ Luke called, falling into step with Anna. She had to consciously stop herself from swooning at the sight of him jogging to her side.

  ‘I told Kate you were heading home so she won’t worry about you,’ he said, ignoring the fact that she’d attempted to ditch him.

  ‘How’d you do that with Joe there?’

  ‘Morse code. I just knocked on the table.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘Yep. She knows morse code, right?’

  ‘Of course. What self-respecting producer doesn’t? How else would they convey secret messages in meetings?’

  ‘That’s what I thought. But just in case, I said that “we” were going to walk back. Joe thinks it was just a slip of the tongue.’

  Anna thought about Luke slipping his tongue into her. All she could muster in reply was, ‘Good.’ It wasn’t very enthusiastic, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances. She blamed Kate, who had spent the entire night trying to convince Anna that she was attracted to Luke. Which, in turn, had brought all of Anna’s lustful feelings to the surface. Not that she would ever admit to them, nor the nights she’d spent thinking about Luke of late, to her sister.

  ‘Where did you even come from?’

  ‘The bathroom.’

  ‘Oh.’

  Usually Anna would be scrounging for something to say in the presence of the opposite sex, but not with Luke. It was strange for her to feel so comfortable with someone she barely knew. It had taken two years of working side by side with Ben before Anna grew comfortable enough to talk to him about everything. Not that she could share anything truly personal with Luke. The cameras were always there, broadcasting her words to the nation. Except for tonight.

  ‘Are you going to have trouble sneaking back into the house?’ he asked.

  ‘No. I’m pretty much a pro by now.’

  ‘I guess you are. No one has noticed your early morning excursions?’ They walked slowly. With Luke, Anna was in no rush. He seemed to feel the same way. He walked close enough that their fingers brushed.

  ‘Hadie has. She found out about the phone pretty early on. But we have a deal.’ Anna resisted the urge to catch his hand in hers. ‘She uses it to call her mum for updates and to talk to her son.’

  ‘That’s good. She must be missing him like crazy.’

  ‘She is.’

  From the corner of her eye she could see Luke drink her image in as if he were trying to figure her out. He didn’t look away until Anna met his eyes. Even then, he didn’t seem fazed by being caught out.

  ‘Are you homesick?’ he asked.

  Anna gave the question some thought. ‘Not in the way Hadie is. I don’t miss anyone. The only person really important to me is here.’

  ‘Me?’ Luke asked, nudging her ribs with his elbow.

  Anna rolled her eyes and continued, ‘And I can still chat to my best friend on the phone. I don’t miss my apartment or any other creature comforts. But I desperately want to get back to my business.’

  ‘It looks like you have some really great friends. That guy doing your social media accounts is almost as popular as the show itself.’

  Anna groaned. ‘Ben. I wish he hadn’t done that. It would’ve been so much easier if I’d flown completely under the radar and gone home that first week.’

  ‘But then you also wouldn’t have met your favourite chef,’ Luke said. He slung his arm around her waist, his hand only inches above her arse. It sent hot shocks through Anna’s body.

  ‘Is it Ben?’ he asked. ‘Do you have a secret crush on him? Is that why you don’t want to like me?’

  Anna would’ve laughed at the idea of her carrying a secret torch for Ben, but her mind caught on the idea of Luke wanting her to like him. Did he want her to fall for him, like the show intended? Nothing about his behaviour so far had convinced her that he was serious about Love Elimination. He’d admitted to being roped into the show. Just like her. And out of all the single, gorgeous, well-balanced women Kate had cast—as well as the overly enthusiastic ones—he had chosen to spend his time with her. He didn’t seem to be trying very hard to woo the others.

  ‘Nope. I just don’t have time. I have a dream to fulfil,’ she said. ‘What about you? Are you falling in love with any of the women? Surely you’ve got some favourites in mind for the final four?’ She couldn’t resist poking for information. She needed to know if the show was a complete waste of time for everyone. Did Hadie have a chance at winning Luke Westwood’s heart by the final episode? Or with any amount of time?

  A deep frown etched itself into his forehead. He looked five years older and ten times sterner. Anna wanted to reach out and smooth the creases.

  ‘Don’t you start on me, too.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘That’s what Joe dragged me out here for. The promise of beer at the cost of divulging my feelings about each of the women and choosing a final two.’

  ‘You’re picking the final two already?’ Anna’s voice came out higher and sharper than she’d intended. That would mean that he knew when she would be going home. Even though they’d talked about her desire to do just that, pain cut through her stomach.

  ‘No. That’s the problem.’

  ‘Are you having trouble deciding? Maybe I could help?’ The offer slipped from her mouth before her mind had time to vet it.

  ‘I doubt it.’

  ‘What’s the problem?’

  He stopped and looked at her. Anna stopped too. Someone needed to slap some sense into her. It should’ve been Kate. What was the point of having her sister on set if she wasn’t going to keep Anna grounded?

  ‘I was serious about wanting to find a real relationship. Someone that I can see myself with in the long term,’ he started, talking so slowly that Anna wished she had a remote to fast forward the conversation, like Kate did when she was watching competing television shows for research. ‘But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to settle down, get married, stop travelling, have children. Every single woman, except you and Yvette, has asked about those things.’

  When Anna didn’t reply, he continued, ‘They want to know if I’m willing to move to Sydney, or whether I’ll have time for them when I’m training the boys in the lead up to the big comps.’

  ‘And you don’t want to leave your job,’ Anna finished for him. The knowledge shouldn’t have been surprising. It shouldn’t have affected her in any way at all. But it did. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed.

  ‘Not yet. It’s just that I only have a certain number of years left on my career.’

  He started walking again, so abruptly that Anna had to rush a few paces to his side.

  ‘Even though you’re a coach now?’ she asked. She didn’t understand how the man next to her could be too old to snowboard. He seemed strong, young, invincible. And she couldn’t imagine having a dream that you’d grow out of. It was crazy.

  ‘Yeah. Up until a few months ago, I was still competing in the smaller competitions. But I can’t keep up with the young guys any more. I was injured in a fall a few years back. My knee got busted up pretty bad. I wanted to enjoy snowboarding for a bit longer, but it’s not going to get any better.’

  ‘Shit, Luke. I’m so sorry.’ Anna didn’t know what else to say. She bit her lip. ‘Does it hurt now?’

  ‘It doesn’t bother me too much. Unless I strap on a snowboard and jump down a cliff.’

  ‘And you haven’t tho
ught about what you want to do, after you fully retire?’

  ‘I’ve thought about it plenty. Especially when I was in hospital, and again in rehab, thinking my knee would never work properly again. When competitions got hard and I wanted to quit. Or even before, when I’d wake up and not remember what country I was in.’

  Anna was cut up inside just thinking of Luke being injured. She couldn’t imagine him being stuck in a hospital bed for any length of time. She shook the image from her head. It was clear he didn’t want to talk about it further.

  ‘That happened?’ she asked.

  ‘Yeah. Quite often. Sometimes I was even sober,’ he said.

  ‘It must’ve been quite the party lifestyle.’ Hadie had done Google searches on Luke Westwood the week before. She hadn’t been able to resist. Nor had she been able to resist showing Anna. There were plenty of gossip articles and compromising photos of him splattered over the internet. There were tons of photos of a shirtless Luke Westwood.

  ‘At times. Mostly when I hit adulthood and was in my early twenties. But even then, I still trained hard and never slacked on a 5 am start.’

  ‘That’s awful. I complain all day if I have to get up before six thirty,’ Anna replied before thinking about how it might come across. But Luke only grinned.

  ‘Oh, trust me. I complained.’ He laughed. ‘One time I put up a dartboard with my coach’s picture in the middle. Very clichéd.’

  ‘Did it work?’ Anna tried not to imagine Luke’s arm muscle tensing as he lined up a dart. It was the photos. No good ever came of googling the men in your life.

  ‘Not a bit. I had to throw it away because a cleaner reported it. The hotel staff feared the damage to the walls when I missed.’

  ‘Did you miss?’

  ‘Of course not. I’m an elite athlete,’ he replied with mock outrage.

  ‘Did you always live in hotels?’ Anna knew she should stop asking questions about his life. She shouldn’t want to know everything about the gorgeous man by her side. But she did. Maybe they could remain friends after the show, if she played her cards right.

  ‘When I was competing, yes. Either that or I lived at the institute where we trained.’

  ‘And now? Do you still live in hotels?’