Page 42 of Lust & Lollipops

We wouldn’t be getting back from the reef until after that night’s vote, which made me nervous, but I had to hide those nerves. As far as the guys knew, I wasn’t in favor of anyone.

Except possibly Kaden.

The boat they’d provided to take us to the reef was much bigger than the usual speedboat, so there was space for us to get comfortable. I sat on the ledge near the front so I had a good view, my legs dangling off the side. Ev and Jim sat on either side of me.

They were two of the men I knew the least, so I was actually kind of looking forward to talking to them. There was still a chance Cam could get booted, and I would have to choose someone else. In case that did happen, I needed to get to know everyone.

Then again, how well did I even know Cameron?

I didn’t know much of anything about his life before guarding me. He’d never told me about his past, or who he was outside his job.

I knew he had a lot of connections, and had somehow used those connections to get himself set up as my guard, but that was it.

Still, I trusted him.

Mostly.

And yeah, I wanted him.

Insanely.

But at the rate things were going, I would know more about Kyle than I did about Cam.

Which made me less than certain about my plan.

I did trust him not to hurt me, though. Which was more than I could say about anyone else on the island, except maybe Rhett.

“Finally, I get a break from Kyle,” I drawled, as the ocean’s spray tickled my legs.

Jim snorted. “It’s a miracle. That asshole’s been driving all of us crazy since day one.”

I smiled. “You could vote him out and save all of us from the suffering.”

“We could… but you’re not going to pick him,” Ev said with a grin. “So he’s a safe choice to take to the end.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sanity should come before safe choices.”

“Survival has to come before sanity,” Ev corrected.

I gave a dramatic sigh, and both men chuckled.

“So you’re an accountant?” Ev asked me, as the ride continued.

“Yep.” I nodded confirmation. “Money became an even bigger problem for humans when the world was moving toward its end, so accounting seemed safe. And I always liked math. It’s been steady since you guys stepped in and started all this game show stuff, so I can’t complain.”

“Do you enjoy it?” Jim asked.

“Yeah. I actually kind of miss my job. They skipped over me every time it came to promotions, because I had to disclose that I was a compatible mate, but I still liked it. I had friends there. Or at least enough acquaintances to have fun at work.”

“Do you think you’ll want to go back there after the show is over?”

“I don’t think anything about when the show is over. The Society made it very clear that I have to live wherever my mate wants me to live. I figured I’d be expected to pop out babies and keep the house clean or some shit like that.”

Jim made a face. “Sounds like hell.”

“To me, yeah.” I shot him a curious look. “But why does it sound like that to you?”

“You’ve got ten ancient fae on this show, Molly. None of us are looking to settle down. We’ve been settled down for far too long, and we want change. Passion. Sex. Fun.”

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