Page 49 of Glamour & Gumballs

Someone else sighed.

“I knew the group snuggling was a shit idea.”

“Then you should’ve volunteered to cuddle alone, bastard.”

“What do we do about the sleeping arrangements?” someone else asked.

Rhett hadn’t spoken. Hopefully it wasn’t because he was too furious with me. I wasn’t really sure what I could’ve done to make him mad, but he definitely hadn’t seemed happy.

“She picked Rhett days ago,” someone said glumly. “I think we have to ask him to keep doing it.”

“Rhett?” someone asked.

He scoffed. “Fine.”

The grumpiness in his response made my stomach tight with worry, even though I knew he was just playing the game.

I didn’t want to get myself mated to someone who didn’t want me. I really didn’t want that.

Then again, it would be better to mate with someone who didn’t want me, who I knew would treat me well, than the opposite.

So maybe it was fine.

And Rhett did want me. He’d said so himself. I was just… worried, I guess.

“She was shivering pretty badly,” one of the guys said. “You should go now.”

Rhett growled at them, but a minute later, lifted me up so he could lay beneath me in the shelter.

His eyes collided with mine, and the world twisted with another illusion.

We were on the warm beach again, watching the sunset. I was sitting on his lap, facing him, this time.

“You smell like Colt,” he growled at me. “I want to kill the bastard for touching you.”

The tightness in my stomach eased.

He pulled me to his chest, hugging me tightly to him. I could feel his grip loose in reality, and knew he was still playing the game, even if he wasn’t absolutely terrific at it.

“I fucking hate seeing them touch you. Knowing I can’t touch you. Not being able to sit down and talk like two normal people. This game is torture.”

He continued, “Now, they’re trying to convince you to like them. I don’t know how to fucking handle it. Kyle’s going to end up starting fights daily to keep the attention off my shitty self-control,” he growled. “But the only way to get to the end if they realize I want you is to win all of the challenges, and some of these bastards are better at puzzles than I am.”

There would be puzzle challenges, which meant Rhett probably couldn’t win everything. Even if he was good at some kinds of puzzles, which I didn’t know if he was, there would likely be at least one he couldn’t win.

So, we couldn’t just admit our relationship and hope for the best.

We had to play the game.

Despite the illusion filling my view, I tilted my face toward Rhett. His ear brushed my lips a moment later, and I whispered, “Julian is onto you. You have to stop glaring at everyone who’s near me. Trust me.”

He squeezed me tighter. “Of course I trust you. The plan Kyle put together requires a fuck ton of that trust. It just feels like it’s going to be a damn miracle if I make it to the end of this thing.”

He lowered his lips to my head and kissed the top of my wild hair. Maybe it was a good thing I hadn’t chopped it. “We’re going to have to start that chaos to get the attention off me.”

“I’m listening.”

My lips curved as he explained the idea him and Kyle had put together.

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