Page 23 of Playing With My Heart Strings

When I walk in the doors of the axe throwing building, the girls chosen by production—Kelsie, Jade, Sage, Aspen, and America’s Sweetheart herself—are already waiting.

“Hey, handsome.” Aspen immediately walks over, looping her arm underneath mine to rest her hand on my bicep.

“Hi, ladies.” I glance down to the spot where her hand rests. “I’m excited to spend time with you tonight, have a little bit of fun, and hopefully get to know you all on a deeper level.”

Aspen’s hand is still on my arm, despite the other girls awkwardly shifting on their feet at the sight. I debate pulling away, but then an employee gets our attention, directing us to the three stalls we’ll be using, separating Aspen from me anyway.

Kelsie and Sage are put in the stall to my left, and Baylor and Aspen to the one on my right, leaving me and Jade next to each other in the middle stall. Each stall only has one small hatchet.

“Oh, God, I’m probably going to be horrible at this.” A laugh erupts from my left side as Kelsie picks up one of the axes and stands in front of the target.

Sage leans away from her, a grimace on her face. “I’m going to stay away from you, then. I don’t really feel like getting hit by an axe today.” She backs up slightly, ensuring that she’s outof any potential line of fire. I don’t blame her, because with the way Kelsie is holding the axe, there’s no telling what direction it could go.

Still giggling, Kelsie throws the axe, or at least attempts to throw it. Just like she predicted, she misses horribly. She half-skips over to the hatchet lying on the floor. I’m glad she’s having fun, though, more than I can say about the grumpy girls to my right. Neither Baylor or Aspen look particularly interested in the activity.

Baylor reluctantly picks up an axe while Aspen picks at her nails.

“Show me what you’ve got, America’s Sweetheart.” I wink at Baylor.

The look she gives me sends a chill down my spine, and I can’t explain why. There’s something about her that draws me in.

She huffs out a breath as she lines up and raises the axe over her head. The muscles in her arms contract as she pulls the tool back then throws it at the target, the blade soaring through the air before sticking in the middle ring.

The other girls turned their heads, looking at Baylor’s target.

“Not too bad.” Jarrod approaches from behind me, clapping his hands. “I hope you girls are warmed up, because this isn’t just any date. It’s a competition.”

I can’t tell who it is, but one of the girls lets out a quiet groan as they circle around Jarrod.

“Just a friendly competition, but whoever wins may or may not get an advantage.” He raises his eyebrows. “The winner of tonight’s challenge will secure themselves a solo date next week.”

One of the girls gasps, but Jarrod continues, unphased. “Yes, that means that if you win tonight’s challenge, you are granted immunity from the elimination later this week.”

“Well, this isn’t fair,” Aspen grumbles.

Kelsie snorts. “Guess we already know I’m not winning.”

“Ladies, you’ll be given five axes to throw. If you hit a bullseye, that’s five points. The middle ring is worth three points, and the outer ring is one point. Now, there’s also those small green circles on the outside. If you can stick one of those, it’s seven points. Your axe must stay in the target for the points to count. Whoever has the highest score at the end will win the challenge.”

Once Jarrod finishes explaining the rules, a few employees bring out a couple more axes.

“All right, let’s get started, shall we?”

Each of the girls line up about twelve feet away from their targets. Speed isn’t a factor, so there’s no need to rush, but when the buzzer sounds, it’s as though a spark of competitiveness flares within all of them.

Aspen throws her axe first. It rotates through the air before sticking in the middle ring. One employee stands by each station to keep track of the scores.

“How are you doing over there, Kelsie?” I call out to her, amusement in my voice. There’s no way she’s going to win this competition. Almost every single axe she’s thrown has either been a horrible miss or has hit the target then fallen to the ground.

“Great! I suck at this!” She laughs, and I wonder how she could be so carefree knowing the stakes of the competition.

Sage has racked up nine points, Jade has five, and Baylor and Aspen are leading with twelve points each. The rest of the girls are too far behind to catch up, so it’s down to these two. Competitive energy radiates off them as they side-eye each other after every throw. Even the cameramen are focusing on the two of them, a rivalry seeming to form between the girls.

“I’m going to get that solo date,” Aspen grits through her teeth, her voice barely audible over the clattering of axes on the floor, likely from Kelsie’s end.

She’s down to her last one, and sweat beads on her forehead as she raises the hatchet. A hushed silence falls over the group as she throws it. It floats right into the bullseye, adding five points to her tally and securing the win, unless Baylor can hit the small green targets.

“Ooh, we’ve got a competition on our hands.” Jarrod claps from the side of us. “It’s down to the wire here.”

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