“So, if you weren’t coerced, that either makes you extremely naïve or completely insane.”
“I amneither, thank you very much,” I quip.Don't cry. Do not cry, whatever you do.I dig my nails into my palms and lift my chin.
“Listen,Princess,you don't have the first clue what you're getting yourself into out there. This isn't like some luxury safari you may have gone on in the past.”
What an arsehole!“I know that.”
“Then … why?” he asks, throwing his hands up.
“To prove I can.”
He stares at me for a second, then shakes his head. “Look, I'm sorry I insulted you at my sister's wedding, really. I didn't mean any of it. I was jetlagged, and I had a little too much to drink, and I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I’m sure I implied people from your class are soft or…or something to that effect. And I was way out of line. Okay?” he says, every word sounding sincere. “Way out of line. But trust me when I tell you this isnotthe way you want to prove me wrong. It’s life or death out there.”
Life or death? That doesn’t sound very comforting.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I can’t let you do this. There’s no way you can handle life in the jungle.”
Okay, that did it.“You can’tlet medo this? I’m sorry, but I seem to have missed the part where you were put in charge of my life.”
“That’s not what I—”
Holding up one hand, I say, “You don’t know me. You have no idea what I can do or where I’ve been. For all you know, I was raised in the jungle.”
“Were you?” he asks, narrowing his eyes.
I pause for a moment, then say, “No, but I’ve done…plenty of difficult things. Plenty of really…big, challenging things. So trust me when I tell you I can handle myself.”
He barks out a frustrated laugh, then turns and stalks back over to Dylan, who has a gleeful look on her face. The crew follows him, and I hurry after them.
“It's off,” Will says. “I'm out. There isno wayI'm going out there with her.”
“Well, I have a contract right here that says you are.” Dylan waves a stack of papers at him.
The two argue quietly for a few minutes and I overhear words like giant rats and lethal spiders.Oh dear, he's totally right about this. I have absolutely no business being out here. I'm actually cheering for him to win this argument so I can go right home and forget all about this stupid idea.
Dylan raises her voice. “Would you like to hear the two options for show titles? It’ll either beA Princess in the Wild World, if she films with you, or it’ll beThe Princess and the Bearbecause I can have Bear Grylls here by tomorrow morning. Either way, I get my show.”
“Oh really?”
“Yes. Really,” she says, crossing her arms.
“You called him? You called that hack to take over my show?”
Shrugging, Dylan says, “I always have a Plan B. And in this case, it’s ‘B’ as in Bear.”
Turning to me, he's says, “This is really what you want? You want to be out in the Congo with giant rats, venomous snakes, and spiders the size of your face?”
My knees are shaking. Literally shaking. Swallowing hard, I squeak out a yes which causes him to scoff.
He shakes his head. “Do you see that helicopter over there? The one with the ropes next to it?” He points at it, and my gaze follows his finger.
“You know what the ropes are for?”
“Obviously.” I shrug, when in truth, I have no idea what they’re for, and honestly, I don’t even want to know.
He smiles down at me—and it's not a particularly nice smile. “So, you’re keen to stand on that skid at two hundred feet above the jungle canopy and rappel to the ground?”
Oh, fuck me.“Definitely.”
