Harry shrugged. He looked along the row to see the other contestants looking just as confused as they were. They didn’t have to wait long for an explanation.
“The number you’ve each chosen is the order in which you’ll present your dare. Now, I have to tell you, in the interest of fairness, you will all be doing thesamedare. Louise, can you please put our contestants out of their misery and let them know what they’ll be going for this game.”
“Sure, Brian.” Louise threw a megawatt smile Brian’s way, all brilliant white teeth and red lipstick. While they’d been opening their envelopes, she’d obviously disappeared somewhere off-stage and now had a number of cloth bags hanging over her arm. “The challenge for each team is to go to your cabin and return with one of your partner’s belongings—something that shows a side to their personality they wouldn’t necessarily want the world to see.”
“I can’t wait to see how you’ll embarrass your better half. All in good fun, of course!” Brian leered again. “I can’t wait to find out all the secrets!”
The audience applauded, drawing Harry’s attention from Louise to the crowd who watched them, not that he could make out much due to the lights shining in his eyes. Fuck knew why they were clapping; it sounded like a stupid idea to him.Where’s the fun in that? Reality shows are stupid.
“The only rule is that the item needs to fit into one of these bags, and you only have thirty minutes from when you get the green light. Anyone not back by the time the buzzer goes off will be disqualified.” Louise held up a calico bag that had the number one printed on it in large font. “So, who drew the lucky number one?”
Susan held her card aloft. “We’re number one.”
“Here’s a bag for you.” Louise passed it over.
Next up was Stephanie. Then it was John’s turn. Harry eyed the bag John was holding with trepidation. He had no idea what John would choose to bring back, but just the thought of it gave him the chills.
A short while later—time that seemed to go much too fast—the contestants tasked with filling the canvas bags had returned with their finds, and the big reveals kicked off.
First up was a pair of Melanie’s undies. Susan passed them to Louise, who read the slogan printed across the back. “It’s Not Going To Spank Itself.”
The audience laughed, and thankfully Melanie did too, and from what Harry could tell, it was real—a full-on belly laugh. “No matter how long you’ve been together, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to let someone know what you want,” Melanie said, waggling her brows at Susan from beneath her glasses.
“My wife, despite her sweet appearance, can be a firecracker, as shown by her choice of undergarments,” Susan added.
Eying the bright red undies with their sexy message, Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He had a couple of pairs of boxer briefs emblazoned with cutesy prints his sister had given him for his last birthday. John wouldn’t have had any trouble finding those. Plus, he had the romance novel he was reading. He could picture it now, sitting on the bedside table next to his side of the bed, the cover with its two kissing men in all its glory for John to see—he couldn’t miss it. And there was the added benefit that John had tormented him mercilessly about his reading habits, so it was probably an item that was fresh in John’s mind to use to tease him with. Whatever was in the bag John had returned with didn’t look very heavy and most definitely wasn’t bulky, so hopefully that was a good sign.
Stephanie had brought back a T-shirt belonging to Stavros. “He bought this at the concert where we met. He’ll tell you he kept the T-shirt because it has so many good memories, but don’t believe a word of it. My Stav is a hoarder. He hardly ever gets rid of clothes and wears them till they fall apart, and even then he uses them as rags to wash the car rather than tossing them in the bin.”
Brian chuckled. “There’s nothing wrong with that, Stephanie,” Brian said, then added a mock whisper off-side to the audience, “Says a guy who does exactly the same thing.” He raised his voice again. “But I’m keen to hear more about the AC/DC concert and how it brought you two together.”
Harry let the conversation about Stephanie’s unexpected passion for heavy metal wash over him. Seeing the other couples breeze through their turns put him at ease, and when their turn finally arrived, Harry was feeling a whole lot better. His smile even felt natural, and not forced. But his happiness was short lived when Louise pulled the item from the bag.
God dammit!
“What do we have there, Louise?” Brian asked.
Louise read the label, then held the small tube aloft. “It’s cream for athlete’s foot.”
Harry’s face flamed, and he was sure he was red as a beetroot under the lights. His stomach felt heavy, and he wanted to be anywhere but here.What a fucking arsehole!Seriously, there was nothing remotely amusing about the tube of antifungal cream. It wasn’t fun like the cute pair of Melanie’s knickers Susan had brought back or leading to a surprise story like the AC/DC tour T-shirt. It was just plain embarrassing. Actually, Harry reminded himself, it wasn’t that embarrassing, just boring, and another example of John being a thoughtless dick. Plus, that tube of cream had been stuffed into the inside pocket of Harry’s suitcase that was pushed under the bed, showing John had gone to extra lengths to rummage through his stuff, and he was annoyed as hell.
Despite how uncomfortable Harry was, he shrugged as the crowd laughed. He tried for nonchalant but wasn’t sure he entirely pulled it off, given the understanding look Evan threw his way.
“One of the downsides of using the showers at the gym, Louise. But you know how it is—a lot goes into staying healthy,” Harry said, giving her a flirty smirk.
“Oh, and itdefinitelyshows, Harry.” Louise almost purred. “I’m sure it’s a small price to play for a body like yours.”
Harry sat up extra straight, conscious he was puffing out his chest, despite knowing his cheeks were flaming. “Thanks.” He shot her a wink. He hated playing up the sexy angle, but the look on John’s face was worth it, especially when there were a few catcalls from the audience. He got immense satisfaction at the narrowing of John’s eyes and his pursed lips.Yeah, take that, you arsehole.
“So, John. Tell us why you chose this item to bring back. What does it tell us about Harry?”
“Umm… well, he has athlete’s foot?”
Harry could see Brian’s exasperation, but he obviously realised he was fighting a losing battle with John and wouldn’t get a better answer so let it drop.
The game moved on.
Dennis had returned with the sweetest little stuffed Beanie Baby that Mei took everywhere. She’d laughed, admitting to being embarrassed that she was an adult of nearly thirty years of age who had a stuffed toy, but it had belonged to someone dear to her heart and travelled with her everywhere. Amber had brought a photo she said she’d pinched from Evan’s bedside table. It was a print of an ultrasound image, black and white and grainy. The baby looked more like a blob, but written in red ink on the border was a title: Uncle Evan’s Princess. It was adorable. Evan had blushed when teased about carrying around the image, but it showed just how much he loved his family and how important they were to him.
