There was a gasp from the crowd that had gathered around them, but Declan was too angry to look. Zoë dropped James’s arm and was staring at them, a horrified expression on her face. Declan knew that he’d made his point, that he could stop now, but the words kept coming. It was everything he’d wanted to say to James over the months of his break-up with Georgia.
‘You only care about yourself and your image. Did you even care about her feelings? Did you care that you left her alone half the time while you went on tour? How she’d make excuse after excuse for you because she loved you that much? She wanted it to work. She probably would’ve forgiven you too. If you weren’tsucha shit.’
James gaped at him, seemingly struck dumb for the first time since Declan had known him. Declan glanced around at the other contestants; everyone wore similar expressions, ranging from shock to mild horror. Zoë looked close to tears, her arms wrapped around her torso.
‘Is that true?’ she asked quietly. James turned to her.
‘Baby—’ James was cut off by a chime and Darcy’s saccharine voice came over the loudspeaker.
‘Oh Lovers, don’t fight. It’s not sexy. Let’s have a challenge, shake things up a bit. Grab a swimsuit and meet by the pool.’
James stood there, blinking at him, until Zoë stalked away. Declan turned to Paige, but she didn’t meet his eye.
‘Sorry about that,’ she muttered. She and the cameraman followed Zoë and James into the villa.
An hour later, after everyone had a chance to cool down and the producers had captured an apologetic James grovelling to Zoë, the contestants lined up by the pool. The production team had set up a bar with a row of colourful cocktails and a stack of whiteboards, which Declan eyed with trepidation. They stood there for a moment before the PA system chimed and Darcy’s voice came through the loudspeakers.
‘Lovers,’ she read, tone cloying, ‘you’ve been causing a buzz on social media. Let’s see what the audience is saying about you. All good things… we hope. Each contestant will read a post with names redacted and guess who it’s about. If they pick correctly, they get to throw a drink. If they guess wrong, they’re the ones who get a drink to the face.’
Declan looked around and couldn’t see one excited face. The audience votes were a fairly good indicator of popularity, but this was the first time they’d hear directly what the public thought of them.
Imogen was first, prancing to the bar in a bright red bikini. ‘Not going to lie, [blank] dumping [blank] for [blank] was the biggest betrayal of my life and my wife cheated on me.’
The rest of the Lovers laughed, but Declan’s ears pricked, knowing this one was about him. He glanced over at Zoë and James, and James scowled back.
Imogen shot Declan an apologetic expression before confidently calling out: ‘Not going to lie, Zoë dumping Declan for James was the biggest betrayal of my life.’ She pulled away the tape, revealing she was correct. Grabbing a red drink, she walked over to Zoë, smiling with faux-sweetness before lifting the drink high and pouring it over her.
‘Hey, watch it!’ James yelled, as some of the drink splashed on him.
‘Oops,’ Imogen said, the smile not dropping from her face as she walked back to Declan.
‘Good one,’ he whispered, fist-bumping her.
Niall read out the next post. ‘[blank] gives us regular men hope that we can bag a total babe like [blank] while still being a complete idiot.’ He grinned. ‘Well, that can only be one of us,’ Niall said. ‘Sorry, Jackie-boy, this is Jack and Maeve.’ He was right.
‘Go for her!’ Jack cried, pushing Maeve in front of him as Niall walked over with a lime-green cocktail. Niall laughed and tried to throw the drink over Maeve’s head at Jack, but ended up dousing both of them.
‘Ooh, two for one!’ Stella called, as Niall walked back and wrapped her in a bear hug.
Oliver read out, ‘Okay, but [blank] and [blank] are in love. Cool, we all agree? Moving on.’ His face froze in concentration as he considered each couple. ‘Er, Niall and Stella?’ He ripped off the tape. ‘Okay, but Declan and Oliver are in love. Cool, we all agree? Moving on.’
Declan stiffened as Oliver shook his head dolefully, laughing along with the rest of the contestants and seeming completely unfazed. Thankfully, no one was looking at Declan; his cheekswere flushed, but he hoped his sunglasses covered most of his reaction.
Stella grabbed a drink off the bar, throwing it into Oliver’s face. ‘This’ll be chakra-cleansing, babe,’ she said. Oliver shook out his wet hair, managing to get some droplets on Stella in revenge.
Zoë walked over to the bar, grabbed a whiteboard and read out: ‘Are the men on this show blind? When they’ve got a queen like [blank] right there? God save her.’
Declan could see the relief on her face when she realised the post had nothing to do with him or James. ‘Oh, this has got to be my girl Holly!’ She pulled off the tape to reveal Holly’s name.
‘The queen commands you to stop,’ Holly joked as Zoë approached.
‘So sorry, Your Majesty!’ Zoë said, pouring the pink drink all over her.
Still dripping, Holly read the next post. ‘[Blank] is hot shit, can’t believe [blank] let her go without a fight. They were so cute together.’ Holly looked confused for a moment before saying slowly, ‘Imogen and Oliver?’
She was only half right. ‘Maeve is hot shit, can’t believe Oliver let her go…’ There were some wolf-whistles from the group.
‘Sorry, Holls,’ Oliver said, grabbing a drink from the bar and dumping it on her. ‘My bad for fumbling two women, I guess.’
