“I didn’t, but I plan to,” I reminded him. “With or without your support, Pete. Do yourself a favor and remember who else has a contract coming up,” I warned. “I prefer a manager who supports my choices and has zero problem realigning myself to one who does.”
A knock at the dressing room door interrupted my subtle threat. Pete answered the door and one of the show producers stood outside. “We’d like to film your introduction to your teammate, Drew,” she said, peeking inside the dressing room.
“I’m out of makeup,” I said. “That still work?”
“Prefer it actually,” she responded. “He’ll be in the props room looking through axes and bow and arrow sets. It’ll be a natural looking meetup.”
“Give me five,” I said.
“Cool,” she said, walking away.
Pete’s dick was dragging in the mud after my threat. “You’d really sign with another manager?” he asked.
“Not if you support me, bro, but yeah, I will,” I answered. “I’m tired of hiding.”
Without another word, Pete left the dressing room and I pulled on a tank top to match my gym shorts, finishing my look with a baseball cap. After a short life of being an athlete and winning the genetic lottery, I wished to be more than just my physical appearance. I wanted someone to like me for being a good guy and a loyal companion. I was a guy desperate for love with the right man. I was more than the things people saw in me and ready to share that with a special person. Someone who would finally fill a part of me that I’d concealed for far too long as I struggled with my identity.
I wandered down the hallway and stood outside the open door. The crew was almost set up and going over the process with my partner for the season before I would step in and act like we’d just bumped into one another.
A slender young male nervously listened to the producers when they tugged on his messy black hair, trying to make sense of his style. I thought his hair was perfect. Thick, long, black hair, hung below his ears, parted down the middle. One side was tucked behind his ear revealing his soft brown complexion with dark brown eyes. His skin was a flawless earthy tone with high cheekbones and full lips. He was stunning. The type of guy I’d fantasized about. A beach boy with a surfer charm. I was in trouble. Naked with that for hopefully several weeks? Kill me now.
CHAPTER THREE: ERIK
Day Three
We’d been told that within a day or so after the live show—when the series participants had been introduced—that we’d be flown to the new season’s location, Vancouver Island, in Western Canada. This was day three and we were being transferred to the filming sites. The Pacific Northwest island was the forty-third largest island in the world and home to nearly eight hundred thousand inhabitants, according to my research. I might’ve missed training for physical endurance, but not reading inconsequential facts about our destination. I’d learned that most folks lived on the southern tip near the capital city of Victoria, with massive sections of unoccupied land lying in the middle, and in the northern parts of the island, terrain that was still very much wild and primitive.
The ten teams would be helicoptered from Victoria to Mooyah Bay where we’d be taken by boat up the inlet and onto Gold River. Ten separate waterfront spots were chosen to be similar in topography with the same available resources for everyone. To make it fair, per the article I read. Five teams on each side were across the river from one another separated by a minimum of ten miles of shoreline between us. There’d be zero chances we’d bump into one another and would have no idea whether the teams were still competing or had failed. If a player tapped out, their partners were forced to exit as well. The last team standing were the winners and would share the million-dollar prize.
Drew sat silently across from me in warm clothing. I found it odd that he’d dressed so cozy considering we were minutes from being forced to disrobe. “Nervous?” he asked, removing his ever-present baseball cap and raking through his blond buzz cut. “I always get nervous at first,” he added, smiling.
“Afraid is more like it,” I admitted.
“Wrong show, buddy,” he quipped. “That’s on Discovery, and they don’t pay shit,” he added.
It took me a minute to understand the joke. I had in fact checked on the Naked and Afraid series to see if they offered a prize. It didn’t. “I heard,” I said. “Kinda why I’m here.”
“Looking for a big payday, are ya?”
“Something like that,” I answered. More like desperate for one.
“Did you practice a lot? Do some extreme camping perhaps?” he inquired, studying my exposed arms in my tank top. I bet he thought I was too skinny to be in a competition like Bare Naked.
“Some,” I lied. I couldn’t maintain eye contact with him. Holding Drew’s gaze was a lot harder than I’d imagined. I despised lying, so I told him the truth. Honesty was the basis of all successful relationships, after all. “Well…none, actually,” I confessed. “That’s why I’m afraid.”
“Have you ever gone camping?” he asked.
I shook my head, warmth creeping down my neck.
“Hunt? Fish?”
“No,” I whispered, gripping my seat. My stomach dropped when the helicopter ascended. “Oh, God,” I said, fighting the urge to throw up.
Drew must’ve noticed my distress. “Ever been on a helicopter before?” he asked.
“I’m a student,” I blabbed, trying to find any excuse for my lack of any sort of skill that would allow me to be on an outdoors television series.
“Too busy then,” he said, placing his arm on the back of his bench seat across from me. I swallowed hard, trying not to stare at the immense bulge in his sweatpants as his legs parted. Why are they always gray in color?
