Bedroom Games
Page 10

“Uh huh,” Brodie said, clearly not buying it.
I ignored him and moved across the room to flick off the lights. The room turned pitch black, and I glanced around warily as the House Guests logo faded from the big TV on the opposite wall to allow us to sleep in the dark. There was a two-way mirror behind me, and I glanced at it. It seemed creepier in the dark, and I remembered the shadow I’d seen earlier. Jeez. One day and I was already seeing ghosts.
I hurried across the dark room and climbed onto my couch to prep for bed. I fluffed my pillow, determined not to think about it. At least Brodie was sleeping across from me. If there were ghosts, maybe they’d eat his face first. I closed my eyes, comforted by that thought.
A heavy body thumped down on the sofa next to me.
My eyes flew open, and I could barely make out Brodie’s bigger form and his spiky blond hair. He’d crawled into bed—on the narrow couch—next to me and was now pinning me under the blankets. My fists flew to his chest, and I pounded against him. “Get off me, you douche—”
“Shhhh,” Brodie said in a whisper. “I’m here because I want to talk strategy.”
I paused my assault, surprised. “You…are?”
He laughed softly. “Kandis, don’t get me wrong. You’re smokin’ hot, but I’m here to win the money.”
That made me pause. “So what’s with all the flirting and cooing over Sunnie? Or Jayme?”
“Jealous?” he teased. “Seriously, though, it’s strategy. Both are pretty girls, but I need to win some cash this time around. I played with my dick last time, and look where it got me.”
“You played with your dick—”
“Figure of speech,” he corrected in a harsh whisper. “I wasn’t really playing with my dick on camera. I meant I played while thinking of my dick, and I came in second place. My sister’s a little bull in a china shop when she gets her feelings hurt. I didn’t think about that last time, and it cost me the money.”
“It was your own fault,” I chided him. “I seem to remember you playing a lot of suck-face with a rocker chick.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “She was hot. But she was also terrible at all the crucial challenges and tended to be hung over when I needed her to be at her best. I’m going to play different this time.”
I pulled back a little, trying to study his face in the darkness. “Do tell.”
“Well,” Brodie said, and he turned on the narrow couch so he could prop his head up with one bent arm and face me. His face was inches from mine, and I shivered to myself at how close he was. Darn Brodie for being so good looking. Darn Brodie for being so completely untrustworthy and a horndog.
“This game’s about partnering up and making sure you’re not voted off. Last time, as long as I competed hard, I was safe. This time, it’s different.” He shifted and sidled even closer to me. “I already talked to Sunnie and she’s going to work with us. Katy and Liam will work with us because Katy always works with me. And I’m pretty sure I can get Jayme. We talked about it, but she said she wasn’t ready to commit on day one. Marla said the same thing. I promised each of them final four. We can decide who we want to take when we get closer to the end.”
Annoyance flashed through me, and I wanted to smack him, hard. “Are you freaking kidding me? You’ve already made a bunch of deals with people?”
He looked surprised at my anger. “Well, yeah. We don’t have to keep to them if we don’t want to.”
“Why would you make a bunch of deals on day one?” My whisper was so harsh it sounded more like a hiss. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Oh come on.” Brodie was starting to look as annoyed as I felt. “You mean to tell me that you don’t have an alliance with Mr. Stuntman? I saw you two getting cozy and making googly eyes at each other.”
“For starters, we were not making googly eyes at each other. And that is one person. One. You’ve talked to everyone in the house with boobs and made sure your ass is safe.”
And where, exactly, did that leave me?
He snorted and sat up. “I thought you wanted to play this game.”
“I do. I’m here to win, too. But your strategy sucks, Brodie. You ever heard of laying low?”
“There’s no need,” he said with a grin and got off the couch. His whisper as he moved back to his own bed carried to me in the darkness. “You only have to lay low if you’re not confident you can come out on top. And I know I can—that we can.”
Yeah, I didn’t miss that little slip of the tongue. I bit back my angry retort, not wanting to damage things further with Brodie, and thumped my pillow, trying to relax and go to sleep.
The house was eerily still, and my couch was facing that creepy, dark two-way mirror. I was exhausted, but I was also keyed up and not entirely sure I could sleep. Brodie didn’t seem to be having any trouble, though. I glanced over at his couch and noticed his handsome face was relaxed, his head propped up on his pillow as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
Near my head, a floorboard creaked.
I shot upright, skin prickling. “What was that?”
“Go to sleep, Kandis,” Brodie murmured.
“I heard something.” There was another creak, more ominous. “There. Did you hear that?”
“It’s an old house,” he said sleepily, not even opening his eyes. “They make noises.”
“An old haunted house,” I corrected, but laid down again after scanning the darkness. No shadows, at least. No unexpected shadows, that is. I wondered how the people in the attic room — the Hanging Room—were doing. If I was losing my shit in the wide open living room, I could only imagine how creeped out the others were.
When I heard a floorboard creak again, I pulled the blankets over my head.
 
 
CHAPTER THREE
 
 
“My god. Kandis is smokin’ hot, but she is the most paranoid chick I’ve ever met. She freaks out about everything. I spent half the night last night thinking she was going to climb into bed with me at every creak in the house…and the other half of the night disappointed she didn’t. I’m only human, after all.” – Brodie Short, Day 3
 
 
“How is your first week going, Kandis?”
It was day three, and I was back in the confessional. I rubbed my eyes, thinking. “Well, my partner’s determined to score with everything female, he’s made deals with half the house, Mickey keeps trying to give me massages I don’t want, and I’m pretty sure the living room is haunted. Other than that, just great.”
There was no reaction on the other end, and I felt suddenly awkward.
A moment later, the confessional booth voice spoke again. “Have you made any alliances?”
I shifted in the confessional chair and then tucked my legs under so I wouldn’t twitch and give myself away. “Well, seeing as Brodie’s spoken ‘for’ me to everyone?” I made finger-quotes to show my annoyance. “I guess I also have alliances with half the house. But I’ve only really discussed strategy with Brodie and Jendan. Brodie because I have to, and Jendan because I actually trust him. He’s like a brother to me in here. We have each other’s backs.”