Bedroom Games
Page 34

Romance on a reality TV show was the worst kind of idea. So I lied. “Nothing’s changed. I’m just flirting with Brodie for strategic purposes. I’m here to win the money, just like you. Don’t worry about that. You and I are solid to the end. Final two.”
“Okay.” He smiled, clearly relieved by my answer. “Good.”
Truth was, when we got to that point, I’d make a decision. A hard one. And it wouldn’t necessarily involve taking Jendan.
Man, I sure was doing a lot of lying in this game. I hoped it didn’t come back to bite me in the end.
 
 
~~ * ~~
 
 
I avoided Brodie for most of the day.
Well, as much as you can avoid someone that you are living in a house with and sharing a room with. He seemed to understand my reluctance to broach what had happened last night, though, and didn’t attempt to get cozy with me again. I spent the afternoon with the girls in the kitchen as Jayme tried out recipes and Marla, Sunnie, and I drank coffee, did our nails, and gossiped. Sunnie wasn’t glaring at me any longer, so I considered that a small win, though I knew it was temporary.
She was going to hold a grudge. That was what you did in this game.
That evening, I chatted with Marla and Jendan. They wanted to make plans for the nomination ceremony, since it could happen at any time. The producers liked to switch dates up on us, so I understood the paranoia about being caught off guard. I invited Marla and Jendan back to our room after lights out and then let Brodie know when we were getting ready for bed.
If he looked disappointed, he didn’t say anything. He simply nodded and put on a pair of pajama bottoms over his boxers.
I wore flannel pajamas, too. Being all covered up around Brodie made things safer.
At close to midnight, there was a soft knock on our door. Brodie and I were sitting on the bed, discussing challenges and going over who had come in what place in case there was a memory recall challenge in the future. Brodie had mentioned he’d gotten burned on something like that on The World Races, so we’d been practicing nightly and making up catchy jingles to remind us of the order. He was determined not to lose again, and I didn’t blame him. To come that close to winning last time and walk away with nothing but a pat on the back? It had to be devastating.
Brodie hopped up from the bed and opened the door, and Marla and Jendan slipped in, both in their pajamas. They waved and Marla bounded onto the bed next to where I sat, cross legged, over the covers. Brodie quickly shut the door behind them again and flicked off the lights. “Sorry,” he whispered into the dark. “Just making sure nobody catches us.”
“No problem,” Marla whispered back. “I hope this isn’t a bad time?”
“Not at all,” I said, perhaps a bit more loudly than I should have. “We were just chatting about past challenges.”
“So,” Jendan said, and I felt his weight sink down on the bed. Now all four of us were seated in a circle on the big mattress. “Brodie has the Power, but if we have a final four, I think we should all have a say in who goes up on the block.”
“That’s fine with me,” Brodie said. “Any suggestions?”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
“Sunnie seems like an obvious target,” Marla finally said.
“I’d like to keep Sunnie,” Brodie said.
I frowned into the dark. “Why?”
“Well, for starters, she sucks in challenges,” Brodie said with a chuckle, and I felt his hand reach out and caress my knee in the darkness. A hot flush rippled through my body, and I wanted to push his hand away so he wouldn’t distract me.
But…I didn’t.
“And Sunnie’s easily influenced,” Brodie said. “She was furious at Kandis earlier because she thought she engineered Casper’s vote out, but by this evening, Sunnie was smiling and painting Kandis’s nails. We can control her. We just need to make her feel safe.”
“Except for the fact that she’s decided I should be the next to go,” I pointed out. “She more or less said during the challenge that if she got Power? She was putting me up for eviction.”
“It’s true,” Marla agreed. “I saw the looks she was giving Kandis. I think you’re wrong about Sunnie being tractable. I think it’s an act.”
Hearing her confirm my suspicions made me a little nervous. We were all trying to play so hard that I wondered who in this house was real and who was fake.
And I wondered if I was seeing real Brodie or fake Brodie. Which one was in bed with me each night? Strategic Brodie who was ensuring my vote? Or the real Brodie, who maybe liked to kiss me? I didn’t know. The thumb casually caressing my knee felt real. Was I simply reading too much into flirting?
I didn’t trust anyone or anything anymore.
“Frankly, I’d rather get out someone that’s a threat to Kandis than keep someone that might be a vote in your pocket. No offense, Brodie,” Jendan said.
“None taken,” Brodie replied, but I felt his hand tighten on my knee. “We’ll keep Sunnie on the table.”
“So that leaves Fido and Jayme,” I said. “Brodie, what do you think?”
“Jayme’s dangerous,” Marla said before Brodie could answer. “She won Power before, remember?”
“You have a point,” Brodie said. “But Fido’s trying to lay low. He’s more athletic than he’s pretending to be, and I worry that if we keep him around, he’s going to be serious competition for the next few challenges when it’s crucial to make sure that we keep Power.”
“Both good arguments,” Jendan said. “How do you feel, Kandis?”
I considered for a long moment. Was this answer some sort of test from Jendan, too? If I aligned my answer with Brodie, would Jendan start to worry about our alliance? We needed to stay four strong until we got out the other three. It would be too easy for a pair to flip and screw everyone else’s plans. But Fido was stronger than Jayme, and Jayme would vote with Brodie, which meant she was a vote in my corner, too.
Plus, the fact that Fido was trying to lay low didn’t sit well with me. That was my strategy, darn it. “I vote Fido. I don’t trust him. Any guy that calls himself Fido automatically makes me suspicious.”
Marla laughed. “You do realize that it’s a nickname because he owns a dog-walking service?”
“Don’t know, don’t care,” I said. “I think it’s to throw us off guard and make him seem more friendly and amiable than he really is. I mean, if his name were Jake, we’d have a different view of him, wouldn’t we? Jake’s totally a playboy name.”
Marla snorted. “You mean like ‘Brodie?’”
Just like that, actually. I didn’t want to agree with her aloud because I felt Brodie stiffen next to me, clearly irritated at Marla’s words. I changed the subject back to the vote. “I just don’t feel like we can trust Fido.”
“I do see him whispering in the corners with Jayme a lot.” Marla sighed. “I thought it was because he liked her at first, but now I wonder if there’s more to it than that.”
“So we put up Sunnie and Fido,” Brodie said. “We either split up a strong duo or we get rid of someone who’s gunning for Kandis. I think that seems solid. Do you guys have a preference for who?”