Bedroom Games
Page 40

A wry smile curved my mouth. “I’m a Zumba instructor at a fitness club.”
His eyes widened with appreciation, and he gave me one of those heart-melting grins. “That explains why you have an ass that won’t quit, then. Damn. That’s hot.”
I sniffed. Why was it that Brodie’s commentary could always bring a smile out of me no matter how sad I was? “So what do you do outside of here? Other than show up on reality TV, of course.”
“I wait tables.” He grinned. “Actually, I wanted to use the shows to springboard my way into Hollywood.”
I blanched at the thought. Mactor. And proud of it, too.
“But,” he continued, and shrugged his tanned shoulders. “The longer I have a camera in my face, the more I think that this is fun but not what I’d want to do with my life. What exactly, I’m not sure.”
I knew that feeling. Being in the house was fun, but the sense of ‘un-reality’ in the reality TV show could drive you a little nutty at times. “It doesn’t have anything to do with being portrayed as a villain last year?”
He just grinned at me as if proud. “I didn’t mind that. Katy got pissy at me, but she’s my sister. You can pull stuff with your sister that you can’t with other people. I knew she wouldn’t stay mad at me for long. I’d just give her puppy dog eyes, and we’d be all better.” As if to prove this, he stuck his lower lip out and batted his lashes at me.
I groaned and swiped at him with one of the throw pillows on the bed. “Nice try, but if you screw me over, I’m not going to be as forgiving as Katy. I need that money.”
“We both need the money,” he agreed. “Trouble is, only one of us can win it.”
“Yeah, well, I think I need it more than you.”
“Hey now, didn’t I just tell you that I’m a waiter? At least you have a real job.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t pay crazy money. I have enough to cover my own bills, but not my mom’s, too. And she’s got no one but me.” I sobered, the good mood fleeting. “I need a lot of money to help dig her out of the hole she’s gotten into and to get her some help. It…feels crushing at times.” Even now, I felt that familiar panic whenever I thought about my mom. How helpless I was to stop her. She was a grown woman. She could make her own decisions. And yet…I felt responsible. I sucked in a deep, calming breath. I was here on the show to help her.
Brodie nodded and dragged me closer to him until he’d pulled me against his chest. “We’ll figure something out. I’ve got your back.”
I cuddled against his chest, hating myself for how much I enjoyed being in his arms. “You promise you won’t say anything about my mom to the others? I don’t want them to know.” Just thinking about the others knowing my problems made me feel weirdly vulnerable, and it was a sensation I didn’t like.
“Well, it’s clear Jendan suspects something,” Brodie said, and his fingers scratched at the sides of my shaved head comfortingly. “But don’t worry. You can trust me.”
Trust Brodie Short. God, I was stupid if I did. And yet… “Just don’t burn me at the end, okay?”
“I won’t. I promise.”
And for some reason, I believed him.
 
 
CHAPTER EIGHT
 
 
“So yeah, for the first time in my life, I’m letting a woman drive the relationship. Kandis says no sex, so we don’t have sex. And I’m fine with that. Really. My balls might not be, but my brain is.” – Brodie Short, Day 40
 
 
The week had been an eventful one. It was like the house was a car that had gone from neutral into first gear. It seemed like every other day, someone was being voted out of the house. True to what we’d decided, Brodie put up Fido and Sunnie, and Fido was the one to go home. He looked stunned at his eviction, though he’d shook hands and hugged everyone as he left.
Two days later, Marla won the Power Play and put up Sunnie and Jayme. Neither one looked surprised, though they’d both shot dirty looks my way, as if I were some sort of mastermind that had schemed to get them all out of the house.
Heck, maybe I was, but I wasn’t the only one to blame here. And I didn’t care. I wasn’t here to make lifelong friends. I was here to make a million dollars. If I were here to make friends, I’d probably play more like Brodie.
The thought had crossed my mind that Brodie was using this house—and me—as a social network of connections he could play on to win the money. Everyone liked Brodie, even when they got voted out. He saw them off with a smile and a hug, and for the girls, a flirtatious wink.
When we voted Sunnie out a few days later, she’d been snotty and irritated toward Marla, Jendan, and I. But when it was time for her to go, Sunnie hugged Brodie for so long that Becky cleared her throat into the microphone.
That hadn’t sat so well with me.
Brodie and I had kept things to a playful simmer in regards to our pseudo-relationship. We were still partners in the game, but I wasn’t sure if we were more than that or if we’d ever be. Every night, we’d crawl into bed together and wait for two am to roll around.
As soon as it did? All bets were off. For the next two hours, we’d cuddle, make out, and generally do everything short of actual sex. It was like penetration was the next step, and we’d mutually decided not to go further…but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have fun in the meantime. However, outside of the bedroom, you’d never know that more was going on between Brodie and me than flirting. He gave me the same casual affection that he gave Marla and Jayme. If he hugged me? He made sure to hug the other women. If he tickled me or swam with me in the pool? I’d see him doing the same with Jayme not an hour later.
It messed with my head in a major way. What was my relationship with Brodie? Something simply to pass the time in a house where we had no TV? Or something more?
It was impossible to tell, and I’d been hoisted on my own petard because I was the one insisting that we keep it a secret. But now it was so secret that I wasn’t sure it was real. Of course, how stupid was it to fall for a guy that was known to be a lying flirt in a situation like this?
It was like I was just begging for my heart to be broken.
It was almost like Brodie had no qualms about doing it.
“There’s just Jayme left now,” Brodie announced to our small group when we had our next bedtime meeting. “That means one of us needs to be nominated alongside her this week for eviction. And I think Kandis needs to go up.”
I recoiled at the suggestion, hurt. “What?”
“Someone has to go up,” Brodie said. “Jayme needs someone she’s guaranteed not to win against.”
“Yeah, but why me?” Just the thought made me nervous.
Brodie gestured at the Power Play necklace looped around his neck. “Because I have this, which means I can’t go up. And I don’t think Marla and Jendan would trust us if we nominated one of them, am I right?” He looked at the pair sitting across from us.
Marla crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. “I don’t want it to be me. Not that I don’t trust you guys, but…I’d rather Kandis go up.”