Bedroom Games
Page 41

“I’ll go,” Jendan offered, and he glanced at me. “But I admit it wouldn’t be comfortable for me.”
“No,” Marla said firmly to her partner. “Do not volunteer, Jendan. If you go out in a surprise move, I’m the next one out the door.” She looked back at me. “I’m sorry, Kandis, but it has to be you if our alliance is going to stick.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Brodie put his hand on my knee, distracting me. “Kandis has to be the one to go up,” he said again. “And we all vote for Jayme, right?”
“Right,” Marla said, so quickly that it immediately made me suspicious. My heart thumped in my chest. That was the problem with a game like this—you didn’t trust anyone to have your back. The only one I trusted was Brodie.
And I questioned the wisdom of that anyhow.
“You’re safe, baby,” Brodie told me, with another caress of my knee. “Don’t worry.”
“Baby?” Marla’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you just call her baby?”
Oh shit. “Um.”
“Slip of the tongue,” Brodie said easily. “Nothing to concern anyone.”
“Oh yeah? It concerns me if you’re slipping her the tongue,” Marla said. “That implies a deeper partnership than we thought.”
“Well, of course we’re playing with partners.” He gestured at Jendan. “You don’t seriously think that I believe you’d keep me over Jendan at any time, do you? Kandis is my partner. This shouldn’t be surprising.”
“Are you two sleeping together?” she wanted to know.
“Of course not,” I protested.
“Every night,” Brodie said at the same time.
I looked over at him, scandalized.
“Well, we are. Same bed.” He patted the mattress.
“That’s not what I meant,” Marla snapped.
“I know it’s not what you meant,” Brodie replied, his tone effortless. “But that’s also none of your business.”
“It is if it affects my game!”
“It won’t affect your game.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’m putting my partner up on the block this week.”
She shut up at that.
I was starting to get nervous, though. I was going up on the block, and now Marla was mad because she (correctly) thought Brodie and I were an item. Did that mean she was going to switch her vote? I looked at Jendan, but he was impossible to read.
It seemed like I was just going to have to trust people.
Damn it. I didn’t trust anyone. “If you guys dick me over, I’m going to be the most bitter juror ever. Just so you know.”
Brodie laughed. Jendan just shook his head ruefully.
Marla didn’t smile.
 
 
~~ * ~~
 
 
“It’s time for our nominations, and then we’ll proceed immediately to the vote,” House Mother Becky Bradley said over the intercom. “Are you ready, House Guests?”
We clapped politely to show we were, and Brodie stood in the front of the room, the Power Play necklace gleaming against his dark shirt. He stood, his stance casual and easy and utterly sexy. His gaze moved over the five of us individually, but I was pretty sure it lingered on me. He winked in my direction. “Tonight,” he said, “It’s pure strategy. I’m putting some trust in people, and therefore my nominations are Jayme,” he pointed at her, and then his gaze swung to me.
And even though I knew it was coming, my stomach still dropped.
“—and Kandis.”
I got up from my seat and smoothed my dress. I was barefoot, but that was the only concession to my nerves. I’d taken extra care on my appearance today, just in case I got voted out. If I did? The last view I wanted everyone to have of me should be smoking hot.
I told myself that this was for everyone’s sake, but it was a lie. It was mostly for Brodie, just in case he betrayed me. If he did, I wanted him to realize what he was throwing away.
So I’d worn a body-hugging dress that showed off every one of my lithe muscles and my trim figure. I’d packed one for such an occasion, and I was glad to have it. I couldn’t do anything with my short hair, so I’d blow-dried it and then flipped it over one side so it just looked like an edgy bob a la Miley Cyrus. My eyes were done up in smoky makeup, and I wore a pair of dangly earrings I’d borrowed from Marla.
I looked sexy, mohawk and all. And I could see in Brodie’s eyes that he thought I looked hot, too. He barely even glanced over at Jayme, even though she was equally done up and seated next to me in the nomination chairs.
“The nominations are in,” Becky chirped over the intercom. “We’ll let the nominees speak. Kandis?”
I stood up from my chair, turned to face my friends, and smiled. I was supposed to make a speech, but…we knew this was a sham, right? So all I said was, “Don’t screw me, guys.”
And then I sat down.
They laughed. I wasn’t laughing. I looked over at Brodie, but he only gave me a small nod, as if saying ‘trust me.’
I did. My game life was in his hands.
After my short speech, Jayme got up and gave the typical, you-want-my-vote-keep-me-around speech. I didn’t listen. I couldn’t. I was too keyed up.
If Marla wanted to split me and Brodie, now would be the perfect time. I’d never be more vulnerable.
Jayme dropped back into her seat, and the intercom came on again. “It’s time for the vote, House Guests!”
I watched as they headed off into the voting booth as individuals, scarcely able to breathe through my nervousness. My legs were crossed and my foot in the air swung madly, and I was unable to stop my fidgeting.
“The votes are in,” Becky announced an eternity later.
We waited. I held my breath.
Becky’s gaze flicked from me back to Jayme. “Jayme, you’ve been evicted.”
My breath escaped me in a rush. I was safe. They hadn’t lied.
Brodie’s gamble had worked.
I got up and hugged Jayme woodenly. As soon as I let her go, Brodie was there, and I put my arms around him and hugged him with an intense amount of relief, wanting to retreat into his arms.
He stroked my short hair and murmured, “Don’t you worry, baby. I’ve got your back.”
He did. And I was so giddy with happiness that I could have danced with joy.
I barely noticed when Jayme left the house.
I was still in a daze when we all went out to the challenge area, and the next Power Play started. It was horror-movie themed, a nod to Alfred Hitchcock. One by one, we entered a sealed shower booth and tried to catch as many styrofoam crows as we could in a minute. I wasn’t sure if it was a nod to Psycho, or The Birds, or both.
I went first. I got thirty-two.
Jendan got twenty-nine.
Marla got fourteen.
Brodie had won the last Power Play, and he couldn’t participate. But he gave a whoop of joy when the results were announced and a moment later, he looped the necklace around my throat.
It was down to the four of us, and I had Power this week. I was safe until the final three.
Heck, I was safe beyond that. I planned on nominating Marla, and she’d go home. If it was Jendan, Brodie, and me in the final three, I was sitting in the final two with either of them.