Bedroom Games (10 page)

Brodie rubbed his face. “Sounds like her
pillow is haunted and not the room.”

“That’s not funny.”

“Kandis, why don’t you worry about something
that is important? Like how we’re going to stay in this house a bit
longer? You know Casper and Sunnie are going to put us up for
eviction unless we manage to somehow sway them.”

“I know,” I said thoughtfully, hugging the
blanket close. Unlike the couches below, there was one bed in the
attic room, which meant that Brodie and I were sharing a blanket.
I’d worn long pajamas, but Brodie had opted to sleep in his
underwear…a fact that did not go unnoticed by me, no matter how
hard I was trying to ignore it.

Brodie was a mactor, I
reminded myself. If he was in his underwear in bed with me, it was
because he wanted to remind the world how hot he was, not because
he wanted to remind
me
how hot he was.

“I can work on Sunnie this week,” Brodie told
me in a low voice. “But you’ve got to work on her, too. Befriend
her. Do her hair or paint her nails or whatever it is girls do.
She’s kind of weak, so Casper’s going to push her to go along with
whatever he wants, and it’s pretty clear that he wants us out.”

I nodded. “I’ll figure something out.” I
thought for a moment and then added, “It’d be best if we could
figure out a way to paint a target on Mickey. If his team got
nominated, he’d automatically go home because he’s a team of one.
There’s no guesswork there.”

“Yeah, but Mickey will vote with whoever
offers to keep him. So he’s not a target.”

Not like we were. I continued to think,
silently drumming my fingers on the blanket.

Brodie’s hand covered mine. “Stop that.”

“Sorry.”

“Go to sleep. Seriously. I can’t think
without a good night’s sleep, and we need to plan our strategy
tomorrow. So unless you want to fool around, go to sleep.”

I snorted and hauled my blankets higher.
“Going to sleep now.”

“Thought so.” Brodie sounded amused, though.
“Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Not changing my mind.”

~~ * ~~

Time passes incredibly slowly when you’re
anxious about an upcoming vote. Though no one had said anything to
me, I could tell just by the way that Jayme and Sunnie acted that
Brodie and I were on the hit list. For one, they both fawned over
my handsome partner and made sad faces from time to time, as if he
were already gone. And of course, that made me stressed out. So
when I was stressed? I exercised.

I spent hours every day going over Zumba
routines, coming up with new choreography. Since we weren’t allowed
to play music while in the house (which would interfere with audio
recordings), I had to hum the music to myself and choreograph based
on memory. That was fine, since we had plenty of free time and lots
of hours to fill every day.

I also tried to spend a lot of time with
Sunnie. During that first week, the celebutante had bonded with the
chef, and they were rarely seen apart, so I felt like I was
jockeying for her attention. They tended to talk about the same
things over and over again; Sunnie would name drop famous people
she’d hung out with, and Jayme would listen with wide, adoring
eyes. I could only say “Gee, Sunnie, you’ve really dated famous
movie stars?” so many times before I wanted to punch myself in the
face. Though if I wanted the scoop about which tabloid celebrity
had gone to rehab, Sunnie could give me the dish. Despite us not
having much in common, I really did try.

Evenings were the best. Everyone would gather
for dinner, and we’d all hang out, laughing and talking together,
usually playing some sort of game. At night, the house felt like a
big, ongoing dinner party. It was only when it was time to go to
bed that it felt like a horror flick.

Unlike Sunnie, I hadn’t heard whispering in
my pillow. I did hear the footsteps at night, though, and I’d woken
Brodie up once to make sure he heard it too, but he’d only mumbled
and rolled over. I thought about taping it, but my recorder was
being put to better use in the flower pot of the smoking area.

I kept taping conversations, but most of them
seemed to be along the same lines. Casper wanted us out. Sunnie
liked Brodie and wanted to keep him. Jendan wanted to keep me for
the same reasons. Marla was undecided. Mickey wanted to vote with
whoever would keep him around. Fido wanted us out.

We were the perfect targets. At least, Brodie
was. I was just collateral damage. And no one gave a crap about
collateral damage.

So I did my best to make myself invaluable. I
went up to the Power room and hung out. I painted Sunnie’s nails
and listened to her stories about Hollywood. I admired Casper’s
stories about the firehouse. I helped Jayme clean up in the kitchen
when she cooked. I listened to Marla’s anecdotes about her kids. I
even let Mickey rub my neck.

Once.

The reward challenge had been a shooting
range with crossbows and fake vampire bats that shot across the
sky. I’d deliberately failed it and then flattered the heck out of
Fido when he’d won, going on and on about how good he was at the
challenge to the point I disgusted even myself.

And when I couldn’t stand all the butt
kissing any longer, I retreated to the house gym and exercised,
venting my frustrations on the stairclimber or on a particularly
grueling dance routine.

I was bent over, doing stretches, when Mickey
entered the workout room. My ass was in the air, and I immediately
straightened. “Hey, Mickey,” I said, pulling a few sweaty strands
of hair off of my face. “How are you?”

“Better, now that I just had that amazing
view.”

His smile was friendly, but his words were
creepy. Ugh. I forced myself to keep smiling despite the fact that
I wanted to retreat. I faced the workout mirror and raised an arm
over my head and bent to the side, stretching it. “Let me know if
I’m in your way.”

“I’m good,” he said, and he came up to stand
next to me. As I watched in the mirror, he began to mimic my
stretches.

Okay, that was weird. I stretched my other
arm, bent to touch my toes, and then shot a quick glance over at
Mickey.

Sure enough, he was still stretching his
arms, but his gaze was on my ass.

God, that made me feel freaked out.

I straightened again and went to the weight
bench.

“You need a spotter?” Mickey asked, coming to
my side.

“No, actually, I’m okay.” I grabbed my towel,
and even though I’d just warmed up, I decided it was time to leave.
“I think I’m going to skip the workout for today.”

“Sore?”

No, your skeezy eyes are
drilling holes into my skin
. “Something
like that.”

“I can give you a massage, you know. I have
amazing hands.” He rubbed them in front of me and grinned as if I
should be impressed.

“I’m cool, thanks.”

“No, really. I can make you feel better.”
Before I could step away, he put a hand on the back of my neck and
began to rub. “See? Don’t you like that?”

The guy was giving me the willies. I slid
away, acutely uncomfortable. My hand went to my neck protectively,
and I clutched my towel in front of me. “Like I said, I’m
good.”

“Any time you want me to make you feel good,
Kandis, you just let me know.” Mickey’s voice had gotten breathy.
“I can give you a massage anywhere you like. I know how to unkink
all your muscles. Though you might be the type that’s into
kink.”

And he wagged his eyebrows at me.

Really?
Really
?

I shook my head, clutching my towel and
heading for the door. “Really. I’m fine.”

I opened the door to escape the workout room,
and I nearly ran smack dab into Brodie’s chest. I gasped and
staggered backward.

Brodie smiled, reaching for me. “What’s the
rush?”

“Nothing,” I said and sidled past him. “I
just…I have to go.”

The smile on his face faded. “You okay?”

I nodded. “I just need to go.” I ran out the
door and down the hall, leaving my partner alone in the work-out
room with Mickey.

As I retreated, I heard
Brodie’s voice rise. “Dude, why the
fuck
do you have an
erection?”

I ran for the showers. At least there, I
could avoid Mickey and any uncomfortable questions about why I was
running away. The showers were an off-limits area amongst the house
guests. We knew they would be filming us, but we tried to give each
other privacy enough to towel off and get clean. As soon as the
door to my shower shut behind me, I stripped, tossed my barely-used
workout clothes in the corner, and stepped under the spray.

God, I was totally creeped out. Mickey had
come on to me so hard that it had left me feeling dirty. Some guys
didn’t take no for an answer or get subtle signals. Mickey didn’t
seem to grasp signals at all, and I hated the thought of spending
more time with him in the house. I scrubbed at my wet face, wishing
I could wipe the memory of the last few minutes out of my mind.
Jesus, I hoped that Brodie didn’t think I’d been coming on to
Mickey. I wanted to gag at the thought.

“Coming in,” Brodie called, startling me out
of my shower reverie.

“What?” I sputtered, wiping water out of my
eyes. “Don’t come in here! The shower’s in use! I—”

My words died as Brodie entered the shower,
ignoring all my protests, and stepped under the stream with me. He
was wearing nothing but a pair of his workout shorts, and as I
watched, he peeled those off and kicked them aside.

Well. Brodie wasn’t shy.

I crossed my arms over my breasts and hunched
over, my legs tightly crossed so he couldn’t see my lady parts.
“Get out of here,” I hissed.

“Chill out, Kandis,” Brodie said. “You see my
parts, I see yours. That’s not what’s important right now. We need
to talk, and this is pretty much the only place we can do so
privately.”

Water splattered my face, and I tilted my
head to the side, trying to get out from under the stream. “What
about?”

Brodie leaned in and whispered in my ear, his
voice barely audible over the water. “Mickey. Was he harassing
you?”

“You mean like the way you’re harassing me
right now?” I sputtered.

“Get serious, Kandis. I’m not even looking.”
His gaze remained on my face. “Okay? I just want to know if you’re
okay. You looked freaked when you left the gym, and Mickey had a
boner, and I know he’s been kind of handsey to you lately.”

I said nothing for a long moment, still
feeling weirdly awkward about standing naked in a shower with
Brodie, neither of us looking away from the other’s face.

“Come on. I have a sister,” Brodie said
quietly. “I know some guys won’t take no for an answer. Mickey
seems the type. I’m just trying to look out for my partner. I don’t
like that he was bothering you.”

“He was coming on to me,” I admitted.
“Grabbed my neck and tried to massage me again. Staring at my ass.”
I shrugged and glanced away, staring at the tile wall. “The usual
stuff.”

“Yeah, but he cornered you in a room by
yourself and the dude had a boner. That’s not cool in my book.”
When I looked back at him, he shook his head. “You leave his ass to
me. I’ll handle him.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Don’t you worry,” Brodie said. “You leave
that ass to me. He’s not going to bother you again.” And before I
could reply, he stepped back out of the shower and shut the door,
leaving me alone in the stall once more.

Well, that was…bizarre. I tiptoed to the edge
of the door and peered out, watching Brodie’s naked, wet ass as he
strode across the bathroom to grab a towel.

He hadn’t even looked at my naked body once.
Huh.

~~ * ~~

“Sunnie and I have Power this week,” Casper
said, fingering the ‘P’ necklace that hung around his throat as the
next live episode was taped. “And it’s time for us to make a
decision as to who should stay and who should go.”

We all sat on the couches, nervous, waiting
for the nominations. I chewed on my thumbnail, my foot fidgeting a
mile a minute. I just wanted this over with already. I stood a
pretty good chance of staying if our team was nominated. They’d
probably get Brodie out of here over me, right? So in theory I
should be okay. But…I couldn’t help but be anxious. And part of me
wanted both of us to stay. I didn’t trust Brodie as far as I could
throw him, but I liked Brodie as a person.

It was hard not to like him. He went through
life as though everyone loved him and would put up with any of his
schemes. And because he acted like that…it was impossible not to
like the guy. He was charismatic, fun, and always up for a
conversation, flirting, or even just a round of cards or checkers
to beat the boredom.

I looked over at my partner, but he was
smiling at Sunnie, who giggled and flipped her long red hair. I
frowned. Sunnie would vote to keep Brodie. She’d been all over him
like glue this week. It had been obnoxious the first week to see
them casually flirting with each other, but this week it was like
every time I turned around, they were off in a corner, whispering
and laughing together, or swimming together.

Not that I’d noticed. Not
that it bothered me. Not that I thought he should be spending his
time with
me
, his
partner. Oh no.

“This was a difficult decision for Sunnie and
me to make,” Casper was saying, drawing out the drama. The
expression on his face was intense. “But ultimately, we feel it’s
the right one.”

I closed my eyes, waiting for the other shoe
to drop.

“And so, we’ve decided to
nominate…Mickey.”

My eyes snapped open. I looked over at my
partner in surprise. Brodie didn’t look shocked at all. In fact, he
looked…smug? Had he somehow set this up?