Bedroom Games (5 page)

“So tell us what your initial thoughts
are.”

I smiled tightly at the cameras. “My initial
thoughts? If I have to depend on Brodie for a partner? I am
completely and utterly screwed.”

~~ * ~~

An hour later, my confessional had been
taped, I’d gotten my turn in the shower, and I’d changed into a
pair of dark blue yoga pants and a white sweatshirt with a loose
collar that left one shoulder bare. My wet hair was pulled into a
loose knot atop my head, and I’d scrubbed off all the heavy makeup
that casting had put on me.

I was in the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of
water, when hands touched my shoulders and began to rub.

I yelped, jerking around in shock.

It was Mickey with a sexy—or
at least, I figured it was
his
version of sexy—smile on his face. Mickey had
curly reddish hair, big ears, and a wide, square jaw. He looked
unusual and friendly, but I was wary of any guy that grabbed chicks
when their back was turned.

“Did I scare you?” he asked, his voice
implying that he was amused more than apologetic.

“You startled me,” I admitted, rubbing my
shoulder to get rid of the creeped-out goosebumps covering my
skin.

“Sorry,” he said in a voice that seemed
anything but. “The others told me to come get you. We’re having a
house meeting in the living room.”

“Already? Is something wrong?”

“Liam wants everyone to get to know each
other.” Mickey grinned at me and nudged me with his hip. “I
wouldn’t mind getting to know a few of my castmates better.”

Ugh. Creepster. I kept the smile on my face,
though it was difficult. “Shall we go to the living room,
then?”

He offered me the crook of his arm, like he
wanted to escort me. Well, crap. If I turned it down, he might get
offended, and it was still day one. I couldn’t afford to piss
anyone off. Not if I was partnered with the living libido,
Brodie.

So I clamped down my distaste and slipped my
hand into his arm, wishing I was anywhere but at his side.

We headed to the living room, and most of the
castmates were already there. Three large sofas were set up in the
living room, and one had Brodie sitting on the far end, by himself.
Marla, Jendan, Casper, and Jayme were squeezed onto another sofa,
while Lenore and Fido sat on the nomination loveseat. Across from
the loveseat, Liam and Katy sat on the fireplace hearth. Liam sat
with his back against the stone, his legs spread, and Katy sat
between them, leaning back against Liam and hugged tight in his
arms.

I moved to sit next to Brodie, since the spot
had clearly been left for me. To my dismay, Mickey immediately
squeezed in next to me, ignoring the fact that there was an entire
half of the couch left for someone else to sit on. He sat so close
that his thigh touched mine.

Sandwiched on a couch on TV
between Brodie and Mickey. I was surely paying for some sort of
hellish karma. Maybe because I’d thrown the challenge, the
House Guests
gods were
paying me back in kind. I took a deep breath and kept the
poker-face smile on my cheeks, determined to make the best of
things.

“Are we all here?” Liam asked.

“Sunnie’s coming,” Fido said.

Sure enough, Sunnie swanned into the room
(there was really no other way to describe it), her hair and makeup
perfect. She was wearing a cute pink slip-dress, and as soon as she
saw Brodie, she squealed and bounded over to him, tossing herself
onto his lap.

Welp, I’d definitely racked up some shit
karma somewhere along the way. This just kept getting worse.

Mickey put a hand on the back of my neck and
began to massage it.

I stifled my whimper and shivered away,
leaning in toward Brodie and Sunnie. Brodie immediately put an arm
around my shoulders. “Hands off my hot team-mate, Mickey. Get your
own girl.”

“You’re hogging all of them,” Mickey
said.

Sunnie giggled from her perch on Brodie’s
lap.

I shot Jendan a ‘dear god help me’ look.

“Keep it in your pants, Brodie,” Katy said,
her voice a soft drawl. “Nobody wants to see you hook up all
summer.”

“You sure?” Brodie joked, but his arm slid
off my shoulder, as if making a small concession to his sister.

“Katy and I called everyone in here,” Liam
began, propping his chin on his girlfriend’s shoulder, “because we
wanted to get a chance to meet everyone. We figured a big group
setting to get all the introductions out of the way might be the
best.”

“Sounds good,” someone said.

Katy stood up, sliding out
of Liam’s embrace. “Well, I’ll start, then. Might as well get it
over with.” She gave us all an awkward smile, and I wondered if she
was shy. She was wearing a yellow tank top and a pair of ragged
denim shorts, and her wet blonde hair was pulled into two knots at
the base of her neck. She looked cute as a button, and incredibly
wholesome. “I’m Katy Short, and I own a business in Broken Arrow,
Oklahoma. It’s called Katy’s Short Cakes, and I specialize in
custom desserts and cupcakes.” She glanced back at tattooed,
pierced Liam. “This here’s Liam, and you might recognize the two of
us from
The World Races
. We met there and fell in love.”

Liam’s pierced lips curved into a smile, and
the look he gave Katy melted my heart. A few ‘awws’ echoed in the
room.

Katy bounced back into her seat and wiggled
until Liam’s heavily tatted arm went over her shoulder again,
hugging her close.

Liam didn’t get up. He just
made a hand gesture in greeting. “Name’s Liam. I play guitar
for
Finding Threnody
. Or did, until we broke up. Currently flying solo, relocating
to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma,” he nudged Katy and she grinned, “and
I’m here to spend time with my girl.”

“Did you spend your prize winnings already?”
Marla asked from Jendan’s side. The smile on her face was friendly,
but her eyes were sharp. Marla couldn’t forget that they’d already
won.

“I guess y’all saw that, huh?” Katy smiled
and patted Liam’s arm. “Mine was invested in my business, and
Liam’s using his for relocation, but after taxes, it wasn’t all
that much. We’re mostly just here to play and spend time
together.”

“Of course,” Marla said with a grin, but I
could practically see the wheels turning in her head. She might
like them, but she wasn’t about to cut them an inch of slack. I
could see the looks on the faces of the other house guests. A few
looked dazzled by the sight of Katy and Liam on our show, but more
seemed…less enthused.

Katy and Liam were going to be the first ones
out the door if they weren’t careful.

And I was stuck with Brodie, who had all the
connections they did and who was far less likable. I bit my lip to
keep from screaming about how unfair it was. Instead, I thought of
my mother. What was she doing right now? I’d left a neighbor with a
weekly allotment of money to give her for groceries—$150 a week.
Was she buying up shelves full of ramen and off-brand soda so she
could take the rest to the casino? My nails dug into my palms, and
I vowed to win this show.

I needed that money more than any of them.
With a million dollars, I could take care of mom’s mortgage woes
and send her off to rehab someplace nice. Someplace she wouldn’t
fight to go. And then we’d both be free to go on and live our lives
like we were supposed to, instead of constantly fighting and
worrying about money.

Sunnie shifted next to me, and I realized
Brodie was standing up. I watched as Sunnie flounced her way to the
far end of the couch and sat next to Mickey.

Brodie took a step forward
and clasped his hands. That cheeky smile was on his face. As if he
knew he was no good and expected you to love him anyhow. “Well,
guys, I’m Brodie, and you might remember me from
The World Races
, too. I
did
not
, however,
win the money.”

I looked over at Katy and saw her mouth
tighten with anger at her brother. He was selling her out. I didn’t
blame her for being irritated, though I was rather glad that Brodie
had pointed out that fact.

“I’m a model,” Brodie continued.

Maaaaactor
, chimed my brain. Damn.
Jimmy had really had us all pegged after all.

Brodie continued. “I was
supposed to be on
Endurance
Island
, but they bumped me in favor of a
big name celebrity.” A chorus of ‘awwws’ filled the room, and he
made a ‘settle down’ gesture. “Don’t feel too bad for me, though,
because the producers suggested that I could come here instead, and
now I get to spend my nights on a nice comfy couch in a haunted
house, surrounded by lots of hot ladies…and my sister.”

Katy rolled her eyes.

A chorus of chuckles hit the group, and
Brodie sat back down. His arm went to my waist in a casual gesture.
Maybe it was because I was his partner. Maybe it was because I was
one of those “hot ladies.”

But it wasn’t real, and I hated fake
affection. Maybe because I was planning on being fake here all
summer. Maybe because my mother had hidden her problems behind lots
of fake, cheerful smiles until it was too late for me to do
anything about it. Either way, it bothered me.

So I stood up and put my hands on my hips,
smiling at everyone. “Well, I’m Kandis. It’s pronounced Candice,
but spelled K A N D I S. I’m twenty-three, I’m a student, and I’m
here to have a fun summer.” I shrugged my shoulders. “That’s all,
really. I’m kind of boring.”

“Says you,” Brodie teased with a chuckle.

“No one with that kind of ass can be boring,”
Mickey piped in, clearly taking a cue from Brodie’s flirty
words.

The room fell silent.

“Well, that was awkward,” I said and thumped
back to my seat. I wanted to snap at Mickey for being a perv, but I
needed to be diplomatic. Day one was not the day to rip someone’s
head off.

“Keep your hands off my partner’s ass,
Mickey,” Brodie said, his words good-natured. But this time, when
his arm went around my waist, I let it stay there.

After that terrible
exchange, we went around the room. Jendan told the group he was a
stuntman. His partner was Marla, and she was indeed a mom from the
suburbs of Philadelphia. She had two kids and a husband that she
said she missed terribly. She teared up while telling us about
them, and I felt a little twinge of guilt for her. She must have
needed the money, too. The psychic, Lenore, was from Florida, and
she told us all that she was going to win
House Guests
because she’d seen it in
a dream.

This time, when Brodie gave a quiet snort of
derision, I didn’t find it irritating. I agreed with him.

Casper, the eldest man in the house, was a
fireman. His partner was Sunnie. I realized where I’d recognized
Sunnie from when she began to talk about her life. She lived in LA,
and her father was a famous record label mogul. She tossed her red
hair and went on and on about how she wanted to have fun this
summer and get to know people. Mactor, though I supposed the proper
term was ‘celebutante.’ She was famous for being famous and
partying with the right people.

Fido was next—a short, stocky man with thick
muscles. He said his name really wasn’t Fido, but it had stuck when
he was a kid because he loved animals. He was a dog trainer outside
of the house and had a live-in girlfriend. Jayme went last. She was
utterly gorgeous, so I had her pegged as another mactor, except for
the fact that she said she was a chef at a famous restaurant in
Chicago. Interesting.

And creepy Mickey? Creepy Mickey was a
masseuse. “Any time you ladies want a neck rub, or any kind of rub,
you just come over to Mickey.” He gave us all a smarmy grin.

Ugh. He would be the last person I’d ask to
touch me.

I made a mental run-down of all the teams as
we sat and chatted about the house and the people we’d left
outside, wondering aloud if this place was really haunted or not. I
kept quiet, just making mental notes. Casper and Sunnie wouldn’t be
much of a physical challenge. The oldest man in the house with a
celebutante? Not a problem.

Jendan and Marla the soccer mom would be a
bigger threat, but Jendan was on my side. Lenore was partnered with
Mickey, so unless Mickey was an incredible athlete, Lenore was
going to drag that team down. Fido and Jayme would be strong. And
so would Katy and Liam.

It would definitely be an interesting
summer.

The group ate sandwiches in the living room,
everyone just hanging out and talking. As the night grew late, the
teams paired off and headed to their rooms. Katy and Liam were the
first ones to go. Katy was falling asleep against Liam, her eyelids
drooping as she drowsed against him until Liam declared that they
were heading to bed. The others protested—they wanted to see the
Power Room, but Liam insisted we could all see it in the morning.
He took his girlfriend to bed, and Fido and Jayme followed not long
after, heading to their room. After that, it seemed to be a mass
exodus until there was no one left in the living room except me and
Brodie. I yawned, glancing at the big grandfather clock that never
chimed (my guess was that it messed with the microphones). It was
one in the morning.

“Bedtime for me,” I said, not looking over at
Brodie. I hauled my tired body off the couch and padded, barefoot,
to the linen closet where I’d gotten towels from earlier. There
were extra blankets and pillows in there, and I grabbed two of each
for myself and my partner. I briefly contemplated changing into
pajamas, but decided against it if we were sleeping out in the
open. It wouldn’t kill me to sleep in yoga pants for a week, and
I’d feel a lot safer, especially with Mickey the creepster in the
house.