“You already did,” I replied pertly, but I couldn’t help but smile at his words.
“Yeah, but this time you could act like you enjoyed it,” he teased.
I glanced over at him from under my lashes, curious. Had he thought I hadn’t enjoyed the impromptu kiss? It had taken me by surprise, but…it wasn’t a bad kiss. “I didn’t enjoy it because your kisses don’t mean anything, Brodie. You pass them out like candy.”
He chuckled, unhurt by my tart accusation. “So do I get to listen in on the tape?”
“As long as you promise not to burn me and tell the others I’ve been recording them.” Even Jendan didn’t know I was borrowing his recorder for sneaky purposes. I thought it might seem too shady, so I’d kept the secret to myself.
Plus, I was a little curious about what Jendan was saying about me, too.
Brodie made a ‘cross my heart’ motion on his chest. “You’re my partner. You can trust me to save your ass as long as it’s attached to mine.”
Fair enough. I slid a little closer to him on the couch and we bent over the recorder, listening. The first few minutes were nothing but silence, so I started to skip ahead every few minutes, listening for voices. When I heard someone, I’d rewind and then we’d listen in on the conversation.
We listened to that darn recorder for hours, our heads bent together. And we found out a wealth of information, only some of it surprising.
Mickey was hitting on every woman in the house and failing miserably. That wasn’t surprising.
Lenore was furious that she’d been put up for the vote, and she was busy campaigning to get out Katy and Liam. That also wasn’t surprising, though the viciousness of some of her words was startling—and kind of lame. I lost track of how many times she referred to Liam as a “tattooed hooligan.”
Casper and Sunnie and Fido seemed to be in an alliance together, which worried me. They didn’t trust Brodie, didn’t trust me by default, and had pulled Marla in. Marla assured them that she had Jendan’s vote and that he’d align with them. They wanted Liam and Katy gone ASAP. Not only because they’d won last time, but Katy and Liam weren’t exactly playing the best game. They tended to hang out in their room together and just talk quietly between themselves. Brodie had mentioned to me that his sister was a bit of an introvert, and it seemed that Liam was too. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when it came to a game like House Guests? It was pretty much a one-way ticket home.
I mentally counted as we listened to Sunnie and Casper make plans with Marla. Sunnie, Casper, and Marla. They said they had Jendan. Fido was with them. That was five together. Right now, it sounded like they were planning on all voting for Lenore and then pulling Mickey to their side. He’d follow, because he was no doubt upset that Katy and Liam had nominated him for eviction. That would give them six, and if there were eleven left in the house, we’d be outnumbered.
Damn. Week one and I was already on the losing side.
The recorder ran out and clicked off, and I gave Brodie a concerned look. “What do you think?”
He rubbed his spiky blond hair. “I think we’d better not lose the next Power challenge, or we’re screwed.”
I twirled a foot, fidgeting anxiously. “This sucks. If they’re going after Katy and Liam, you know we’re next.”
“I know,” he said grimly. “We have to pull some of them over to our side.”
“I thought I had Jendan, but the way Marla was talking, I’m not so sure. I’d say we could work on Lenore, but she hates Katy and Liam.”
He thought for a moment. “I can probably work on Sunnie. Can you work on both Jendan and Mickey? Mickey likes you.”
I knew he liked me. He’d been trying to give me creepy massages all week. Ugh. “Do I have to?”
“Only if you want to stay,” Brodie said.
Damn. “And we have the twist coming up. That could be anything.”
“It might break us into individuals again. If so, you’ll probably be safe.”
I wasn’t so sure. It sounded like everyone had made deals without me. My feet drummed anxiously, and I tapped my fingers on my knees, thinking hard. “There has to be something we can do.”
“We can win the Power Play.” Brodie shrugged his shoulders. “If not, we have to play it by ear. Just know that if I get nominated, I’m selling you down a river.”
“Like I expected any less?”
~~ * ~~
I fidgeted nervously on the couch. I had one leg crossed, and the foot in the air was bouncing like mad while we waited through a commercial break. Nearby, seated in the two nomination chairs, Lenore seemed to be meditating, and I was pretty sure Mickey had just picked his nose on TV.
Brodie reached over and put a hand on my knee, a silent indication that my fidgeting was noticeable and a dead giveaway of my nervousness. “Sorry,” I breathed to the group. “TV makes me nervous.”
Such a lie. I wasn’t worried about being on TV as much as I was about how the vote—and the subsequent competition and twist—would go. But I smoothed a hand down the simple green dress I was wearing, trying to calm myself. Poker face. I needed a poker face.
The House Guests logo disappeared, and Becky Bradley’s face appeared on the screen, all smiles and big hair. “House Guests, I have the results. In a vote of eleven to one, Lenore, you have been evicted. Please grab your bags and exit the house through the front door.”
We clapped politely, but I felt the pit of my stomach drop a little. Ten votes for Lenore. I’d voted for her since I knew the rest of the house would be voting that way. It seemed everyone had been on the same page. So that meant that either they’d all been talking, or everyone had found the psychic as annoying as me. It was hard to tell, and that made me paranoid.
One by one, we hugged Lenore. I noticed that she ignored Brodie, Katy, and Liam, though she hugged me. That didn’t bode well, especially since she’d grouped Brodie in with the other two Racers. That meant they considered him one of ‘them.’ I was probably on the fence, but I could easily be lumped in with them, too.
And that would destroy my game.
We waved goodbye to Lenore as she exited, and then everyone ran for the bathroom to change clothing. We’d been prepped by the voice over the intercom a half hour before the show started. Once the vote-out had finished, we had a ten-minute window while the evictee was interviewed and commercials ran. We had that time to change out of our TV clothing and switch into challenge gear. I switched into a sports-bra, tank top, yoga pants, and sneakers just in time for the bell to chime once more.
“House Guests, please proceed to the challenge area for this week’s Power Play.”
We filed out into the backyard, and I was shocked at how the challenge area had been transformed. The entire roped off area had been raised up, and it looked as if it had been filled in with dirt so the ground was at least two feet higher than it normally was. The raised ground had been set up to look like a graveyard, complete with tombstones, and each tombstone had two names written on it. It weirded me out to see one labeled “Brodie & Kandis.”
Above each open grave, there was a pulley and what looked like an enormous bag.
Liam walked forward and took the card dangling from the first pulley and began to read. “Since I cannot compete, I will be in charge of this competition. This challenge is called ‘Up from the Grave.’ Each team will lay down in an open grave. When the buzzer sounds, I will yank on a pulley and your coffin will be buried. You must then dig yourself out and hit the buzzer above your grave. The first team to hit their buzzer will win Power for this week. As the winners of last week’s Power Play, Katy and Liam may not participate.”
I sucked in a breath. “We’re going to be buried alive?”
“It’s cool,” Brodie reassured me. “We’re on national TV. It’s nothing bad.”
I crossed my arms under my br**sts. It was either that or start twitching madly. Buried…alive? I didn’t like this. Not one bit.
“Contestants,” Becky’s voice piped in over the intercom. “You have thirty seconds to get in your graves and close your coffin lids. Go.”
Coffin lids?
Before I could protest, Brodie grabbed my arm and dragged me forward, leading me toward the grave marked for our team. Numb, I followed him and stepped down. Sure enough, it was a big coffin, complete with red satin lining. “God, this is creepy,” I said.
“Just lay down,” Brodie instructed me. “I’ll handle the rest.”
I did, and Brodie immediately laid down, practically on top of me, nearly squashing me. I yelped, but the sound was smothered by his chest in my face. The coffin lid slammed shut, and we were enveloped in darkness.
“Oh my god,” I breathed, panic flicking over me. “Oh my god, oh my god. We’re buried alive.”
“Shhh, Kandis, it’s just a game,” Brodie said, his mouth close to my ear in the darkness. His voice was low and soothing, and his hand stroked my hair to calm me. “This isn’t a real coffin. The lid’s made of some sort of chocolate bark. They have speakers hooked up to this and an air tube. We can’t suffocate. It’s just a game.”
My shallow breathing slowed, just a little. “It’s really dark,” I said in a choked voice. “I don’t like the dark.”
“Just think of it as playing seven minutes in heaven,” he said, shifting. His weight was pressing on me, his knee pressed between my legs. The coffin was barely big enough for both of us, which made this extremely cozy—or awkward, depending on your choice.
A nervous laugh bubbled out of my throat. “Seven minutes in heaven? With you?”
“I’m a good choice,” he said, and sounded a little stung by my amusement. “Why’s that so funny?”
“You only kiss a girl to get ahead in this game,” I told him breathlessly.
“All contestants are now buried,” Becky Bradley’s voice said from a small speaker somewhere near my ear. “Start digging your way out at the sound of the buzzer.”
“You’re wrong,” Brodie said.
My thoughts were nervous, mad flickers. Where was that buzzer? What if we didn’t hear it? Why was Brodie still talking to me? “Wrong about what?”
“I’d kiss you without gameplay being involved,” Brodie said, and I could have sworn his tongue flicked against my ear.
Before I could question his confession, a loud buzzer sounded, and I yelped, startled.
“Come on,” Brodie said, and I felt him jerk against me. “Help me break the coffin lid.”
I lifted a trembling arm and ran my fingers along the lid. It was cool and smooth…and slightly…oily? Was it really chocolate? I hadn’t paid attention when they’d lowered us, being too nervous about the whole ‘being buried alive’ thing. I scratched at the lid, and shavings came off under my nails.
Brodie’s breathing was hard and fast in my ear, distracting me from my own fear. He surged again, and I heard him grunt. “This stuff’s thick,” he told me. “Come on. At the count of three.”