I read it aloud. “House Guests, you are down to your final challenge. This will be the biggest test you will face—a test of endurance. You will have to conquer your fears and let mind win over matter in order to continue to the final round. This competition only has one rule—get in your barrel and be the last one out. Good luck to all three of you.”
“Good luck, guys,” Jendan said. He put a fist out.
Brodie bumped it, and I gave both of them a half-hearted fist-bump in return. “Good luck, everyone. We can do this.” The nervous flutter in my stomach remained. I was so close to winning the million dollars. So close. I just had to get through this last competition. I reached out and pulled the rope that held the curtains shut.
Three barrels stood on a platform, evenly spaced. Each one had a stepladder next to it so we could climb in easily. The barrels were see-through.
And the interior of each barrel was filled with thousands of bugs. Beetles and worms crawled all over each other, and cockroaches and god-knew-what-else swarmed in the mix. The pile of bugs in each barrel writhed, and over and over, the collective mass of insects made that shivering noise that I hadn’t been able to place.
It wasn’t a shiver after all. It was the sound of thousands of bug wings and legs rubbing up against each other.
Oh my god.
I moaned, pressing a hand to my mouth.
This was my worst nightmare. I could stay in a haunted house for two months. I could outfight and outwit with the best of them. I could get my hair cut in a mohawk and walk around on national TV with it in all its hideous glory.
But I couldn’t get into a barrel of bugs.
Gooseflesh broke out on my arms, and I began to sweat. “Um.”
“You okay, baby?” Brodie moved to my side, putting a comforting arm around my shoulders.
“No,” I whispered. “I don’t think I am.” I couldn’t stop staring at those barrels and their roiling, noisy, moving contents.
“Hey,” Brodie said softly, and turned me toward him. “Look at me.”
I forced my gaze away from those barrels and looked up at him, my eyes wide with fear.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he told me quietly. “It’s okay.”
I shook my head. “It’s not okay. I have to do this. I have to.” I looked over at the barrel again, and that was a mistake. I felt sick and freaked out all over again. “Have to.”
“Then let’s get going,” Jendan said, and he stepped toward the platform.
I nodded. Brodie gave me another concerned look, but we separated and headed for our places.
Each step up the stairs to the platform felt like I was heading to my execution. I could do this. I could. There were a million dollars at stake.
So a few bugs would touch me. Big deal, right?
I made the mistake of looking over the edge of my barrel, and I moaned all over again. Oh God. There were so many bugs. Big fat ones with little clawed legs and some with segmented bodies. I was pretty sure there were cockroaches in there, long ones, and I saw the undulation of something with a jillion legs as it sank into the pool of writhing bodies. Once I stepped in there, some of them were going to smash against my skin and then I’d be sitting in dead bugs and live bugs—
My stomach heaved, and I clamped a hand over my mouth. I stepped backward, away from the barrel. I squeezed my eyes shut and hunched down into a crouch, desperately trying to keep my breakfast down.
Warm arms moved around me again. “Hey,” Brodie said in a soft voice. “Breathe, baby. I’ve got you.” He held me close and steered me away from the barrel, and I let him. We moved to sit on the edge of the stage together, and I leaned heavily against him, panting. I rubbed my arms, unable to stop shivering.
“It’s okay, Kandis,” he told me, his fingers stroking my cheek. “If you can’t do it, you can’t do it.”
“It’s stupid,” I told him, and tears spilled out of my eyes. “They’re just bugs, right? I should be able to get into a barrel of bugs.”
“It’s not stupid when you’re scared. I don’t want you to have to go through that.” He lifted my chin with his fingers and leaned in to whisper. “I’ve got this, baby. I’ll win this for us, okay? You said you trusted me. Let me win this for the two of us.”
Every part of me wanted to protest that I needed to get back in there, to suck it up and be an adult and sit in a barrel of bugs for a million dollars. But I just couldn’t. “You’ll win this for us?”
“I will,” he told me, and he pressed a kiss to my mouth. “You let me worry about everything from now on, okay?”
I nodded and raked my short hair back from my face and then exhaled heavily. “Okay. Okay. Okay.” I didn’t know if I was convincing him or myself. I looked over at Jendan. “I’m not going in there.”
He gave a crisp nod, handsome face impassive. “You do what you gotta do.”
Brodie pressed another kiss to my forehead, and then he jumped to his feet. “Let’s get this show on the road, then, shall we?”
I hopped off of the platform, wanting to put as much space between me and those bugs as possible. I was unable to stop shivering, despite the sweat coating my body. It was more than fear, though. It was anger. I was angry at myself because I couldn’t get past my bug squick to compete in what could be a million dollar competition. I knew it was simple panic, but I held on to Brodie’s words. I’ll win this for us, okay?
I’d put my trust in him.
There was a bench set up on the far end of the challenge area for non-participants; someone must have guessed that not all of us would be able to suck it up and participate. I sat there as the two men climbed the stairs to their barrels.
“You ready?” Jendan asked Brodie.
“Count of three,” Brodie replied.
I drew my legs up and curled into a little ball, squeezing my eyes shut and clamping my hands over my ears. I didn’t think I could even listen to them get in. So I burrowed down and counted backward from a hundred in my head, waiting. When I was done, a stole a peek up at the stage.
Both men were seated in the barrels up to their necks. Jendan had a vacant look on his face, as if he was trying to zone out and not think about what was going on. Brodie, however, was wrinkling his nose and making faces, clearly disgusted. He saw he had my attention and raised a hand to let me know he was okay. A gigantic beetle crossed his arm as he did.
I turned away and heaved up the contents of my stomach.
Long minutes passed. No one talked. No one said anything, actually, and the only sound was that constant shivering hiss of the bugs as they moved against each other. I couldn’t look at the stage. I got up from the bench, paced away, and then retreated to the far end of the backyard. The smoker’s couches that were set up on a corner of the porch were far enough away from the challenge area, so I headed there and lay down, curled up on my side as I waited. The upholstery smelled faintly of cigarette smoke, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t participating, but I couldn’t leave the backyard, not while fate was being decided.
Brodie said he’d win this. He had to.
Hours passed. From my vantage point in the distance, I could see both men still sitting quietly in their barrels. Every once in a while, someone would raise a hand to flick a stray bug that moved too close to a face (and set my stomach to roiling all over again) but for the most part, they were silent. The tension was palpable in the air. I watched them as much as I could, chewing on my fingernails in anxiety.
God, why did this have to be the last challenge? Why was I such a chicken that I couldn’t do this after all? Jendan and Brodie clearly hated it, but they were doing the challenge. They were stronger than me. Me, I freaked out at stupid bugs. Cut my hair off? Sure. Touch a bug for a million dollars, and I was out. I hated myself for being so weak.
More time passed, and the afternoon heat was thick and muggy. The quiet in the yard was intense, and I found myself nodding off, exhausted.
I jerked away at the sound of a male shout. I bolted upright, rubbing my eyes. Who was it that had broken?
In the distance, Jendan crawled out of his barrel, brushing bugs off of him with frantic hands. He raced out of the challenge area and dove straight for the pool, ripping off his clothes. “Fuuuuuck,” he shouted, and he cannonballed into the pool.
I…didn’t know whether to laugh or cheer.
He erupted from the water a moment later, scrubbing hard at his skin, a disgusted look on his face. “Ugh! That is the worst!”
Brodie emerged from his barrel a moment later, and a buzzer went off. “Brodie is the winner of the final Power Play,” a voice chimed over the intercom. “Congratulations, Brodie. Be ready for the final nomination ceremony tonight.”
“Thanks, House,” Brodie said in a cheerful, unhurried voice. He picked bugs off of his clothes as he casually walked off the stage.
I stared at him, numb. He’d won. Really? I looked over at Jendan, who was still scrubbing at his skin in the pool, and tried not to look at the ring of bugs and bug parts surrounding him in the water. “What happened?”
“I nodded off,” Jendan said, disgust in his voice. “One got into my hair and went for my ear. I flipped out.”
I stood up, cautiously approaching Brodie as he moved to the edge of the pool. “You won?”
“I won, baby!” he called, and spread his arms wide. “Come give your man a kiss.”
Covered in bug grossness? I shoved him into the pool.
Jendan laughed, and Brodie did too, when he came up out of the water. “I suppose I deserved that.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Did you see the way Marla lit into my partner? I have never wanted to punch a soccer mom in the mouth so badly. The worst thing is, I get the impression she’s not the only one ready to tear into Kandis. What, all because my baby’s sneakier than they are? I think she’s f**king awesome, and I love that she’s devious. It’s damn sexy.” – Brodie Short, Day 61
I straightened my blouse and admired my reflection in the mirror. Tonight, I was up on the block again. I’d dressed nicely, since it felt like you had to dress up when you were nominated in case it was the last time people saw you. I didn’t bother to pack my bag, though. I still needed to do laundry and there was plenty of time for that tomorrow once the house was down to just me and Brodie.
Tomorrow night, one of us would have a million dollars in hand. We just had to go through the vote-off tonight.
With one final check at my eye-makeup and lipstick, I headed downstairs.
“Two minutes to on the air,” a voice intoned. “Please take your seats.”
I rushed across the big, empty house and headed to the living room. Jendan was already there, seated in one of the nomination chairs. The other one was empty, waiting for me. Brodie was the lone one sitting on the other couches, and he had a smile on his face that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
That concerned me. Instead of heading for my chair, I moved to Brodie’s side and snuggled close to him. We still had two minutes, after all. “You okay?”