Bedroom Games (13 page)

That had been enough for me, thank you very
much.

So I’d gone out to the living room for some
‘alone’ time. Alone time was boring, though, when you weren’t
allowed to listen to music or provided anything to read, and there
was no TV in the house. So I’d painted my nails, but that had only
taken a few minutes of time.

When Casper cut through the living room to
head out back to the smoking area, I saw my chance. I waited a few
minutes so it wouldn’t seem as if I were stalking him and then
headed out back.

Casper was seated by himself on the smoker’s
couches, a lit cigarette between two fingers as he relaxed and
stared up at the evening sky. An ashtray was balanced on one
knee.

I thumped down on a couch across from him.
“Sad you’re missing the alcoholic antics?”

“Nope,” he said, tone brusque. “Haven’t drank
in twenty years.” He must have realized how harsh his voice sounded
because he turned and gave me a thin smile. “How ‘bout you?”

I shrugged. I could have cared less about the
drinking at the moment. I had Casper alone. He was sitting in the
smoking area, which was where I liked to hide my tape recorder.
This was too perfect. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from
smiling out of sheer delight. Instead, I scooted a little bit
closer to the end of the couch. There was a small potted palm that
sat between the two couches (which were set at right angles) and if
I could get him to admit something damning on tape, I just might
have a chance.

“So,” I whispered after a long moment. “Are
you and Sunnie together until the end?”

His cigarette paused halfway to his mouth,
and he glanced at me. Then, he put it between his lips, glanced at
the door, and then slid down toward me. “We’ve talked,” he said,
voice low. “But I haven’t agreed to anything just yet. I’m weighing
my options.”

“Everyone loves Sunnie,” I pointed out.
“She’s really popular. If it gets down to you and her at the final
two, you won’t win.”

“You think I don’t know that?” He took
another drag on his cigarette. “She’s a good kid. I just don’t know
if I want her to win the million. She’s already got lots of money
from her daddy.”

I nodded. “So you plan on getting rid of her
before the end?”

He gave me a sharp look. “I didn’t say
that.”

I shrugged, pretending casualness, though my
foot tapped a staccato beat on the table. “I’m just saying…if you
have a plan to get to the end, I wouldn’t mind hitching a ride for
as long as you find me useful.”

That had been the right thing to say. His
eyes got a predatory gleam in them, and he sat up, leaning in
toward me. “I might have a plan.”

“Oh?” I leaned in closer. “I’m all ears.”

“What about your partner?”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but my
partner’s currently in the kitchen hitting on your partner,” I said
sourly. “I don’t trust him to take me to the end.”

“You think those two might have a deal
together?” Casper’s white brows knitted.

“They might.” I actually didn’t know if they
did or not, but the thought had crossed my mind and I wasn’t ruling
it out. “He hasn’t said anything to me for sure.”

Casper snorted. “I’m pretty sure they do.
They constantly have their heads together. Which means you and I
get left out in the cold.”

I leaned in, propping my chin on my hand. “So
what do you propose?”

“I’ve been thinking about this,” Casper said.
“You know they want you out this week, right?”

I feigned surprise. “I do now.”

“It might be in my best interest to keep you,
though. Here’s the thing. You know who’s the strongest person in
this game?”

“You?” I guessed. When in doubt, flatter the
ego.

“Marla,” he said, and gave me a knowing
nod.

“Marla?” I echoed. “How do you figure?”

“Here’s the thing with Marla,” he said, and
he flicked his cigarette in his ashtray and then put the tray on
the table so he could lean in closer. “She’s a young mother with
two children. She’s not great at challenges, so she flies under the
radar and lets her partner take the heat there. If they go up on
the block, who do you think’s going to go home?”

“Jendan,” I guessed. “He’s strong.”

“Exactly. And Marla’s got the girl vote.
Everyone likes her and she’s working the mom thing. Nobody will
notice her until it’s too late, and then we’ll be handing her a
million dollars. You mark my words.”

“So you think we should get her out
sooner?”

“Next,” Casper said. “If I can get Jayme and
Fido to put Marla and Jendan up on the block, would you vote for
Marla?”

That was exactly what I wanted to hear. And
yet… “You’re not telling me how you’d get Jayme and Fido to put
them up.”

“I think they’d be up for it,” he said. “It’s
a big move. You gotta make big moves in this game to impress the
jury. Jayme has said before that she wants to shake things up.
Booting Marla and splitting up that power duo would do it.”

“So you’d get Jayme to put up Marla and
Jendan,” I repeated. “Then you and I vote for Marla. That’s only
two.”

He began to tick votes off on his fingers.
“You, me, Sunnie, and Brodie. If we tell them how we want to vote,
they’ll go along with it as long as it’s not them up on the block.
We get rid of Marla this week and then Jendan the week after as
long as we have Power. Then, once we get a bit further into the
game, we can pick off our partners. First Brodie, because he’s
stronger, and then Sunnie. Then it could be you, me, Jayme, and
Fido in the final four.”

Yeah, and I was the King of England. But I
gave him a wide-eyed look. “I’m not hating it,” I admitted.

He nodded. “I’ve been talking with Jayme and
Fido this entire time. They’re solid, and they’ll listen to what I
say. I’m running the show in our little alliance. If I say you’re
in, they’ll listen.”

God, this could not go better, could it? It
was like he was practically stringing himself up. “So you’re going
to get Jayme and Fido to put up Marla and Jendan,” I said. “You’re
not worried that the two of them are too strong together?”

He winked at me, a condescending gesture. “If
they are, we can always pick off the stronger one the next week.
They can’t get Power a second week in a row.”

“Good idea,” I enthused.

“So…this is a big move. You’re with me? If we
put up Marla and Jendan, you’ll vote Marla?”

“I would if the house was going to,” I told
him. “I don’t want to go out on my own and then have her coming for
me if she survives the vote.”

“Oh, it’ll go that way,” he said. “You watch
and see.” He leaned back on the couches. “And this conversation
between you and me? Never happened.”

“Got it.”

“I’m serious,” he said. “One word of this
getting out, little missy, and I will deny all of it. I’ll just
tell them you’re starting trouble to save your hide and make sure
your ass is booted out the door as quickly as possible. You get
me?”

Oh, I get
you
, I thought.
I
got all of it on tape, asshole.
“I
understand. You can trust me.”

“I know I can,” he said, chuckling. “Because
your back’s against a wall. You’ve got no options but me.”

I smiled faintly.
Just you wait
.

~~ * ~~

The drunken revelries went on until late. I
tried to nap in the Queen room, but being by myself was more creepy
than comforting. The house was spooky as hell, and I kept noticing
shadows. On top of that were the drunken hoots and catcalls coming
from the kitchen area as the ‘winners’ of the reward challenge
played every drinking game known to mankind and tried to pickle
their livers.

I was anxiously waiting for them to head to
bed so I could sneak out on the porch and retrieve my tape
recorder. That thing held the key to me squeezing another week out
of this game. I just had to be careful who I shared it with. Jayme
and Fido were an obvious choice, but I didn’t know them as well as
I knew Marla and Jendan. And since Casper intended to split Marla
and Jendan, it seemed smartest to go to them first and make them do
the dirty work.

I could sit back and watch as the other teams
cannibalized each other, all thanks to my tape.

I just had to retrieve it first.

The wooden floor boards of the room creaked,
and my senses went on alert. The hackles on the back of my neck
rose, and I lay quietly in bed, dreading the sounds that would come
next: footsteps. Sure enough, slow, methodical footsteps echoed
through the room. My breathing rasped, overloud in my ears. How was
it the guys never heard these things? The house had to be haunted.
That wasn’t my imagination. It was—

A heavy body landed on top of me, and the bed
creaked a protest.

“Ooof,” I wheezed as Brodie laughed and
rolled over onto the other side of me, landing on the other half of
the bed.

“Did I scare you?” he whispered loudly, voice
slurred. “Sorryboutthatkandis.”

I smacked his arm with one of the pillows and
then tucked it under my head again. “You’re a jerk.”

“Aw,” he said in a disappointed voice. “Why
are you always so mean to me?” He was so toasted that the words
were barely intelligible. Before I could muster a response, he
pulled me against him and buried his face in my cleavage.
“Mmm.”

I gave a squeak of protest, and my eyes
widened. I lay in bed, frozen, warring sensations tearing through
me. Part of me wanted to shove him away. Part of me really, really
wanted to pull him closer and see where drunk Brodie would go with
this. My nipples hardened at the prospect.

“Mmm, Kandis,” he breathed, and he began to
rub his face up and down the valley of my breasts. “You’re the
hottest girl in this house, you know?”

“What about Jayme?” I couldn’t help but
ask.

“Your ass is way better than hers,” he said
and reached down to squeeze it. “So tight. I can’t stop staring at
it.”

“And Sunnie? You sure didn’t seem to mind her
ass,” I sniped, even as his hands continued to run along my
body.

“Sunnie is all look but don’t touch.”

That didn’t make sense to me. “Huh?”

He glanced up at me and gave me a dopey,
slit-eyed smile. “Wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole. She’s
got the herp.”

“How do you know that?”

“You ever seen her without that bright red
lipstick she likes? It’s cause she’s covering up some mouth sores.”
He shook his head. “My dick ain’t going anywhere near that. ‘Sides,
she’s kind of dumb, too. She’s not smart like you.” And he rubbed
his cheek against one of my breasts. “Smart and pillowy.”

I pushed his head away, rolling my eyes.
Pillowy, my ass. “You’re drunk, Brodie.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said in a mopey voice.
“You and me? Ain’t meant to be. You don’t like me.”

I stilled. Where did he get an idea like
that? “What makes you think I don’t like you?” Oh God, his mouth
was nuzzling at my stomach through my sleep shirt, and it was
sending crazy sparks of arousal through my body. When he didn’t
answer and just kept rubbing his face against me, I grabbed a
handful of his hair and forced his head up to look at me. “What
makes you think I don’t like you?” I repeated.

He gave me a sad smile. “Cause you’re always
frowning at me.”

Was I?

“And because you
watched
The World Races
,” he said, propping his chin on my stomach. “Everyone that
watched that hates me.”

“You were kind of a jerk on the show,” I told
him.

He shrugged. “Just wanted to win.”

“And make out with a rock star.”

“That too.” He grinned. “You would have done
the same.”

Maybe. Maybe not. “I don’t hate you, Brodie.
I just don’t trust you.”

“I know,” he said, and he began to push my
shirt up, trying to expose my stomach. “Doesn’t mean we can’t have
fun, does it?”

I pushed at his hands as he maneuvered my
shirt, but my efforts were half-hearted. I wanted this, if I was
being honest with myself. A moment later, his tongue dipped and
licked my navel. I couldn’t stop the whimper that rose in my
throat.

“Would it be so awful to make out with the
bad guy, Kandis?” he whispered against my stomach.

“You’re not a bad guy, Brodie,” I told him. I
was sounding more breathless by the moment, and I knew I should
push him away because there had to be cameras filming us. But I was
having a hard time moving away. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I
liked his mouth on me.

“I am the villain,” Brodie said and bit at
the taut flesh of my stomach, causing me to suck in a breath.
“That’s why they put me on this show.” His tongue licked a circle
around the edge of my belly button.

I moaned, unable to help myself.

“Wanna make out with a villain?” he
offered.

God yes
, I thought. “You’re drunk,” I reminded him. “I can’t trust
anything you say or do when you’re drunk.”

“So you’ll make out with me if I’m
sober?”

“You won’t remember any of this when you’re
sober.”

“So let’s make out now,” he said, grinning up
at me. “The others are all asleep. I won’t tell.”

All asleep? I glanced at the small clock on
the nightstand. Three in the morning. Surely the smoking area would
be deserted? I might not have another chance, and I needed that
tape desperately. “Can we talk about this later, Brodie?” I slid
out of bed. “Just hold that thought, okay?”

“Sure,” he said with a yawn. “Holding that
thought.”

I tiptoed out of the room and shut the door
behind me and then made my way out to the back door, sliding it
open. I winced at every creak and groan, but managed to make my way
outside, pocket the recorder, and sneak back to my room without
anyone seeing me.