Bedroom Games (14 page)

When I returned to the Queen room, Brodie was
asleep, sprawled face-down on the bed. His face was soft in the low
light of the room, and I moved to cover him with a blanket before I
headed to the antique couch on the opposite end of the room to
listen to my tape recorder.

Even as I rewound the tape,
I glanced over at Brodie. Would he remember what he said to me
tonight? Or would it be lost with the morning hangover? I certainly
didn’t need a romantic complication in the game, not if they were
already targeting couples. And certainly not if one half of that
potential romantic complication was notorious Brodie Short, the
villain of last season’s
World
Races
. People would think I was an idiot
for hooking up with him.

Heck, I’d probably think the
same thing about myself. How could I possibly trust a man that used
people to push himself ahead? So far, he hadn’t gone against me,
but the proof was in every episode of
The
World Races
from a few months ago. He’d
screwed over his own sister in that game—and turned around and
hosed her again in this game.

Brodie couldn’t be trusted.

It was just a shame I liked him so much. Why
couldn’t I be all fluttery and distracted over Jendan? He was
trustworthy, handsome, strong, and he always had my back. Brodie
hit on all the women, wasn’t trustworthy, and probably didn’t have
my back.

My taste in men needed a tune-up, that was
for sure. I lifted the recorder to my ear and began to listen.

~~ * ~~

“Toast please,” Sunnie whispered as she came
into the kitchen and promptly bent over the granite countertop,
laying her head on the counter. “I think I’m going to barf.
Again.”

I shot her an amused look and dropped two
more pieces of bread into the toaster. One by one, the house guests
had trickled into the kitchen late in the morning, hung over and
needing toast. Since we didn’t have TV, this was the closest thing
to entertainment we had, and I’d parked by the toaster with a cup
of coffee to watch the show. “How’s your head?” I asked
sweetly.

She just moaned and squinted at the
fluorescent lights overhead.

“That good, eh?” I swung my feet, thinking.
“Sure would suck if we had a Power challenge today, wouldn’t
it?”

Her red eyes widened at the thought. “You
don’t think they would, do you?”

Man, I sure hoped they would. I didn’t say
that, of course. I simply plucked the toast from the toaster, put
the slices on a plate, and brought it over to her. “Considering
that they gave you the alcohol, I don’t think they would, unless
they’re going for comedic effect.”

Sunnie picked up a square of toast and
nibbled on the corner. She immediately turned green and bolted for
the bathroom.

I watched her go. “Yeah, or maybe not,” I
said to myself. “Not much of a challenge if six people are busy
puking their guts out while the other two run wild.”

I hummed to myself as I cleaned up the
kitchen, my mood terrific. The tape recorder was in the pocket of
my jeans, and I was just waiting for Marla and Jendan to sober up
so we could talk strategy. My partner needed to sober up, too,
though he was currently sawing logs in our bed.

As time passed and no one seemed in any
particular hurry to wake up, I started to get a little more
nervous. My plan wouldn’t work if I didn’t have time to put it into
action. Deciding to take the bull by the horns, I went into the
attic room to visit Marla and Jendan. They were both still in bed,
pillows stuffed over their faces.

I knocked on the door and stepped inside.
“Hey, guys? Do you have a minute?”

Marla groaned and tugged the pillow against
her face tighter. “Right now?”

I might not have more time
later
, I thought, but didn’t speak it
aloud. “No time like the present,” I said, keeping an upbeat note
in my voice as I approached the side of their bed. “It’s
important.”

That got Jendan’s attention. He sat up and
rubbed his eyes, focusing his gaze on me. “Something wrong?”

“You could say that.”

Marla sat upright and squinted at me, her
short mom hairdo spiky on one side from the night’s sleep. “What is
it? Not the Power challenge?”

“Nope, but something you need to hear before
we go into the next vote. It impacts everyone’s game.”

That got their attention. “What is it?”
Jendan asked.

I gestured at the door. “Can we get Brodie? I
want him to hear this.”

Five minutes later, Jendan and Marla were
somewhat awake, so I steered them back to the Queen room, where I’d
left Brodie. As soon as they filed in after me, I checked the hall
to make sure no one else was around and then shut the door and
locked it. In the room, Brodie was still snoring, flat on his back
this time, arms sprawled wide. I moved to his side and gave him a
gentle shake. “Hey, wake up.”

He immediately wrapped his arms around my
waist and tried to drag me down next to him. “Mmmm. Come back to
bed.”

“Brodie, don’t.” I pulled out of his arms,
shooting an embarrassed look at Jendan and Marla. “You’re still
drunk and we have company.”

“I’m not drunk, baby,” he murmured, and one
eye cracked open.

“You are if you’re calling me ‘baby.’ Wake
up.” I ignored the suspicious looks Jendan and Marla were giving
me. Shit. If they thought I had a relationship with Brodie, this
could make things difficult. “Don’t be weird.”

“Weird, huh?” He scrubbed at his face and
peered at the two standing behind me, as if just now realizing we
weren’t alone. “Hey guys.”

“I brought them in here because we all need
to have a discussion,” I told him, moving to a corner of the
bed—away from Brodie’s arms—and sitting down, a leg curled under
me. “I found out some interesting things when you guys were drunk
last night.”

“Oh?” Marla glanced around and grabbed the
nearest chair. Jendan continued standing, arms crossed, though he
stood near Marla’s chair. “Good interesting or bad interesting?”
She looked uneasy.

I forced a laugh. “Isn’t all ‘interesting’
bad in this game?”

Brodie sat up, yawning. “So what is it?”

I took a deep breath and then laid it all out
on the table. “I had a long talk with Casper last night. He’s going
to talk Jayme and Fido into nominating you guys because he wants to
make a big move and stir things up. Once you guys are up on the
block, Marla’s going to be the one to go.”

Marla’s gasp was audible. “Me? What did I
do?”

“You’re the stronger player,” I said simply.
“You have kids, so you’re more approachable, and you’re less of a
threat in competitions, so he’s worried you’re going to fly under
the radar to the very end.”

She looked at Jendan, frowning. “Should
we…”

He shrugged at her. “Tell them. Won’t hurt
anything at this point.”

She glanced back at me. “We’ve already talked
with Jayme and Fido. They said they were nominating you two and
that you’d be going home, Kandis. The plan’s to keep Brodie.”

I nodded. “I know. Casper told me. But then
he changed his mind.”

Marla’s motherly expression became shrewd.
“You know we could go to him and ask him which story is the truth.
You might be lying.”

“Yeah, I thought you might say that.” Hiding
my budding excitement, I pulled the small hand-held recorder out of
my pocket. “Which is why I thought you might want to hear this for
yourself.”

This time, the room was dead silent.

After a long moment, Marla spoke. “You’ve
been recording us? Are you serious?”

Brodie just looked confused. “So we’re
telling everyone about the recordings, now?”

Marla gave my partner a dirty look.

I gestured at the silent Jendan. “ Jendan
gave this to me. It was in the ghost-hunting equipment, remember?
You’re supposed to use it to capture EVPs but I noticed that it
also captures conversations pretty well.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been recording us!”
Marla was pissed, two bright spots of color in her wan cheeks.
“That is so shady!”

“It’s to your benefit,” I told her. “Because
if I hadn’t, you guys would be going home in the next nomination.
Just listen, okay?”

And I clicked the recorder on so it could
start at the beginning of the conversation I’d had with Casper. I
let the damning evidence play, not stopping it to add commentary.
Even hearing it sounded awesome—Casper spilling all of his plans
and me quietly agreeing and listening as he plotted against
everyone, even the people he was supposedly aligned with. I glanced
at the other three people in the room as it played, gauging their
reactions. Marla’s face was flushed, though I didn’t know if it was
anger or embarrassment. Jendan was impassive, and Brodie was
listening with a thoughtful expression on his face.

The last few moments of the
conversation played back, Casper’s voice not stealthy in the
slightest.
“So…this is a big move. You’re
with me? If we put up Marla and Jendan, you’ll vote
Marla?”

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

“Oh, it’ll go that way. You watch and see.
And this conversation between you and me? Never happened.”

“Got it.”

“I’m serious. 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?”

“I understand. You can trust me.”

Casper sounded disgustingly
confident. Smug, even.
“I know I can.
Because your back’s against a wall. You’ve got no options but
me.”

I clicked the tape recorder off and
waited.

Brodie was the first to speak. “He threatened
you? That fucking asshole. I should go have a nice long talk with
him—“

“No,” I said quickly. Aw,
hell. This was exactly the way I
didn’t
want the conversation to go.
“Don’t say anything. Let him believe everything is on the up and
up.” I looked over at Marla and Jendan. “What are you guys
thinking?”

“I’m pissed,” Marla said. Her arms crossed
over her chest. “And how can we trust you, Kandis? You sat there
and recorded him spilling his guts. And on tape, you’re agreeing to
vote me off. How can I trust you not to?”

“Marla, come on. Think for a moment.” I
scooted forward on the bed, tossing the recorder down. “If I wanted
to go through with his plan, why would I say anything to you?
Anything to any of you?” I gestured at all three of them. “We had
the votes to get Marla out even before I said anything. Me, Sunnie,
Casper, Jayme and Fido. That’s five. You’d be toast before you even
knew what happened. As for trusting me, I’m coming to you with this
information so we can switch it up. I want to work with you guys.
Jendan and I have been allied since day one. I don’t intend on
changing that. In fact, I want the four people in the room here to
go to the end together.”

Silence.

After a moment, Marla said, “Brodie, you’re
constantly flirting with Sunnie and Jayme.” Her mouth turned into a
prim line. “Not to mention your partner here. How do we know you’re
willing to partner to the end?”

I looked at Brodie. That was a good question,
and one I wouldn’t mind the answer to as well.

Brodie only grinned. “My strategy coming in
was to flirt. I think it’s doing pretty well for me so far. But
Kandis is my girl. I’m with her. She’s got my back, and I have
hers. The other two are just harmless flirting. As long as they’re
with me, they’re not against me.”

Jendan said nothing, but Marla harrumphed
again. “So how do we trust you?”

“You either do or you don’t,” Brodie said,
still smiling. “Sounds like I’m safe either way.”

“Yeah, great,” she snapped.

“Look, let’s calm down,”
Jendan said. “I trust Kandis. Like she said, she’s had my back
since day one. She’s shared information to help keep me—keep
us
—safe.”

“Has she,” Brodie murmured speculatively,
glancing over at me.

“You know this,” I told him. We’d even argued
about it.

He leaned in. “Yeah, but I’m just curious how
much sharing has been going on.”

I rolled my eyes at his accusation. I’d deal
with Brodie later. Right now I needed to concentrate on the other
team, not mine. I clasped my hands and gave Marla and Jendan a
beseeching look. “So can we please, please work together? I think
if the four of us come together, we can surprise all of them and
take control of this game. We just have to make sure that we stick
together.”

“So how do we do this?” Marla asked me, still
skeptical. “You must have an idea.”

“I do,” I said slowly, doing my best not to
twitch. “But I need your help. I need you two to go to Jayme and
Fido and tell them that you want them to nominate Casper and
Sunnie.”

“Why not you?” Marla asked. “You’re the one
with the tape.”

“I am. I’m also the current nominee of
choice. Don’t you think it’ll look a bit fishy if I go to them and
beg for my life? It’ll look less sneaky if it comes from you guys,
and then our alliance can fly under the radar.”

“And what do we tell Fido and Jayme?”

I shrugged. “Tell them the truth—that you
overheard a conversation with Casper where he was saying he wanted
to vote one of them out. Let paranoia do the rest.”

Marla and Jendan exchanged a glance. After a
moment, Marla put her hand out. “I think I want the tape recorder
back.”

I got up and brought it to her. “I’m not
doing this to screw you guys. I promise. I know that if we work
together, we can get to the final four.”