Blind Reality (24 page)

“I told you I don’t like pink.”

“Since when?”

I shrug and look away, acting like a disinterested child.

“Unbelievable,” she mutters as she turns away from me.

I have feeling that any progress we’ve made these past few weeks is now swirling down the toilet and it’s not even Bronx’s fault. He’s the just catalyst for my self-destruction.

“Listen,” I say when I come to stand behind her. I press my body into hers and she goes rigid. “Joey?” I try to sweeten my voice, to show her the desire I feel when I’m near her, but she doesn’t budge. “Let’s win this one, okay?”

Joey doesn’t respond. She just stands there waiting for our instructions even though the game looks fairly self-explanatory.

“Now that everyone has met each other, let’s begin.” Patrick’s voice over the loud speaker annoys me, but I can’t let that show on my face. It’s game time and even if Joey doesn’t want to win this one, I do.

As soon as everyone is at their colored hippo, Patrick continues. “Welcome to the live action version of
Hungry Hungry Hippos
. One of you will lie flat on the skateboard and hold out your bucket while the other pushes you by your ankles. The object is to collect as many matching balls as you can before the buzzer. If your hand touches the ground, you’re disqualified.

“Newlyweds, take your positions.”

“Do you want to be on the bottom?” I wiggle my eyebrows at her and am instantly rewarded with a smile, even if she does shake her head. I’m just relieved to see that smile.

“You have no idea,” she mumbles as she gets down on her knees and climbs onto the skateboard. Seeing her like that, on her knees, makes me wish we were somewhere else, and unless we win the master suite the only place we can be alone will be in the shower. Everything we’ve done has been in the shower, minus the one time in bed that is completely foggy as hell. My no sex rule was really, really stupid, but it was a necessary evil.

“You’re going to have to lean when I say right or left,” I instruct as Joey gets situated on the board.

“I know, Josh.” Her voice is stern, telling me that she’s annoyed with me. It’s funny how you learn so much about someone in such a little amount of time. Joey bends her legs up so I can hold onto her ankles. I grab them firmly and give her a slight push.

The timer starts ticking down; giving us fair warning that the game is about to start. I look over at Gary and find him staring at Rebekah. When we’re done, I need to ask him what the deal is between them because they definitely have history. When I glance at Bronx, he’s staring at Joey, fueling my anger toward him and this situation.

The buzzer sounds and I hesitate briefly before lurching us forward. Joey works the game like a champ, leaning in the direction she needs me to go. We bump and collide with others as she tries to capture all the pink balls that she can, and as much as I want to look and see how the others are doing, I can’t. My focus has to remain on Joey.

At the sound of the horn, I drop her legs and fall to my knees. I didn’t think it would be exhausting, holding her ankles like that, but it was. I crawl over and sit next to her, waiting while she counts how many pink balls we were able to capture.

When she’s done, I stand and pull her with me. I put my arm around her, tugging her into my side. She relaxes into me and I use this opportunity to place a kiss on her forehead. “You kicked ass,” I tell her, praising the job she’s done. I’m not sure I would’ve been able to stay on the board.

“Thanks. I just hope it’s enough to win.”

“Me too.”

“Newlyweds, was that as fun to compete in as it was to watch?”

I want to say no, but I grumble a somewhat positive response.

“Cole and Mille, how many yellow balls do you have?”

“We have eighteen yellow balls,” Millie replies as I look at our bucket. I’m confident we’ve beaten not only them, but Gary and Amanda as well. When I look toward Bronx, he’s smirking. We can’t see into each other’s buckets, and that’s a bit unnerving to me. All I know is that we need to have just one more than they do.

“Joshua and Joey, how many pink balls do you have?”

I chuckle like a child because it seems like Patrick Jonas likes to draw the word out longer than he needs to.

Joey glares at me before clearing her throat. “We have twenty-four pink balls.”

I bite my tongue when she answers for fear she may end up stabbing me later on when no one is looking. There’s an audible sigh as Cole and Millie walk off the game platform.

“Josh and Joey, you’re currently in the lead.” I throw a fist pump into the air just for the viewers.

“Gary and Amanda, how many green balls do you have?”

“We have twenty green balls.” As soon as Amanda answers, they’re stepping off the platform before Patrick can go through his spiel. Now all eyes are on Bronx and Rebekah. My thinking is that they wouldn’t want to win the first competition because that could pit the house against them. But this is Bronx Taylor we’re talking about, and he doesn’t care who he steps on to get to the top.

“Bronx and Rebekah, how did you enjoy your first competition?”

“It was lovely, thank you.”

“She seems very prim and proper,” Joey whispers and I nod agreement, but not before I wonder why Joey cares.

“Tell us, how many red balls were you able to capture?”

Rebekah looks over her shoulder and beams at Bronx, causing my stomach to lurch. “We have twenty-five red balls,” Bronx states all too smugly for my liking.

“Crap,” Joey mutters as she takes my hand to walk us off stage. I tune out Patrick and his celebratory congratulations to the happy couple. Rebekah’s squealing is enough pain for my ears.

“Houseguests may return inside.” The black screen starts to lift as we wait to go back in. None of us are in the mood to talk to Bronx and Rebekah, at least those of us who are of the male species. Amanda is yapping his ear off and all I can think is thank heavens it’s him and not me right now.

When we step in, the house has changed. The couches are gone, having been replaced by loveseats and, in addition, the first picture taken of each of us as married couples are on the wall. Millie walks over to hers and traces around the edges.

“They’re going to survive this,” Joey says as she walks over to the photos. I want to tell her that we will, too, it’ll just take some work, but I don’t think she’d believe me.

I wander down the hall and into the red room. I’m hoping Joey and I can just stay in here since we never packed our belongings. I’d rather not fight for a room tonight.

A room?

Stepping back into the hall, I walk toward a new opening. Sure enough while we were playing outside, they somehow brought another room into the house. The wonders of Hollywood magic never cease to amaze me. This room is green and reminds me of grass; definitely not one I want to be in.

I turn at the feeling of a hand on my shoulder. Bronx is standing behind me with a smug look on his face.

“What?”

“Tsk, tsk, Wilson. I’m here to win,” he says as he walks away. Before he rounds the corner, I swear I hear him say your woman.

“I
can’t believe you’re here,” I exclaim as Bronx pulls me into his arms. I know to viewers it’s going to look like I followed him down the hall, but the hall just happens to lead to the bathroom and that’s where he found me. He sets me down, brushing lose hairs away from my face.

“I didn’t know you were on the show until they made me watch every episode.”

Bronx and I spent hours studying for exams and writing papers together. We had three of our four classes together our first semester. I had a crush, but when he left it faded.

“I can’t believe you’re married,” he says, stepping back and apprising me. “It really agrees with you.”

I want to tell him thanks and that I’m in love, but admitting the latter is far too painful so I shrug and hope my facial expression tells him everything he needs to know.

“You’re married, too!”

“Yeah, Rebekah and I have been married for about two months.” I don’t know if it’s game play or not, but it seems odd that we’ve all been married the same time.

“I’m so happy you’re here. It’ll be nice having a friend in the house.” I sit up on the counter, watching as he looks everything over. When he dropped out he said he’d keep in touch, but never did. It didn’t take long for him to make a splash and cause a few waves, but it’s a go big or go home type of world. “Tell me about your wife.”

He shrugs, and stands in front of me. “Met her at church.”

“You go to church?” I ask, raising my eyebrow.

“I did while I was filming my last movie. It looked inviting, and I found it to be so much more.”

“Interesting.” I hop down when I hear voices starting to filter down the hall. The last thing I need is to be caught in a compromising situation with Bronx. Since his arrival only hours ago, Josh’s demeanor has changed. I know there’s a story there, and it has to do with Jules. At one point, Jules was rumored to be dating Bronx and another guy, but by the time the rumor started to stick, she was with Josh only to not be with him again. Honestly, their relationship has been nothing but a Hollywood train wreck.

Amanda and Millie come in, both eyeing me. I turn to face the mirror, better to watch my back that way, and pretend to fix my hair. Amanda is all over Bronx, touching his arm and chest, laughing as if he’s said something funny. I don’t want to watch her fawn over my friend. I’ll leave the daggers and hair pulling to Rebekah.

I follow Millie out and into the backyard where Gary is in the corner talking to Rebekah. It only takes her a second to realize that people are watching before walking toward us. “Everything is odd with Bronx and Rebekah here,” Millie says as she sits down. Cole walks out with two pitchers of daiquiri, pouring a glass for Millie.

“I know.” Before I can get comfortable Bronx steps out, followed by Amanda. She sits down in a huff and pulls a full pitcher into her lap.

“Wanna talk about it?” Millie asks. I’m curious what Amanda’s problem is, but I don’t care enough to ask.

“Gary and Rebekah have some sort of history. I mean, look at them.” She blatantly points to the corner where they’re talking. From an outsider’s view, yes something is going on, but it’s not like Amanda cares about Gary.

“What if he cheats?” she whines, earning an eye roll from me.

“Automatic annulment, didn’t you read the contract?” I ask.

“Yes, but what about my heart?” she answers mid drink and just in time for Rebekah to head our way. Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe us right now.

Yeah, I don’t know about that because I’m in my own pickle. Josh walks out with a plate of meat and what looks like potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil. This is why we’re a match. When life stresses me out, I make cake. When he’s stressed, he cooks.

Bronx walks over to Josh and pats him on the back. I sigh at the sight of both of them standing side-by-side. I’d like to see them in a movie together, but I doubt that will happen any time soon. There’s no mistaking that I’m a fangirl through and through. I watch all the awards shows live with my own predictions of the winners written down and a bowl of popcorn in my lap. I buy the all the magazines, even the tweenie bopper ones with the pullout posters. I’ve camped out, waiting in sub-freezing temperatures just to get an autograph or a chance at a selfie. I’m there at midnight, watching the latest new release and returning the next day to watch it again. I’ve had unrealistic fantasies about the two men standing yards away from me. One is and has always been, since he came onto the scene, my dream come true. The other was short lived and even when he became famous did nothing for me. In my eyes, Joshua is the catch and Bronx is just the side dish.

If my marriage weren’t ending in a few short weeks, I’d be rushing to buy a lottery ticket in town because the odds are definitely in my favor. They have to be.

We drink in silence, watching as the men filter around the yard, not giving us a glance. It’s nice to stare and not worry about being caught.

“How did we get so lucky?” Millie asks as she brings the glass to her lips. The three of us are on our way to getting drunk. Her eyes are so focused on the scene across the yard that her mouth is seeking the straw. I stifle a laugh before turning my gaze back to the man candy section of the backyard. Bronx is staring at us. Holy hell does my body sigh when I look at him and say his name. Time has been very good to Bronx. If I weren’t married to Joshua, I’d become Amanda and start making some moves, but alas, I have the better one out of the two.