I crossed my arms under my breasts. 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.”
I nodded into the dark, then realized he couldn’t see that. “Okay.”
“One…two…three!”
He surged again, and I kicked upward at the same time. The lid moved, but fell back down heavily again, and I whimpered as some sort of dirt came in from the sides, spattering me. They’d really buried us? That freaked me out all over again, and my breathing became shallow, my lungs burning.
“I want out,” I said in a small voice. “I need out.” I kicked at the coffin lid again.
“I know,” Brodie said. “I’m trying. Come on. At the count of three again.”
“No,” I said. “Right now. I can’t breathe!”
“You can,” Brodie reassured me. “It’s just a stupid TV show challenge. Don’t wig out on me, Kandis. We need to win this week, because we need that safety net. You hear me? I want that money.”
“Money,” I breathed. I needed that money. I needed to save Mom. I couldn’t afford to panic. “Count of three,” I rasped, my fists clenching.
“Good girl,” Brodie gritted. “Again. One…two…three!”
This time, there was a loud crack and pieces of the coffin fell in on us as it broke. I sputtered all over again, and my mouth filled with dirt. I spat it, shocked, and then began to laugh as chunks fell on my face.
They’d buried us in cookies. The ‘dirt’ was cookie dust. A chocolate coffin and cookie dust. I’d freaked out over nothing.
I felt Brodie surge again, and my legs kicked at the bottom half of the coffin. I clawed at the mountain of cookies pushing on me, and a moment later, someone grabbed my hand and hauled me upright. It was Brodie, his face and hair covered in cookie crumbs. He looked like a mess, and he was frowning over my shoulder.
I turned around and saw Sunnie and Casper cheering, hugging each other as a light flashed at the head of their grave.
Damn it. Second place.
“Sunnie and Casper, you have won this week’s Power Play,” Becky called out over the chaos of breaking chocolate coffins and the sound of cookies rolling everywhere. As I watched, Jendan and Marla clawed their way out of their grave nearby, and hands were emerging from the other two graves.
I rubbed at my face, which only caused more cookie crumbs to fall into my eyes. I blinked hard, and then Brodie’s fingers were brushing at my skin, swiping away the dust. “We’re fucked now,” he said. “Unless I can work on Sunnie. Just be ready.”
I nodded.
“Contestants, please return to the living room,” a voice said over the intercom. Not Becky Bradley’s. “We’ll return from commercial in three minutes, so clean yourselves up as best you can.”
“Um, shouldn’t we help the others out of their coffins?” Sunnie said, looking over where Fido and Jayme were still struggling to get out, and I didn’t even see Mickey’s hands anymore.
“Probably a good idea,” Brodie laughed, and he offered me a hand. We climbed out of our grave and then headed to Mickey’s side to help him out, while Marla and Jendan moved to help Fido and Jayme.
We helped Mickey up, and when he held on to my hand a little longer than I liked, I smiled sweetly instead of shaking him off. I could deal with a little bit of handsiness…for a time.
Katy handed all of us towels, and we mopped cookie off of our faces as we trudged back into the living room. One by one, we settled onto the couches. Mickey sat next to me, and on instructions from the intercom, Sunnie and Casper sat in the nomination seats, since they had Power this week. They’d been awarded the Power Play necklace, and Casper now wore it around his neck.
The TV monitor cut back on again, and Becky’s smiling, bland face looked back down at us. “House Guests, I warned you that there would be a twist this week, and now it’s time. Are you ready?”
I looked at Brodie nervously and scanned the faces of the others. They looked equally unnerved.
Becky began to speak again. “This week, to get an idea of where the house is heading, we’re going to have…an impromptu vote off. No one is on the block. You will vote as teams, and you’ll cast your vote for the team you want gone. If your team is voted off, both of you will be removed from the game. Does everyone understand?”
Oh shit. A team vote off? With no particular person nominated? If they all voted for Brodie, my ship would go down with his.
This was not good.
“Great,” Becky said. “Sunnie and Casper, since you have Power this week, you will vote first.”
They got up and clasped hands, heading out to the confessional booth to cast their vote. I gave Brodie a tense look, but he wouldn’t look in my direction. He seemed to be assessing the others, watching their faces.
“Brodie and Kandis, please go to the voting booth,” a voice piped in, and we jerked to our feet. I put my hand in Brodie’s, and we headed to the booth. My thoughts were whirling.
I was pretty sure
Marla and Jendan would vote for Katy and Liam. In fact, I was pretty sure most of the teams would vote for Katy and Liam. But what if one or two tossed their votes our way? We had to ensure that it wasn’t a tie.
So when we got in the booth, I leaned in to Brodie’s ear. “I think we should vote for Katy and Liam. Make sure that we know who’s going home and keep our heads off the chopping block.”
To my surprise, Brodie grinned at me. “Took the words right out of my mouth.”
“Really?” Just like that? Brodie was willing to vote out his sister that quick? Jeez.
“Katy won’t hold a grudge,” Brodie said. “She knows it’s a game.”
Then Katy was a better woman than I was, because I’d sure hold a grudge if I were her. But if it were down to myself or Katy, I’d pick myself.
“Kandis and Brodie,” Becky Bradley said, her voice piping into the booth. “Do you have a vote?”
“We do,” Brodie said, and then he looked at me.
I nodded. “We are voting for Katy and Liam.”
~~ * ~~
The vote was five teams to one. Katy and Liam would be leaving the house because no one else had voted for anyone other than them. The remaining vote had been for Marla and Jendan, and I knew that had been Katy and Liam’s vote. Brodie and I had voted with the house.
Neither Liam nor Katy seemed surprised by the vote, and they seemed to be taking it well. Liam shook hands with the guys, and Katy went and gave everyone hugs, a wry smile on her face.
When she came to me, though, she whispered in my ear, “Don’t trust Brodie as far as you can throw him.”
“I won’t,” I whispered back. I already didn’t. “I’m sorry I voted for you.”
“It’s okay,” she said, and she smiled at me. “I get to spend the summer with Liam. I don’t mind being voted out. You just watch out for that brother of mine. He’s sneaky.”
I nodded, and she turned to leave.
In one night, we were already down three house guests. Nine people remained, and it was Brodie and me against the rest of them.
Things were not looking good for the home team.
CHAPTER FOUR
“I’m starting to suspect that Kandis doesn’t take me seriously. What’s a guy got to do around here to get her attention?” – Brodie Short, Day 8
“I think I’d rather be back on the couches,” I complained to Brodie as I fluffed my pillow and flopped on my back in the bed.
Unfortunately for me, when I laid on my back, it left me with a great view of the nooses hanging from the rafters of the ceiling. Hanging Room, indeed. Someone had a sick sense of humor.
After a week of being on the couches, we were down to nine guests and four rooms. Mickey was on the couches, Sunnie and Casper were in the Power room, and Brodie and I had been chosen for the attic room that was ‘lovingly’ referred to as the Hanging Room.
“There’s nothing wrong with this bed,” Brodie mumbled, voice sleepy.
“You mean, other than the fact that it’s in a haunted room?”
Brodie rolled over with a sigh, facing me. “You don’t really think this house is haunted, do you, Kandis? We’ve been here a week and no one’s seen a ghost.”
“No,” I said, eyeing one of the nooses that dangled overhead. “But we have seen shadows and heard things at night. And Sunnie said that when they slept up here, she heard whispering in her pillow. I do not want to hear whispering.”
Brodie rubbed his face. “Sounds like her pillow is haunted and not the room.”
“That’s not funny.”
“Kandis, why don’t you worry about something that is important? Like how we’re going to stay in this house a bit longer? You know Casper and Sunnie are going to put us up for eviction unless we manage to somehow sway them.”
“I know,” I said thoughtfully, hugging the blanket close. Unlike the couches below, there was one bed in the attic room, which meant that Brodie and I were sharing a blanket. I’d worn long pajamas, but Brodie had opted to sleep in his underwear…a fact that did not go unnoticed by me, no matter how hard I was trying to ignore it.
Brodie was a mactor, I reminded myself. If he was in his underwear in bed with me, it was because he wanted to remind the world how hot he was, not because he wanted to remind me how hot he was.
“I can work on Sunnie this week,” Brodie told me in a low voice. “But you’ve got to work on her, too. Befriend her. Do her hair or paint her nails or whatever it is girls do. She’s kind of weak, so Casper’s going to push her to go along with whatever he wants, and it’s pretty clear that he wants us out.”
I nodded. “I’ll figure something out.” I thought for a moment and then added, “It’d be best if we could figure out a way to paint a target on Mickey. If his team got nominated, he’d automatically go home because he’s a team of one. There’s no guesswork there.”
“Yeah, but Mickey will vote with whoever offers to keep him. So he’s not a target.”
Not like we were. I continued to think, silently drumming my fingers on the blanket.
Brodie’s hand covered mine. “Stop that.”
“Sorry.”
“Go to sleep. Seriously. I can’t think without a good night’s sleep, and we need to plan our strategy tomorrow. So unless you want to fool around, go to sleep.”
I snorted and hauled my blankets higher. “Going to sleep now.”
“Thought so.” Brodie sounded amused, though. “Let me know if you change your mind.”
“Not changing my mind.”
~~ * ~~
Time passes incredibly slowly when you’re anxious about an upcoming vote. Though no one had said anything to me, I could tell just by the way that Jayme and Sunnie acted that Brodie and I were on the hit list. For one, they both fawned over my handsome partner and made sad faces from time to time, as if he were already gone. And of course, that made me stressed out. So when I was stressed? I exercised.
I spent hours every day going over Zumba routines, coming up with new choreography. Since we weren’t allowed to play music while in the house (which would interfere with audio recordings), I had to hum the music to myself and choreograph based on memory. That was fine, since we had plenty of free time and lots of hours to fill every day.
I also tried to spend a lot of time with Sunnie. During that first week, the celebutante had bonded with the chef, and they were rarely seen apart, so I felt like I was jockeying for her attention. They tended to talk about the same things over and over again; Sunnie would name drop famous people she’d hung out with, and Jayme would listen with wide, adoring eyes. I could only say “Gee, Sunnie, you’ve really dated famous movie stars?” so many times before I wanted to punch myself in the face. Though if I wanted the scoop about which tabloid celebrity had gone to rehab, Sunnie could give me the dish. Despite us not having much in common, I really did try.
Evenings were the best. Everyone would gather for dinner, and we’d all hang out, laughing and talking together, usually playing some sort of game. At night, the house felt like a big, ongoing dinner party. It was only when it was time to go to bed that it felt like a horror flick.
Unlike Sunnie, I hadn’t heard whispering in my pillow. I did hear the footsteps at night, though, and I’d woken Brodie up once to make sure he heard it too, but he’d only mumbled and rolled over. I thought about taping it, but my recorder was being put to better use in the flower pot of the smoking area.
I kept taping conversations, but most of them seemed to be along the same lines. Casper wanted us out. Sunnie liked Brodie and wanted to keep him. Jendan wanted to keep me for the same reasons. Marla was undecided. Mickey wanted to vote with whoever would keep him around. Fido wanted us out.
We were the perfect targets. At least, Brodie was. I was just collateral damage. And no one gave a crap about collateral damage.
So I did my best to make myself invaluable. I went up to the Power room and hung out. I painted Sunnie’s nails and listened to her stories about Hollywood. I admired Casp
er’s stories about the firehouse. I helped Jayme clean up in the kitchen when she cooked. I listened to Marla’s anecdotes about her kids. I even let Mickey rub my neck.
Once.
The reward challenge had been a shooting range with crossbows and fake vampire bats that shot across the sky. I’d deliberately failed it and then flattered the heck out of Fido when he’d won, going on and on about how good he was at the challenge to the point I disgusted even myself.
And when I couldn’t stand all the butt kissing any longer, I retreated to the house gym and exercised, venting my frustrations on the stairclimber or on a particularly grueling dance routine.
I was bent over, doing stretches, when Mickey entered the workout room. My ass was in the air, and I immediately straightened. “Hey, Mickey,” I said, pulling a few sweaty strands of hair off of my face. “How are you?”
“Better, now that I just had that amazing view.”
His smile was friendly, but his words were creepy. Ugh. I forced myself to keep smiling despite the fact that I wanted to retreat. I faced the workout mirror and raised an arm over my head and bent to the side, stretching it. “Let me know if I’m in your way.”
“I’m good,” he said, and he came up to stand next to me. As I watched in the mirror, he began to mimic my stretches.
Okay, that was weird. I stretched my other arm, bent to touch my toes, and then shot a quick glance over at Mickey.
Sure enough, he was still stretching his arms, but his gaze was on my ass.
God, that made me feel freaked out.
I straightened again and went to the weight bench.
“You need a spotter?” Mickey asked, coming to my side.
“No, actually, I’m okay.” I grabbed my towel, and even though I’d just warmed up, I decided it was time to leave. “I think I’m going to skip the workout for today.”
“Sore?”
No, your skeezy eyes are drilling holes into my skin. “Something like that.”