Free Bedroom Games by Jill Myles Page A

much a one-way ticket home.
    I mentally counted as we listened to Sunnie
and Casper make plans with Marla. Sunnie, Casper, and Marla. They
said they had Jendan. Fido was with them. That was five together.
Right now, it sounded like they were planning on all voting for
Lenore and then pulling Mickey to their side. He’d follow, because
he was no doubt upset that Katy and Liam had nominated him for
eviction. That would give them six, and if there were eleven left
in the house, we’d be outnumbered.
    Damn. Week one and I was already on the
losing side.
    The recorder ran out and clicked off, and I
gave Brodie a concerned look. “What do you think?”
    He rubbed his spiky blond hair. “I think we’d
better not lose the next Power challenge, or we’re screwed.”
    I twirled a foot, fidgeting anxiously. “This
sucks. If they’re going after Katy and Liam, you know we’re
next.”
    “I know,” he said grimly. “We have to pull
some of them over to our side.”
    “I thought I had Jendan, but the way Marla
was talking, I’m not so sure. I’d say we could work on Lenore, but
she hates Katy and Liam.”
    He thought for a moment. “I can probably work
on Sunnie. Can you work on both Jendan and Mickey? Mickey likes
you.”
    I knew he liked me. He’d been trying to give
me creepy massages all week. Ugh. “Do I have to?”
    “Only if you want to stay,” Brodie said.
    Damn. “And we have the twist coming up. That
could be anything.”
    “It might break us into individuals again. If
so, you’ll probably be safe.”
    I wasn’t so sure. It sounded like everyone
had made deals without me. My feet drummed anxiously, and I tapped
my fingers on my knees, thinking hard. “There has to be something
we can do.”
    “We can win the Power Play.” Brodie shrugged
his shoulders. “If not, we have to play it by ear. Just know that
if I get nominated, I’m selling you down a river.”
    “Like I expected any less?”
     
    ~~ * ~~
     
     
    I fidgeted nervously on the couch. I had one
leg crossed, and the foot in the air was bouncing like mad while we
waited through a commercial break. Nearby, seated in the two
nomination chairs, Lenore seemed to be meditating, and I was pretty
sure Mickey had just picked his nose on TV.
    Brodie reached over and put a hand on my
knee, a silent indication that my fidgeting was noticeable and a
dead giveaway of my nervousness. “Sorry,” I breathed to the group.
“TV makes me nervous.”
    Such a lie. I wasn’t worried about being on
TV as much as I was about how the vote—and the subsequent
competition and twist—would go. But I smoothed a hand down the
simple green dress I was wearing, trying to calm myself. Poker
face. I needed a poker face.
    The House Guests logo disappeared, and
Becky Bradley’s face appeared on the screen, all smiles and big
hair. “House Guests, I have the results. In a vote of eleven to
one, Lenore, you have been evicted. Please grab your bags and exit
the house through the front door.”
    We clapped politely, but I felt the pit of my
stomach drop a little. Ten votes for Lenore. I’d voted for her
since I knew the rest of the house would be voting that way. It
seemed everyone had been on the same page. So that meant that
either they’d all been talking, or everyone had found the psychic
as annoying as me. It was hard to tell, and that made me
paranoid.
    One by one, we hugged Lenore. I noticed that
she ignored Brodie, Katy, and Liam, though she hugged me. That
didn’t bode well, especially since she’d grouped Brodie in with the
other two Racers. That meant they considered him one of ‘them.’ I
was probably on the fence, but I could easily be lumped in with
them, too.
    And that would destroy my game.
    We waved goodbye to Lenore as she exited, and
then everyone ran for the bathroom to change clothing. We’d been
prepped by the voice over the intercom a half hour before the show
started. Once the vote-out had finished, we had a ten-minute window
while the evictee