by Ashton Johns
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” I asked.
“Shouldn’t you?” she breathed back.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“Are you?”
Was she going to repeat everything I said? Or was the one brain cell rattling around inside the head of that hard won gym body asleep?
I needed to stop thinking like that. It made me want to fucking laugh. For the show’s purpose’s I didn’t think I should be throwing shade on her efforts to seduce me, but I didn’t want to come across as happy about it either. I knew she’d be bragging about this to the rest of them and then I’d be faced with a parade of oiled bodies night after night.
“How can I help you…?”
“Honey.” She filled in the gap and I was mentally high fiving myself for at least getting the name category nearly right. It was food, just not fruit.
“I figured we didn’t get the chance for a proper introduction, with all the other girls in the dining room.”
“So, you came for some one-on-one time?”
“Mmm,” she replied coyly, squeezing her forearms together so her tits looked like balloons on the verge of exploding.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Honey.” I smiled, forcing myself to clasp her upper arms.
She took this as a green light and wrapped her oily self around me.
Pulling back, I kissed her on the cheek before turning and leaving. “Brody! Let’s go, buddy.”
As we wandered back to the main house, I waited until I was underneath an ivy-covered pergola and stood to the side, shaking and anxious. As soon as they’d assumed that I was out of eyesight, Carson came sprinting from the pool house with a bathrobe and towel for Honey. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but he seemed pleased with the footage he had. His nodding and smiling were emphatic as he helped her cover up, but from the look in his eyes, he was also pleased to be so close to a half-naked woman.
I thought I’d handled it well, and I knew from the vantage point of the pool house, they would have only seen her back and my face, so I did the best I could to show some kind of surprised pleasure at being presented with such a forward gift.
The next morning when I woke up, I took my breakfast in the kitchen with the staff. Mellings had got bored of trying to get me to conform. He now had a house full of guests to fawn over and if he wanted to pander to the whims of those women then he could knock himself out trying.
Carson came through as I was eating the last of my poached eggs and told me that today was a pool day. The girls would be spending time with me and we’d play a little volleyball in the pool, have some champagne and generally live it up like the rich and famous were used to doing. The only thing I heard in all he said was that I was going to see Daisy again, and somehow that made it all worth it.
I could hear music by the poolside the closer I got, and as the cameras followed me down to the waiting crowd of women, I did my usual talk to Brody and tried to ignore them. Bursting through the doors was like time warping back to a frat party from my college days. Girls splashing in the water, some on loungers, a few of them drinking something sugary with a cocktail umbrella sticking out of it and some dancing on the side of the pool like there was a pole in front of them.
The girls had already grouped themselves into what would no doubt become their cliques and battle teams, and I was nervous that the phone lines would be opening soon so the public could pick their two favorite date potentials. Unfortunately, the girls also knew this and the small swimsuits they were sporting were an indication of just how seriously they were taking it. I grabbed myself a can of Diet Coke and made my way around the pool, stopping and sitting on the edges of the sun loungers, making chitchat where possible. I could talk for hours on end, but not with some of these girls. Conversation was not a skill they had mastered.
My ultimate destination, though, was Daisy. She and two other girls were furthest away from me and seemingly content in their own spaces. That wouldn’t work, though. They needed to be involved or they’d alienate themselves from the public. If I could sneak a word with Daisy and tell her that, I had to. It was going to be difficult to justify keeping her in the house if we didn’t have some interaction.
When I finally made it to her gathering of friends, I could see that they were different. They didn’t have the standard issue hair weave and barely-there two-piece swimsuits on. These girls were wearing strapless, simple block colored swimsuits, and one girl even had a wrap around her middle to cover her butt and thighs. Daisy, who was gazing in the opposite direction, was hiding behind oversized sunglasses, and looked so uncomfortable that I wanted to bundle her up and run for the hills.
“Good Morning, ladies. Did you all have a good night’s rest?”
“Yes thanks. I’m Natalie, this is Jess and the girl who is catching up on her zees is Daisy. She had a restless night.”
At the sound of her name, she jolted awake and realized she’d been dribbling from the corner of her mouth. It was cute and I couldn’t hide the smile that was rocking around my cheeks.
“I hope you’ll all join me for a friendly game of pool volleyball later.” I smiled.
“Sports aren’t my thing,” Daisy finally said, her mouth tight and strained. I wanted to ask her to remove the glasses but couldn’t. I felt lost not being able to see her eyes, especially when I knew something was wrong with her.
“Brody! Come here, boy,” I shouted, and the dog scampered towards us at full speed, knocking a couple of girls dancing pool side off balance and sending them into the water.
I saw the faint flicker of a smile on her lips and genuinely hated that she was unhappy.
I knew the cameras would be lurking, and I was nervous about spending too long lingering in her space without it looking odd. “I’m going to go and get my best boy some water. It’s hot out here. Talk later.”
The pool volleyball was as expected with bodies everywhere and all of them clambering to touch mine. I was praying for time to speed forward so it could be over. Lunch finally arrived, and we had a magnificent picnic on the lawn. With all of them lounging around me and eating grapes, it really did look like I was some Middle Eastern Prince collecting women like valuables. The music started up again and the girls began to disperse to go and clean up after they’d eaten. I rolled over onto my front and Daisy was inches away from me. Propping my head on my arms, I took a chance and whispered, “You okay?”
She looked away from me. “How was your late-night rendezvous?”
“My what?” It took me a moment to realize what she was referring to. “What did Honey say?”
“Honey said nothing. I saw you. It looked very… cozy.”
Before I could conjure up a response, Natalie and Jess came back and lay down beside us.
“Excuse me, I think I’ll go and freshen up like the other girls. Gotta pull myself together and win some public votes,” said Daisy sarcastically, and I watched, feeling my frustration grow as she climbed up from the picnic blanket, stumbled over her own feet and then pushed her sunglasses up her cute button nose before leaving the garden and disappearing inside the house.
Twenty-Five
Daisy Ingles
Slamming my bedroom door and flopping onto my bed, I groaned, wondering once more what the hell I’d let myself in for. I knew it shouldn’t have but watching Kade and Honey last night had made me angrier than a swarm of hornets. My lips felt as though they were glued together whenever Kade came near me. They couldn’t lift into a smile and could barely open to speak to him.
“Oh, fudge it!” I cried, throwing one of my pillows across the room. “I hate this place.”
I knew what the show was all about, what Kade was supposed to do, but knowing it and seeing it were two different things. Besides which, when I agreed to this I wasn’t as attracted to Kade as I was now. Yes, I’d liked his company and felt some sort of connection, but now he sent me into a tizzy with just one look or one of his beautiful smiles. It was all too much to cope with, and I w
asn’t sure my heart or my nerves were going to last the distance.
As I contemplated my fate, the door pushed open and Natalie and Jess trooped in. It had to be said, they both looked as dejected as I felt.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, pushing up onto my elbows.
“This is such a fix,” Natalie moaned, collapsing face down onto her own bed.
“Why?”
Jess gave me a resigned smile and perched on the end of my bed. “You know that girl with humongous titties?”
“Which one?” I giggled. “They’ve all got humongous titties.”
“Hmm, true.” Jess laughed. “The one with the bigger rack than the rest. She had a gold bikini on today.”
“Oh, her.” I scoffed, remembering how she’d walked out of the pool like a Bond girl, just as Kade was walking by.
“Yeah, her, well she got called into the study.”
I groaned. The study was where we were summoned to talk to the production company, either to talk about ourselves, the other girls, or to simply relay messages back to the mansion about any tasks. I had a feeling that Bond Girl’s visit to the study had been to relay a message. There was no way Meredith would allow us to get too comfortable.
“What do we have to do?” I asked, lying my head back on my remaining pillow.
“We don’t have to damn well do anything,” came the muffled reply from Natalie.
Jess glanced over at her and sighed.
“Titty Galore, or whatever her name is, had to pick one other girl to go and give Kade a relaxing massage before dinner.”
My heart clenched and dropped along with my spirits. This had Meredith written all over it. If I didn’t think I’d hid my attraction to Kade well, I’d have said it was to mess with me, but I was sure it was more to do with ratings. I knew that every day she’d be poring over the daily results, and if they weren’t where she wanted them to be, someone giving Kade a massage would be the tamest thing to happen.
“Who did she pick?” I asked, dread threading through my veins.
“Honey.” Jess’s lip curled as she said her name with utter distaste.
Natalie rolled over onto her back and kicked her legs up in the air, pushing her hands under her lower back.
“It’s obvious to me,” she puffed out, “that Honey, who is a fucking bitch, and Vanessa aka Titty Galore, are the production team’s favorites on this show. Not only were we held back while they got to pick their rooms first, but,” she said, dropping her legs back to the bed, “Honey was told to go and swim half naked in front of Kade. I overheard that Carson guy tell her when I nipped back outside for my wrap that I’d left out there. Then, of course, Vanessa was given the massage task.”
“If you can call it a task,” Jess grumbled. “I’d gladly put my hands on that mighty fine tall drink of water.”
I turned to watch Natalie bring her knees to her chest.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Stretches. I used to be a gymnast so like to keep supple.”
“Oh shit,” Jess said. “That means if you ever get laid by Kade, it’s going to be so damn spectacular he’ll never look at the rest of us again.”
“No one will have sex with him,” I protested, feeling uncomfortable with the crass way they were talking about getting laid and hoping to God I was right. “Surely not on TV.”
Natalie stopped her stretches and gave me a weird look.
“You do know that’s the whole point of the show? Didn’t they tell you that in your interview?”
I felt the blood draining from my cheeks as Jess and Natalie exchanged glances.
“No,” I breathed out.
“Well yeah!” Natalie sat up and pushed herself up the bed, crossing her legs Indian style and stretching her arm behind her neck. “Anyone who goes on a date with Kade gets to spend the night in his bed with him. So come on, Dais, what d’ya think is going to happen? He’s young and hot and will have a willing female in his bed. I reckon it’s safe to say there’s gonna be a lot of hoochy coochy going on in this house over the next few weeks.”
Jess nodded sagely. “She’s right and look at the name of the show. That tells you everything.”
I had no idea what the show was called. Meredith didn’t even want me in here, so she wasn’t going to give me any help or information.
“I fucking know, right?” Natalie cried. “’I Wanna Get Laid by Kade’. I mean, come on, Dais’, really?”
“I-I-I just didn’t think about it,” I stammered, feeling a little sick to my stomach.
“Oh, Daisy, are you a virgin?” Jess asked, sympathetically rubbing my knee.
“No!” I said indignantly.
I wasn’t, well not officially. I’d had sex once when I was seventeen with my then boyfriend, Dennis Morley. It really wasn’t good. For the first couple of minutes of him thrusting in and out, his penis wasn’t even inside my twinkle—damn it, I had to remember I was now twenty-two and should not call my vagina a twinkle any longer. Anyway, once I managed to tell Dennis that he wasn’t actually in, things did not improve, believe me. I’d had dates since then, but I’d always been so busy helping to look after Mom that sex wasn’t something that I had time for.
“So, what’s worrying you?” Natalie asked, now off the bed and touching her toes.
“Well, I don’t want to be on TV having sex, if in fact I ever get picked.”
There were two things worrying me actually. No, I didn’t want to have sex on TV, but I also didn’t want anyone else to have sex with Kade—on TV or otherwise.
“Oh, they’re not allowed to film that,” Jess announced as she got off my bed and went over to our shared closet. “It was in your contract. I know because my dad’s a lawyer and he checked mine.”
“They might put a mic’ outside the door.” Natalie was now doing the splits.
“They shouldn’t do that either, but if you do have sex with him, it is in the contract that you tell the truth when questioned. Although, being a drama student, I think I could quite easily lie,” she said, flicking through various outfits. “Hey, you think this is okay for tonight’s barbeque?” She held up a pale lemon dress with barely-there straps. It looked awfully short.
Natalie lifted her head from her knee and grinned. “Yep, perfect. What are you wearing, Dais?”
I shrugged, unable to speak, as I was still worrying about someone enjoying Kade’s body.
“Well, I bet Titty Galore and Nasty Bitch are wearing very little at this moment.” Jess groaned as she flounced out of the room clutching her shower caddy.
“True story,” Natalie said nasally as she stood on her head.
I simply wanted to cry and wished I had a pair of sparkly red shoes that would take me home.
Twenty-Six
Kade Sutton
When Carson told me that I was going to get a massage from two of the girls, I nearly peed my pants. Call me a pussy, but it appeared that most of these women were practically feral when it came to men.
I wondered whether it would be too much to ask that one of them could be Daisy, and yeah, it seemed it was definitely was too much to fucking ask. I swallowed hard when Honey and another girl, who I thought was called Virginia, came sashaying towards me wearing just underwear. I mean, I think it was underwear… Their bras barely covered their nipples and the panties made it quite clear they both waxed thoroughly down below. Personally, I thought it looked more like something you’d wear in a porn movie—and a bad one at that. I was sure there would be a few guys at home jacking off to this clichéd trash, but it wouldn’t be stirring my dick any day soon.
Yeah, they were good-looking girls, or they could have been if they wiped off some of the shit on their faces. What was it about women who thought the more make-up they wore the more attractive they became? Give me Daisy and her cute freckles any day of the week. Shit, yeah, please give me Daisy. Thinking of Daisy massaging me in a bikini created a definite twitch in my dick, and in the grey sweat shorts that Molly the
wardrobe girl had insisted I wear—without underwear—there was no hiding it.
“Hey, you seem pleased to see us,” Virginia purred.
Knowing that I had to do a good job, I grinned and winked. Oh my God, I was turning into the biggest prick known to the Universe. I was becoming the sort of guy I actually hated at college, all for a damn TV show.
“Well, it’s always lovely to see you beautiful ladies.”
Yep, I’d just puked in my mouth.
“Vanessa and I are here to give you a massage,” Honey said in a sultry tone. “You ready for us?”
Woah, Vanessa not Virginia. Vanessa, Vanessa, Vanessa, I chanted in my head.
“I’m sure I’ll cope,” I replied, which was a total lie.
“Let’s do this then.”
Vanessa caught hold of Honey’s hand, gave her a wink and then licked her lips. I’m sure she thought it was sexy, but it made me want to snort with laughter. Lipstick lesbianism was never my kind of porn, especially when it was done badly.
“After you, ladies.”
I stood to one side and waved them towards the door of the ‘playroom’ as it had been named. Apparently, this was where I could spend time alone with any of the ladies, if I wanted to. There would be no camera crew, just the static cameras that had been set up in various places around the mansion. As for spending time alone with the girls, I had no doubt the ladies in question would not be my choice, but that of Meredith, the bitch. She definitely didn’t want me and Daisy getting friendly, but if she didn’t stop pulling the strings on how Daisy was to behave, I would be walking.
I’d thought earlier that maybe she’d told Daisy to be offhand with me, but after speaking to her, I had a feeling it was more to do with my little meeting with Honey by the pool last night. That thought fucked with my head. I hated to think that Daisy was upset, but I kinda liked the fact that she was jealous. Maybe she was attracted to me as much as I was to her.
