“Spot’s taken, asshole! We’re full up here!”
Reid grinned. “What? Don’t like competition?”
“Um, no, I just don’t like Reids,” I said truthfully. “You cheat, you do the eyes.”
“Do not.”
“Do it.”
“Max—”
“The eyes. Let’s have them.”
Reid did the eyes. The ones that made women swoon and the elderly offer sexual favors, though Reid wasn’t really a fan of the second one.
“If you weren’t my brother—”
“Max!” Reid stopped doing the eyes and gave an evil smirk. “It’s on. I’m doing it, if only to humble you.”
“You will do no such thing!” I yelled. “And if you do, I’ll . . . I’ll . . .”
“Aw,” Reid taunted. “Such a smooth talker. Tell me, do you stutter with Becca too?”
“It’s my dating show!”
“For money!” Reid countered. “And it’s only a few weeks! Besides, they don’t have to fall in love with you to win.”
“You’re on the crew!”
“Exactly.” Reid’s eyes gleamed. “So while you’re stuck in your hut at bedtime, or dating other women, it frees me up to do exactly what you lack the balls to do.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Get the girl.” Reid stretched. “Good talk, Brother. Good talk!”
“You don’t want to do this,” I seethed. “You really don’t want me to bring out the big guns . . .”
“I think”—Reid reached the door and turned—“you’re full of shit. Oh, and by the way, your confessional’s in a few minutes. Better head over there while I go fetch Becca.”
“Bastard!”
“Thank you!”
“So,” Rex asked from behind the camera. “Why don’t you tell us a bit about your experience here on Max Island?” He held up fake quotation marks.
“Um, did we change the name?”
“Has a ring to it!” Rex laughed, then sobered. “But seriously, tell the viewers what you’re feeling right now.”
Stifling a groan, I looked directly into the camera and said, “Hungry. I’m feeling hungry because they make us hunt for our own food, oh, and P.S.: I found a snake in my pants last night . . . folks, maybe censor this little tidbit right now. It nearly bit me in the balls. I hate nature. And a goat, a freaking goat, which I’m still convinced was placed there by some sort of lunatic masquerading as an Oompa Loompa”—I paused and shot a grin to Rex—“Chased me into the ocean, where I was then strangled by seaweed. Oh, and, um . . . I swam naked last night. Yup, I think, I think that’s it.”
“Er . . .” Rex’s mouth dropped open.
“Oh!” I surged forward and looked directly into the camera. “I also kissed one of the contestants last night.”
“Well!” Rex looked relieved. “Who?”
“Oh, I can’t tell.” I put my right hand across my heart. “I signed this weird document about the show not being liable if I get any of the contestants pregnant. Seems there’s been problems with that in the past. Hey, I wonder if that’s why that one guy jumped out of the plane? Spoiler alert! Bitch pushed him!” I slapped my knee and wiped a tear. “At any rate, it was an epic kiss.”
Rex’s smile was tight. “Are you looking forward to the date this evening?”
“That depends, Rex. Will there be goats? Snakes? Games? If you say yes to any of those things, then I can say with absolute certainty that I should have joined the army when I was eighteen to prevent this future from taking place. Damn you, Doc! Where’s your shiny DeLorean now? Hmm?”
“All right,” Rex nearly shouted. “Good interview, we’ll, uh, talk again tomorrow.”
“Nice.” I saluted the crew, and threw off the microphone so I could go for a quick swim before the first game.
I had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t be anything like chess or water polo.
Hell, no. It was going to be a Hunger Games scenario.
And I had a sinking feeling I was Peeta. Just waiting for someone to kill me while I hid in a lame rock costume.
Aw, pipe dream. Should have brought some badass paint so I could blend in with nature.
“Max!” Doc—the girl, not Christopher Lloyd—came surging toward me. See, and this is why I nicknamed people. She was in a white cover-up that seriously looked like a lab coat. “Let’s go for a swim!”
“Yay!” I did a fake fist pump. “Let’s . . . yes, let’s do that.” I turned just in time to see Reid escort Becca to the confessional. Damn him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
BECCA
“Here, allow me.” Reid reached behind my tank top and pulled the microphone up my shirt, his hands grazing the outside of my bikini top.
“Thanks.” I jerked away from him, my gaze narrowing in on his smirk. Oh, he was good. He knew exactly what he was doing.
“Anything else you need?” He leaned over. I was going to get the eyes again, in three, two, one, bingo. This time I stared, basked, waited. Reid stared and when I did nothing for another few awkward seconds he pulled back and walked off.
“So . . .” A sweaty Rex stood behind the camera. “Tell us about your experience here, Becca. It probably hasn’t been easy, leaving your job in hopes to win enough money to finish school.”