“I’m scent matched and will have to be around them for the rest of my life. Why should I give even more of myself to the producers? To the viewers? Haven’t I given up enough of myself for this show?”
“Ah, I understand the defensiveness now. Which one did you sleep with?”
My feet hit the floor. I wish Drew were here so I could poke him in the chest. “Excuse me? I didn’t sleep with any of them. Not that it’s any of your business. No one touched me but myself.”
I realize, as soon as the words are out, that this is exactly what the producers wanted. I let Drew bait me into giving them the exact sound bite they needed.
“Tell us about it.”
My body feels heavy as I bury my face in my hands. There is no more pretending that I’m not here. “Do you understand how uncomfortable this is for me? I’m… I’ve never been with anyone, okay? Not a whole lot of chances to fuck people when you won’t leave your house. And now you want me to come here and tell you I got myself off watching them together?”
“I’m sorry, Ariana.”His voice is softer now, less argumentative.“I know this isn’t what you thought you were getting into when you joined the show. But this is what it is. This is reality television. We put on a good show for our viewers. You don’t have to admit to anyone that what happened is real. In fact, most viewers assume it’s mostly scripted.”
“Am I done?”
“Yeah. You’re done.”
Dinner is awkward.
Or rather, I’m awkward. The guys are fine. They’re laughing and cutting up, trying to include me in the conversation. They’re kind enough not to push for more than a few grunts from me as I stuff my face with pasta.
I opted to cook dinner for all of us tonight, if only so I didn’t have to look at them or participate in the conversation. Every time I look at Grant, I see his head thrown back, eyes closed in bliss. When Derrick smiles, I can picture his lips wrapped around Grant’s swollen dick. And every time Ivan speaks, I remember his words tickling the back of my neck and can almost feel his hardness digging into my ass.
I need to think about anything other than what happened in that bathroom if I am going to get out of here without melting into a puddle.
A soft bing from the living room draws my attention as the TV flickers, the show’s logo fading and revealing Bradley’s smiling face.
“Hello, lovebirds!” Holy shit, did they adjust the volume remotely? Why is he so loud? “While you didn’t quite use the spa basket how weintended, production has decided that you did, in fact, earn your reward. It’s outside the door. Why don’t you go collect it, Derrick?”
And then the logo is back, Bradley gone.
Derrick pushes away from the table and goes to collect whatever it is they decided to grant us.
The rewards in this show are a double-edged sword. They’re always enjoyable, but it’s another opportunity for the show to get footage of us that makes for good television. I want to go to my room and hide under my blanket for the rest of the evening, but there is no way I can opt out of whatever they planned for us.
The Alpha comes back with a box roughly the size of a shoebox tucked under his arm. He silently offers it to me to open, but I shake my head.
It doesn’t matter who opens it. The contents stay the same.
Derrick sets the box on the table in front of me and lifts the lid.
“Oh, no way.” His face lights up with a massive smile as he pulls out several clamshell cases. “It’s DVDs ofUnexplainable and Bizarre.”
“Seriously?” I lean closer and yank them out of his hands. Sure enough, it’s the first two seasons of the paranormal show that was the catalyst for our relationship. It was a comfort watch for me for a long time, but it was taken off streaming services last year.
Derrick leans over my shoulder to read the back of one of the cases. “Season two is when they visited the shipyard, right? That one’s the most obviously fake.”
I smack his chest with the case. “It is absolutely real. None of them are fake.”
“They embellished a lot—especially that one. You expect me to believe that there are poltergeists that imitate the sound of ships’ horns and not that, I don’t know,someone is playing recordings of the horns in the distance for dramatic effect?”
“Are you serious right now?” His words light a fire under me, and I jump to my feet. I donotplay when it comes to the supernatural. “Listen here! I’ll tell you the same thing I told you a decade ago,Sax. Why bother watching a show if you think it’s fake? Suspend disbelief for a moment and accept that there is more to this world than what we can explain. If a duck-billed platypus can exist, why can’t a poltergeist?”
“A platypus is a marvel of evolution!” He threw his hands up in exasperation. “And I’ll tell you the same thing I toldyoua decade ago, Onion. I like to be entertained, and part of that is seeing gullible people believe the obvious lies.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I am pretty fucking gullible, since I fell for you!”
Grant is on his feet, touching my forearm as soon as the words fall from my lips. “Hey, hey. He didn’t mean anything by it.”
