“She’s already got you whipped—although I shouldn’t say those words in this house since some people might think of that as a fun time.”
“Funny,” he drones.
“Speaking of which, why is it, Noah gets ‘kicked off the island’ when Tristan is consistently taking balls up his ass in this very house.”
“Ashley!”
“What? Am I mistaken? We all saw what was going on in that room.”
“First of all, I don’t want to talk about sex with you. You’re my little sister. Second, they aren’t actually having sex.”
“You just talked about sex,” I tell him.
“Jesus, stop.”
“Well, seriously, they’re having sex.”
“No, they’re not.”
“They’re just torturing each other?”
“Yup. Unlike you and Noah, and that’s all I’m going to say.”
“What are you talking about?” The thought of webcams and sex tapes is coursing through me. What if Bradley saw—
“You were spotted at a hot tub last night,” he says. “That’s all I’m going to say.”
My face is burning, but more with anger than embarrassment. “I don’t even care.”
“Well, you should. You ruined Noah’s chances of winning the prize money.” I’d like to say he doesn’t need the prize money, but it’s none of my business. “Furthermore, he’s outside hashing out the details with Katarina, who is speaking on behalf of her father.”
“You mean, your future father-in-law,” I correct him.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Bradley continues. “This isn’t what I thought I was getting myself into. She’s like his puppet.”
“Um, aren’t you being audio recorded right now?” I’m looking around as if I can spot evidence of this conversation being recorded. This is like Big Brother. This. Is. Like. Big. Brother. My God! The girls’ father is totally just ripping off all these other shows.
“I don’t care. I’ve checked out,” he says. “I’m ending things with Kat tonight.”
I didn’t think it was possible to feel any type of remorse for Bradley, but at the end of the day he is still my brother, and we still have the same blood running through our bodies. I walk across the kitchen and grab the roll of paper towels, and then to the cabinet beneath the sink and grab a bottle of cleaner. I spray down the chair across from Bradley and take a seat. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
He shakes his head. “I wanted a wealthy lifestyle. I’ve worked hard to make a good future for myself, so we could settle down and have a family, but I don’t see how we could have a normal life.”
“Have you talked to her about this?”
Bradley shrugs. “I tried, but she’s a daddy’s girl and doesn’t see anything wrong with what he’s doing.”
Between our strings of conversation, a quiet hum of shouts grows louder from outside. “Do you hear that?”
“Yeah,” Bradley says, pushing his chair away from the table.
I follow Bradley out the front door, finding Katarina in a heated discussion with Noah. Katarina has her phone flat against her palm, facing the screen up as if someone is on the phone listening to the conversation/argument the two of them are having.
Noah has a stack of papers in his hand with highlighted marks all over the top page. “Read this to your father,” he tells her.
Katarina groans and stomps her stiletto into the pavement. “Does she wake up dressed like an Addams’ Family Barbie doll?” I mutter to Bradley.
“Sometimes,” Bradley responds in a hush.
