“Oh, this is good,” Addison says like she’s watching the montage part of an Ocean’s Eleven movie.
“Shit,” says Zeke as he squirms out from under Anna. “It’s not what it looks like.” He runs a shaky hand through his thick blond curls as he takes the stairs of the pool two at a time.
Anna scrambles for her bikini top with one arm wrapped around her chest.
I race to the edge of the pool and unzip my hoodie, which I drape over her shoulders as soon as she emerges from the water.
“Is this what it looks like?” I ask quietly.
She nods. “I think I fell for the wrong guy. At least this one has a job, though. Right?”
You can’t say she’s not optimistic.
“Hada job,” Addison says.
“You can’t tell anyone,” Zeke begs her. He trips as he tries stepping into his jeans even though he’s still soaking wet. “Please.”
“You owe me, Addison,” I remind her.
Addison touches her hand to her heart, being sarcastically dramatic. “How could I possibly let someone betray Henry like this?”
“Cut the crap,” Zeke tells her. “The cameras aren’t rolling. What do you want?”
Anna shivers beside me.
“Assurances,” Addison demands.
Zeke looks to Anna and then me. “Take her inside, okay? I’ll deal with this.”
I give Addison a sour look. “Guess you got home early from your date. Must not have gone very well.”
Her mouth curls into a grin. “Oh, I think I got here just in time.”
Last night, I stayed in Anna’s room until she fell asleep. I definitely missed out on precious walkie-talkie time, but I couldn’t abandon Anna. According to her, she fell hard for Zeke when she and Drew were doing their preshow interviews. She made the first move that day by slipping him her number. They texted day and night for the week leading up to production, and she planned on backing out of the show, but she could never find the right time. She had hoped to get sent home the first night, but instead it was Drew who was sent home before both of us. It wasn’t getting sent home that Anna was worried about. It was Zeke losing his job for cozying up to a contestant.
I brushed her hair and rubbed her back, and had every intention of talking to Addison before she went to bed, but by the time I left Anna, every light in the house was off.
In the morning, Anna is crouched beside my bed waiting for me. I gasp at the sight of her chin resting on my mattress just inches from my face.
“I have to tell Henry,” she says.
I sit up slowly, propping myself up on my elbows, and look around for Stacy or Sara Claire, but they’re both already up and gone. “Wait, wait, shouldn’t you talk to Zeke first? At least find out what he promised Addison?”
She shakes her head. “It won’t be anything he can actually deliver on. He’s a junior producer,” she whispers. “He can’t even get craft services to remember that he has a nut allergy. Addison will figure that out soon enough and she’ll rat him out. If I send myself home, she loses all the power. You have to help me find Henry.”
I sit up completely, my head spinning a little from waking up too quickly. “Okay, give me a minute to get dressed, and then we’ll figure it out.”
She sits there on the floor, her whole body slumped as I put on a pair of frayed denim shorts and a T-shirt that readsI DONUT CARE ABOUT YOUR DIET.
We walk downstairs and manage to sneak out the back door and down the path to where the guesthouse is.
In the light of day, the guesthouse is covered in vines and has a beautiful rose garden just outside the window. I knock on the arched door with a bronze doorknob in the center.
“How do you know where he’s staying?” Anna asks as she peers over my shoulder.
“Does that matter?”
“Uh, yeah, actually, it does. I guess I’m not the only sister with secrets.”
