Page 10 of Falling Double: The Mating Grounds

“Well, no shit! I know that now! I knew it then too! I literally told him you were intriguing to me, but she was totally not my type! I just didn’t know who was who, so I fucked up the names.”

I roll my eyes, and I swear I see the back of my skull. “You are a fucking idiot. And all this has been because she overheard you say the wrong name?!”

“Apparently,” he says, his tall frame slouching into the bench in defeat.

"Well, at least the mystery has been solved. Though I just have to say, that is some dumb shit, Reid. Some really dumb shit.”

Chapter 8

2 Months After The Choosing

Dominique

Now that we’ve gotten to the bottom of the Reid situation, and I explained the miscommunication to Imani, I can’t stop thinking about the fact that he was actually talking about me the day we all met. Aggravating as it is that he mistook our names, he made some valid points in his own defense, and now the knowledge is rattling around inside my head like a rat in a cage, trying to break free.

He thinks I’m intriguing. He’s only liked one person since we’ve arrived—me. And I kind of yelled at him.

I mean, he made my sister cry, so fair is fair. But now that we have all got it out of our systems and Imani is back to being her sweet little self and is even making jokes about it, I feel like I finally have permission to consider the implications.

Reid likes me—has only liked me. He knew right away that I was the one he was interested in.

I don’t know quite what to make of that.

Sean, Parker and Enzo have been cooking up some all-house competition thing all day and are finally getting around to explaining their plans to us.

Sean turns to me and Imani and gives us the rundown of what the first round will be. Essentially, we all have to nominate a housemate for a superlative. Most likely to be governor, most friendly, shit like that. The ones who end up nominating the winning person get a point. If you nominate a loser, no points. Easy enough.

Parker clears his throat and uses his booming voice to announce the first round. “Alright, everyone. You may not change your answer after you have pointed, and the person or persons pointing to the least voted for housemate loses that round.”

A chorus of “okays” and “alrights” sounds off as everyone agrees.

“Okay, first up, which housemate has the best laugh?” Parker scans the group and starts smiling fairly quickly as damn near everyone points at Enzo. The outlier is Reid. Who is pointing at me.

Scowling, I demand, “I have barely even laughed here!”

“The most valuable things in life are rare, are they not?” he says, staring right at me, a small smile on his lips.

This suave motherfucker.

I feel myself melt into a puddle, but try to keep my face as neutral as possible. That was kind of cute. He gets points for that.

“Okay, Reid, well, you lose this one. Sorry friend… Moving on! Which housemate is the most stubborn?” Parker asks. Everyone in the room points to Quinn, except Quinn, who is pointing at Leo. She huffs but takes the loss like a champ.

They switch it up, and Sean takes over commentating. “Current standings have Reid and Quinn in the bottom two. Still time to change some rankings y’all! Getting more serious for this next one. Who here is the best shoulder to cry on?” The room gets quiet as everyone pauses to reflect. After a moment, it’s almost unanimous again, with most everyone pointing at Parker. The exceptions? Ronan and Enzo are both pointing at Miya.

Hmmm. Well, that’s interesting…

“Shucks, I’m flattered, guys!” Parker jokes, acting embarrassed.

The round continues, and there are a few spats to work out as the more competitive types in the house try to outmaneuver each other. In the end, though, the house crowns Ana as the "social butterfly" and Sean as the "wallflower."

For the last round of games, Enzo suggests we play spin the bottle. Because of course he does.

I swear that man has never had someone say no to him. He just exudes sexual energy. And because he’s mister “love man” everyone goes along with it, hoping some of that energy will rub off on them.

We push the couches back, sit in a circle on the floor and Enzo grabs a bottle from the kitchen.

“Okay, who wants to go first?!” Enzo asks as he returns to the group, shaking his hips and grinning suggestively.

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