Page 68 of House of Deceit

“You want peace? Okay. How about you and Molly stop the giggling in the middle of the night?”

Keith walks into the dressing room.

“What’s going on ladies?” he asks, but we ignore him.

“Oh, yes, how dare we have any freaking fun in this stupid house,” I shoot back.

“Having fun is fine when everyone’s awake!”

“Oh, stop being a stupid cow, Penelope,” Molly says and that seems to be the lit match on the tinder box of our emotions.

All hell breaks loose.

We all begin yelling over each other, not caring what anyone else is saying. The guys slowly filter into the room, trying to figure out the cause of the noise, and then Rebel pulls my hair. I slap her arm as pain shoots through my scalp. I see a flash of red hair out of the corner of my eye as Penelope is tackled; however, since her hand is tangled in my hair, we all go down in a clump.

Limbs fly and the screaming continues. Hands reach in and try to separate us. I bite someone on the arm and a manly yell echoes around the room. Suddenly, strong arms band around me and rip me from the melee.

“Calm down,” Parker says into my ear as he holds me away from the others.

My hair hangs in my face as I puff like a freight train. Keith has a hold of Penelope in one hand and Rebel in the other.

“Knock it off,” he says, shaking them. “What the hell happened here?”

“Why don’t you ask your precious Red?” Rebel spits, looking at me, venom dripping from Keith’s nickname for me.

“Me? Ask her!” I say, indicating Penelope.

“Nothing. It was just a misunderstanding.” She tries to look nonplussed but her ripped shirt and the slap mark across her cheek undercut her statement.

The guys let us go and everyone gradually files out of the room. Molly looks at me and smiles.

“Well, I guess we can all guess what clips are going to be included for the audience this week,” she says, and we dissolve into a fit of giggles.

“I’m going to get in trouble with Alec for that one,” I say, and we giggle more.

The interview room is empty except a tablet that sits on a table in the middle. My hands are sweating as my lungs work overtime to draw in air. Parker took his phone call an hour ago, seeming lighter at the end, which made me happy. But now I sit here like I’m about to be interrogated by the police.

The screen lights up, and I see Courtney’s face for the first time in over seven weeks. My eyes immediately prick with tears as I swipe to answer.

“Charles, finally. Please tell me you’ve let Mr. Tall Blond tie you to a bed.” She’s sitting on her bed, and although I can’t see all of her, I know she has her legs crossed and is wearing mismatched socks and pants with dried paint on them.

I laugh as a tear escapes. I dash it away quickly.

“No, but he did kiss me.”

“They aired that, and I have to say, that was some kiss.”

“Oh right. That makes sense.”

“Did you think they wouldn’t?” She cocks her eyebrow at me, taking a drink of her wine.

“I don’t want to talk about the show yet. How are you? How’s the family? How are my parents? Have you checked on them? I can only imagine what they think about all of this.” Worry over their reactions of my time here invades my thoughts for the first time.

“Girl, relax. My family is fine and so are your parents. They think it’s fantastic you’re on the show. And they love this whole girl next door thing you’ve got going on. They are completely oblivious to the sexual undertone, but that’s for the best.”

“Oh, God,” I say dropping my head in my hands.

“Hey, the good news is you’re going to get a lot of dates after this show.”

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