Page 76 of House of Deceit

I scramble, not having a plan, but I don’t want to back out now. Realizing how much I want this, I come up with a plan on the spot.

“In here. It’ll be nice, I promise.”

“What are we going to do?”

“It’s a surprise,” I say. So, maybe I only have a part of the plan. “Charlie, will you go on a date with me?” I ask her again.

Her smile is beautiful and warms my heart.

“I’d love to.”

“The losing team will be without their kitchen privileges until Sunday. Everything you eat or drink will be provided by the production team.” Penelope reads from the card as Head Deceiver for the week.

I look at the blue team and size us up. Parker, Cain, and me against Keith, Jayden, and Rebel.

“If I end up on food restriction again, I’m going to smother someone in their sleep. Just be aware,” I tell them both. Cain stares me down and I turn back, my skin crawling from the anger in his eyes, and catch Parker shifting his weight.

The sun hangs low in the sky, giving him a golden halo. His hair is tied back into a low bun while his muscles are, as always, on display. The Romans would have chiseled his likeness into stone and worshiped him as a god. He’s beautiful, but Alec calls to me in a way no one else ever has.

“The winner will be determined by the best of three in water volleyball games,” Penelope finishes.

We all jump into the pool and get ready to play. Our team won the game of rock, paper, scissors so we get to serve first. Cain sends the ball flying over the net and smacks Jayden in the face.

“Ah!” he screams, as blood gushes from his nose.

I turn to Cain. “Seriously?” I ask him. “It’s not been two seconds.”

My dislike for Cain has deepened as the weeks have gone by. His nice guy routine has started to falter the more I catch him watching me, holding true to his promise. It’s creepy and starting to piss me off. His hatred for me seems to grow the higher I finish in elimination competitions. The attention is antagonistic. In fact, I bet he voted for Molly to be eliminated last week, knowing it would piss me off.

“It was an accident. It’s not like I meant to hurt him,” Cain says, giving me an evil smile no one else notices as they attend to Jayden.

The medical team comes out and helps get Jayden squared away. Once he’s good, we go back to our game.

Rebel serves the ball over the net and I go to return it. Water rushes up my nose and into my mouth as a large body crashes down on top of me. I keep my eyes closed tight and put my feet against the bottom to push myself up, but as the body moves off me, the person’s hand pushes down on my head.

I fight against it, but instead of moving when I slap at the person, their fingers coil into my hair, actively holding me down. I open my eyes, the chlorine immediately making them burn but I don’t care. I was unable to take a deep breath, unprepared to go under for an extended amount of time.

I grab onto the forearm, clawing my nails into their skin and use my feet to try and push against them, but their strength overpowers me. As my lungs start to burn as much as my eyes, the pressure is removed from my head and I shoot like a rocket to break the surface. Standing there, I hack and cough, trying to bring up the water I swallowed as I was pushed under.

I look at Cain who smiles.

“You asshole!”

I leap at him, but I’m caught before I can sink my nails or teeth into his flesh.

“Whoa! What happened?” Parker asks.

“You didn’t see that dick try to drown me? Are you serious right now?” I ask him.

He takes his hands off me and holds them up in a placating gesture. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see it. I saw him struggling to get up. You both went down pretty hard,” Parker defends himself.

“I wasn’t trying to drown you! You’re so dramatic, Charlie. We were tangled up. That’s a pretty serious accusation to throw around.” His smile makes me murderous, but I know he’s just wanting a reaction from me.

As everyone shuffles around, readying themselves to get back to the game, I vow to do anything I can to keep Cain from winning this season.

Kitchen restriction is keeping me from my favorite rainy-day tea, but the sound of raindrops keeps me from minding too much. The clouds turned gray and heavy as the day progressed before finally releasing their pent-up tears upon the world. Mother nature’s sadness soaks into the ground. The air becomes thick with the smell of wet grass and rainwater. I listen to the pitter patter of the drops against the pavement, my feet tucked up under me as I drink my water.

The day has taken forever as I wait for my date with Alec tonight.

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