“Is the movie over yet?” I asked Hunter.
“Let me check . . .”
He cracked the door, and we heard the girls giggling in the main living space.
“Not yet . . .” he said as he quietly closed the door.
But not five minutes later, Hunter’s cell rang.
With a surprised look at me, he removed his phone from his pants pocket, listened to whoever had called him, then he became all alpha male when his tone changed.
“Listen,” he said in a harsh voice to whoever was on the other end of the call. “Just as the camera crew does every night, I need you to make sure they follow the girls to their bedrooms. Only this time? I need them to be on high alert when it comes to Lexi and Pepper. We discussed this earlier, Craig, and because of what I’ve shared with you, it’s clear that Pepper is going to exact some kind of revenge on Lexi tonight. What’s critical is that no one running camera can tip Lexi off before she enters her bedroom and gets into bed. Everyone needs to act like it’s just another day so they give nothing away. But when the drama unfolds? Everyone on camera needs to be on point. Tonight is a pivotal moment for the show. I need all of you to do your best work and capture everything as it unfolds. Are we understood? Good. Now, follow the girls casually up to their bedrooms, just as you do every night, and when all of them have closed their doors for the night, I need the team to stand ready for when the shit goes down. This might be this season’s best or most awful moment, so don’t fuck it up, man. Right? Good. I trust you and the others to nail it. Let’s do this shit, buddy. Talk soon.”
“I feel sick,” I said as I watched Pepper on the monitor. Because of the infrared camera that was trained on her face, I could see her lying in her bed—and her eyes were wide open, she was looking straight at the door, and there was an anxious look on her face.
“I hear you,” he said to me.
“No, I don’t think you do,” I said.
He furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean?”
“Are you serious?” I said.
“I am . . .”
“Then listen to me,” I said to him. “I mean, let’s just get real here, Hunter. After how cruelly Lexi shamed Pepper’s mother today, do you really believe that Pepper is just going to prick her ass with a shitload of thumbtacks? I mean, when it comes to social media alone, which expects ugliness when and where it’s deserved, Pepper’s millions of fans are going to expect an epic comeback from her after the way Lexi treated her today. Pepper knows it, you and I both know it, and her followers not only know it, but they are craving to see how she retaliates. None of us know what she has up her sleeve, but Pepper’s about to deliver.”
“But what will she deliver?” he asked me.
“When it comes to that girl? You and I both know that it could be anything, because Pepper likes to be unpredictable. The four of us couldn’t see what she tossed into Lexi’s bed, but whatever it was, it was worse than thumbtacks, guys. Over the past month, I’ve come to know her, and I know in my gut that she’s about to go further than any of us could fathom or imagine.”
“Lexi’s entering the bedroom now,” Stephen said.
In anticipation of all that was to come, the four of us watched the monitors as Lexi appeared in the doorway and just stood there for several seconds while she assessed the room. I could almost feel what she had to be thinking. Was Pepper about to pounce on her? Would Pepper be lying in wait to attack her? Lexi was a smart girl, she knew what Pepper was capable of, and so before she entered the room, she wisely stood in the doorway watching, waiting, and listening before she apparently felt safe enough to cross over to the bathroom, where she could change into her night clothes.
“I’m totally about to hurl,” I said.
“Stephen, get a close-up on Pepper’s face for me,” Hunter said.
When Stephen did, all of us saw that Pepper had brought her iPhone close to her face, and that her eyes were now locked on the closed bathroom door. What unnerved me was that her lips had pressed into a grim line of steely determination. And worse, in the greenish flare of the camera’s infrared light, her pupils—wide due to the dark room—had taken on that same devilish kind of iridescent green that lit her body. As Stephen closed in on her eyes, her pupils pulsed and glowed on the monitor as if they had been lit from within.
She’s become a monster, I thought as I looked at her with concern. Pepper, for the love of God, I hope you’ve shown some restraint . . .
But even as I thought that, I already knew that was a fool’s wish, particularly as the next few moments passed in a blur.
With a sense of dramatic purpose, Lexi swung open the bathroom door, stepped into the bedroom in super-short silk shorts and a matching tank top, then charged over to her bed, where she tossed back the covers and hopped inside.
And when she did so? We waited with bated breath in case Pepper had indeed thrown down a bed of thumbtacks, which Lexi would have responded to at once.
But she didn’t . . .
And when she didn’t, all four of us leaned closer to the monitors as Stephen used one of the room’s cameras to zoom in close to Lexi’s face while he trained one of the other cameras tight on Pepper’s face.
It was at that moment that Lexi started to scream.
She quickly shifted in her bed and began flinching this way and that as she arched her back in pain—and as she did so, Pepper suddenly threw off her covers and sat straight up in bed with her iPhone at the ready.
As Lexi began to flip over and over and over in her bed, her face twisted in agony, Pepper switched on the lights, stalked over to her and started to photograph Lexi as she bellowed out a series of harrowing screams.
While Lexi kicked and writhed beneath the sheets, all of us watched in horror as Pepper held her iPhone in front of her while Lexi leaped off the bed and collapsed onto the floor.
“What the hell?” Hunter said.
“We need to move!” I said.
And just as I said that, the camera crew crashed into their bedroom as Hunter and I hurried out of the control room, raced across the living space, and took the stairs to the second level—where all hell was breaking loose.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“I’m being bitten!” we heard Lexi call out in horror as we rushed toward the bedroom. “For God’s sake, somebody help me! I’m covered in bugs!”
“Oh, that you are, hunty,” I heard Pepper say in a casual voice as Hunter and I slammed into the room, where three cameramen already were covering the scene. “Just like a smart girl caught in a fire, you’ve already stopped, dropped, and rolled onto the floor, Lexi, so my advice to you now is that you better start rolling even harder. Because just so you know, you have hundreds of earwigs biting your ass. Oh, and by the looks of it? They’ve also attached themselves to your face, your arms, your legs, and probably even your saggy little tits, as well as your overused, STD-ridden coochie.”
“Pepper,” I said as I locked eyes with her. “What have you done?”
“Julia, come on,” she said with a shrug and a sigh as she walked over to her bed and stepped into her slippers. “Obvi, you’ve seen by Lexi—otherwise known as the insect-ridden mess flopping about on the floor—exactly what I’ve done. So, just step the hell off so I can continue to capture this moment for my thirsty social media peeps. Because what you and Hunter already know is that this shit is going to be television gold. After what this bitch pulled on me and my mother today? I’m going all in right now.”
And she had.
As the other girls clamored into the room after hearing the commotion, a few of them yelped in shock when they saw that not only was the entirety of Lexi’s body swarming with biting insects—but that her bed and the floor was alive with bugs as well. As Pepper took photo after photo of Lexi’s plight, she started to stomp the floor around her so she could crush whatever insects were coming her way before they could bite her as well.
She’s thought of everything . . . I thought in hor
ror.
“I’m in pain!” Lexi cried out as she twisted violently around on the floor while trying to swat off as many of the earwigs as she could. And then she just glared at Hunter and me. “Why are you motherfuckers just standing there? Help me, for Christ’s sake! I could die from this!”
“Please,” Pepper said. “Do you really think I’m that stupid, Lexi? Naturally, the bugs are a biting nuisance, because, I mean, obvi, they’re meant to be. And, yes, you will turn into a welted mess after they’ve had their way with you. But they aren’t poisonous. Because, you know, I’m smart like that. When I went to the pet store earlier today to seek out food for my new, um, pet iguana, I asked all sorts of questions. I made certain that whatever they gave me wasn’t poisonous because I didn’t want anything poisonous in my bedroom, and after being given a handful of choices, I decided to go with the earwigs—because they looked super nasty to me. I mean, their pincers are literally attached to you, for God’s sake. How sick is that? Pretty sick, if you ask me. But I can tell you this, girl—if I hadn’t been guided by the boys running that store? I probably would have gone with the damned fire ants, and your ass probably would be dead right now.”
At that moment, Pepper’s plan became clear to me. When Lexi had hopped into bed for the night, she’d unwillingly tossed herself into a nest of bugs, which right now were biting her everywhere. They were heated, they were angry, and my God, as I watched them swarm her body, they were in full attack mode.
I turned to Hunter, who was swiftly removing his T-shirt, likely to swipe the bugs off Lexi and kill them before they could do more harm to her. But when his shirt came off? Oh, hell, I hadn’t seen him shirtless yet, but I was seeing him shirtless now, and he was so buff, cut, and lightly hairy in the best of ways, it was a challenge for me to focus on what I needed to focus on right now—Lexi’s pathetic plight!
Since she also was a bitch, I couldn’t help but take a moment to lust after Hunter. Because with his shirt off, Hunter was beyond masculine, so all I could do was just stare openly at him for a minute before I cleared my throat and got my head on straight. I mean, Lexi was literally being bitten by hundreds of bugs and writhing at my feet, for God’s sake.
Girl, you need to step up to the plate and help her!
“Do you need my help?” I asked him.
“With what?” he said as he arched his eyebrow at me.
Oh, shit, he totally just caught me drooling over him . . .
“With Lexi,” I said. “I mean, what else?”
“We’ll discuss that at another time. But right now? No. I need you to stand back because I can’t allow the bugs to attack you.”
“They’re biting me everywhere!” Lexi shouted as she slapped her hands against her face, arms, legs, and the rest of her body. “Why is everyone just standing there? Why isn’t anyone helping me!”
Behind me, Jinx cut swiftly in front of Hunter before he could act and rushed toward Lexi.
“We’ll kill them!” she said triumphantly, as she raised her fists above her head. “Come on, girls! No matter what it takes, we need to Wonder Woman up, we need to do Lexi proud, and together? We need to swat these bugs down until all of them are dead!”
“Jinx, they’re biting me everywhere!” Lexi whimpered.
“I can see that,” Jinx said. “But the girls and I are going to fix it even if apparently no one on staff will, since they’re more interested in ratings than your safety!”
“I’m here to help,” Celina said as she brushed past me.
“Me too,” Angelina said as she joined the other girls. “But, Lexi, I need you to listen to me right now. I know you can’t see what’s happening to you, but the bugs have literally attached themselves to you. To kill them, we’re going to need to be super aggressive. This isn’t going to be easy on you. Are you prepared for that?”
“JUST FUCKING KILL THEM!” Lexi moaned.
“Let’s slap them dead!” Jinx said. “Come on, girls. Let’s do this shit, because what Pepper has pulled tonight? It’s total bullshit!”
“They’re biting my face!” Lexi said. “To hell with Pepper! Kill them!”
And then, after the girls delivered several harsh slaps across Lexi’s face in an effort to crush the earwigs, a stunned Lexi looked up at them in shock and awe as the girls started to slap the rest of her body stupid, all while the bugs continued to rove over her—and bite her.
“They’re under her tank,” Celina said as she peeked beneath it. “And my God, they’ve attached themselves to her nipples! Jinx, pull off her tank!”
“When has Janx ever pulled off anything?” Pepper said as she filmed the mayhem with her iPhone. “I mean, come on—her name is Janx, for God’s sake. If breathing wasn’t an involuntary motion, she would have been dead at birth.”
“Go to hell, Pepper!” Jinx said.
When Celina lifted Lexi’s tank, my hand flew to my mouth, because Lexi’s neck, breasts, nipples, and her torso were indeed covered with bugs that were actively biting her.
This needs to end now, I thought.
“Hunter,” I said. “Stop this.”
“Now, they’re on me!” Celina interrupted as she staggered back against one of the bedroom’s walls. “They’re on my feet—and my legs! They’re biting me now! Somebody help me!”
“Me too!” Jinx screamed out after she slapped Lexi hard across the face again, in an effort to kill one of the bugs that was biting her. “Why the hell isn’t anyone helping us?”
“Why don’t we all just call it what it is?” Pepper said in a smooth, measured voice as she continued to video all that was unraveling in front of her. “It’s karma, ladies. Today, Lexi chose to shame and humiliate my mother when she’s at her most frightened and vulnerable. She knew in her gut what my mother had to be going through, and yet she still was cold enough to make her issues public to the world. Lexi, dear, did you really think I’d allow you to do that to my mother without retaliating? Were you so naïve as to think I wouldn’t punch back even harder?”
She paused to stamp down on the bugs approaching her.
“You deserve everything you’re experiencing right now, Lexi,” she said. “And guess what, sweetie? As you know, I’ve already posted the first part of your ruin on Instagram, and because of that, we both know that reactions to those photos are blowing up as I speak. And now there’s the video I’m shooting of you, which soon will go live. Sure, I can’t share the bits where your floppy tits are exposed, but let me ask you now, you sorry assed bitch. When it comes to today, who won in the end? Oh, look, everyone—I think that might have been me . . .”
“Ladies,” Hunter said as he moved toward Lexi. “Step aside, remove whatever earwigs have attached themselves to you, and let me help Lexi.”
“So, now you’re going to help me, Hunter?” Lexi shouted at him in pain and rage. “I mean, seriously? This is the moment when you’re going to man up and help me?”
“Lexi, I have been helping you,” he said as he moved toward her with his T-shirt in his hand. “Now, take my hand, stand up, and move toward the bathroom and away from your bed. I need you to step into the shower so we can get the rest of these bugs off you.”
“So you can feel my tits?” she shot at him.
“Let me take care of this,” I said before Hunter could respond. “Give me your T-shirt, Hunter.”
“As if I want your hands on me,” Lexi said to me.
I held up my hands and just looked at her.
“Choose what you want, Lexi,” I said to her. “You either can continue to be bitten by the bugs, or I can help you remove them from you in the shower while the crew vacuums up whatever bugs are left. It’s your choice, because hear me on this. You are not my client, you are not my responsibility, I owe you nothing—but I am willing to help you right now. Whether I do so or not is up to you. So, choose.”
“What choice do I have?” she said. “They’re still biting me everywhere!”
“Either give me permission to help you
or not.”
“Permission fucking granted!”
“Then, get into the shower so we can remove them all. We’ll swipe them off your body, they’ll go down the drain, then all of this will be behind us,” I said. “Now, move!”
In need but also in frustration, she reached out her hand to me, and when she did? I saw that there were dozens of earwigs attached to her flesh. Even though I feared that they’d likely bite me, I took hold of her hand, I pulled her to her feet, and hurried her toward the bathroom. When we stepped inside, I turned on the shower, directed her to take off her shorts, and even though I was fully clothed, I got into the shower with her and used Hunter’s T-shirt to remove the rest of the bugs from her.
“You’re tearing them off me!” she said. “It hurts!”
“Just stand as steady as you can,” I said as I started to scrub them off her. “If we act swiftly, this should go quickly. If I miss a spot, tell me where, and I’ll tend to it.”
After I’d washed Lexi’s extremities, I asked her to use the T-shirt on the more personal parts of her body to make certain that all of the bugs were gone. When she was finished, she dropped T-shirt onto the floor, where dozens upon dozens of bugs were swirling down the drain. Some of them were dead, but most of them were still alive.
“Are we good?” I asked as the water rained down on us.
As Lexi inspected her body—which was riddled with swollen welts—she took a deep breath before she nodded at me.
“I think we’ve gotten them all,” she said under the running water.
“Think or know?”
Again, she looked over her body.
“No, I think they’re gone.”
“Let’s make certain. Turn for me.”
Reluctantly, she did so, and when I agreed that she was in the clear, I turned off the water. I reached behind me for a large white towel, then I handed it to her so she could cover herself. When she did, I grabbed a towel for myself, stepped out of the shower, and started to dry myself off as Lexi did the same.
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