“I wish I could.” Evan shook his head. “Zoe’s going to get my ass fired if she tries that shit again.”
“That girl is trouble.”
“I don’t plan on getting mixed up with her,” Evan said. “Maybe if I ignore her long enough, she’ll go bug her cameraman and leave me the hell alone.”
“What about Cassidy? You plan on messing around with her?”
“No. Where’d you get that idea?”
“I see the way you guys look at each other when you think no one else is watching. It seems like there might be something more there.” Jake shrugged.
“Sure, I’ll admit Cassidy’s a cute girl, and if the situation was different I’d probably be interested in her. But I’m not about to lose my job over her.”
Or follow in Carter’s footsteps.
“Sorry, man. I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything with Cassidy. It’s just that I’ve seen you with a bunch of girlfriends, many of them on-set, but I’ve never seen you look at any of them the way you look at her.”
“It’s all right. I just don’t want rumors starting when there’s nothing going on. Those other girls were always crew. This is different; Cassidy’s on the show. Off limits.” Evan brushed off Jake’s accusations and peered into the perfectly clear sky. Stars twinkled and speckled the night like confetti.
Probably going to be sunny tomorrow. That means more bikinis … never thought I’d dread women in bikinis.
Evan took the last swig of beer and groaned as he rolled forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I’m beat. I’m going to call it a night and hit the sack.”
“All right, dude. See ya tomorrow.”
Evan wandered back into the house, stopping in the kitchen to throw his bottle into the recycling. Susan was in the kitchen fixing what looked like a massive midnight craving.
“You’re up pretty late. I don’t usually see you wandering at this hour,” she said over her shoulder as she stacked a few more layers onto an already huge plate of food.
“I needed to unwind with a beer. A rare taste of my old freedom before this crazy schedule started.” Evan yawned and stretched his stiff muscles. “But now I’m beat so I’m off to get a few hours of shut-eye before I have to do this all over again tomorrow.”
“Night, Evan. Tell Cassidy I say goodnight, too.”
Evan froze. What the hell?
“It’s almost one in the morning. Why would you think I’d see Cassidy again tonight?”
Susan continued with her food, not looking up at him. “No reason. Well, just that I have eyes and happened to notice how you looked at her in the stable when she was injured.”
“I was concerned because I’m her cameraman. I don’t know what you think you saw, but you’re wrong … as usual,” he muttered that last part. God, why did Susan have to be on this production team?
“Oh, really?” she laughed, pointing her fork at him. “Wrong like the last time we worked together and you ended up in bed with the model? Or wrong like the time before that when I caught you with the craft services girl? Or maybe the time before that when it was me you were with in the editing suite?”
Fuck.
“I know you’re still bitter that what we had didn’t last, but I’m not fooling around with Cassidy.”
“Not yet,” she scoffed.
“Drop it and mind your own damn business.” Evan practically growled the words. Susan could piss him off like no one else — precisely the reason they hadn’t dated long.
“No, you drop it with Cassidy. This is your one warning, then I get involved.”
“If you’re too jealous to do your job objectively, then quit, but leave me and Cassidy and our working relationship out of it.”
Evan didn’t wait for her reply before leaving the kitchen. What the hell was with people around here? Was he giving off some kind of “I’m screwing Cassidy” vibe? He did find her unbelievably attractive. Sure, they’d done a little harmless flirting with each other here and there. And yes, once or twice he’d had to restrain himself from doing something he shouldn’t — like kiss her — but those things had always happened in private.
Regardless, he’d be more careful about how he acted around her from now on. He couldn’t have people starting rumors about him and Cassidy being more than cameraman and contestant.
Especially if it wasn’t true.
Tomorrow, he’d put his most professional foot forward and show everyone there wasn’t anything going on between them, even if that meant turning a blind eye to Cassidy in her hot pink bikini.
• • •
Evan stood in his usual spot alongside the action as the girls waited to find out who would leave the show. Paige looked as if she was on the verge of tears the entire day, as did Cassidy. It would hurt her if Paige went home.
Zoe tried to hide her worry, but Evan could see it. She’d spent her time since being nominated laughing and joking with the girls as always, but Evan had seen her playing with her necklace more than ever. Obviously it was some kind of comfort to her in times of stress and she had certainly been stressed a lot in the last twenty-four hours.
“Welcome to another elimination ceremony. Tonight we’ll find out who America has voted to send home.” Evan tuned out as Spencer and Brad did their usual mindless and only-for-show cheesy banter.
“Here’s the first envelope, Brad.”
Brad opened the envelope, pulling out a white card. He paused for a moment before reading the name. “Nicole.”
“Nicole, please say your goodbyes and head back into the house to collect your things.” Spencer gave her a look of sympathy before shoving her off in the direction of the girls waiting to give her farewell hugs.
“Tell us the final girl going home tonight.” Spencer handed Brad the last envelope as soon as Nicole disappeared into the house.
Brad took it, glancing at Zoe and Paige before opening it. Evan zoomed in on Cassidy to capture her reaction as the last name was read. Either her only real friend in the house was leaving or her only real enemy in the house would.
“The last girl going home is,” Brad said, slipping the card out of the envelope, “I don’t believe it. I — I really didn’t think — ”
“Who is it, Brad?” Spencer encouraged. “Who’s the last girl going home?”
Brad looked up, obviously stricken with surprise. “Zoe.”
Chapter Twelve
Cassidy eased onto the sofa as a soft groan escaped her lips. She gingerly adjusted the pillows before sighing and remaining still. Evan knew she’d been to makeup before the interview, but he could still see the darkness beneath her eyes peeking through the makeup foundation.
“Tired today?” He moved the light so it would bounce off her face at a slightly different angle. It wouldn’t cure the darkness under her eyes, but it would minimize it to the best of his abilities.
“Very.” She yawned. “I haven’t been able to sleep well even with that huge comfy bed. I think my body is mad at me for abusing it.” She chuckled and rubbed her hands along her thighs like she was trying to massage the aches out of them.
I could massage those.
“I’ll try to make the interview as quick as possible today,” he said, focusing on the details of the shot so he wouldn’t get distracted with thoughts of Cassidy again.
“Thanks. I plan on soaking in the tub for the rest of the day. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do the next challenge feeling like this.”
“I’m sure you’ll be good as new by then.” He tried to sound reassuring, but truthfully it seemed like the last challenge had really taken everything out of her. He grabbed his stool, the interview notes he’d made and sat behind the camera, clicking it on to record. “Okay, let’s get going. What was the second challenge and how did you like it?”
“We went horseback riding at a beautiful ranch near the mountains. It was one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever been, but I can’t say as I loved the experience.”
“Have you ever been horseback riding before?”
“No, but I’ve seen people riding in Central Park and I always thought it looked like fun.”
“And was it fun?”
“Nope, not even a little.”
“Why not?”
“Because horses don’t speak English very well and I had some major communication issues with mine.” Cassidy folded her arms across her chest.
“So you’re saying that maybe if you had a different horse, one that listened, your experience would have been better?” he asked, unable to stop himself from smirking at her apparent hatred for her horse.
“I’m saying my experience would have been better if it hadn’t involved a horse at all. Horses and I don’t get along apparently.”
“Can you explain a little more for me? What exactly went wrong?” He sat forward in his chair. He’d been there for the event, but she hadn’t spoken about what had happened to anyone, not even Paige. He was eager to hear her thoughts.
Cassidy shifted on the sofa, grimacing a little as the movement undoubtedly made her muscles scream again. “First my stupid horse sneezed in my face, which was completely disgusting. Then she body checked me into the wall like an angry hockey player. And if that wasn’t enough already, she tried to crush my foot with one of her giant hooves. Happy?”
He suppressed a laugh. “How’s your foot now?”
“It’s getting better. It wasn’t broken, just badly bruised. The blue bruises go great with my pedicure.”
“So, after you got out of the barn, and onto the horse, did your experience get any better?”
“No, I wish.”
He made the hand signal for her to keep talking. Cassidy’s short answers weren’t enough.
“I don’t want to elaborate on it.” She spoke to him instead of the camera. “You elaborate on it, you were there. Why do I have to relive it when all I want to do is forget?”
“It’s not as bad as you remember. Why don’t you tell us what happened?”
“First of all, who’s ‘us’?” Cassidy asked, motioning around the room and peeking under a couple of throw pillows. “There’s no one here but you and me. And secondly, I remember it perfectly well, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
Evan tried to remain calm even though he was on the verge of laughing out loud. She was even cuter when she was upset. “‘Us’ is the viewing audience who’s going to watch this interview during the show. I’m supposed to ask these questions, and you’re supposed to answer them. What happened during your trail ride, Cassidy?”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” She glared at him around the camera. “Fine. After I left the barn with Corona, my stupid horse who should be sent out to pasture permanently, I waited for the other girls to get their horses ready. Then we went for a lovely trail ride.”
“Did you have any trouble mounting Corona?”
“You know I — ” She glared at him again. “If that stupid horse would have just stayed still. It’s not my fault she moved right when I swung my leg over her back.”
“Well, you did sort of kick her,” he added quietly.
“Don’t you dare laugh,” she shouted, pointing at him. “It hurts to fall off a horse. You try it sometime and see if you’re still laughing after that.”
“You also had a picnic with Brad and some of the others. How was that?”
“It was fine.”
“They’re going to want more than that. Why don’t you tell us what happened when you got to the picnic area?”
“Okay, fine. Let’s just say I discovered getting off my horse wasn’t any easier than getting on it so I fell. Again.” Cassidy folded her arms defiantly across her chest. “And to make it even more embarrassing, I fell right into Brad and knocked him down, too. Can we please move on now?”
Evan motioned for Cassidy to take a deep breath. He didn’t want her getting this worked up on camera since there was no telling what Chip would do with the footage. He had very good editors working for him and Chip used them to their full potential. He needed to make sure Cassidy didn’t give Chip anything too juicy to pass up messing around with in editing.
“It sounds like there were some pretty intimate moments between you and Brad during this competition.” Evan ground his teeth together as he waited for her to respond.
“Oh, Christ. I didn’t get intimate with him. You make it sound like we were out doing the nasty in the bushes. It wasn’t like that. I don’t consider falling off a horse onto someone and knocking them and myself, asses first onto the ground, very romantic. So don’t start with me about getting intimate with him when you know it wasn’t like that.”
“But you did end up lying on top of him, didn’t you?” He smirked again at her irritation. It was sort of fun to watch her get all riled up and hotheaded.
Hotheaded and sexy.
“Technically, but not in any sexual way.”
“You also shared a rather intense moment in the barn before the trail ride even started, correct? Why don’t you tell us about that?”
I wish I didn’t have to sit here and listen to it.
“Brad helped all of the girls pick a horse and I chose mine very quickly, so we had a few moments to sit and talk. He wanted to know how things were with me back home, and he also asked how I was feeling about him now that we’ve been thrown together into the show.”
“And how do you feel about him?” Evan could feel the first bubbles of annoyance building in his blood.
“The same as I did before, only more embarrassed.” She rang her hands together in her lap. “Just because we had feelings for each other at one time doesn’t mean they’re going to come back or be the same this time around.”
“But hasn’t he already been kissing some of the other women? So he must be developing feelings quickly for some of them, right?”
“Yeah, he kissed Zoe in the barn. I honestly can’t speak for how he’s feeling about the other girls.”
“So if he kissed Zoe, why didn’t you kiss him?” He wanted to know the answer for his own personal reasons. “Didn’t he ask for a kiss?”
“Because I’m not the kind of girl who goes around kissing every guy I meet, even if I’ve already known him for a while. Yes, he sort of suggested he wanted to kiss me, but I had just watched him make out with Zoe. I wasn’t really feeling in the mood to kiss him after she’d just had her tongue down his throat.”
“So you’d like to kiss him, but maybe in a more private setting, when he hasn’t been kissing other girls moments before?” Another wave of annoyance flashed though him as he asked the question. He wanted to know what she planned on doing with surfer boy. Did she want to kiss him?
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say that. I just said that was one of the reasons I wasn’t into kissing him at that time. I don’t know how I’ll feel at another time in another place.”
Wrong answer.
“So you might want to kiss him?” The tension boiling inside of him erupted to the surface as he imagined having to film Cassidy kissing that punk.
“I don’t know.” She rubbed her hand across her forehead as though she had a migraine starting. “Sheesh, how many times do I have to say it?”
Evan leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “You seem awfully defensive about the whole thing.”
“The only reason I’m being defensive is because you’re twisting my words.”
“I’m not twisting your words. I’m simply asking questions based on your answers. Moving on. Are you happy you’ve survived the vote again this week?”
“Of course. I may not be good at the challenges, an
d it’s really weird to sort of re-date my ex, but for the most part, I’m having a good time being here and I’d like to see what happens next. I’m getting used to doing all these new adventurous things every few days. It’s exciting.”
And dangerous. Why can’t she see that part of it, too? How many more times does she have to get hurt before realizing being adventurous isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?
“How do you feel about Zoe going home?”
Cassidy tried unsuccessfully to hide a grin. “I think it sucks for her but it’s kind of nice for the rest of us. There’s already a lot less drama around here.” Cassidy laugh rang out in the room as he switched off the camera.
“Great job, Cassidy. We’re all done here.”
• • •
Cassidy glared at Evan as he turned his camera off and started shuffling through papers. How could he be so calm after all that?
Oh right, he laughed at me the whole time.
She fumed inside after barely keeping her cool during the interview. Now the cameras were off and she felt like a pot of steaming water on the verge of boiling over — and Evan risked a severe burn.
“So, you think everything that happened at the challenge was pretty funny, huh? Do I amuse you?”
“Actually, you do,” Evan said, not turning around. “And it was pretty funny.”
“You don’t even try to hide laughing at me. Do you have any idea how embarrassed I am?”
“I have a pretty good idea, since I was there when it happened.” Evan turned and smiled at her. “But honestly, Cassy, you need to calm down. I promise you it wasn’t as bad as you think. You should try to laugh about it, too.”
“I don’t want to laugh about it. It happened on national TV. I’m going to go home eventually and I’ll be teased forever about being the stupid girl who fell off her horse — twice!”
“It’s not that bad.” Evan laughed out loud this time.
Cassidy glared at the smirk on his face, the playful twinkle in his eyes. She grabbed a pillow and threw it as hard as she could at his cocky smile, hoping to wipe it off his face so she wouldn’t have to see it anymore.
Unscripted Love: The Complete Reality TV Romance Collection Page 11