Page 20 of Insta Bride
“Great. So, I should pack my bags?”
“Everyone will need to pack their bags. If you are the lowest ranked couple, you’ll have a chance to plead your case with Elena, or walk away with cash.”
“How much?” Not that it would be enough, but years in sales had me doing maths automatically.
“You’ll be told at the time.”
“And if I plead my case with Elena and she doesn’t believe me?”
“Then it comes down to a game of chance. You’ll both have a chance to take the money. If you both take the money, you’ll be evicted. If one of you wants to play the game of chance, another couple will be on the block.”
“We could pick who we want?”
“Maybe. Or we could give you two couples to choose from. We like to make things interesting.”
“You really are making up the rules as you go along.”
“Took you long enough to catch on.”
I sighed. Money would be good, but no one remembered the guy who went home first or second.
“How’s Elena going to be edited?” If it was any other production crew, I wouldn’t have asked. But I hoped I still had some ability to ask for favors.
“Don’t you mean, how are the two of you being edited?”
“No. I mean that fight out there. You know she didn’t start it. Campbell and Kenzie have been class A jealous bitches since we arrived. Campbell got cut because Elena and I had the first kiss, so had to rub it in that she got the first all-nighter.”
“Why did you kiss her?” Bree asked softly, without jealousy.
“Because she was there. I’d been watching her and figured she’d be going home. I wanted to kiss her so she’d have a reason to talk to me at the reunion show.”
“You didn’t tell him who he’d been paired with?” Bree asked Emi.
“Why would I? I thought it would be a joke, until the kiss.”
“You set me up to fail?”
“We thought you’d resent being paired up with the most boring girl we could find, and she’d carve your balls with a blunt knife.”
“And now?”
“We’ve watched the second and third camera angles. You were always watching her. Especially when you didn’t think anyone was watching you. There’s a connection that the camera can see, even if you can’t.”
“The kiss was pretty spesh, no offence.”
“None taken.” Bree looked to Emi. A silent conversation before Emi nodded. “But it comes down to editing. When you go back, just tell everyone you’ve been read the riot act by us about treating others with respect. You don’t have to go into detail. They’ll take it as a warning for their own behavior.”
“I just don’t want my shit coming down on Elena.”
“Well, that’s up to you. If you break the heart of, or if you cheat on Australia’s next sweetheart, you can kiss your post-show career goodbye. Consider this your one and only warning—if you hurt Elena, we will ruin you.”
“She hates me.”
“Oh, but she doesn’t. The only times she wasn’t watching you, was when you were watching her.” Bree’s smile met her eyes.
“She watches everyone.”
“No. She doesn’t. She watches everything, but the only person she watches, is you.”