Chapter Seven
Courtney
Alex couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Or maybe better? I like Noah, at least I think I do.
I want things to keep progressing, but I want them to progress naturally, if that makes sense?
I’m not sure that’s even possible given our scenario, though.
I need to stop being so controlling over things and just let it happen.
When I look back to Noah, he’s already focused on Alex, but he glances at me for a moment before giving me a small smile that reassures me. Of what? Couldn’t tell you.
“Hello, hello. Why don’t you all join me over here?” Alex says as he heads for the large couch we all sat on last night.
Slowly, everyone follows him, the last being Dallas and Luna, once they finally pry themselves from each other.
Their soaking feet pad against the concrete pathway, and they’re snickering to themselves as they take a seat on the couch.
Luna sits beside Angel, and I can’t lie that I’m amused by the snarl she casts her when Luna’s wet thigh brushes against her.
“I hope you all are settling in and getting to know each other,” Alex says as he looks around the group.
We all nod, a few murmuring various affirmations.
“Well, that’s good because today we’re going to be doing another icebreaker challenge that’s really going to allow you to get to know your fellow contestants in ways you never dreamed.”
“I don’t know, Alex, I got quite the imagination,” Calvin throws out, earning a smirk and a fist bump from Mason.
Alex laughs, and I notice how the grumpy producer makes an irritated face before signaling to a cameraman to cut. The rest of them keep filming, and I turn my gaze back to Alex as he continues.
“For this challenge, we’ll be splitting up into teams. Red vs. blue. Each of you will grab a jersey, and whichever color it is will be your team for the challenge.”
“Cut!” the grumpy producer shouts.
I really need to figure out his name. Or come up with my own. That receding hairline, those square glasses, the way he looks like he’s never had a good day in his life…
He looks like a Daryll to me.
An assistant comes over and hands each person a specific jersey color. Clearly, all the teams are pre-selected, but they don’t want the audience to know that.
“You all are going to head over there and stand in a line. Then each team will have to pass each item down the line, placing it into the final bucket over there. Only catch is you can’t use your hands.
The team with the most items in their bucket at the end of the timer wins,” the assistant explains to us before gesturing to an area in the grass that has four tables set up, two with an assortment of items on each and two with large buckets on them.
She finishes the circle, handing me and Noah a red jersey before hustling back off camera. I look around to see we also have Savannah, Connor, Kenzie, Shane, Cora and Andrew.
The blue team is in a huddle, obviously taking this ultra serious with some kind of strategy. Shane gathers us up to do the same.
“Alright, no hands. You guys know what that means. Mouths, necks, tits. Whatever you got, use it,” he says.
The tits comment feels especially pointed at me since I easily have the largest ones on this team, and honestly, not a bad idea.
Shane designates who should go where before the same assistant comes and reorganizes each lineup.
Guess they have some ulterior motives working here.
Unfortunately, those motives put me at the front.
No pressure.
I look to see Luna is at the end of her line and closest to me.
She smirks. “Get ready to lose, bitch!”
I laugh and scoff, making an L with my fingers and putting it to my forehead as both teams join in the trash-talking. Noah is beside me, and then Savannah is beside him, followed by the rest of the team.
My gaze moves to the blue team where I see Kiera in between Mason and Landon. Landon is next to Luna and seems to be taking this very seriously.
“Alright, ready, set, go!” Alex shouts as the huge clock set for two minutes begins.
I go for what looks like the easiest item, an apple.
Keeping my hands by my sides, I use my biceps to squeeze my tits together, squishing the apple between them before I turn to Noah.
He smirks at me for a moment before he dives into my cleavage face-first. The aggression of his dive takes my breath away, and I gasp and laugh as he manages to wiggle the apple under his chin, turning to Savannah.
She makes a show of wrapping her arms around Noah’s neck, tugging him closer to her as she nuzzles into his neck. It’s clear she’s not even trying to get the apple, which pisses me off because damnit, I’m competitive as hell.
“Come on! Let’s go!” I shout.
That gets her going and she finally takes the apple from Noah and passes it down. Not before she shoots me an irritated glare, though. Like I give a shit.
Finally, the apple hits the bucket and I grab the next item, a banana.
Okay, there’s no way in hell that’s going to work as easily as the apple between my tits.
So I do the next best thing. I open my mouth and deep throat that shit, turning back to face my team, who all laugh and hoot and holler.
Noah chuckles but does the same, taking it with his mouth and passing it down.
Once that hits the bucket, I’m moving on to the next item, which is a piece of paper.
What the fuck? I see the blue team is already on to the piece of paper, and Kiera turns to Landon, sucking the paper against her mouth, then very intentionally letting it drop at the last minute before pressing her lips to Landon’s.
He kisses her back, but only for a moment. “Are you fucking serious? What the hell?” he snarls.
I quickly suck our piece of paper up, continuing to intake air so I keep the suction as I pass it down the line. Then I watch as Landon drops to the ground and fucking hoovers the paper all the way up before transferring it to Luna. We both drop the paper in our buckets at the same time.
I turn to the last item on the table and find a large bowl of what looks like whipped cream. What the fuck? Shane is yelling at me to hurry up, and Connor is clapping manically.
“How am I supposed to move this? The whole bowl?” I ask in a panic.
The producer, Daryll, as I’ve named him, doesn’t respond, clearly taking a backseat roll in the chaos.
They can’t mean the whole bowl. Fuck it. This is going to be nasty.
I open my mouth as wide as I can, sucking as much whipped cream into my mouth as possible before turning to Noah.
He looks at me expectantly, like he’s waiting for my plan, and I gesture to his mouth.
He makes a face, wrinkling his nose, then opens his mouth as wide as he can so I can spit it into his mouth.
It lost a little texture, but not bad. He moves on and spits it into Savannah’s mouth who attempts to take it in a sexy way but ends up dry-heaving with it in her mouth.
With each person it’s passed to, the whipped cream gets less solid, and by the time Kenzie passes it on, it’s pure liquid.
When Cora gets it, I swear to God she actually pukes in her mouth.
Poor Andrew is the unlucky bastard at the end who gets the liquid cream/vomit concoction.
He spits it into the bowl before dropping to his knees and retching.
Our entire team is gagging and choking, except me, thank God I was first.
I look over to see the blue team is worse off than we are. Angel actually did puke, and the proof is all over Dallas’s bare feet.
Oh my God.
“Okay, okay. I don’t think I can stomach this anymore,” Alex jokes. “Since the blue team wasn’t able to pass on the whipped cream, red team wins!”
We all jump up and down in victory. Well, except Andrew who’s still dry-heaving while Cora tentatively rubs his back in sympathy. Our faces are absolutely covered in melting whipped cream, and Shane and Noah share a look before coming to either side of me and licking my cheeks.
I squeal in surprise, and the guys laugh before each placing a kiss on my cheek.
Shane runs over to give Kenzie the same treatment, while Connor tries and fails to do so to Savannah.
She all but shoves him to the ground, but he bounces back quickly, fist pumping in the air while all of the blue team look sick to their stomachs.
Luna comes over and gives me a hug, laughing to herself. “You know, I’ll gladly take the L if it means I didn’t have to have that cream soup mixed with everyone’s saliva,” she says and makes a gagging noise.
Oh wait. That wasn’t Luna. Angel is throwing up again.
“What exactly was the point of that challenge?” Savannah snarls.
“To prove that we’re better than them, soak in the victory,” I throw back to her.
She scoffs and runs a hand through her hair, lowering her voice. “I know I’m better than everyone here. Didn’t hate having Noah all up in my tits, though. My God, I thought that man was trying to suffocate himself.” She smirks in a vile way before sauntering away.
I don’t even attempt to give her an ounce of my energy before Noah picks me up and spins me in his arms.
“We make a pretty good team, huh?”
“Guess so. Is this a foreshadowing of what’s to come?” I ask with a fake gasp and a strong wink to the camera.
Daryll speaks for once, leaning out from behind the camera as he shakes his head. “Don’t talk to the camera. You can do that in the interview room.”
I lift my hands in defense before muttering to Noah, “Someone’s grumpy.”
Noah laughs as Julia gestures for him to follow. One by one, everyone is pulled to do a mini-interview with the camera. I’ve watched my fair share of reality TV shows before, so I assume they’ll use whatever we say for buildup, cutaways, or maybe even teaser stuff.
When it’s my turn, they ask me basic questions like, “Are you going to win? How does it feel that you won? What was the hardest part?”
After I answer everything, they hit me with one more.
“If you had to lock in with someone right now, who would it be?”
I don’t even attempt to fight my smile, but I do try to play coy. Try being the key word.
“Um, I think I’d definitely have to say Noah.”
“Perfect. You’re free to go.” The girl smiles as she gestures for me to leave the room.
When I step into the hall, I find Noah leaning against the wall; he pushes off when our eyes meet.
“You waiting on little ole me?” I tease.
He smirks. “Maybe.”
His arms wrap around me, settling on my waist as I attempt to pull away.
“Ugh, please don’t touch me. I’m so fucking sticky it’s not even funny.”
He laughs. “Same. Want to get cleaned up?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna jump in the shower.”
Noah stares at me for a moment, and I realize that I totally missed that.
Fuck, I’m an idiot.
“Oh, you meant, like, together.”
His grin lifts a little higher, his fingers lazily grazing my skin. “If you’re comfortable.”
My teeth sink into my lower lip as I stare up at this gorgeous man before me. I mean, who in their right mind could say no to an offer like that?