A month passed in the challenge house.
The hardest about the show wasn't the challenges; it was Leandro. If I didn't protest, his hand always found mine or found my back. His fingers would brush my cheek, ears, chin, lips, and neck. He would do it so innocently, so naturally, as if they were insignificant strokes, as if they didn't shake my entire being when they occurred. As if they meant nothing to him.
I wondered how many he had seduced like that. With his bright smile and his touches, his endless, sporadic touches that always permeated the barriers of my mind, making it hard for me to ignore his existence.
Though I tried to distance myself from him, I still bore the label of being his wife. It was infuriating and belittling, but the thing with men was that they could be just as petty and ruthless as women. When they realized you disliked something, they would do it repeatedly. And as my father had said, the more you reacted, the more they teased. So, I promised myself that one day I would cease to react.
***
Today was a challenge day, so I knew the alarm would ring at any moment. Whenever I felt hungry, I ate light meals to avoid being stuffed if required to run.
In the afternoon, Kodi, the teddy bear, and I reclined in my bunk. I wrote down ideas in a notebook for a song while my teddy bear surveyed the room. A heavy tread approached my bed, and I lowered the book to see my visitor. It was a lanky, white boy with curly auburn hair. One of my roommates.
Johnny said, "Bro, your partner pissed off the marquesses, and now they're telling everyone to vote you in."
"Are you sure it's my partner?" Cadmus didn't speak to others unless he was forced to.
Johnny nodded.
"Perhaps, they misunderstood. Cadmus sometimes says things with good intentions, but he says it bluntly and offensively. It's just how he talks. You learn to ignore him. Are you sure it wasn't his lookalike?"
"I don't know, bro, but apparently, the person called them ill-bred and insulted their vocabulary. And from what I know, there's only one person who looks like your partner—your partner."
A weary sigh spilled from my lips. All Cadmus had to do was, be his usual self and not talk to anyone; why had he gone and mess things up?
Shit.
I had only made a little over thirty thousand dollars during the past month. This wasn't the time to get eliminated.
***
YOU ARE READING
Groom Wars
RomansaIn 2090, 60 years after making himself king of Canada and becoming a tyrant like nothing the Canadians had ever seen, King Victor is old, and his health is failing. After appointing a male heir to the throne, he now looks for someone worthy of his d...
