Grump’s City Girl (Boots and Heels #2)

12. Cassie

Chapter 12

Cassie

M icah and Greer were shut off into another part of the ranch house, and they came out a few times when the cameras were not rolling. We were heading into week two, and this one was where I knew Beau was aiming to get us kicked off, but who knew what these producers had in store for us.

I was beginning to classify these challenges as two mini-challenges and one big whopper. If we busted the two mini-challenges and scored the big one, we might get kicked off, but the best bet was to fail all three of them.

I was a bit late to breakfast after oversleeping; I had kept tapping that snooze button three or four times, dreaming of Beau and trying to hold onto those faint memories of what exactly he was doing to my body before I woke up, rushed to shower, and dress.

Grabbing a coffee and dumping sugar and milk inside, I realized that I was not the only late person—Nelly was straggling in, looking wrecked. My brows shot up, and I was not the only one. What had happened last night?

She came over to my table, took one look at me, and then did that slicing motion across her neck. “Don’t ask.”

“Can I guess then?”

Her eyes narrowed as she made her coffee. “Guess all you want; you’ll never get an answer out of me.”

“Okay.” I gave her time to take in a mouthful before I said, “You got drunk last night and let Quentin fuck you until you couldn’t see straight.”

Her coffee spewed out of her mouth in the most graceful arc I had ever seen. Thankfully, I ducked, too. When Nelly came back up for air, she was not happy. Helpfully, I handed her a handful of napkins, and she snatched them with a glare.

“You shady bitch,” she said, but her twitching smile told me she didn’t mean it.

I cocked a brow. “Was I right?”

“Not even close,” she scoffed. “And don’t ever try again. Your privilege has been revoked.”

As I was about to answer, I spotted Beau, Rome, and Jonas halfway across the room, acting like a bunch of teenagers, elbowing each other and giving each other knuckles. Jonas must have caught me looking because he leaned into Beau’s ear and said something that had Beau’s gaze snapping to me seconds before he shoved Jonas away with a huff.

He looked at me and mouthed, “Asshole.”

Snickering, I turned away and found Nelly dumping more sugar into her coffee. “Whoa, whoa, have some coffee with your sugar.”

She laughed. “Shut up.”

Leaning in, I asked, “Want to tell me what happened… and does it, in fact, include Quentin?”

She bit her lip, and I could see her indecision playing on her face. Was I right about Quentin? Had something gone down? Before she answered, though, Liliana came through like a whirlwind and herded us like sheep to the back porch where what looked like voting stations were all set up, with privacy shields up, six on one side and six on the other.

“Ariana and Sutton will be with you soon,” she said simply before walking off.

“Well, that was odd,” Danielle murmured. “Be a little more mysterious, why don’t you?”

Sissy and Amy were whispering between themselves. Beau looked a bit lost while Rome and Quentin looked at the booths quizzically.

Sutton stepped in, his dark navy suit immaculate and sky-blue shirt unbuttoned at the collar. It was the first time I had seen him without a tie and pocket square, while Ariana came in, dressed in a denim jumpsuit, her hair pinned up.

“Before we get rolling, please be aware that this will be shown to the viewers as if this is a new week,” he said. “We’ll be using phrases like a new week, last week, and such. Play along, please.”

“You’re all a bit scattered around, but could a few of you find a seat on the chairs or the floor, and the rest of you can stand,” Ariana said.

With a little shuffling around, two guys were on the ground, one sitting and the other three standing, and the same was mirrored with us girls. I happily plopped my butt on the ground, knowing Beau was leaning on the wall, looking like sex on legs.

His jeans and T-shirt were a bit faded, the knees of his jeans almost frayed through, but his flannel was bright, and his Stetson was cocked up on his head. He was clean-shaven today, but I wanted to see him with that sexy scruff.

I saw a camera swing my way, so I casually trained my gaze over to Beau, forcing an unsure look onto my face. His eyes met mine as if he sensed me, and I yanked my head away, forcing a smile for Nelly and Danielle. The cameraman held up a thumb to Liliana, and I knew they had gotten that shot—more proof of the pudding.

“We’re rolling,” Liliana shouted. “Three… two… one… roll it.”

Sutton stepped forward, his calm demeanor as cool as ever. “Good morning. I hope you all had a good weekend. No cuts, no bruises, no broken bones… no shacking up?”

A good number of us laughed while Beau snorted and Ryker scoffed.

“That’s good,” he said. “I don’t think we have emergency Plan B’s in the medicine cabinet. Anyway, today we start with another game.”

Ariana came forward. “Last week, we asked you how well you knew your partner, but this week, we will be asking you how well you know yourself and the rest of this motley crew. We’re calling this Kiss, Marry, Kill.”

“Oh,” Sutton stopped her. “I thought it was Thirteen Questions. That is the other game, Ariana.”

“Oops.” She slapped her hand over her mouth.

“Anyway, if you would please ignore her slip, guys to the left, girls to the right,” Sutton said. “In each of those booths, you’ll find paddles there with the faces of each contestant on each side. Meaning, one paddle will have Sissy on one side and Jonas on the other.

"When I ask a question, like who is the most responsible person in the group, your responsibility is to pick a paddle and show me the face of that person you vote for. You can vote for yourself.”

“Each time your answer matches the majority of the group, you get a point, and, in the end, the two with the highest points win,” Ariana had regrouped.

“What do we win this time?” Sissy asked. “Immunity?”

“Not this week, and by the way, Beau and Cassie, your immunity ran out the moment the clock hit twelve oh one this morning. You’ll have to play to win if you want to stay. But as for the prize…”

“We’ll keep that close to the chest for now,” Sutton chimed in, his smirk sneaky. “But best believe it is a good one. Now, off to your stations.”

I got up and filed off to the right and got a station smack in the middle of our six. I shifted the paddles and stifled a laugh at the comical look they had posted for Beau. His top lip was lifted like he’d smelled something shitty.

“Are we ready?” Sutton called. “First question, which of the twelve of you drinks coffee like it’s going to disappear tomorrow? Paddles up.”

That was easy. I had the paddle for Nelly up, and across the room, I saw Jonas and Quentin holding her paddle; the rest of the guys held up Beau. Even Beau was holding Beau.

“Looks like we got a majority,” Sutton grinned. “For the seven of you who had Nelly, you get a point. Sorry, Beau.”

He grunted, then lifted his paddle and twirled. “And whoever gave y’all this shoddy picture of me, when I die, I will haunt your ass.”

We burst out laughing, and Ariana called the second question, “Which of you was most likely to run for president?”

I lifted Rome’s picture and saw the majority of the room did, too; that was an even call. “Well, Rome, we’ll be waiting for your ballot next year,” Sutton said. “Third question: which one of you is most likely to be inducted into the mile-high club?”

I couldn’t get Ryker’s paddle up fast enough, and most of the group had him, too.

“Looks like we have a tie,” Ariana laughed. “Ryker and Sissy, please try to be subtle about it. Don’t scar the children.”

“A bit late.” He laughed. “I’ve already been inducted.”

Silence, then Beau drawled, “No one is surprised, Ryker. Believe me.”

Rolling his eyes, Ryker sulked while Sutton said, “And now that the easiest questions are over, we move to the middle hardest. Question four: which of you all is most likely to use this cash prize wisely?”

Hmm. This was touchy. I knew about Beau’s struggle with the ranch, but no one else did, so I chose the second-best option and put up Quentin’s picture. Beau had spun around Rome’s pic, and Emory had Alice’s face up.

“This is mixed,” Sutton said. “Emory, why Alice?”

“I know her mom is in hospice care, and her bouts with worry and depression have sometimes lost her a couple of jobs,” he said, shooting Alice a ‘ I’m sorry for airing your business on TV’ look. “Right now, her brother is taking care of everything, but I know if she got it, she’d do well.”

What? I never knew that!

“Ahh,” Sutton nodded. “Nelly, why Quentin?”

“He’s good with numbers,” she shrugged. “If he got that half a mil?—”

“Quarter of a million,” Ariana said.

“—he’d double or triple it in six months,” Nelly ended.

“Finally, Beau, why Rome?” Sutton asked.

“His crop business was hit hard with pests and bad weather for two years back-to-back,” Beau said. “It’s hard to bounce back from stuff like that, and I can only imagine that he’s playing the money shuffle a lot to get the business through.”

“I see,” Sutton rocked back on his heels. “However, overall, with five of you holding up Rome, Rome is the winner of this round. And Alice, please know that you have our support if you need it, whenever you need it, and we mean it. If it is a simple time out to call in a mental health professional, even if you want a wreck room, we are here for you, okay?”

Alice gave him a small smile and a nod. “Thank you.”

“Next question, and it is the reverse of the previous one,” Ariana said. “Which of you would blow through the prize money if you got it?”

When the paddles were turned, Sutton laughed. “Unanimously, Ryker. Even Ryker voted for Ryker. That is very self-aware of you, rocker boy. Thanks for your honesty.”

He saluted Sutton and grinned. “Always.”

“Sixth question,” Ariana redirected our attention. “Consider carefully which cowboys or cowgirls would make it and live in the city?”

As much as I wanted to say Beau—I damned well knew he wouldn’t like it. He would be like a three-hundred-year-old vampire in the sun, or in this case, a country boy lost in a concrete jungle and melting under the glare of the skyscrapers. I chose Nelly.

Lifting the board, I was not surprised to see Beau had Rome. I knew he respected the guy a lot.

Sutton took a moment to count the boards. “We have four for Nelly, five for Rome, one for Jonas, and two for Amy. Hmmm, I am curious, Beau; why do you think no one voted for you?”

He thumbed his Stetson up and shook his head; his drawl was heavy this time. “Because they all know my blood is in this land. It’s like if you pulled a fish out of water and forced it to live on land. I’d die.”

Sutton shared a look with Ariana, then turned back to Beau. “Inquiring minds would like to know if that is one of the reasons you and Cassie split?”

Given how quiet the room was, if a pin had dropped on the floor, it would have sounded like a gong.

Beau’s eyes swung at me for a moment, and so did the cameras, so I kept my expression as blank as I could. However, he didn’t; it was like his expression was begging me for permission before he even asked, “Should I tell them?”

I forced a breath. “I guess. It’s going to come out anyway.”

Beau turned to Sutton. “No, that wasn’t because I wouldn’t live in the city. We’d split because, among a lot of things, I had pretended to be someone I wasn’t, and she found me out.”

Sutton’s head jerked back as that bombshell rocked the whole room, and Sissy’s mouth dropped open. The cameras swung to me for my reaction, and I gave it a one-shoulder shrug. “It’s true.”

Twisting one heel, with both hands stuck in his pockets, Sutton looked at Ariana and whistled. “Didn’t see that coming. When you say, among other things, what did you mean?”

“I think we’ll save that for another time,” Ariana stepped in. “Beau, you don’t have to answer that.”

Clearing his throat, Sutton allowed the awkward moment to last for as long as it could before it got painful, and he nodded. “Moving on, again, we’ll reverse the question. Which one of you city slickers would be comfortable in the countryside, fishing, ranching—” he slid an eye to Alice “—riding horses. Boards up?”

“Emory, five votes, Quentin one, and Cassie, six,” Ariana said, and my head snapped up and jaw dropped this time. “Not surprising,” Ariana added. “You do ride like a cowgirl. I am surprised no one said Sissy when she did win the first riding challenge. Sissy, what do you think?”

“I couldn’t sleep. It’s too quiet here… and too loud,” she said, eyes wide. “Why do those blasted birds chirp all night?”

Sutton cocked his head. “…Birds? Do you mean owls?”

“No…” she shook her head and pressed her arms together, making her boobs pop even more as she leaned in. Her brows pulled tight as she pursed her lips. “Sort of like this…” She whistled a staccato chirp on a pleasant note. “What was that?”

“Those are crickets, sweetheart,” Beau said, lips twitching.

“Oh.” She blinked. “Doesn’t matter, I can’t sleep with them. I prefer traffic and sirens.”

“Ahh,” Ariana turned to her co-host. “Is there a way to reprogram noise-canceling headphones with traffic sound and sirens?”

“I highly doubt it,” Sutton laughed. “Here is where we get to the hard questions, and there are six of them. Question eight. Which one of you all do you think is most passive-aggressive?”

That was a touchy one, and I didn’t think any of these guys were passive-aggressive. In the strictest terms, a person like that displayed a pattern of passive hostility and an avoidance of direct communication.

I’d say the one person who I had gotten a hint of such behavior from was Greer , and they had already eliminated her, but it struck me that I didn’t know the rest of these guys and girls as I should have. It came down to a battle of who the lesser devil was, so I chose Alice’s paddle.

It seemed the questions had stunned a lot of us, and most of our answers didn’t really mesh. Two of us had Alice, and another two, Amy and Ryker, claimed three votes. For Ryker, Nelly had even written "passive-aggressive" on her ballot. Other votes were sprinkled among Rome, Emory, and Quentin.

“Did you all understand the term passive-aggressive?” Sutton asked.

“We did… well I did,” Rome said, with a shrug. “But in all honesty, the one person who was truly passive-aggressive is already eliminated, and I know you know I’m talking about Greer.”

“It kind of left us scrambling,” Danielle agreed.

“I’ll pivot then,” Sutton said. “Question nine, who in this group do you all think did not understand what passive-aggressive means?”

This time, the boards went up in seconds; half of them read Sissy, and the other half read Ryker.

“Passive-aggressive behavior is characterized by indirect resistance to the demands of others and an avoidance of confrontation. They are the people who use sarcasm as a tool, give backhanded compliments, they don’t say no outright, but they don’t say yes either, or think they are doing everyone a favor by simply existing,” Sutton said.

The ones who wrote Sissy erased their boards and scribbled Ryker.

“Well, that is unanimous,” Sutton chuckled. “No offense, Ryker.”

“None taken,” he shrugged.

Ariana stepped in. “Which of you do you think is the most dishonest? The one person who might do anything to undermine others and knock them off their game?”

“Jesus,” Beau muttered. “How are we gonna answer that without making an enemy?”

“Hmm,” Sutton nodded. “Good point, Beau. In hindsight, nix that one. We can come back to that at a later time. We'll move on to the next question: Who do you think is most delusional about winning that quarter-million dollars without putting in the work?”

Another easy question.

“Ryker, you take this one again,” Ariana didn’t quite hide her twitching lips. “Are you concerned about how your teammates think about you? At all?”

“Nope.” Ryker shrugged. “But I will live for their reactions when I do win.”

“See,” Quentin rolled his eyes, “Delusional.”

Raking his hand through his hair, Rome said, “I think we’ve covered that. May we move on, please?”

“Sure,” Sutton said. He then pivoted to Ariana. “How many questions has it been now? Ten? Twelve?”

“Ten,” she said. “I think we can cap this one at eleven, and the final question is—” Her gaze swung over all of us. “Which pair do you think will make it to the top?”

Damn it.