Flaming Hearts (Beyond Reality Book 2) (2 page)

Becky watched as the men were introduced at the first cocktail hour. She’d felt sorry for herself for about ten minutes, then got herself under control. She was here, she might as well make the best of the situation. Maybe, just maybe some of the guys would look deeper than the surface and see
her
.

She’d been instructed to dress as though she was going on a first date, so she’d chosen a pair of khaki pants and a nice pink blouse. When she walked into the room and saw Marissa, she wanted to sink through the floor. She’d screwed up. Marissa was wearing a slinky black dress that left most of her back bare, and four inch heels. Her hair was in an up-do with small tendrils hanging down, framing her face. Becky knew she was out of her element. She looked positively frumpy standing next to Marissa. She’d been pleased with what she’d seen when she looked in the mirror before coming down the stairs, but now she felt very much like the ugly stepsister.

When the men were introduced, Becky was glad to note that they weren’t half “hunks” and the other half “nerds” as she feared and once seen on a reality show, but every one of them was very handsome.

Becky walked around the room, talking to each of the men in the room. She made a point to make eye contact with each and to try to get to know them. Even if she knew she was at a disadvantage next to Marissa, she still wanted to make the effort.

There was certainly a mix of men and professions. Becky had a hard time keeping them all straight. David and Derek were the easiest to remember because they were identical twins. She had no idea who was who, but at least she could remember their names. Becky wasn’t sure what they did for a living, as they didn’t stick around to talk to her for very long, they only had eyes for Marissa. There was also Ryan, Alex, Jose, Patrick and James. Again, she couldn’t remember what they did for jobs, but Becky knew she’d figure it out as the show went on.

After meeting so many people, she had no idea what the other men’s names were. She’d always been bad at remembering names. Someone could introduce themselves to her and two minutes later she’d have no idea how they’d introduced themselves. It was embarrassing and she was trying to work on it, but there was no way she’d remember everyone’s name here tonight. She sighed.

Becky kept her eye on Marissa and saw her sitting on a couch with a circle of men around her. She seemed at ease and flirtatiously talked to each one. Occasionally, she’d touch them on the knee or the arm or hand. She had the art of flirting down to a science. The longer the evening went on, the more uncomfortable Becky felt. What was the point of this? She knew which woman the men would prefer…maybe that was it! Maybe this
would
be the end of this torture! Maybe the men would get to choose who they’d vie for and she could go home with a nice consolation prize. A girl could dream, right?

Finally their host, Robert, brought Marissa and Becky into a back room and told them they’d each be choosing seven men to stay, and the other four men not chosen would be going home. It was a lot like the singles shows she’d watched with her mom in the past, but it was weird that there were two girls this time. She guessed it was an interesting twist on the premise of the bachelor/bachelorette concept. Darn it, Becky was really hoping Robert would’ve told them the guys were choosing which woman they wanted to compete for and the other woman had to go home right then.

Robert asked each of them if they knew who they’d ask to stay and Marissa asked him slyly, “What if I want more than seven to stay? Can I ask Becky to use one of her slots to add one of the men I want?” After a pause she added, “And vice versa, of course.” Marissa giggled, thinking her words were the funniest thing ever.

“Of course,” Robert told her, “Any way you want to split up the decision you can. It’s up to the two of you.”

Marissa turned to Becky and said, “I think Derek and David are soooo hot. They both have to stay. I love Trevon’s name. Jose is rich as hell, so he has to stay as well. I also want to keep Samuel, Ryan, Joel, Dexter, and Conner, John, and Alex because they paid the most attention to me. I don’t want Ned and Carter to stay. You can choose the other three that you want to stay and two that you want to go.” She shrugged as if she didn’t just take over the show entirely.

At this point Becky didn’t really care as she didn’t know any of the men, but she also didn’t want Marissa to think she could walk all over her for the entire show.

“So who does that leave?” Becky asked Marissa sarcastically.

“Duh,” Marissa said with disdain. “Patrick, James, Chris, Oliver, and Tommy.”

Becky didn’t like Marissa all that much, but she couldn’t help but be impressed with her memory of all the men’s names.

Becky didn’t want to make someone go home solely based on what they looked like, as that wasn’t the type of person she was, but Marissa seemed to know who she wanted, and since none of the men really stood out in her eyes, she’d agree, but with conditions.

“You know you just chose eleven guys to stay when really you only get to choose seven, right?” She waited for Marissa to nod and then continued. “But since I don’t know any of them that well, I’ll let you have more than your fair share this time. But if in the future I want to negotiate, you’ll let me.”

Happy that she’d gotten her way Marissa beamed at Becky and agreed immediately. They walked back out into the main room to let the men know who would stay and who would go.

Robert lined all the men up in the typical way these things were done on reality shows, into two lines with nine men in each line. They had a platform set up so the men in back were standing taller than the men in front. Becky and Marissa stood across from the men with Robert between them.

“Welcome to
Arizona Reality
!” Robert boomed, arms spread wide. Becky inwardly cringed. Who the hell came up with the names of these shows? It sounded like they were selling a house or something.

Robert continued dramatically, “Hopefully you had a good time tonight getting to know each other. Becky, Marissa, you will each get the chance to have seven men stay to compete for your affections. Unfortunately, four of you men will be leaving tonight. Marissa, we’ll start with you. Who do you want to stay tonight and get to know you better?”

Marissa, in her glory, beamed and dramatically stepped forward to give her speech. “I had such a good time tonight,” she gushed, “I’m so happy to meet all of you. This is
such
a hard decision! If it was up to me I’d have
all
of you stay so I could get to know you better, but unfortunately that’s impossible.” Marissa pouted prettily. She named seven of the men she wanted to stay, pausing dramatically between each name.

When it was Becky’s turn she felt her stomach turn. There were eleven men looking intensely at her. She really didn’t want to have to disappoint any of them. She tried hard to remember who the men were that Becky wanted to keep and didn’t mention. It was easier to remember the names of the men who weren’t staying.

“Uh, Like Marissa said, this choice was really hard. I enjoyed meeting all of you and I wasn’t sure how to decide who I wanted to stay and who I wanted to go as I don’t really
know
any of you.” Seeing the impatient looks on the remaining men’s faces she decided to hurry and get this over with. This part of the show definitely sucked. She didn’t like it when people were mad at her, and she was definitely going to make four of these men unhappy. Becky turned toward the men and rushed through the seven names, hoping she had them right, but knowing even if she didn’t, it wouldn’t make much difference to her. Marissa might care, but she didn’t. “John, Conner, Dexter, Joel, James, Patrick and Samuel.”

Becky and Marissa both jumped as Robert boomed as soon as Becky finished saying Samuel’s name. “The choice has been made!”

“What the hell?” Becky heard Carter say unbelievably. “This show sucks.” He snarled the words and stepped off the platform toward the front door of the huge house. He wrenched the door open and actually slammed it behind him like he was three years old.

Robert continued, even though Carter had stormed out of the house and ruined his planned dramatic delivery of his speech. “I’m so sorry Ned, Tommy, Carter, and Oliver, but you’ve not been invited to stay by our lovely ladies. It’s time to say goodbye.”

The three men who were still there came over and kissed Marissa on the cheek, shook Becky’s hand and walked out. Becky felt awkward as hell as the men displayed the favoritism so blatantly. This left the other fourteen men standing in their two lines, all with goofy smiles on their faces. Becky sighed. This was going to be a
long
eight weeks.

Jonathan watched in disbelief at the spectacle in front of him. He’d been working for about three weeks on the reality show and was beyond disgusted. It wasn’t the basic premise of the show, single guys trying to get the attention of a single lady, but more the way Eddie and the other producers were making one of the women look.

Jonathan knew when the producers chose the single women the men would be competing for, they picked two women who were complete opposites on purpose. Of course, it would make for good television, but it certainly didn’t mean the women were treated the same way. It wasn’t as if Becky wasn’t attractive, because she was, but when put side by side with Marissa, Jonathan knew most people would think Marissa was the pretty one, and Becky was the “lesser” one.

It wasn’t just their looks either. It was obvious Becky was uncomfortable in most of the settings they’d put her in thus far. One week the group went to a local disco club. The music was loud, and it was hard to hear anything, even with the microphones the contestants were wearing. Jonathan’s job was to follow Becky around and all he heard all night was her answering questions about Marissa and who she thought Marissa liked best. He’d been watching Becky over the last few weeks and had seen her grow less and less animated.

When he’d first seen her at the introductory meeting of the show and to let the contestants meet the camera operators, she’d seemed at ease with herself and she smiled a lot. She was certainly excited to be on the show and for it to start. She was very friendly with all of the camera operators and joked around with them. At that point she hadn’t realized they weren’t allowed to really talk to her much, and she’d spoken freely about how glad she was to meet them all and how happy she was to be there.

Now her smile was forced and Jonathan knew she gritted her teeth a lot. She had bags under her eyes and it was obvious she wasn’t sleeping well. She no longer tried to engage with the camera operators and any time she met their eyes, she’d look away in consternation. 

He could sense her frustration, embarrassment, and sadness. It went against Jonathan’s nature to allow any woman to be disgraced like Becky was, but there was nothing he could do but watch through his lens. He thought he’d been jaded by Hollywood before starting this job, but this was the last straw. He was so thankful he only had one more show to get through after this one before he could start working with his brother. He wanted out of show business for good.

That night after going off duty on the set, Jonathan was sitting at Dean’s dining room table, talking with his brother. He’d be working for the next three nights, so all he wanted to do was sit around and talk to his brother tonight.

“I can’t believe what they’re doing to her,” Jonathan told Dean. “Seriously, they’re making a fool out of this woman and she knows it. There’s nothing she can do, but try to pretend everything is okay.”

Dean looked at Jonathan carefully. “Why do you care, bro’?” he asked seriously. “It’s not like she’s actually being harmed, if she’s experiencing a little embarrassment, she probably deserves it for agreeing to be on the show in the first place.”

Jonathan looked at Dean and answered as honestly as possible. “I know. Intellectually, I know she brought it on herself by signing the contract, but you taught me to watch out for people, Dean, and I’m watching and she’s hurting. I can’t do anything for her and it’s awful. It’s like she’s on an island surrounded by water and dying of thirst. I don’t know.” He paused, then continued, “There’s something about her. She almost feels like…” His voice faded off.

“Feels like what?” Dean asked, honestly perplexed. He’d never seen his brother like this.
He
was the one in their family who usually had the need to protect others, not Jonathan. “There had to have been situations like this in California that you’ve seen before in the industry. Women who are being taken advantage of, who are making bad choices. Why is this so different? Do you think she’s your
One
?” Dean asked seriously, sitting up in his chair with an expectant look on his face. “It’d explain the feeling…”

Every man in their family had been quick to fall in love. It was as if there was only one person in the world for them, and as soon as they saw that woman, they knew it immediately. This was the case as far back as any of them could remember. Their parents were cases in point. Both Jonathan and Dean had been told over and over the story of how they met and how their dad knew instantly their mom would be his. Of course, the women usually didn’t feel the same way at first and required some wooing and courting. It was a tough thing to believe and while Dean wanted to believe he’d find his
One
just like all of his ancestors did, it was a farfetched idea. But the hope that he’d really meet someone and know on the spot she was the one for him was why he’d never been married yet. He was holding out for the fairytale, even though anyone who knew him would scoff at the very idea.

“No, no, no.” Jonathan was quick to reassure him. “Believe me, she’s not my
One
. It’s just…I connect with her somehow, but not in a ‘you’re mine’ kind of way. There’s just something about her that makes me want to bash all the other contestants and that stupid producer upside the head for the way they’re treating her.” Jonathan continued trying to explain to his brother.

“You should’ve seen her the other day. Eddie put together a pool party for the contestants. I think it was mostly so the audience could ogle everyone in their swimsuits. Everyone in the industry knows sex sells. Marissa was in her element. She wore a skimpy white bikini and strutted her stuff all afternoon. Becky wore a one piece black suit with some sarong thing and sat at a table next to the pool all afternoon. Not one of the men asked if she wanted something to drink. Oh, some came over and talked to her, but mainly to try to pump her for information about Marissa. She had to watch as man after man brought Marissa something to drink, or a snack, or offered to rub lotion on her back, or helped her from the water when she went swimming.

“Over and over it was rubbed in Becky’s face that she wasn’t desirable, wasn’t worth their notice, wasn’t as pretty as Marissa. She had to sit there and take it all afternoon. She had a fake smile on her face the entire time the party went on. As soon as Eddie proclaimed the party over she stood up and walked back into the house and never looked back. She didn’t say anything to anyone, just went straight up the stairs into her room. I’m telling you, bro’, she’s miserable and knows what’s going on around her, but she just doesn’t know how to stop it and in fact
can’t
stop it.”

Dean listened to his brother speak with a deep passion about this woman. It was the first time he’d ever heard him be protective about a woman in his life. Oh, he respected them, but Jonathan was more a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” type of man. He generally didn’t concern himself about finding his
One
and settling down or about what emotions a woman might be feeling. The fact he was this concerned about this woman was curious and out of character, and made Dean want to meet her.

“You’ve got me interested, bro’,” Dean told Jonathan honestly. “Any chance I could come to the set and visit?”

Jonathan beamed. “I was hoping you’d say that!” He pulled a guest pass to the set out of his back pocket. “You’ll have to sign a confidentiality agreement before you’re allowed into the production house, but I’ve already got it arranged!” Jonathan paused for a moment and told Dean, “Tomorrow the two ladies are going on a double date. Last week Marissa got to choose where they’d go, and this week Becky got to choose. I heard she wanted to go on a hike. I think she chose it just to irritate Marissa. I’ve seen her subtly do it before. She purposely chooses activities she knows Marissa will hate. She isn’t obvious about it, but I know she’s aware of exactly what she’s doing.”

“Where are they going?” Dean asked, knowing there weren’t too many places around that would be appropriate.

“I think she chose Devil’s Canyon,” Jonathan said with a smile.

Dean smiled too. He knew the hike started out pretty tame, but quickly became quite strenuous. It was only two miles to the canyon, but after the first three fourths of a mile there was a pretty intense elevation gain.

“Maybe I’ll take a rain check on that set visit,” he told his brother, and when he saw him frown, quickly continued, “I think I’ll visit Devil’s Canyon tomorrow and check things out. I’ve got a hankering to take a hike.”

Jonathan smiled. “Perfect! Just be sure to let them get there first. You can then meet them on the trail and watch what happens. I’m not assigned to film them tomorrow. I’ll be back at the house with the other men and filming them while the ladies are on their double date. Don’t be surprised at anything you might see out there. Eddie is slick and knows how to throw a curve ball at everyone. Marissa is just as bad.”

Dean smiled. “Don’t worry, bro’, I’ll be discrete. You’ve got me curious to meet both Marissa and Becky now. I’ll call when I get back.”

The two brothers sat for a while longer, enjoying each other’s company and simply shooting the shit before heading up to bed. Tomorrow would be a long day for both of them.