Page 93 of As The Shifter World Turns

93

WHEN RENOVATING, YOU DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO SURVIVE

Neil

It was Day 1 on Daire and Micah’s reality renovating project. I was here for a few hours to help out, though Nate was the main videographer. The contestants had been chosen. There were ten pairs consisting of mated couples, parents and their adult children, siblings, neighbors and even a former couple.

They had each been given a motel room to renovate and a budget. And they stayed the last two nights in the ten unrenovated rooms, which were clean and in working order, but with weird and wonderful 70s decor.

As Martin was at work and Daire and Nate were here, I’d wanted to bring Charlie with me. But Ivor had pointed out that the baby shouldn’t be around the construction. My friend was a star as he brought Dyani into the motel office, which Daire and Micah had paid a firm to redecorate, and was looking after both her and Charlie. I was certain he should have been in the office, at the company that Ryder had created, but now he was the boss, he’d made an executive decision to work from the motel for a while.

Thankfully Charlie would now stay with my friend and not howl until I returned. My little boy was comfortable with his Sunshine Manor family and I was so happy, it brought tears to my eyes.

Now each pair was lined up with Daire giving instructions on how long each part of the renovation should take. They were being given three weeks in total with one day off a week.

“Please concentrate on the room you’re renovating and not look at what others are doing. Any attempt to sabotage other contestants' work, will result in you and your partner being removed from the show and you lose any chance at winning the grand prize.” Micah and Daire had decided to give smaller second and third prizes as well.

“Like that’s gonna happen,” an alpha yawned and kicked at a hole in the concrete.

“Let’s hope not,” Micah interjected. His smile was already plastered on his face and knowing him so well, I noted how tense he was.

A teenaged omega who had paired with his grandfather put up his hand. “I’d like to complain about the food. Last night’s dinner was too spicy. I was sitting on the toilet all night and it was gross.”

Ewww. I could have done without that description.

“And there was too much meat,” another contestant noted.

“I disagree, there wasn’t enough,” an omega named Rodney added. “And my pillow was too hard.”

Daire gave me a “Help me” look. He and Micah had a budget for food which they divided up between each pair. But when one couple spent their entire daily budget on one meal the day they arrived, we’d ordered in yesterday.

“I’ll email you menus and you can choose your dinner for this evening,” I told everyone. “Rodney, I believe there are extra pillows in the closet.”

Daire clapped his hands. “Right. Let’s get started. You’ve all seen your rooms and yesterday should have devised a rough plan of how you’re going to renovate.”

“We didn’t,” an alpha informed Daire, “Because my ex mate was busy texting his new friend .” He folded his arms and glared at his partner who was peering at his phone.

“I’d forgotten why we separated,” the omega hissed, “But now I remember.”

I caught a glimpse of Nate filming all the interactions. “Audiences love this,” he whispered to me. “Often on a reality show it’s all manufactured BS, but this is ratings gold.”

I was beginning to regret my offer to work on the project. While Archer was a huge fan of reality TV, I’d seen a few episodes of various shows now and then. Maybe I should offer to look after Elune, Jasper, and Charlie, and Archer could do my job. He’d probably revel in all the drama.

“Show us what you’ve got,” Micah interjected. Poor guy, he looked like I felt and it was only 9:15 in the morning of Day 1.

“What? Nobody told me I had to get naked?” one guy said. Daire had pointed out the shifters in the group and that omega was a bear, like my friend.

Micah’s face was red and his clenched fists show'd he was about to explode. “Your plans. Show us what you’ve come up with. We’ll come to each room and you can give us a rundown.”

“I need to make a coffee run,” Daire said under his breath. “My usual morning brew is not strong enough to deal with this crap.”

“I’ll get it.” I patted his shoulder, got Micah and Nate’s orders, and took off. On my return, all the contestants were in the rooms they were renovating, and with the doors open, there were raised voices and one pair was pulling the carpet off the floor.

“Michael, I don’t think bringing bamboo canes into the room and attaching them to the wall will provide a relaxing atmosphere.”

“But we’re going with a jungle theme,” Michael informed Daire and his mate nodded in agreement. “I was thinking of having a soundtrack of jungle noises play every time someone lifted the toilet lid.”

Nate could barely contain his giggles and the camera was bouncing slightly as he attempted to film. I had my camera slung around my neck and needed to take still shots for promotion so I walked into the next room where Micah was examining a plan that had a huge circle in the middle of the room.

“What’s this?”

“A bath,” a wolf shifter named Shelly replied. “We thought it would be romantic if couples could take a bath and look at the view of the courtyard. I mean, when the courtyard has been renovated.” Right now it looked as it did the night the Sunshine Manor family stayed here.

“But there wouldn’t be any space for a bed or beds,” Micah told her.

“We were thinking of two hammocks hanging from the ceiling.” I took a couple of photos as Nate filmed over my shoulder.

“What are you doing?” a voice yelled from the next room.

Nate, Micah, and I raced in to find the pair who were no longer in a relationship arguing. The alpha had taken a sledge hammer and broken a hole in the wall and the teenager in the next room had poked his head through. “Sorry,” the alpha said. “I was letting off steam.”

“Is it time for lunch yet?” Micah asked as he covered his eyes with one hand.

“Will coffee do?” I handed him a cup.

A scream from another room had us discovering that one couple had removed the toilet and someone smashed a water main. “Stop what you’re doing, everyone,” Micah yelled. He swore as he raced out to shut off the water valve and call a plumber to fix the problem. “Will this day never end?”

Three rooms flooded and everyone downed tools for the day giving Micah his wish, though not in the way he wanted.

Only Nate was excited. “I have enough material for an hour’s TV. I’ll do a rough edit this afternoon and include the plumber fixing the water main. And you can give me your opinion,” he told Micah and Daire. “We’ll need to add a voice over, but honestly guys, viewers will lap up this stuff. You’re sitting on a gold mine.”

Micah wiped dust from his brow. “I’m wondering if Archer should take my place. I’ll look after the kids and he can wrangle this lot into some sort of order.”

“I was thinking he could do my job if he wanted,” I told him.

“Damn, everyone wants my mate.”

“Sorry guys,” Nate informed us. “I texted him and he’s not interested. Says he’s too tired with all the broken sleep.” Baby Jasper wasn’t a great sleeper .

Micah and I shared a glance. We were stuck with the project until it ended in a few weeks.

“I’m hungry,” Rodney said as he appeared in the courtyard.

“I’ll get onto that.” I headed for the office and the relative peace and quiet of babies and readied my laptop as I sat Charlie on my knee.

“How’s it going?” Ivor asked as he looked up from his computer.

“Best not to ask.” I selected menus from local restaurants that I knew fitted the budget and sent them to the contestants, telling them they had thirty minutes to choose their lunch.

“That bad, huh?”

“Nate says Daire and Micah will make a lot of money which is great, but I’m not sure either of them will survive the process without developing high blood pressure.”

“I was wondering if Ryder and I could develop an app for the project. Get potential viewers interacting with the contestants,” he suggested.

It sounded like a disaster in the making but Nate arrived and overheard what Ivor had said. “I think that’d work. We could have viewers making suggestions for some of the renovations like which color to paint the walls.”

“That’s assuming there are any walls remaining. Or beds. Or anything at all.”