Page 22 of Room 710 (The Scarlet Hotel #15)

Elijah

Week Six

I glared at the screen where Ziggy was currently standing naked in the backyard. Okay, so he wasn’t entirely naked, but he might as well have been with how skimpy his Speedo was.

“Whose idea was this?” I snarled, teeth grinding so hard my jaw ached.

“Uh, yours?” Marc said, eyebrow arched.

I dropped my chin to my chest, eyes closed tight, and tried to breathe through the blinding jealous rage.

Because he wasn’t wrong. Yes, it had been my idea originally, but it was months ago, before I knew better.

Our ratings had been low after last season, we were on the brink of being canceled, and I’d been desperate.

I figured having the boys prance around in barely-there swimsuits would be good for ratings, because sex sells.

But now, I was having second thoughts. Hell, third and fourth thoughts, too. Because now it was my omega that our viewers would be ogling.

Why had I never realized how degrading this was for them? I would have time to feel guilty about objectifying them later, but right now, all I had room for in my brain was this all-encompassing possessiveness, this need to keep Ziggy locked in a tower, all to myself.

We were down to the final four contestants vying for Devon Blake’s heart, and the pressure was seriously starting to get to me.

All week, Ziggy had been whispering to me, like sweet nothings purred in my ear, as if the two of us were alone.

It was intimate, these little glimpses into who he was in private.

Smart, sassy, with a wicked sense of humor I never expected.

Every part that he revealed about himself made me fall a little harder for him, until I knew there was no going back.

If I lost him now, it would be devastating.

I made copies of each clip for myself then deleted the footage so no one else would get to know these tidbits about him. They were for my eyes only.

Ziggy’s pecs, abs, and legs, however, were apparently now for our entire viewing audience. At least this challenge wasn’t live. If I looked closely enough, I thought I might still be able to see traces of the marks I’d left on his body…

“Kill me now,” I muttered, digging my fingers into my hair and pulling fistfuls until my scalp screamed in protest. Because things were about to get so, so much worse.

“I should’ve brought popcorn,” Marc said, leaning back in his chair and popping his feet up on the desk. “It’s going to be quite the show.”

I shoved his feet roughly off the desk. “Their families are going to see this, this… farce!” I grunted, waving a hand at the scene currently portrayed on the screens in front of us, from three different angles, all in HD. “What will their mothers think?” It wasn’t their parents I was worried about.

Marc snorted. “My mother would be placing bets. Speaking of, my money’s on Prairie. He comes across as this nice guy, but he’s got some serious muscle on him.”

“We are not betting on this,” I snapped, and Marc held both hands up in surrender.

“Sure, sure. Sorry, boss.” From the corner of my eye, I saw him hide a smirk behind his hand. Had he caught on to my lusting after one of our contestants? I’d been subtle about it… hadn’t I?

My leg was bouncing double time. “Fine, I’ve got 20 on Ziggy.”

“Now we’re talking!” he said, clapping his hands once before fishing out his wallet.

We set our bills on the desk between us, and then I watched in rapt horror as the five men circled around a kiddie pool full of…

Jello. Cherry-flavored, if that mattered.

They were about to wrestle each other in it.

Devon might’ve been a “good guy,” but that didn’t make him any less of an alpha and a man with a healthy libido.

He so very graciously volunteered to play referee and wear his own teeny-weeny bathing suit, and he didn’t at all seem to mind the attention it was getting him from Rune, Prairie, and Darnell.

Ziggy, however, looked right at the camera—right at me —and winked.

Then he turned and offered me a view of his fine ass, barely wrapped in Spandex, and cocked one hip.

I chuckled darkly, shaking my head. That brat was just asking for a spanking.

Devon read the instruction card. “Alright, it says we’ll do a round of two semis”—he snorted, glancing down at his crotch—“then a final with the two winners. Each round lasts three minutes, and I decide the winner. Last man standing gets a movie date with me. Who wants to go first?”

“Ooh! Me!” Darnell said, waving his hand in the air. His bare chest glistened like he’d covered himself in shimmery bronzer. “C’mon, Ziggy, wrestle me. It’ll be fun!”

Ziggy laughed. “Sure, why not.”

They both stepped into the Jello, and Ziggy groaned. “Ewww, it’s between my toes! This is so gross.”

It was silly and playful, Darnell throwing handfuls of Jello, until Ziggy gave him a little push and Darnell’s foot slipped out from under him, landing him on his ass. “Ouch! I give up, you win,” he squealed as Ziggy offered him a hand up.

Marc bitched about how that wasn’t wrestling, but I was just glad that Ziggy hadn’t been hurt. He still had a bit of red goop stuck to his chest, and my mouth watered, imagining licking it off him. Cherry was one of my favorite flavors, second only to Ziggy.

The match between Prairie and Rune got a little more serious, though it was immediately clear that Rune was going to win. Prairie was being too careful not to hurt his opponent, while Rune would drive over his own grandmother if it meant winning that date.

In the end, Devon seemed reluctant to admit, “Rune, you’re the winner of that round.”

“Yesss,” Rune hissed, his eyes narrowed on his competition—Ziggy.

As the two of them stepped into the kiddie pool with a squelch, Ziggy watched Rune warily.

They circled the pool a few times, taking each other’s measure, neither engaging.

I leaned forward, breath held, until my face was just inches from the screen, and Marc had to drag me back. “Dude, I can’t see.”

It was then that Rune lunged at Ziggy, arms going around his waist to take him down to his back.

Rune had more muscle, but Ziggy was wiry and quick.

It didn’t hurt that the Jello made him slippery as a greased pig and hard to hold on to.

He slipped out from under Rune and managed to get up onto all fours.

They grappled, while the others cheered on from the sidelines. “This is so wrong,” I groaned, wanting to cover my face with my hands but unable to look away.

Marc waved me off, not taking his eyes off the screen. “No way! Didn’t the ancient Greeks use olive oil before they wrestled? This is like an homage to the original Olympians.” Athletes everywhere were rolling over in their graves at that pronouncement.

I watched it fall apart in slow motion. Rune was slapping around, trying to grab hold of something, anything, to get the upper hand.

He hooked his finger under the edge of Ziggy’s Speedo—and he yanked.

I gripped the edge of the desk, knuckles white, praying that the laws of physics would not apply.

The elastic material stretched, tore, and then, as anything under that amount of tension would do, it split wide, exposing Ziggy’s bare ass.

Exposed to Devon, whose grin was too wide, but even worse, exposed to the cameras.

“Cut!” I shouted, shoving to my feet so my chair went flying. “Turn off the cameras.”

Marc sputtered as he realized what I was saying. “What?! No way, are you nuts?”

I’d had enough of this. “This needs to stop, now ,” I spat, brooking no argument.

As I stormed out of the trailer toward the house, I heard Marc calling behind me, “It’s fine, we’ll blur his ass out.” But that wasn’t enough for me, not now.

The front door was already weakened from the last two times I’d broken it down, so with one kick, the repair splintered. My blood pounding, I stalked through the house toward the yard at the back.

Darnell peeked through the door to see what the noise was, and when he saw me coming like a charging bull, he rolled his eyes. “We just fixed that!”

I didn’t stop, just climbed straight into the pool full of Jello and picked Ziggy up, the red gel staining my white dress shirt. “Eli, what—?” he sputtered, but I wasn’t listening. I really was a caveman now, reduced to my alpha needs.

“This challenge is done,” I barked. Nobody fought me on it, smart men, and Ziggy went still in my arms, melting against my chest. “We’re getting you cleaned up.” I headed straight for the closest bathroom and kicked the door shut behind me with an echoey slam.

“But Eli! You can’t just— The cameras, your crew… everyone will know!”

“Good!” I roared, my grip on him tightening. “I want them to know!”

I had a hard time letting go of him. I caught sight of us in the mirror, my eyes wild, hair standing in all direction from when I’d been pulling on it.

I looked downright insane. As soon as we were alone, though, I felt my racing heart begin to calm.

He was my center, and together, we were the eye of the storm.

“Hey,” Ziggy said softly, his hand resting gently on my chest. “You okay?”

“No, I am not okay.” Breathing hard, I forced myself to set him down gently.

Adrenaline was surging in my veins, and it would be far too easy to act on these emotions.

It didn’t help when Ziggy lifted his chin and stared up at me like I hung the moon.

“He tore your bathing suit. You ass was…” I trailed off as I looked down his body to the scrap of fabric remaining that was struggling to contain his erection, the head of his cock now peeking above the waistline.

“Fuuuck,” I moaned, reaching to cup it, hard and hot beneath my palm.

He shrugged, eyes flashing. “What can I say, the Neanderthal look does it for me.”

I was about ready to fall apart, and then Ziggy said, “Please tell me you have a condom this time?” patting his non-existent pockets. “I seem to have left mine in my other pants.”

“Are you kidding? I wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a whole handful, tossing them across the floor.

Growling, hand still on his crotch, I moved him until he was standing in the shower stall, then I reached over and cranked on the shower.

“Your clothes!” he gasped as the spray turned on and soaked us both.

“Are already ruined,” I said, which was true.

There was no way I would get these fluorescent stains out, but honestly, I was so far beyond caring about the damn suit.

I had other suits, but there was only one Ziggy.

All that mattered was him. I shoved him back against the tiled wall and kissed him, hard, pressing myself over every inch of him.

Ziggy whimpered into my mouth, his deft fingers already working at the row of my buttons down my shirt.

The water ran pink as it washed away the Jello, and I licked down his neck, his skin sweet as artificial cherry.

I loved the way he clung to me, as if he was just as desperate as I was.

“I was starting to worry you’d changed your mind,” he said, breathless as he tilted his head back, giving me full access to his body.

“Never,” I promised, lips brushing against his racing pulse. I paused briefly in my ministrations, hands squeezing his bare ass cheeks, making him whine and writhe against me. “Just one question, though… Why did you offer to have sex with your best friend? You’re not in love with him, right?”

His laugh was musical. “So you did hear that. I wasn’t sure if you were listening.”

I drew back to look down at his beautiful smirking face. “I’m always listening. Were you just trying to get a rise out of me?”

He sucked his lower lip between his teeth. “Did it work?” he asked, his eyes trailing down to my crotch, where I had definitely risen.

“What do you think?” I asked, unbuckling my belt.

“I think you’re every wet dream I’ve ever had come true.”