Chapter 4 – Firestarter
976 Words
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By noon, the sun was unforgiving and the tension worse.
Twenty contestants stood in a row along the pool deck, most half-dressed and fully hungover. The voice of the producers crackled through hidden speakers like God whispering into chaos.
“Welcome to your first elimination challenge,” the speaker purred. “Today’s game is simple: Burn or Be Burned.”
Groans. Whispers. Lexi stretched like a panther and muttered, “Why does this sound like we’re about to fight naked?”
“I’d be into that,” Micah said.
“You’d be into a blender,” Theo replied.
Instructions flashed across the mounted screen near the pool. Each contestant had one torch. The task? Get someone else’s torch, light it with your own, and plant it on the fire pedestal. Three torches burned, three names landed on the elimination board. The first three "burned" could face being sent home.
Simple.
Savage.
And completely personal.
Aria rolled her shoulders back, eyeing the torches. She already felt the adrenaline humming. And the eyes.
Especially his.
Reid.
Across the pool, he was shirtless now. Calm. Focused. His torch resting casually on his shoulder like a weapon he didn’t need to wield unless someone gave him a reason.
He hadn’t looked at her once since the balcony.
So, naturally, she couldn’t stop looking at him.
“Game begins in 60 seconds,” the speaker said.
“Okay, who's ready to betray a roommate?” Lexi chirped, grabbing a ponytail band from her wrist and tying her braids into a tight knot. “Let’s ruin friendships.”
Sienna flipped her hair dramatically. “You can’t betray what you never respected.”
Kairo snorted. “Say that again into a mirror.”
Colton cracked his knuckles. “Let’s make it interesting. Winner picks their bedmate for the night.”
“Winner already knows mine,” Sienna purred, her eyes on Reid.
Reid didn’t blink.
Aria stepped forward first, already calculating. She didn’t need to be the fastest. She needed to be the smartest.
When the timer hit zero, chaos exploded.
Zay lunged for Micah’s torch, slipping on spilled water and cursing. Nadia fake-tripped a guy named Silas to buy time. Jalen snatched Alina’s torch while apologizing the entire time—“I love you, I swear, but this is war.” Lexi darted behind a shrub, vanished, then reappeared with someone else’s flame and a grin that spelled doom.
And Reid?
Reid moved like a shadow.
Quiet. Quick. Clean.
He didn’t attack. He waited.
Until a tall, cocky guy—Dante, known mostly for his abs and lack of volume control—lunged for Theo’s torch. That was Reid’s moment. He stepped in, flame to flame, and marked Dante’s with surgical precision.
One burn.
Dante swore. Loudly.
Aria stole her first torch from Jalen mid-run, grinning as she locked it on the stand. “Sorry, lover boy.”
“That hurt more emotionally than physically,” he called after her.
Two more torches flared. Nadia’s. Then Alina’s.
Three names on the board.
The challenge ended.
Panting, the group reconvened by the pool, sweaty, flushed, and mildly homicidal.
The screen lit up:
Burned: Dante. Nadia. Alina.
Risk of Elimination: Pending Tonight’s Vote.
“Damn,” Nadia muttered, swiping sweat from her brow. “Guess I moaned in my sleep too loud.”
Dante folded his arms. “Y’all are fake.”
Alina didn’t speak. Just gave Jalen a long look that promised silent revenge.
Meanwhile, Reid walked straight inside.
Aria followed.
He was in the hallway, towel around his neck, wiping sweat from his collarbone.
“Strategic,” she said, leaning on the doorframe.
“Not personal,” he replied.
“Yet,” she said.
He looked up at her now. And this time, the cold mask was gone.
Reid’s eyes ran over her face. Her neck. The curve of her lips. “You burn me, I burn back.”
“Is that a threat?” she asked, stepping in. The door clicked shut behind her.
“No,” he said quietly. “A promise.”
The air in the room felt thinner. Hotter.
Her hand brushed his chest, slow, testing. He didn’t move.
She leaned in, lips close to his ear. “I thought you didn’t play games.”
“I don’t,” he murmured. “But you’re not a game. You’re a distraction.”
“And you,” she whispered, “are a f*****g liar.”
Then she kissed him.
Hard.
No hesitation.
Just hunger.
Reid didn’t pause. His hands were on her waist, her thighs, lifting her onto the nearby sink counter. Her fingers tangled in his hair as he bit her bottom lip, dragging a groan from her throat she hadn’t meant to give.
It wasn’t romantic.
It wasn’t slow.
It was need. Mutual and vicious.
When they finally pulled apart, breathless, flushed, her lipstick smeared against his mouth, she grinned.
“Still not playing?”
Reid swallowed. “One round won’t kill me.”
Behind them, laughter echoed in the hallway. Lexi’s voice. Kairo’s. The house was still spinning.
Aria slid off the counter, fixed her top, and smoothed her hair. “You should probably get better at hiding your tells.”
Reid wiped her gloss off his jaw. “You should probably stop being one.”
She left first.
He watched her go.
And in the hallway, Lexi caught Aria emerging with a smirk that was all teeth.
“Girl,” she said. “That smug look screams hallway sin.”
Aria winked. “Let’s just say... Reid’s not above playing after all.”
And as they walked back toward the main lounge, the lights shifted.
Voting loomed.
Tension crackled.
And in one bedroom, Dante was already whispering to Sienna about revenge.
Because in this house, s*x came with consequences.
And fire always left scars.
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- Writer
