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The moment we stepped into my parents’ living room, all eyes turned to us. Rose jumped up and rushed over to Kipton.
“We need to talk. Now!” Without giving Kipton a chance to say a word, Rose practically dragged her out of the room.
When I looked back, I saw my parents, Blayze, Bradly, and Uncle Dirk still staring at me. Bradly shot me a knowing smirk, but I ignored him.
“How was the cabin?” my mother asked.
“It was nice. Thank you for all that food.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome.”
Dustin hadn’t told anyone he was going out to the cabin to get us, so as far as anyone knew, we’d come back on our own. Kipton and I ate the rest of the food on the drive back to the ranch. “I put your basket in the kitchen, and I’ll clean it out.”
“That’s sweet of you, but you don’t have to do that.”
I shrugged. “I want to.”
Uncle Dirk hitched his chin at me. “I watched the show last night. And your Truth Booth. Afterward, they announced something new for the show.”
I shook my head, confused. “They couldn’t have. Kipton was with me…”
My voice trailed off. My father and Bradly both grinned, my mother looked away, but not before I saw the sparkle in her eyes, and Uncle Dirk just wore that lazy smile of his.
“Who made the announcement?” I asked.
Bradly was the one to answer. “It was right after the Truth Booth, on the site. Someone—a female voice, but not Kipton’s—came on and said that instead of a random selection, the audience would get to vote for the woman they wanted you to go on a date with next. They took a poll right after your recap.”
I drew my head back, surprised. Jack and Travis were constantly changing the fucking rules of this show. “Really?”
All four of them nodded.
“Who did they vote for?”
“Me.”
I spun around to see Kipton standing there, a shocked look on her face.
“What?” I asked, as my eyes bounced from Kipton to Rose. “How? I mean…why? And how do you know that?”
Rose took a step forward. “I told her. I didn’t know anything about it until Dustin texted, telling me Jack was looking for you both, and Aunt Lincoln told him Kipton was with me. I knew about the two actresses leaving, because of the cat fight in the lobby, but I’m a hundred percent positive that was staged. Jack and Travis wanted them gone. Based on the comments on the blog, the audience was starting to figure out they were hired.”
“Yeah, we came to that conclusion as well. I figured that was why Jack was looking for us,” I said, looking back at Kipton.
“No. He knew they were leaving last night, and he didn’t say anything. They didn’t even come back to Montana with the rest of the women. I’m sure he came over to tell you about the audience picking Kipton for the next date. I saw the poll when I looked at the show’s website this morning to see if viewers had swiped left on any of the girls from the whole Vegas fiasco. It was closed, and the site just told visitors to tune in Wednesday to learn who the audience picked. Of course, when Jack texted me to ask if I was with Kipton, I totally badgered the hell out of him to tell me the winner, and he finally told me it was Kipton. I think he’s looking for you both because they want you to go on that date.”
Kipton let out a nervous bubble of laughter. “We can’t go out on a date!”
“Why not?” my mother asked. “It would solve one of your problems. You could let your feelings show.”
“But I’m hosting the show.”
“Not anymore.”
Every gaze whipped around to see Jack standing in the hallway that led into the living room.
I scowled. “By all means, just come right in. And what do you mean, not anymore?” I asked.
He closed his eyes and sighed before he focused back on me. “The camera was on you when you saw Kipton at that club, Hunter. Even though I told Paul to keep the cameras off her, everyone saw your face.”
