The man’s gaze raked over me in a slow, deliberate sweep, and I could feel unexpected heat following it through my body. “Good eye. By the way, I’m Elijah,” he said, extending his hand toward me.
Hesitantly, I reached out to grasp it, and when our palms connected, some hidden part deep down inside of me shifted. Elijah’s grip made me feel … off. Like up was down, and down was up, and nothing was as it should be. Back in college, I’d suffered from panic attacks that felt exactly like this, and the way my heart battered against my sternum made me wonder if I was on the verge of one now.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat, pasted what I hoped was a smile on my face, and prayed my voice didn’t shake when I opened my mouth to speak. “Hi Elijah. I’m Oliver.”
2
Oliver
“Can you believe this guy?” Zayne—a fitness coach with more muscles than sense—jerked his thumb toward Brett. “I can’t believe that unicorn getup actually worked. If that’s what does it for Allie, it kind of makes me rethink my interest in her.” I tried not to roll my eyes. Zayne had been one of the contestants who’d made it clear that his interest was far more in himself than in Allie when we’d all gathered together for the first time six hours ago.
Brett, whose “first impression crown” was perched jauntily atop his head, simply smiled in return. “What can I say? Haters gonna hate.”
“I mean, why get with that when you can get with this?” Zayne gestured up and down the length of his body, his bulbous muscles causing the fabric of his cheap maroon suit to strain at its seams.
“For starters,” Elijah whispered out the side of his mouth, “Brett doesn’t look like he’d beat down Allie’s door during a steroid-fueled rage.”
I suppressed a laugh that came out as a muffled snort instead.
Elijah smirked. “Nice.”
“Shut up, asshole.” I smiled to take the sting out of my words. We’d been hanging out together for the last hour, and the longer we spoke, the more I liked him. Elijah had a dry sense of humor and he didn’t take himself too seriously, something I appreciated since some of the other guys here sported egos that barely fit inside the room.
“I’m just fucking with you.” Elijah nudged me playfully with his shoulder, causing me to bump into the guy sitting on the next cushion over. I thought his name was Beau.
“Sorry, man,” I said, scooting back onto my own space.
“No worries.” Maybe Beau said, rubbing his palms up and down his thighs. “Is it just me or are y’all too keyed up to go to sleep?” He glanced hopefully around the room, seeming desperate for someone to confirm his jitters.
A couple of guys agreed with quick nods of their heads, while others spoke their agreement excitedly over one another. Of the thirty men who’d started the night as potential husbands for Allie, only twenty remained. Frankly, I wasn’t surprised Brett had taken tonight’s crown. Aside from the fact that he was genuinely here to win Allie’s heart, he also seemed like a really great guy.
I hadn't known what to expect when I’d pulled up to the mansion this morning, but so far, the experience was turning out better than I’d feared. A handful of the guys I was competing against were pretty cool—except for Zayne, he was a fucking tool—and now that the pressure of our first meeting with Allie and the subsequent cocktail party was past, we were (mostly) having a good time hanging out and shooting the shit amongst ourselves.
In some ways, our bro’ing out reminded me of my time in the locker room with my old teammates. Just as I had during my football playing years, I had to watch my back to make sure one of these guys didn’t somehow pass me by in the pecking order, but generally speaking, there was an overall sense of camaraderie that I’d missed since retiring.
Which made me feel slightly guilty.
I’d had my guaranteed fifteen minutes with Allie midway through the evening, and while she seemed like a genuinely lovely person, I didn’t feel any magical sparks between us. Not that I’d expected to or anything, but I’d tried to keep an open mind. We’d talked a bit about our families and our philosophies on life and how to live it, and while on paper we seemed compatible enough, I didn’t foresee her keeping me around much longer. Which meant I needed to try harder to form at least some sort of connection with her, however I could, so my face stayed on America’s screens.
Meanwhile, Brett, Elijah, and I had already exchanged contact information. The chance of walking away from this experience an engaged man was slim to none, but somehow I’d made new friends. At least that was one positive to come out of this experience, when I really hadn’t expected any. Whether these friendships survived outside the bubble of the show was anyone’s guess, but it was certainly possible. After all, I still kept in touch via Facebook with a guy I’d played just one season of college ball with before he’d transferred to a smaller school and switched his degree to pre-med.
“You get any time with Allie tonight?” Elijah lifted his cocktail to his lips, his gaze sharp with interest.
“Fifteen minutes,” I answered with a shrug that was meant to be nonchalant. “It was fine.”
“Just fine?” Elijah probed.
“The standard getting-to-know-you questions. What about you?”
“Same.”
“So no big bombshells then?” I asked.
Elijah’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch, but then he quickly masked his reaction with a subtle smirk. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I had spent the majority of my life on a football field watching for any subtle indication of what an opposing player was thinking. The way Elijah’s eyes flashed with discomfort indicated my question had hit a little too close for comfort, but I didn’t think he knew that I’d noticed. “Not really,” I joked, looking to set Elijah at ease. While his reaction made me curious, I wasn’t so curious that I was going to press the issue further. I knew better than most that it was important to play some things close to your chest.
Elijah laughed, and I let out the breath I’d somehow been holding. I couldn’t say why it mattered, but I didn’t want to offend my new friend. I enjoyed his company, feeling more comfortable with him than I’d felt with anyone in a long while. The truth was, when you used to be famous, you got used to people wanting to use you for one thing or another. Whether it was something as small as asking for an autograph when I was simply trying to enjoy a meal out, or as large as people I hadn’t spoken to in decades coming out of the woodwork to hit me up for money, I found it difficult to trust a person’s motives even now that my fame was seriously fading. Thankfully, my past didn’t seem to matter much to Elijah, which I more than appreciated.
Elijah flicked his chin upward slightly, gesturing subtly across the room to where Brett was holding court. “When the producers sent me over to grab Allie, I found them in the courtyard together. They jumped apart when I cleared my throat.” He chuckled. “I felt like a dad walking in on his kid making out with his girlfriend in a dark basement.”
“He certainly moves fast,” I chuckled, giving Brett a mental high five.