Once he finished touring the rest of the house with Nina and finding a few interesting rooms along the way, Jett spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Bella and David. After all the drama he’d endured that morning, he felt like he needed to relax, and the other two singers were good, laidback company. They lounged in the living room to catch up for a while before they headed to a parlor with a baby grand piano that Jett had found earlier, where they improvised some music together. With David on the keys—his country voice didn’t really mix well with either of the others—and Jett and Bella singing harmonies about whatever random thought came to mind, the three had a great time and found themselves laughing quite a bit. By the end of it, Jett had completely forgotten about both Anna and Madison and was in a much better mood than before.

The camera crew ate it up too. Jett was pretty sure there weren’t any more than a few minutes when they didn’t have a lens on them. He wasn’t surprised about that though. Celebrities hamming it up for the sake of having fun wasn’t something an audience got to see every day. He was sure the production team was elated about catching that on film. Plus, he didn’t mind the exposure. It was definitely better than getting drunk and making out with the first girl to make bedroom eyes at him on set.

He [i]really[/i] needed to recover from that one.

Eventually, their improv band session was put to an end when a crew member swung by to tell them all to get changed for something that would be happening at the pool soon. Jett headed back to his room to dig up a pair of royal blue swim trunks from his still-packed suitcase—he hadn’t found the time to put everything away yet—and then made his way out to the deck to meet up with everyone else who had already gathered there. Right away, he noticed that the celebrities seemed to be congregating on one side, while everyone else stood on the other. The divide was weird, but he didn’t bother questioning it as he stepped up beside Bella to wait for the host to tell them what was going on.

When she announced they’d be playing chicken, Jett smiled amusedly. Production was probably hoping some of the teams would form connections through the game, since they always seemed to be pushing people to hook up. He couldn’t help but wonder who they would assign to be his partner. Which girl on the show did they think he would fall for?

As the host drew their attention to a screen that had been temporarily set up beside her, he skimmed the list curiously. Bella was paired up with a guy named Ethan, Nina was with Luke, David was Ashley… His eyes traveled down to the bottom of the screen, where he spotted his own photo. It was next to…

Anna.

Jett’s eyes widened in shock for a second before he remembered there were probably cameras on him, waiting to capture his reaction. Too late to take it back now. He had to marvel at the crew’s choice though. Of all the girls on the cast, why did they match him up with [i]Anna[/i]? He’d thought they would have chosen Nina or maybe even Bella, since he clearly got along with them. Instead, it looked like they were hoping to stir up more drama by setting him up with the one person he’d been trying to avoid all day.

As everyone else wandered off to find their partners, Jett hesitated, suddenly reluctant to join in the game. He knew he couldn’t get out of it though. As soon as he’d signed the contract to participate in all the events, he’d lost the freedom to make that choice without being booted from the show. He glanced at Anna and then averted his gaze, forcing himself to walk over to her.

“Well, I guess we’re partners now,” he shrugged when he reached her, crossing his arms over his chest. “Looks like you do need me after all.”