Reality Love Bites.

Chapter 4


"You look like shit, Darling!"

"Gee, thanks," Tamsin responded sarcastically to Vex, who patted the couch beside him.

"Tell Vexie what's wrong," he said when she sat heavily into the cushions beside him. "Did you sleep at all? You are gonna need some extra attention in the makeup department to cover up those dark bags under your eyes!"

Tamsin rubbed her temples, "Tell me why I agreed to do this again."

"Because you love me and want me to be successful. Now tell me what's going on."

"I had a nightmare." Tamsin didn't need to elaborate, because Vex knew what she was talking about instantly.

"I didn't think you were getting them anymore," He said softly taking her hand.

"Yeah, It's been a while. I think one of the contestants reminded me of Jesse and that's what triggered the dream. I'll drink some more coffee and your makeup guru can work her magic and I'll be good to go," Tamsin said with more excitement than she felt.

"It was Lauren that triggered the memories of Jesse, right?"

The blonde nodded before getting up and going into the kitchen for more coffee. "Yeah, I think so. They are alike in a lot of ways."

Vex got up and followed her holding his cup out for a top up. "I'm sorry, I questioned my decision to have her as a contestant for the show for ages after sending the acceptance letter. May I ask why you didn't get rid of her last night?"

Tamsin shrugged, "She's nice. I liked talking to her," she answered flippantly. She also kept her around to see her and Bo interact a little more with one another. She really had a feeling about those two.

"Because she reminded you of Jesse?"

Tamsin took a sip of her coffee. "Perhaps."

"Maybe you should get rid of her in the next elimination," Vex suggested.

"No!" Tamsin said a little too forcefully, which made Vex frown at her in concern.

"But if she's the reason the nightmares are back don't you think having her around will cause the dreams to linger."

"She is in my top five, Vex. Whether it is because she has a lot of the same qualities that Jesse has or just because she sparks my interest more than most of the others, I don't know, but I want her around for a while... Okay?"

Vex raised his hands in the air. "Fine, fine... Whatever you want, darling. But if you are just keeping her around in some morbid way of punishing yourself for Jesse all over again... well, let me say that it isn't healthy."

"That's not what I'm doing. I want to get to know her better." Tamsin gave him the look that told him that the subject was closed and he just sighed and put his cup in the sink.

"Just don't say I didn't warn you," he muttered under his breath, but loud enough for her to hear him.

Tamsin gave her friend a hug, which he returned. "Are you ready for the first challenge and the date that follows straight after."

"Yeah, I guess so. What's not to love about women running around in helmets and body armour trying to shoot one another for a chance for a date with me," Tamsin said with false enthusiasm that her friend chose to completely ignore.

"That's the spirit! Lets get you into makeup and the car will take you to the challenge destination straight after that. A camera man will ride in the limo with you and will question you about your thoughts about the ladies left and who you would most like to go on a date with."

"Oh, goodie." she responded with a roll of her eyes. "I've spent like a grand total of twenty minutes with each one. I barely know anything about them yet."

"Then make something up, Tam Tam," He responded with a backwards wave as he left her standing in the middle of the kitchen. Minutes later the makeup artist arrived to make her presentable and worthy of being fought over for a date...


Lauren scowled at Evony through the visor of her helmet. "All I'm saying is that regardless of whether it is paint balls instead of real bullets coming out of these guns, it's still a violent game. I don't like violence. I have been in the emergency rooms and have seen what happens when people allow violence into their lives or are the unsuspecting innocents caught in the crossfire!"

"Keep the camera's on them," Vex whispered into Hale's ear and he nodded and zoomed in a little closer making sure he didn't miss a thing.

"It's just a game for God's sake," Evony responded in exasperation and most of the other woman shrugged and nodded their heads in agreement. "I can already tell you are going to be completely useless on my team, so let's take care of that problem right now shall we." Evony lifted her gun and pulled the trigger shooting Lauren twice in the chest and once into the face mask visor.

Several of the contestants cried out in shock and Lauren yelped in surprise and pain at the contact of the balls hitting her in the chest.

"Are you crazy?!" exploded out of Bo's mouth and she started forward to check on Lauren and to protect her from getting attacked again. She was stopped by Kenzi pulling on her jumper.

"Ease down, Bo Bo," Kenzi said softly when Bo turned to glare at her friend.

Bo looked back towards Lauren and their eyes met, "It's okay," the blonde said softly, wiping the paint off her visor with her hand. Vex and Tamsin approached the group and it was obvious that the blonde bachelorette's opinion of Evony had dropped a little with her actions. She went straight to Lauren and placed a hand on her shoulder and asked if she was alright. Lauren gave Tamsin a smile and nodded her head, causing a streak of jealousy to join Bo's anger.

"What do you call that, Miss Marquise," Vex said the camera's still trained on them. "I would have thought that you would have taken the ejection of two contestants last night for physical violence seriously."

"I call it friendly fire," She responded sweetly. "The only reason Lauren is standing here and not sitting on the bench is because she signed a contract agreeing to participate in every challenge presented to her, just like the rest of us."

There were murmurs of agreement from some of the others. Bo for her part was watching as Tamsin fawned all over Lauren. She forced her eyes away and glared at Evony, "So what? You're saying you did her a favour just now?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Now the skinny, blonde pacifist can go sit down and the rest of us can get started without anymore, 'stop the violence' sermons."

Bo's anger rose even more at the way Evony talked about Lauren, "She could have been hurt being shot at such close range! Did you even think about that?"

Evony frowned at Bo, "What's your problem? You're acting like I shot your girlfriend or something."

Bo opened her mouth to respond and she could feel the blush rising to her cheeks, but Lauren's voice spoke up first. "I am fine and I accept the claim of friendly fire if it means I can now sit out of this challenge."

"See, she's fine, warrior princess, protector of the meek."

"Bitch!" Bo wanted to punch the smug smile off of Evony's face.

"Save it for the game, Bo," Kenzi whispered behind her. "Think of what 'you know who' will think if you punch her right now."

"You're mine," Bo hissed at Evony threateningly.

Evony laughed in delight, "Oh, bring it on, Xena!"

"Are you sure, Lauren," Tamsin asked the blonde, ignoring the camera in their faces.

Lauren nodded, her eyes flicking past Tamsin to look into Bo's fierce, protective gaze, "Yes. I would just like to sit down as an eliminated player and watch the other players on the monitors. I have a bit of a headache."

"Of course, Darling. Go take a seat you are released from this challenge," Vex said, eager to move things along. The footage will be cut to ensure that only the best bits are seen by the viewers.

"Come on. I'll go with you and we can watch it together, okay," Tamsin said leading Lauren in the direction of the elimination bench, where there were several monitors showing different sections of the tactical course.

Vex clapped his hands and said, "Okay ladies its time to get started. Lauren is in good hands with Tamsin."

Bo ground her teeth at his words, continuing to watch as Tamsin led Lauren away, her arm draped across her shoulders.

"There are camera's spread out throughout the course, so there will be eyes on you at all times. Once you have been hit, put up your gun and make your way over to the elimination bench to join Lauren and Tamsin. Everyone knows the rules you have two minutes to talk amongst your teammates and then head into the course. When you hear the horn blow it's time to shoot your way to a date with our beautiful bachelorette. When we are down to the final few players the horn will sound again and then it will be every man, I mean woman," Vex corrected with a wink, "for themselves. Good luck to you all and your two minutes starts NOW!"

Kenzi tugged on Bo's sleeve and pulled her to where the rest of her teammates were standing. She half listened as Kenzi laid out the strategy before following her friend into the course. "This is all us, Bo Bo. You and me until the end, I got your back!" ...

Lauren watched the screen anxiously her eyes following Bo's and Kenzi's progress. They worked well together and she was sure that later on tonight the other girls would complain about the unfair advantage that allowing them onto the same team had produced.

Tamsin spent her time watching Lauren watch Bo on the monitors. She was convinced more than ever that there was something real happening between the woman next to her and the fiercely protective brunette who had just taken out the first person from Evony's team. Tamsin couldn't remember her name but it was one of the next contestants that she was planning on sending home anyway. A moment later she saw Lauren clap when Bo and Kenzi double teamed and trapped Crystal and eliminated her. Tamsin noticed that Evony was cool, smart and cunning as she and Nadia picked off a couple of Bo's team to even out the odds a little after starting a woman down.

The bench started to fill up as the minutes passed until only five contestants remained. There was excited chatter as Dillon took out Nadia only to leave herself exposed and open for Evony to take her out. A horn blew signalling that it was now every woman for themselves, but that didn't stop Bo and Kenzi working together to stalk the other remaining player. It was quiet as they all watched Bo and Kenzi converse for a moment before splitting off and obviously planning to out fox Evony who had found a very good position up high, making it harder for Bo and Kenzi to get to her.

"Evony has a very good tactical mind," Tamsin commented to the group explaining her position gave her a distinct advantage. "She has a bird's eye view on the entire section of the course surrounding her. She has the barrier protecting her and the only way to get to her is with the ladder which she can also guard easily. The only way I can see either Bo or Kenzi winning is if one works as a distraction and they hit at her simultaneously."

There were hushed whispers as they talked amongst themselves about who they thought would win and both Lauren and Tamsin heard a lot of the girls hoping that someone would take Evony out because of her bad attitude before the game with Lauren.

Bo managed to avoid a barrage of paint balls from Evony as she met up with Kenzi once more. "The bitch is good, I'll give her that," Bo muttered and Kenzi laughed.

"The only way I see to take her out is for one of us to sacrifice ourselves and possibly getting eliminated to bring her up from that barricade."

"I have another idea," Bo said with a smile.

"And that would be?"

Bo winked at Kenzi and then yelled out to Evony up on the tower. "Are you really gonna hide up there instead of coming down here and facing us with skill and agility, Evony? You sacrificed all of your teammates while you hid up there."

"Casualties of war while I took out most of your teammates single handed, Bo. You're just wishing you were as smart as me!"

"Wait! If we can get under her tower where the ladder is we can get her easily with one of us climbing the ladder and when she shoots, I will shoot her with my gun that is already pointed and ready. You just yell, when to pull the trigger," Kenzi said. "What do you think."

Bo was thoughtful for a moment. "How many shots do you think she has after the last barrage of paint she shot at me? We are fast so what if we just run from this section to that section over there until she runs out of ammo and we take her out!"

"She has wasted a lot of ammo on you already," Kenzi said with a grin. "She wants to get you so badly for sticking up for Lauren because you made her look like a bully in front of Tamsin."

"I don't care about Tamsin," Bo growled. "Did you see the way she was hanging all over Lauren!"

"Focus, Bo Bo. I know you don't care about what Tamsin thinks of you but Evony does. Use that to piss her off to shoot at you more. Okay?"

Bo nodded, "Okay. Be ready to move. If we are lucky she won't even pay attention to you and you can get her." Bo cupped her hands wanting to make her voice as loud as possible. She knew that the camera's scattered throughout the course didn't have audio and she wanted the other contestants to hear her taunting Evony if she could manage it. Because there was one thing that Bo had noticed about Evony. Image and the way she was perceived mattered to her and Bo really hoped that she could piss her off. "HEY, EVONY?"

"What? Would you just come out and get dead already because I'm getting bored."

"COME AND GET ME, I'VE GOT ALL DAY! BESIDES I'M NOT THE ONE THAT NEEDS TO WIN, YOU ARE!"

"What crap are you talking about now?

"YOU REALLY THINK THAT TAMSIN IS GOING TO WANT TO KEEP A BULLY AROUND?"

"I was doing your girlfriend a favour! She didn't want to play anyway."

"YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT AS SOON AS THE GAME STARTED BUT YOU JUST COULDN'T HELP BUT TO MAKE A BIG SHOW OF IT! BUT IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICED TAMSIN WASN'T PARTICULARLY IMPRESSED WITH YOUR BEHAVIOR." Bo ran towards the other wall while Kenzi moved to the next one over on the other side. Bo heard the smack, smack, smack of the paint hitting the wooden barrier. Bo heard Evony curse and Bo laughed out loud taunting her opponent. "YOU'LL HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THAT, EVONY."

"God you're so goddamn annoying!" Another few paintballs hit the wall and Bo knew she was getting to the woman.

"AND WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER CONTESTANTS?" Bo asked as she signalled to Kenzi to get ready.

"What about them?" Evony responded, sounding bored.

"DO YOU REALLY THINK ANY OF THEM ARE GOING TO TRUST YOU IN THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGES? YOU PUT A GREAT BIG TARGET ON YOUR BACK, EVONY. SO EVEN IF YOU WIN THIS ONE YOU BETTER PRAY THAT YOU WIN THE REST BECAUSE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER YOU ARE GONE!" Bo ran out from behind the barrier and straight towards the tower shooting as she went. Bo wasn't expecting to hit her, but as she got closer and closer to the tower Evony was forced to lean over the top of her cover wall to shoot Bo. Bo felt the paint pellets hit and explode on her upper chest and head until there was the click that her gun was empty and she heard Evony cheer in delight. The cheering didn't last for long, however, when having totally forgotten about Kenzi she was squealing in surprise as Kenzi unloaded the rest of her Ammo upon her. "Guess you lose, Biatch," she said before, being crushed by Bo hugging her tight. They left Evony cursing and complaining about the paint in her hair as they made their way towards the exit. "I guess that means I'm going on the first date with the bachelorette." They looked at one another and burst out laughing.

"She'll expect a kiss at the end of the night," Bo said softly, knowing they only had moments before they would be surrounded with camera's that had mics attached to them.

"The things I do for you. Use the time to get to know Lauren." Kenzi stopped and turned to face her friend. "But, Bo...be discreet, okay?"

Bo bit her bottom lip and nodded in agreement. "I'll do my best, Kenz. I can't wait to spend some time with her!"

"Bo! Kenzi! What a riveting final few minutes. Team work till the end, I like it," Vex said as he approached with camera men on either side. "Get some shots of Evony having a tantrum about her hair will you," Vex asked and one of the camera men rushed off.

Bo noticed that Kenzi was eyeing off the attractive African American man in the fedora as he played with some of the dials on his camera. She elbowed her friend in the side and Kenzi fought to keep the blush off of her face and focused on Vex, who was still talking animatedly into the camera as he described the highlights of the challenge and that Kenzi and Tamsin would be heading off straight from there to their the fun filled night time date. Vex grabbed Kenzi and pulled her in front of the camera. "So tell me, Kenzi. How excited are you that you won the first challenge and get to have the first date with our beautiful bachelorette?"

" I am super duper excited," Kenzi said before finishing with, "I'm sure we will have a great night together, getting to know one another at a more intimate level."

"Annnnnd cut!" Vex said and beamed down at Kenzi. "I wish all of the ladies were as easy to film as you! It takes some of these girls ten takes to get a little interview done. Now off you go and get changed," Vex said, pushing Kenzi toward the small building that held toilets and changing facilities.

A half hour later Kenzi was clean and in her spare set of clothes. She was escorted to a limousine, the door open and Tamsin visible inside. You better make tonight count Bo Bo, Kenzi thought as she smiled wide and enter the car sitting next to a smiling Tamsin...


Author's Note: Here it is, the next chapter. I know you had to wait a long time, but I am hoping you will sit down and reread the first three chapters to refresh yourself before continuing onto the new one and the chapters will be coming at more regular intervals now if I know that you guys are still here and reading it with me. ;) So bring on the sunshine because you know how much I appreciate it.

Take care and have a wonderful New Year,

Doccubus21

xoxo