The first individual task? To select one of the traditional Cambodian musical instruments and learn to play a tune for the nearby judge. Liam had taken the task, and one of the instruments was a stringed instrument - a krapeau. Within a short time, he managed the strings, was humming the melody, and played it for the judge, who handed us our next clue.
That one had been almost too easy.
For my task? We'd had to turn around and race back to Siem Reap and head to a nearby restaurant, where Khmer Cuisine was served. The second individual task was there, and as soon as I saw that it was at a restaurant, I knew the producers were rigging things to get us to stay. I was the only one on the race that had culinary school experience. If there was a challenge I was going to excel at, it was going to be cooking.
Sure enough, when we arrived at the restaurant, I saw that not only was Summer there, working on the challenge, but Brodie and Abby were both there as well. We'd caught up with the other teams somehow.
"Good luck," Liam told me, and gave me a quick kiss before I dashed to my table.
For this challenge, my clue read, you have a table full of traditional Khmer ingredients. You must taste the provided dish to determine how to prepare it and then make it from scratch. A judge will taste your dish to determine if it has been made properly. Once you have completed both dishes to his satisfaction, you will receive your next task.
I sat down at the only empty table - right next to Abby, who gave me a queasy smile. Her table was torn apart, ingredients spread and sprinkled everywhere, and both of her 'taster' dishes half eaten. I picked up the first one and studied it, blanching. "Are these ants?"
"They are," she told me. "And they taste every bit as nasty as you'd think."
"Lovely," I said, and gave Liam a grateful smile when he dropped a bottle of water off at the corner of my table. Good man. The other plate seemed to be full of wiggly tentacles on a stick. Okay, that was not nearly as bad. I'd just think of that as the local calamari dish.
As soon as I sat down, Brodie got up and sprinted to the exit, his task completed. Damn. Well, that was all right. The other two teams were still here. I studied my table ingredients, and didn't recognize many of the spices or herbs. The easiest thing to do would be to taste the dish, then taste each spice until I figured out which ones it had been made with, and go from there. Steeling myself, I grabbed a pair of chopsticks and took a tiny bite of the ant mountain. It was bitter tasting, but there were spices mixed in, and it wasn't so terrible as long as I didn't think about what I was eating. Lemongrass, I decided. There was lemongrass in there, and garlic. I took another bite, contemplating. Lemongrass, garlic, and something else I couldn't identify.
Abby took one look at me, and swigged more water, clearly having issues with the challenge. "I am not so good with insects."
I set the plate down and licked the tip of my finger, then stuck it into a plate of what looked like spices. It was hot and unpleasant, and I swigged more water. Not what I was looking for. I did notice a bit of greenery at the corner of the table, broke off a small blade, and chewed. There was my lemongrass, at least. I pulled my bowl of 'fresh' ants closer and set the lemongrass next to it, contemplating my next spice.
"You guys are doing really well," Abby told me, leaning in to whisper. "Making good TV?"
"Guess so," I said, and couldn't resist a blush. I pointed at the lemongrass at the corner of her table. "You need some of that."
She tore off a handful and shook her head. "This is going to be it for Dean and I, I think. If you turn in the wrong dish, they make you start over, which means you have to keep tasting over and over again, and my stomach can't handle it right now." She patted her lower belly. "Maybe in another seven months."
My eyes widened and I forgot all about eating. "You're pregnant? Are you supposed to be racing? Isn't this dangerous?"
She grimaced and swigged more water. "Keep it down. I haven't said anything to Dean."
I glanced over at her husband. There was a look of concern on his handsome face, brows furrowed as he watched his wife chug bottles of water. But he clapped his hands and gave her a supportive thumbs up when she looked over at him. "You're doing great, baby," he called out. "Don't get discouraged."
"Why are you on a game show if you're pregnant?" I asked, leaning in to taste another one of my spices. Ugh. Bitter as hell, but possibly in the ant dish. I set it aside in the maybe pile.
"I didn't realize I was. By the time I did, it was too late to back out. You know I hate these sorts of shows, right?" She shook her head and shuffled a few of her spice dishes, contemplating the mess of cooking on her table. "I swore I'd never be on another one of these things, but Dean's coach passed away a few months ago and he's been in a funk. He needed a distraction and when they called and offered, I thought it'd be a good idea." She scrunched up her face and tasted the ant dish again. "I didn't figure out about you-know-what until a few days before the race, and by then it was too late to change my mind. I figured it couldn't hurt anything, right? But I didn't think I'd be eating spicy bugs, either." She shook her head. "I can't keep them down, which means we're done."
"I can help," I told her.
"No, you need to play to win. If you can do this fast, catch up with your brother and I'll try and beat Summer." She gave me a crooked grin. "And if I don't, I'll just hope for the Ace if you're game."
Oh god, that damned Ace. I swallowed hard. "Um, Abby…"
She studied her plates, not paying attention to me. "I don't know which is worse. The ant pile or the squid on a stick."
"Abby," I told her quietly. "I haven't told Liam yet, but…Brodie blackmailed me on the last leg and I had to give him the Ace."
Abby stared at me a long moment, and then the side of her mouth curled into a smile.
"I'm so sorry," I told her. "I know we had a deal, but he's my brother—"
"Oh, girl." She waved a hand and set her plate down. "Do not worry about that in the slightest. I'm only here for Dean. I don't care if we leave today, though he'll be disappointed because he likes to win."
"I feel awful. Liam's going to be so mad when he finds out."
She leaned in again and tapped my arm. "Let me give you another piece of advice, Katy. This is a reality TV show, but it's not reality in the slightest. There's a difference between making good TV and making good friends, and I've done this before. I know the difference." She smiled wider. "I think of you as a friend, and this race won't change that. But Brodie's your brother, so if you have to save his ass, that's what you do. I don't think he'd be as understanding." She winked. "I don't know if you noticed, but he really, really wants to win."
I snorted and chewed a green leaf, then spat it out. Disgusting flavor and not what I was looking for. I shuffled the bowls again. "Yeah, I noticed."
"So don't you worry about us," she said, mixing her ingredients and then picking up her chopsticks with a resigned face. "If he gets all bummed, I'll just tell him about the baby."
From across the room, Dean cupped his hands to his face and called out, "Less gossip, more eating, Abby."
She waved a hand at him, dismissing his words. "I'm eating, I'm eating."
"You're the best, Abby," I told her.
"I know," she said loftily, then gave me a curious look. "How is Liam handling the whole Ace thing? I thought he hated Brodie."
"Uh, I haven't told him yet." I winced. "After that fight, I'm kind of afraid to. But if it comes down to Liam or Brodie, I don't know what to do. Brodie's my brother and he wants to win this more than anything. And Liam…" I sighed. "I'm not sure what Liam is other than my partner."
"It's hard to say," Abby said, her voice sympathetic. "Like I said, this is reality TV, but it's not reality. You're great together right now, but who can say what happens after the race? Dean and I lucked out, but it wasn't easy. I hated him for a long time, simply because of what I'd been led to believe."
"I know," I told her. I suspected that once Liam and I were apart? He'd go back
to his rock star lifestyle and I'd go back to Katy Short, unextraordinary baker. It wasn't like we had a future. He probably spent most of the year on tour. I spent most of the year in the kitchen, working on recipes and baking to orders. Besides, Liam and I barely knew each other outside of this race. It wasn't like we had any hope for a long term.
But…I really liked him.
Which was bound to get me hurt.
I pushed those thoughts aside and tasted ingredients, combining them with my ants. When I thought I had the right spices, I handed my bowl to the waiting chef, who cooked everything up and then handed it back to me. I tasted it, then tasted the other bowl. Close, but not quite. Was it close enough? I tasted again, wincing when something squished between my teeth. Next to me, Abby gagged again, and that made my stomach turn once more. She wasn't making this easy, that was for sure. I set aside the bowl and worked on my squid dish, which wasn't as bad. There were less alternately crunchy and squishy bits. Instead, the entire thing was slightly rubbery and tasted of lime and some sort of extremely spicy herb that seemed familiar enough. I combined ingredients, tasting, then handed my bowl over to be cooked.
This time, the squid tasted almost exactly like the sampler dish. I put it aside and tweaked my ants, even as Summer sprang to her feet, her disk in hand, task completed. The two Olympians cleared out and then it was just me and Abby.
Shit. I could help her, but if I did, I might be eliminating myself. And it was clear she wasn't doing well with the challenge. She kept adding cracked pepper to hers, and I was pretty sure that I hadn't tasted cracked pepper in either of my dishes.
I adjusted the amount of lemongrass in my dish of beef, ants, and noodles, and handed it to the chef again, who cooked it once more and then handed it back. I tasted and tried not to think that I had a belly of squid and ants at this point.
Perfect. I waved the judge over, who came and tasted both of my dishes. He took a long moment, sampling both, then when I was about to burst from nervousness, he nodded and handed me my disk.
I charged up from my table, excited, even as Liam sprang forward, both of our bags in his hand. I looked back at Abby, still seated at the table, and on a whim, I arranged the bowls of ingredients into two rows of what I'd used, making it obvious as to which ingredients were for which. She gave me a grateful look as we sprinted away to read our clue privately.
As soon as we were outside, Liam grabbed me and pulled me close in a tight hug. "I'd give you a kiss but you've been eating ants for the last half hour."
"I don't blame you," I told him, and flipped the disk over to read the instructions. "Make your way to the Amansara Hotel in Siem Reap, and look for the finish line."
"We're still in this," Liam told me. "Come on."
The drive to the hotel was a tense one, and I read directions out to Liam between constantly looking out the window, checking for Abby and Dean's marked car to pass us. We'd made up time, but I didn't know if it had been enough. Abby and Dean could have left moments after us and took an alternate route to the hotel, and we still might be the last ones to arrive. We'd made up so many hours, but you never knew in this race.
When we pulled into the parking lot, Liam slammed into the first parking spot he saw, and we jumped out of the car, leaving our bags behind. I ran to his side and took his outstretched hand, and we raced into the hotel, looking for the finish line. His hand clenched mine tightly, and that somehow felt right that we'd cross this line together, hand in hand.
When we crossed the finish line, Abby and Dean were nowhere to be seen. Chip smiled at us, and spread his hands in a munificent gesture. "Welcome, Liam and Katy! You are team number three and still in this race."
I threw my arms around Liam's neck, hugging him tight.
Just as I did, the door opened and Abby and Dean rushed in behind us. I saw Abby's face fall when she spotted us, and I slid down from Liam's grasp, guilt washing over me. Dean's eyes narrowed but he kept a friendly smile on his face, able to hide his emotions a lot better than Abby did.
"Abby and Dean," Chip said in a grave voice as they stepped onto the mat next to us. "You are the last team to cross the finish line. Unless someone plays an Ace, I'm sorry to say that you will be eliminated."
I bit my lip, feeling acutely uncomfortable. I moved a little closer to Liam, staring straight ahead and not looking at the team next to me. I didn't want to see the understanding disappointment in Abby's face and the frustration in Dean's. They'd been good friends to us the entire race and I was about to screw them.
"Liam?" Chip prompted.
"Katy and I discussed it," Liam said, his arm sliding around my waist. "It's her decision. I won't push her one way or another. And whatever she chooses, I support her."
Chip gazed at me. "Katy?"
I felt like the world's biggest asshole. "I'm sorry," I whispered.
I didn't play the Ace. I couldn't. I'd given it to my brother, our biggest rival and enemy.
"I'm sorry, Dean and Abby, but you've been eliminated."
"It's okay," Abby said, her voice cheerful. "It's been a good run, and Dean and I did this just for fun, anyhow."
"Every day, I wake up and I feel like I've won," Dean said. I pictured him pulling Abby into a hug as he often did in quiet moments, but I didn't dare look over at him. "Just because I have her at my side. No regrets here."
"No regrets," Abby emphasized, and it felt like it was for my benefit more than anything.
And then the production crew stepped in and ushered Dean and Abby away for post-game interviews, and I was left with my partner and the host.
"The hotel has generously offered to let you stay here during your break," Chip told us in a too-smiley voice. "I'm sure you two would love some alone time, so I'll let you get to it. You can just check in at the front desk."
"Thanks," Liam murmured. "I'll get the keys."
When we got up to our room, Liam set down our backpacks against the wall and turned to me. "You want to tell me what you were thinking back there?"
I crossed my arms over my chest, unhappy and numb. I'd just screwed over our friends. "It's complicated."
"I don't understand you," Liam said in a low voice. He dropped into a chair and stretched his legs out. His hands rubbed his face, and he seemed incredibly weary. "Was it strategy?"
"Not really," I told him. "I just…couldn't."
"They wouldn't split us up again. We make good TV."
"I know."
"So…why?"
I shrugged uncomfortably. Because I gave our Ace to Brodie, because I thought he'd changed and he's my brother. Turned out he was just using me. But the words wouldn't come out of my throat.
"Do you know something I don't? About the Ace? Is there something bad that happens if we play it?"
I shook my head. "I know what you do."
"Then I really don't understand," Liam said, a hard edge to his voice. "It's not that you didn't play the Ace just now. If it was strategy or you had a plan, I could understand it. But not playing it just to not play it? That just seems cruel to me, and I thought we were friends with them."
"We are," I said softly.
"Then why?"
I bit my lip. "I…I don't have it anymore."
"You…what?" He gave me an incredulous look. "Where did it go?"
My stomach gave an unhappy gurgle. I wasn't sure if it was stress or all the ants I'd eaten this afternoon. Either way, I felt like I was going to throw up. "I gave it to Brodie."
Liam's face grew hard. His eyes were cold and unfriendly as he studied me. "You…gave it to Brodie." He said it so flatly that it made me wince.
"He was in last place and he was in trouble," I explained.
"And he's your brother," Liam said slowly. He tilted his head at me, as if seeing me for the first time. "And he really, really wants to win."
"He does," I agreed.
"And you don't care about winning."
I shrugged. That had been my story the entire time, hadn't it? I didn't care a
bout winning nearly as much as I cared about cashing out for that twenty grand. So why was I fighting so hard to stay in the game? I supposed it was because I didn't want to disappoint Liam.
Unfortunately with the way he was looking at me at the moment? We'd moved past disappointed and straight to furious.
"So. Has all of this been a set-up, then?"
It was my turn to be confused. "What do you mean, a set-up?"
He gestured expansively. "All of this. Splitting up. Romancing me and romancing Tesla and then working together behind our backs. Is all of this a set-up to push your way to the win?"
My jaw dropped. "What? No!"
"Really? Because that's not what I'm seeing. I'm seeing someone that was mad that she was partnered with me, and then kissed me out of the blue not a day later. And I couldn't figure it out." He gave a wry snort. "I mean, you didn't act like a groupie. That I know how to handle. And here I thought you were just a nice girl having fun. Maybe the pigtails fooled me. But those aren't you either, are they? It's all for the show. Everything."
I ran a hand over my pigtails and shook my head. "You're wrong."
He put his hands up, as if to stop my argument. "Just tell me one thing. Did he promise to split the prize money with you if you helped him?"
I was silent, rather horrified. Brodie had promised to split the prize money. "It's not what it looks like, Liam—"
"Fuck." He shook his head. "I can't believe you fucking slept with me just to win some money."
I grabbed one of the pillows off the bed I sat on and threw it at his head. "I didn't sleep with you for some prize money, you asshole."
"Then why did you?"
"I thought I liked you. I guess I was wrong," I said bitterly. "You're kind of a dick."
"Yeah, well, you're kind of fake."
"Fuck you."
"Have you been throwing challenges?"
"Have I what?"
"Throwing challenges. You know. So your precious brother could catch up."
"Are you kidding me?" I thought my jaw couldn't drop any lower. I was wrong. "You really think I've been throwing challenges?"
"I don't know what to think anymore."