Playing Games (23 page)

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 about 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."