Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
“This means something to me no matter what,” I said. “Win or lose, I got to do this with you. You’re my first love, and I think about you, too. All the time.”
A fresh round of tears spilled from her eyes. “You do?”
I nodded, uncomfortable with how vulnerable I was allowing myself to be.
“You’re strong, Lo. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known. Whatever they throw at us, you can do it.”
“I want to. I’ll do my best. There’s just so much on the line.”
“You mean the money?”
A pause. And then, she nodded. My heart sank. I was starting to feel like the money was secondary. This experience was allowing me to unpack a lot of the person Lauren had become, and it was a painful reminder of just who I’d walked away from eight years ago.
“We should go,” she said, looking away.
“Yeah.” I backed away from her, everything awkward now. “I have to go fill the canteens again first.”
Almost an hour later, we entered the competition site. We hadn’t said a word to each other the entire way. I’d been fucking stupid and had made things between us tense.
No one would ever accuse me of having a way with women. Since the breakup with Lauren, I’d been deliberately closed off in the handful of short relationships I’d had. The hurt wasn’t worth it.
“Bleachers?” Lauren said, sighing softly and looking over at the sets of bleachers set up around us. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
As with every competition before, one of the production assistants, this time Sal, lined up the remaining contestants so the camera could pan over each of us. As she adjusted Lauren’s position so we were standing closer together, she whispered to Lauren, “Open your hand.”
Lauren did, and Sal dropped something into her palm before closing her hand around it.
“Tylenol,” she whispered. “But that didn’t happen.”
Lauren mouthed thank you and popped the pills into her mouth, taking a long swig from her canteen.
Sal had apparently heard about our evening from Nutter. Or maybe the production people watched footage back at the resort. However it had happened, I appreciated her helping Lauren. I nodded my thanks to her.
“Are you guys hungry?” Josh asked, jumping into his role as host of the show as soon as the cameras rolled.
There was a rumble of grunts and affirmative answers. I was still full from our huge dinner last night, and it sounded like the reward for winning today’s competition would be more food. Hopefully it would be something we could save for later.
“I’ve got food for everyone,” Josh said, eliciting cheers from the twenty remaining contestants. “But it may not be the kind of food you’ve been missing.”
The celebration died down as Josh removed a white tablecloth that had been covering a group of silver-domed platters on a table.
“Today we won’t be testing your physical strength,” Josh said. “All you need to win this challenge is a strong stomach.”
Fuck. He went on to explain that we had to eat delicacies from around the world. It couldn’t have come on a worse day, with Lauren’s stomach already upset from her hangover.
“Every contestant has to finish at least one of these to stay in the competition,” Josh said. “And the member from each team who finishes first gets a point. The points will be added up at the end of the competition and the winning team gets something I think everyone will appreciate.”
He pulled a cloth cover off a smaller table, revealing bars of soap, containers of shampoo and conditioner, and a pile of fluffy white bath towels.
Getting clean sounded good, but I’d been taking camping trips my whole life, so I was used to going without showers when I had to. From the longing look on Lauren’s face, though, I could tell she wanted those toiletries, so I was all in.
“The female contestants will be going first,” Josh said.
“Shit,” one of the male contestants muttered.
“If the woman on each team finishes her three items, the man on that team gets to try for three more items. Men, take your seats on the bleachers and let’s get started.”
Lauren gave me a worried look and I squeezed her hand.
“You’ve got this,” I said. “Just close your eyes and down it.”
I watched from the bleachers as Josh gleefully revealed the first item.
“Rocky Mountain oysters,” he said, pulling the cloche off a platter.
“Yay! I love oysters!” one of the female contestants said, grinning.
Oh boy.
“Well, Joy, these aren’t actually oysters,” Josh explained. “They’re called Rocky Mountain oysters, but they’re really the testicles of young bulls.”
Joy’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I’m not eating testicles!”
I was afraid Lauren would be barfing into a bush when I looked at her, but her expression was neutral. As Joy became increasingly hysterical, Lauren never wavered.
“I’m done,” Joy said with a sob, burying her face in her hands. “I can’t do this anymore.”