While I worked to de-spice-itize my mouth, Theo lifted the final dome.
And froze.
For a beat, no one spoke.
We just stared at the pile of brown, crunchy-looking insects that had a little sign beside them that read:salted crickets.
“Oh no,” I breathed.
“Well…” Miles let out a low whistle. “That’s unfortunate.”
Theo exhaled slowly, like he was mentally preparing himself for impact. “Guess that one’s mine.”
My stomach twisted.
Because technically, he was right. By the way we’d split things up, the last plate belonged to him.
And just like that, I was painfully aware of what could havehappened if I’d backed out when he offered the pepper to me earlier.
Theo picked up one of the crickets between his fingers, studying it like a hostile exhibit.
“Thanks for letting me take the pepper,” I said, meeting his eyes as I gently touched the back of his arm. “I don’t think I could’ve done this.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he joked, the corner of his mouth lifting. “This is a cakewalk compared to your hot pepper.”
That wasn’t true. Not even close.
But being the resilient man that he was, instead of hesitating further, he popped the cricket into his mouth.
There was a crunch.
I winced on his behalf.
“Well?” Miles asked.
“Salty. Crispy.” Theo chewed, then swallowed. “All in all, not great.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Amanda said, stepping up to his other side. “No prize is worth eating a handful of bugs.”
“It’s fine,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll just pretend they’re sunflower seeds. I used to eat the shells when I was younger, so it’s basically the same thing.”
“Totally,” I said, finding his determination attractive.
“If only I’d been blindfolded for this challenge,” Theo said. “Then my brain wouldn’t have known the difference.”
“For real,” I said.
Then, sweeping the rest of them into his palm, he bent down and, after mumbling, “That prize better be epic after all this,” shoveled the rest into his mouth.
11
THEO
“Done!”I called, raising a hand in the air after swallowing down the last of the crickets.
“We’re done,” Miles called out louder beside me. “We finished the last challenge.”
“So soon?” Lia looked over, brown eyes narrowing as they flicked to the empty plate. “Did you actually eat all the crickets?”