The Billionaire's Bet

  “We’ve got to get going.” I prodded. “It’s freaking spring break in Vegas, man. There are tons of women, all drunk and...and...I can’t wait to get there. “

  I leaned against the car, crossed my arms and looked off to the bleak horizon, dreaming. “It’s gonna be great. I’m gonna find a tall bombshell in a tiny, black dress, the kind with an ass you’d let sit on your face for hours.”

  “Oh, Jesus. Keep your panties on, Dorothy. This won’t take much longer. This is just a minor setback. We’ll get there soon enough. And Vegas has a river of wet pussy just waiting to be tapped, so there’ll be plenty left for you by the time we get there.”

  He leaned back from working on the tire, wiping his sweaty brow with a forearm. “I know what I’m gonna do the first thing we get there,” he said. “Get one of those big slushy drinks in a cowboy boot from Coyote Ugly and watch the girls dancing on the bar, butt pumping in those skimpy shorts.”

  I drifted for a moment, envisioning what it would look like. “Mmm. Yeah…” I murmured.

  “Hey, dickhead, did you find a place that sells tires yet?” AJ snapped. “It’s damn hot out here and I’m sweatin’ like a pig.”

  “Pigs don’t sweat.” I tipped my head toward AJ. “They don’t have sweat glands. That’s why they wallow in the mud.”

  “You’re givin’ me a fucking lecture on pig sweat? Smartass.” With an annoyed scowl, AJ stood and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Just find us a repair station already.”

  I turned my attention back to my Google search on my smartphone.

  “Come on, slow poke,” AJ prodded. He watched as I continued searching the web. “Can’t you find anything? Is that finger tapping the screen as small as your little pecker? You know, we can’t drive very far on this emergency spare. These tires are only meant to go about fifty miles or so.”

  I shot him a nasty look, but it was just part of the back-and-forth male bravado guys our age engaged in. We had a kind of banter that sounded foul, but we both knew it was all in fun. Like most guys our age, we confirmed our manhood by flinging caustic jibes at each other.

  “Okay, I found one. The good news is there’s a gas station, a full service station, at the next exit and it’s right…there.” I looked up from the screen and motioned in the direction with my arm. “It’s so damn close, we could practically walk to it.”

  Finished, AJ released the jack and his old Honda creaked with a moan. He stepped close, looked over my shoulder at my phone and said, “We can make it to that gas station in no time.” He picked up the tire and rolled it to me. “Here, asshole. Make yourself useful. Put this in the trunk.”

  I gave him my official, “Don’t tell me what to do” look and stowed the blown out tire. I jumped in the car and we were on our way.

  Minutes later we pulled into the gas station and parked. near the bay of the repair garage.

  “Shit. Look at that,” I said. “All the roll-up doors to the repair bays are shut. It’s closed. We came too late.” I checked my watch. “It’s after six o’clock.”

  “Just our luck,” AJ said. He craned his neck, peering at the steel garage doors. I’m sure he was thinking what I was, hoping to see some sign of life, maybe one last employee hanging around after hours that we could bribe to help us out.

  “We’ll have to find something else.” His face scrunched into a frown, then said, “Well, let’s at least go inside and get something to eat. I could go for a Red Bull and chips.”

  “Chips are for girls,” I said. “I need some manly snack food like beef jerky, the hot as fire kind, preferably.”

  Before AJ had a chance to do anything, I looked through the plate glass window and noticed a female attendant inside. She appeared to be in her twenties with long dark hair tied up into a loose bun. She was helping a man dressed in a black jacket and pants.

  I shot a glance to the gas pumps. There were no cars. Where’d he come from? We were out in the middle of nowhere on an interstate exit and it was getting dark. The repair garage was closed, so who was this scruffy looking dude? I kept my eyes on the girl attendant, watching her face, and she wasn’t smiling. It was only this girl and a man wearing a stocking cap—oh shit!

  Black hat.

  Dark clothes.

  My eyes strained to see past the display racks of chips and pretzels to get a better view. It looked like the man had one hand in the pocket of his jacket—as if there was something in it. My mind filled in the gaps. It looked like something large.

  And hard.

  And metal in that pocket.

  “What the fuck?” I pitched forward in my seat, trying to make sense of what was happening inside the store. “Do you see that?” My eyes widened as my imagination spun with ideas.

  “Let go of my arm, man,” AJ snapped. He was annoyed that the repair garage was closed for the night, but this was important.

  “Inside the store…look.”

  “So what? Two people in the store. Big deal.”

  “There’s a man with a stocking cap and…I think that guy has a gun in his pocket and he’s got it pointed at the girl behind the counter. He’s robbing her. We gotta do something.”

  Suddenly, AJ perked up and was peering into the window along with me. “A gun? He doesn’t have a gun. That’s not...” He craned his neck. “Does he have a gun? I don’t wanna get shot. Let’s get out of here.”

  “No balls, dude.” I turned and looked at him. “That girl needs our help. Hell, we’re football players. We workout. I’m sure we can take him. We have to do something.” I turned back to check on the girl.

  “Fucker, I’m a kicker, not a tackle.”

  I kicked open the car door and said, “Come on. We’ve gotta act fast. Let’s just rush him.”

  AJ followed suit and with my best bud on my heels, I tore into the small store in an attempt to tackle what I thought was a convenience store thief. But the slick linoleum was too much for my shoes and we bungled our take down. What seemed so well planned out in my mind, turned into nothing more than a bump, but it was enough to throw the guy off balance. In an attempt to break his fall, the thief yanked his hand out of his jacket pocket as he fell to the floor. And much to my surprise, there was no gun.

  It was embarrassing to say the least. Two young, well-built football players with ripped abs and bulging biceps, and we couldn’t even take the guy down properly. If that was our best effort, it was all downhill from here.

  The three of us scrambled around on the floor, the f-word popping like fireworks. Everything was, “fuck you this” and “fuck you that.” After a bit of a scuffle, the wily old guy in the black cap wrenched himself from our grip. Just as we got to our feet, he sprinted out the door and was gone.

  We straightened and pulled ourselves together. I turned to the girl behind the counter, assuming I’d see her mouth gaping and her eyes wide with fear from the attempted robbery. But instead, she stood with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed at us, glaring...mostly at me.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You knocked over the snack display,” she huffed.

  She threw her hands up in the air as if exasperated with us. I’d been expecting something more like an exuberant, and grateful “thank you,” but she didn’t seem all that freaked out, considering we just saved her life—maybe.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the cardboard snack display. “Oh, sorry.”

  Bags of fried pork rinds were scattered about. Pork rinds were my favorite. I ate them with hot Tabasco sauce drizzled on top. At least I could get some for the road.

  AJ and I looked at the girl in unison and the expression on her face told me she was totally unimpressed with our heroics. AJ turned to me and said, “You asshole, that guy didn’t have a gun.” Then smacked me on the arm.

  I threw him a look like, “shut up,” then turned to the girl. Her beautiful face was still “not impressed” but man, she was beautiful.

  “Are you okay, sweetheart? Did he hurt you?” I asked.

  Th
e girl rolled her eyes and shook her head, her long wispy bangs swaying with the movement. “Um… No. I’m fine, no thanks to you two.”

  The girl walked around from behind the cash register and made her way to the toppled pork-rind display. I followed to help her set it upright and gave a head jerk, signaling AJ to join in.

  As she bent over to pick up the scattered bags, my eyes perused the curves of her nice ass. The little angel sitting on my shoulder told me I should go straight to a motel and take a cold shower until my thoughts ran clean. The little devil on the other shoulder said, “But what fun would that be? Go for the real thing.”

  Still puzzled as to why she wasn’t upset, I said, “You were about to be robbed.” I set the display upright. “Why weren’t you calling the police?”

  The girl’s hands dropped to her hips with a huff. “No way, douche bags. That guy’s just a local homeless man.”

  Douche bag? Why all the hostility? I just tried to save her life.

  I eyed her up and down. She was definitely hot, ebony black hair, long legs, nice ass—and tits, which dominated my focus while we continued talking.

  Damn. She made even simple work clothes look sexy. She wore jeans and a white shirt with the company logo on the left breast pocket. The top buttons opened enough to show cleavage and the next two buttons strained across the expanse of her ample breasts.

  Nice.

  Very inviting.

  But her attitude sucked.

  “But I saw it,” I said, motioning to AJ with a hand. “We both did. A guy, dressed in all black, you’re here all by yourself, his hand in his pocket. He had a gun…er…well, at least I thought he did.” I shrugged, realizing my wild imagination had played a trick on me. I turned to her again. “Hey, you should feel lucky we came along.”

  “No, stupid. I wasn’t being robbed,” she said, a bag of pork rinds flopping against her thigh. “That man comes in here from time to time, and usually I give him something to eat. He’s homeless, duh.” She waved a hand, indicating the nasty hot dogs turning on the metal cylinders in the hot dog cooker and placed the snacks on the display. I wondered, what marketing genius came up with the idea that every gas station convenience store should offer week-old hot dogs, glistening with grease, rolling for who knew how long? Like that would lure in hungry travelers desperate for something to fill their aching stomachs, besides chips and gummy worms.

  AJ stepped forward and chimed in, “For the record, I told Cam the dude did not have a gun.” He was beaming with pride, as if to one up me and impress our dark-haired damsel in distress. I could see it. He was so obvious. Shamelessly, he molested her with his eyes as we spoke.

  I sneered at him behind the girl’s back as she worked to put the rest of the scattered packages back on the display. I snatched another bag of pork rinds from the floor and shoved it onto the rack. Standing behind her as we worked, I couldn’t help notice a red sheen to her hair as her head bobbed with each movement. It was the kind of trendy hair coloring college girls put in their hair. Girls that were a little bit edgy, that is. My curiosity and adrenaline spiked with the thought. Maybe she knew kinky, sexual techniques she could use on me? Not that my magnificent charm was getting me anywhere with her right now.

  I blinked and focused again on the task at hand. My eyes drifted to the greasy hotdogs. “You gave Homeless Guy tube steak? The industry’s best collection of snouts, feet and other unwanted pig parts? The poor guy’ll die of a heart attack before he dies from living on the street.”

  Looking even more annoyed with me, the girl furrowed her pretty brow and walked back to her post behind the cash register. Guess I didn’t score any points that time, but what can I say, I’m a football player, I like a challenge.

  AJ spoke up again, seemingly eager to reinforce my error in judgment. “Well, anyway, we’re sorry for attacking your homeless friend.” He jabbed a thumb in my direction. “He thought he was robbing you.”

  Although I could see from her expression the girl was still annoyed, the last remark brought a hint of smile to her face. I didn’t know if it was a sign that she liked me, or that she liked that I was the butt of AJ’s taunting.

  My dark-haired beauty seemed to relax and soften. She leaned her hands on the counter and with a more cordial tone said, “That’s okay. I can take care of myself. I’ve been working the night shift here for a long time.”

  My eyes trailed around the dirty inside of the store, swept with the dust of the desert wind. “This is no place for a lady,” I said.

  She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me. I just work here part-time while I go to college.” She gave us both a look up and down as if to better assess us.

  “You two don’t look like you’re from around here. I suspect you’re traveling. Is there something I can get for you?”

  I smiled at her across the counter. “As a matter of fact, there is something. We’re on a trip and we had a blowout back there on the interstate. We need a new tire…or even a used tire would do. But it looks like the repair garage is closed for the night.”

  “Yeah, sorry,” she said. “It’s closed. Is there anything else I can do?”

  An idea was brewing in my mind, and she seemed to be warming to me, so I poured on the charm. Maybe I could sweet-talk her into opening up the repair garage.

  “Well, sweetheart, maybe there’s something you can do for us.” I said it using my best player’s voice, the one I used to get women to drop to their knees and throw open my pants. “Do you have keys to the repair garage back there?”

  She gave me a look with a cock-teasing glint, and raised a brow.

  Hello. What was this? She’d thrown me a challenge.

  Her eyes were magnificently dark, with long lashes, and looks of alluring adventures. At least that’s what I saw.

  Damn, she was hot.

  I let her watch me as I raked my eyes over her, and then I touched the tip of my tongue to my lips, before I spoke. “It’d really help us out if you could unlock the garage and sell us one of those tires.” And it’d also be really helpful if she’d unbutton that shirt one more button. I stared at two nice round breasts peeking out of her uniform shirt. She must’ve done something to the shirt, made it tighter, because she looked so damn good in it.

  “I know the size of tire we need, doll. All you have to do is open the door and I’ll just snag one, put it on the car, so we can get on our way. And we won’t bother you anymore.”

  I smiled my best dimpled grin, accompanied by a wink, then placed one hand on the counter and leaned forward, ever so slightly, my bicep muscle flexing as I moved. I wanted to get into her space enough to show dominance and let her feel the tension of my energy, but not enough to scare her off. This girl was a hot-tamale. I wanted to lick her up and down. I bet she was the type who liked to go all night, ride on top, so she could grind at her own pace.

  With her dark eyes locked on mine, the girl parted her lips to speak. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips, which drove me crazy, but I knew I had her convinced. She hesitated, her ebony eyes measuring me, and I swore she let out a hot breath, before she spoke. “All right,” she said and snatched a gnarly set of keys from a small hook below the cash register.

  She spun, stepped out from behind the counter and headed to the door. “I’m not supposed to open the repair garage after hours,” she said over her shoulder as she walked. “Why do I have the feeling this’s gonna come back and kick me in the ass, later?”

  I shot a confident look at AJ and followed behind her with my best pimp walk making a gesture with my hand to him like, “Yeah, I’m that damn good.”

  I stopped goofing around when the girl pushed open the glass door and turned to warn us. “If I lose my job over this...you two jerks are toast.”

  I gave her a friendly salute and we followed her to the silver roll up doors of the repair garage.

  She turned the key to unlock the small side door leading to the office, and said, “Make it quick, will ya? I’m not supposed to
leave the cash register unattended.” She stood at the door while we cut through the office to the garage to search for a tire.

  We located one quickly and rolled it out to AJ’s car and left the girl to lock up. When she walked past the car to return to her post, she paused, looked me dead in the eye and licked her lips. My pulse spiked and my cock twitched. I nearly groaned. She was playing me hard, but why the change in attitude? Whatever it was, I didn’t care. All I wanted was those lips around my cock and I’d probably have to think about her later in the shower.

  “You can pay me inside…for the tire, when you’re done.” And with a heart stopping pout, she snapped to her right and walked away leaving me drooling onto my skintight shirt.

  What was she doing? First, she’s cold as ice, now she’s flirting like crazy. Was she messing with me?

  AJ hadn’t noticed since he was working on the tire. I just stood there, bewildered, gazing at her through the window, fascinated by this woman, despite her seemingly annoyed attitude with me.

  AJ looked up from his work and saw me gawking. “She was a total bitch and we were just trying to help,” he said.

  “Hey, come on. We assaulted her charity cause. You know women. They like to rescue lost puppies and shit like that.” I held out my hand to hold the lug nuts again as AJ worked on the tire. AJ paused from spinning the wrench and studied me. “You’d better start acting like a lost puppy then, because it sure looks like you have the hots for her. You do, don’t you? You’re envisioning her hand down your pants right now, aren’t you, Romeo?”

  “I’m envisioning both her hands down my pants.”

  “Horndog.”

  I wiggled my eyebrows and said, “I think I’m in love.”

  “You ain’t got a chance with her. She’s probably saving herself for Mr. Right.”

  “And you don’t think I’m Mr. Right? I thought she was sweet,” I said.

  “Sweet? She was pissed. But most definitely, she is hot. Did you see her ass when she bent over?” He winced and smiled at the memory.

  “Um…now that you mention it…I already had my cock six inches deep into that ass…in my mind, of course.”