The Bet

"Isn't this supposed to be my celebration? Remind me why I'm picking up the tab." I set the ice-cold pitcher and glasses down with a thud, beer sloshing onto the back of my hand. Max had snagged a high-top table in the corner of the crowded brewery. Usually, I preferred to be a little more visible, but the thumping bass was mercifully muted back here.

"Because you just landed the big payday, bro. You can afford it." Maxwell reached for the glasses and poured two beers off the side of the pitcher. He wasn't wrong, but he still had a far higher net worth than me. "You could also afford to upgrade the fleece vest." Asshole.

"There's a cold wind tonight." Didn't deter the usual Friday night crowd of young professionals from packing the place. "I got the American IPA because they were out of the Belgian ale." A lie, but he didn't need to know. I pulled a napkin from the dispenser and wiped my hand.

"That's what I get for sending you up to the bar." Max shoved a pint in front of me, spilling beer onto the hand I just dried. I shook my head and cleaned it off again.

"Weren't the girls supposed to be here at nine?" I checked my Rolex. 9:18.

A grin spread across Max's face. "Here they come." He waved his arm and slid off the stool as two women approached. The first was tall, leggy, and blonde. Exactly Max's type, so I assumed that was Hannah. The other girl had dark hair, amber eyes, tight jeans, and plenty of cleavage. A solid 9/10 in my book. The night just got more interesting.

The blonde slid up to Max's side. "Sorry we're a little late. Can't rush beauty, right?" She touched his arm playfully as Max ran his left hand down her hip.

"Not complaining. Hannah, meet Wes, my closest college brother. Kerothen Philoi Aei." He directed that at me with a fist bump. He always did this in front of girls. They never asked what the motto meant.

"What's up?" I accepted her limp handshake.

"Hi." She gestured to her friend, looking at her more than me. "This is Olivia."

"Call me Livia." She shook my hand. Firm. Warm. Assured. Plus, she looked me right in the eye. Her stock rose.

I flashed my most charming smile, mouth slightly open with just a hint of straight, white teeth. "Livia it is." I pulled out the seat next to me. "Want a beer? I ordered the IPA."

She shrugged. "Sure." Another point in her favor. I poured her a glass as we both sat down.

Hannah attempted a cutesy pout. "I think I'm going to order some wine." Of fucking course the basic blonde wanted wine.

"I got it. Come tell me what you like." Max winked at me as he walked Hannah to the bar, leaving me with Livia.

I shifted in my seat to face her better. "How about we get the dull stuff out of the way first?"

She laughed and hung her purse on a little hook under the table. "What dull stuff?"

"You know, what do you do for a living? How do you know Hannah? How long you been in Charlotte? Blah, blah, blah."

"Ah." She swiveled her seat toward me. "I'm a pharmacist, Hannah's my roommate, and I've lived in Charlotte about five years. You?"

"Commercial loan broker, Max is my fraternity brother from Chapel Hill, and I've been here almost ten years." I grabbed my pint glass with my left hand to show off the watch, but Livia didn't notice.

"You're practically native. Which frat?" She brushed a lock of her hair back, her pink, shiny nails filed to sharp little tips. I bet she scratched. I'd love to find out.

"Delta Kappa Epsilon, or DKE." That usually impressed this crowd.

"Don't really know it." Lost a point for that. She took a sip of her drink. "Where you from originally?"

"Davidson. It's just up the road on Lake Norman. You?"

"You're actually a native then. I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina." A smaller, more boring version of Charlotte. She took another sip of the beer, leaving a little drop of foam behind on her upper lip. She noticed me staring and licked it off slower than necessary. That alone racked up several points.

"You end up here for work?" I already knew the answer to that one. Literally the only reason anyone moved to Charlotte, North Carolina.

"Why? Want my resume?" She leaned in, giving me a better view of her cleavage. "Or are we done with the boring shit now?"

I grinned. It was on. "You like to move quickly?"

She pushed the bar stool back a little. "I prefer to take my time with the good stuff."

I raised my eyebrow, but Hannah and Max returned before I had a chance to respond. Hannah held a pint of something that looked like piss.

"They make their own hard lemonade," she said, proud like she was personally responsible for it or something. "And the wine selection was lacking."

No shit. Only morons ordered wine at a brewery.

My first priority was supposed to be setting Max up. He'd only been out with Hannah a couple of times, and he wanted to seal the deal with her tonight. "How's the new project going?" I had no idea what he was working on, but Max always had a new project in development, so this was a safe bet.

He pushed the pitcher to the side of the table. "We're just about ready for beta-testing on PollyGot."

"What's that?" Hannah asked. Good girl. Right on cue.

"Our new language app. I'm really excited about it." He scooted his stool closer and actually looked sincere. "We've been developing this one for a couple years now, so I'm ready to put it out there. The motto is: Learn a new language in 15 minutes a day, guaranteed."

Livia snorted. "The motto needs some work. How are you going to guarantee it, anyway?"

"Now that's the beauty." He rested his forearms on the table. "We've hooked up with a new AI learning model developed by a friend of mine."

"Cameron?" I asked. Another fraternity brother.

Max nodded. I knew Cam had gotten involved in one of Max's projects, but I didn't realize he'd developed the AI since I always zoned out when he started yapping about software.

"The AI adapts to your daily routine, allowing users to learn more organically." He twisted his own Rolex around on his wrist, per habit. Both girls noticed. "It's a huge breakthrough, and I think it's really going to set us apart from the other language apps."

"Sounds incredible." I stifled a yawn and tried to catch Livia's eye. Hannah's stupid lemonade had come way too fast.

Livia didn't notice since she'd turned to Max. "What exactly do you mean by organic learning?"

I didn't expect her to be interested in this. We were supposed to be impressing Hannah, but she'd gotten distracted by her phone.

"Honestly, it's easier to show people than tell them about it. You want to be part of the beta testing?"

Livia tilted her head to the side, considering it. After a moment she said, "Sure, why not?"

Great, maybe now we could get back to flirting.

"How about you, Wes?" Max asked.

I took a long pull of beer, pretending to think about it before shaking my head. "Nah, I'm kind of busy at the moment. You know how it is."

Livia made a little noise.

"What?" I turned to her.

"Nothing." She picked up her glass. "It's just... never mind."

I felt a little prick of annoyance, though I tried to laugh it off. "Come on, what is it?'

"Max, you said fifteen minutes a day, right?" She tapped one nail against the sticky table.

"Yeah, that's all that's necessary." He sat back in his chair, probably to watch this play out. Asshole.

"You're saying you don't have fifteen minutes a day?" she asked. "Sounds like an excuse."

Obviously, but who cared? "It's beta-testing. I don't have time for tons of feedback and surveys."

"There's not a lot of feedback necessary, and I can get it from you over beers, anyway." Max tilted his pint glass at me. I glared. This was not part of the script. "We're at the final stage and need real users now. Plus, you'd be a perfect test subject."

"Why's that?" Hannah asked, finally tearing her eyes off her phone. What a conversationalist.

"Wes's place in SouthParke is a full smart house, real futuristic shit." The house was part of our routine, the key being to brag without being obvious. "Actually, I'm pretty jealous and thinking about wiring my penthouse." True.

"What's a smart house?" Hannah asked. Max had more tolerance for the dumb ones than I did.

"The whole house was upgraded with state-of-the-art technology before I moved in," I explained. Slowly. Like I was talking to a toddler. "Everything works together, controlled by an app. Appliances, temperature control, lighting, security systems, that kind of thing."

"Do you like it?" Livia looked a little impressed. Better.

"I love it." Truth. "It's like it knows what I want better than I do."

"Which is why you'd be an excellent beta tester. You'd have access to our most advanced features because it could integrate with your home system."

Why was Max pushing this shit so hard? If Livia didn't work out, he was going to owe me later. "I don't know." I drew the phrase out like I was thinking again. I did know.

No.

Livia ran a nail around the rim of her glass. Yeah, she scratched. "Sounds like you'd even have an advantage."

Unlikely. I sucked at languages. Why bother, since everyone important already spoke English? "Doesn't matter. I don't need to learn a language right now."

"Come on, Wesley. I could really use your help, brother." God, I hated when he did that.

Livia shrugged. "Leave him alone. He's clearly intimidated."

I scoffed. "Hardly."

"Then what are you afraid of?" she asked.

"Nothing. I'm just not interested."

She crossed her legs, angling her body toward mine. Her foot brushed up against my lower leg. "Then why don't we make it interesting?"

Dammit. "You got my attention."

"What about a little bet?" She bit her lip. I bet she was a biter, too, but I doubted that's what she wanted to bet on.

Max smiled and clapped his hands together. "Now we're talking."

"How about we see who can learn more of the language in a certain period of time. Let's say sixty days?" Livia said.

Fifteen minutes a day for two months? Annoying, but doable. "How will we determine the winner?"

"I got you covered," Max said. "There are checkpoint quizzes built into the app. We'll use those."

I sighed. Still didn't want to do this.

"I knew it," Livia pressed. "He's afraid of a little challenge."

She just had to put it that way. "I never back down from a challenge."

Max laughed. "You got him there, Livia. He's hyper-competitive."

Asshole. "What language?"

"We have six ready for beta testing, with more on the way soon." He leaned back in his chair, smug as fuck. He was going to owe me for this one.

"Options?" I asked.

He counted off on his fingers. "Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and English."

"English?" Hannah asked. Her perfectly plucked brow furrowed.

"That one's for non-native speakers," he explained.

"Oh, right. Stupid me." Agreed. She gave herself a light smack on the forehead.

"We'll have Russian, Korean, Chinese, and Arabic soon, too," Max continued.

No one asked.

"Do you know any of those languages?" Livia rubbed her foot against my lower leg, definitely on purpose this time.

"I took Spanish in school." And hated it.

"Same. What about French?" she suggested. "Shouldn't be too hard since everyone knows a few French words already."

I swiveled and draped my arm over the back of her barstool. "What's the prize?" Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

She locked eyes with me, a smirk playing on her face. "Depends on how high you want to set the stakes."

The silence between us stretched until Hannah spoke up. "Oh, I have an idea! What about a winner-takes-all jackpot? Start with a set amount, but every time someone misses their daily practice they put more in. My mother used to do something like this with me and my brother, but for chores."

"That sounds interesting," Livia said, smiling at Hannah.

I'm sure I made far more money than Livia, so this was nothing to me, though I was surprised she went for it. "Sounds fine. When do we start and what's the buy-in?" We could add more personal stakes later. I played for pride, anyway.

"How about Sunday? And five hundred apiece," Livia said. "With an extra $25 for every skipped practice."

I whistled. "Fine with me, but are you sure about this?"

Her eyes sparked with mischief. "Absolutely. I never lose."

She held her hand out and we shook on it. This time she trailed her nail along my palm when I let go. Definitely a scratcher.

"It's a bet!" Hannah squealed.

"Perfect! I'll send you the link tomorrow." Max downed the rest of his beer and set the glass down with a thump. "Should be fun!"

Not really. Good thing Livia was so fuckable. She better bite.

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