Page 130 of The Bet
“Will you shut the fuck up?” He hated Luke talking like that.
“Why are you getting so uptight? I’m not asking for proof or anything—I’m enough of a gentleman to take your word for it.”
“Shhhh!” he hissed, placing his finger over his lips. He might as well have announced it on national TV.
“What’s going on?” Luke asked, amusement dancing in his eyes, “Either you're on your way to winning, or I am. Just tell me how things are looking, because ten thousand dollars is still a lot of money.”
“Dude. Keep itdown.” Jacob was playing in the media room, but he didn’t want to talk about the bet right now.
“What’s wrong?” Luke asked. “You look like you’re about to shit a brick.”
He might as well have, by the way Luke was carrying on. “Screw the bet.”
“Screw the bet?” Luke scratched the side of his jaw. “Hmmm. Let me remind you that it was your idea, dude.”
He drew in a long breath. This wasn’t the appropriate time to be discussing this, and he wasn’t the one who had summoned Luke over. Luke was the one who had come to see him.
“We can discuss this another time.” He was more interested to know what had caused his friend to come over. “What’s going on with you?”
“The usual, the bars, the old man.”
“Yeah?” It was the same old same old with Luke.
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
“I know.” But there was something else. He sensed that Luke hadn’t come over to discuss the same old same old. Something gnawed at him below the surface, but his friend wasn’t one to openly divulge information, even when he was the one who needed to.
“You seeing anyone?” Xavier asked, suddenly, wondering if that might be it.
“Are you kidding me?”
It had been worth asking. “What was it you wanted to tell me?”
“Nothing that can’t wait.”
“Seriously, dude. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Everything’s cool” Luke looked at his watch. “I need to shoot. We’ll catch up another time.”
“You sure?” Because now that he looked at him more closely, Luke didn’t look all that great.
“Yeah. I’m sure. Come by the new site, it’s on Canal Street. Not far from your place.”
“That’s handy for me.”
“It’s not ready yet, but I’m there most days. Place is a demolition site. We’re going to strip it right back.”
And watch the cash roll in. This dude was ambitious, and driven. “Will do, dude.”
