Page 162 of The Bet
Chapter 46
Valentine’s Day was fucked.
Bang, bang, bang.
Workmen in safety overalls and helmets were at the far corner of the room. A handful of guys in safety gear were scattered around the dusty shell of what once used to be a memorabilia store. This was Luke’s new project.
Bang, bang, bang.
The sound of a drill, filled the air.
Men shouted at one another.
“What?” Xavier shouted back.
“You shouldn’t be in here,” Luke shouted, directly into his ear. “It’s dangerous without a helmet.”
He hadn’t exactly come to admire the new work in progress. He moved closer to his friend and shouted in his ear. “I can’t hear you. Can we talk elsewhere?”
Luke nodded, then walked outside. Xavier followed. His friend took off his helmet. His face and hair flecked with dust.
Bang, bang, bang.
“Is it always so noisy?” Xavier asked.
“It’s under construction, pal. What do you expect?”
“It’s a good size,” he remarked. “And you’ve hit the jackpot with the location”.
“Yeah, I know,” Luke replied, looking pretty smug.
“You’re impossible to get a hold of these days, dude.” Xavier cast his eye all around the dusty, dirty, demolition site. “But I can see why.”
“I’ve been busy, and I’m going to be wrapped up in this for the next few months.”
Great. Just when he needed someone to talk to, his friend was out of bounds. “Do you want to go and get a beer or something?” He needed to offload the shitstorm that was his life now.
“I could do with a couple of beers,” said Luke, swiping his hands through his hair. “But I can’t today. There’s just too much going on.” He peered closer. “Why? What brings you here?”
“She found out.” His lungs squeezed each time he thought of it. “Izzy found out about the bet.”
“She what?” Luke squinted in confusion. The banging continued in the distance, the shouting, the drilling. It didn’t seem like the right place to get the kind of advice he was after.
“She found out. She knows, and she hates me for it.”
“How the hell did she find out?”
“I have no fucking idea.” Xavier let out a heavy breath. “Wasn’t you, was it?” he asked, his eyes on Luke’s face.
His friend looked at him in disbelief. “You’re really asking me?” He shook his head. “I never said anything. You know I wouldn’t, right?”
He had never doubted Luke’s loyalty, but given that it had only been the two of them, and that Izzy wasn’t telepathic, he was stumped.
“I don’t know how the fuck she found out, then.”
Luke looked confused. “You didn’t seem to be getting anywhere pursuing her, and I thought you’d forgotten about it.”
“I wasn’t getting anywhere, and I did forget about it.” Only, between then and now, he’d fallen for her, and the bet had hung over him like a dagger the entire time, something he’d needed to take care of, but had never found the right moment to do so. And now, the dagger had fallen.
