Page 3 of Billionaire Games
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“Areyou two gentlemen busy tomorrow?” Ethan asked them, then popped a fried mushroom into his mouth after dipping it in Ranch sauce. His auburn waves hung to his shoulders and danced around them as he nodded and moaned with how good the food tasted.
“I’m never busy,” Phoenix replied. Then picked up a shoot of fried asparagus, plunging it into the creamy white depths of the dip.
“Me neither,” Griffin added. “Why do you ask, Ethan?”
“Because I too am never busy and I have an idea. But it would require an overnighter.” Ethan drank the last of his Rob Roy and motioned to the waiter for a refill.
“What kind of idea?” Phoenix asked with curiosity.
“You know how Julia lured us all in, having her way with us so easily,” Ethan said with a grin as he recalled some of those times he and she had.
Griffin nodded as his lips pulled into a sly grin. “I do.”
“And you do recall hearing about how she gave to various charities?” Ethan asked as he took the drink the waiter had brought to him.
“I do,” Phoenix said. “Can I have a beer? The cocktail isn’t hitting the spot for me.” The waiter gave him a nod and pointed to Griffin’s nearly full glass.
“Anything else for you, sir?” he asked Griffin.
“Bring me a beer too. I never did like this drink,” Griffin confessed. “I ordered it just to remember someone.”
“Beer me too,” Ethan added. “I don’t really know why I ordered another one of these. They’re much too sweet for me.”
As the waiter walked away, Phoenix asked, “So, what about the charities? Do you think we should donate to some of them?”
“I do,” Ethan said. “But I think we should make it interesting. I believe we three should make a bet. One that will remind us of Julia.”
“Like what?” Griffin asked as he watched a tall blonde woman walk behind Ethan and give him a double take.
“Like, find a small bar and see who can get laid first,” Ethan said with a huge smile. “You know, using the tactics Julia used on us. The whole thing, the cheesy drink, the wiggle of one finger, the terrible lines. We all fell for them.”
“I suppose the two that don’t win have to make the charitable donations,” Griffin said. “In what amount? That needs to be decided.”
“Can you two do a million each if you lose?” Phoenix asked.
When the others nodded, the three reached out to the middle of the table, placing their hands on top of the others. “So, it’s on,” Ethan said. “The first one to score wins and the other two make million dollar donations to the charities the winner chooses.”
“Agreed,” Griffin and Phoenix said in unison.
A pact was formed between the three men. An agreement that would mean some poor women might well become unsuspecting pawns in their little game. Griffin added a bit more detail to their bet, “To make sure things are fair, I think one of us should choose for the other. Like I can pick who Ethan can go for, Phoenix can find me a woman, and Ethan can find one for Phoenix. We can make sure the women look like the type that’ll give us a good fight. It’s no fun if we all pick tramps.”
Nods had the other men agreeing to the terms, and Phoenix felt like he should add something to the arrangement as he said, “And if no one scores tonight, we keep playing the same women until one of us does score. You know, no trading out. I think that makes it more interesting, don’t you?”
Ethan raised one thick brow as he contemplated what Phoenix had come up with. “That might mean we have to spend some time in the same place. Let’s choose a place wisely.” He pulled out his cell and searched the names of places near Boston. When a particular word caught his attention, he said, “Middlesex County sounds fun.”
“It sure does,” Phoenix agreed.
“There’s a town called Ashby, in that county,” Ethan added.
Griffin pulled his cell out of his jacket pocket and searched for places to stay while Phoenix took his phone out to find bars in the town. Ethan had chosen the town, so all three were active participants.
“There’s a quaint bed and breakfast that only has three bedrooms,” Griffin said. “It looks nice and homey. A great place to spend a night or two.” He turned the phone around to show the other two the pictures of the two-story home with white siding and yellow trim. Colorful flower gardens filled each side of a wide staircase that led up to a porch that looked as if it wrapped around one end of the large home.
“I like the looks of those rockers on the porch,” Phoenix said. “I think it looks cozy.”
“I’ll book it for a couple of nights,” Griffin said then tapped away to set it up. “For the next couple of nights, O’Toole’s Bed and Breakfast will be our home away from home.”
