Page 22 of The Billion Dollar Bet

When he arrived at Barry’s house, Troy was already there citing that he was in the neighborhood when Devin called. They congregated inside the game room and Devin went straight for the bar to pour himself a scotch – neat. Troy poured himself a mineral water while Barry already had a drink in hand.

Devin downed the scotch in one go, poured another and gulped it down. He was about to repeat the process when someone grabbed the bottle and took his glass. Troy also looked at him in confusion.

“What’s going on Devin?” Barry asked. “Why you drinking like a mad man?”

Devin grabbed the bottle from Barry’s hand and poured splashed some in his glass. “I’m going to kill that fucking bastard.”

“Who?”

Troy mimicked Barry’s question. “Who?”

Devin’s voice was low and deadly when he said, “Carter.”

“What’d he do?” Barry probed.

Slushing down the amber liquid, he slammed the glass onto the counter top. “That bastard told Cassie about our bet.”

Barry raked a hand through his blond waves. “What the … are you sure?”

Devin grabbed Barry’s collar. “Did you tell her?”

Barry shoved his hand away. “Of course not. You know me better than that.”

Devin then turned to Troy.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell her.”

Devin stalked to the pool table and picked up a cue stick. “Then it’s settled. I will have to pay him back for hurting her. I will remember the pain in her eyes when I pluck out his and feed them to the dogs on the street.”

“Don’t say things like that Dev,” Troy said. “You sound like a barbarian.”

Devin smashed the cue stick on the table. The table jerked and the stick broke into two. The piece remaining in his hand, he used to slap the surface of the table repeatedly until the stick frayed into fiber.

“I am entitled to be as barbaric as I like when the woman I love has been hurt!” he shouted. “You didn’t see the tears in her eyes, or hear the anguish in her voice.” He threw down the destroyed stick and turned to his friends who were looking on in terror. “You know what she said to me?” he chuckled. “She said I made her into a piece of meat for sale. I did that. Yet, I recalled calling off the bet weeks ago.” He approached Barry, his mind now in utter confusion. “Didn’t I call off the bet?”

“Yes you did.”

“Then why? Why would Cart do this other than the fact that Cassie is black and he fucking hates black people, that racist piece of shit!”

“Shit man.” Troy said. “Let it go Devin. Just forget the whole thing.”

Devin moved to Troy and grabbed fistfuls of his shirt. “Forget the whole thing?”

“They say if you love something to set it free and …”

“Set if free?’ he sneered, tightening his hold on Troy. “Set her free? When something belongs to you, you never set it free and Cassie belongs to me.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Troy rambled. “I-I…”

Devin wasn’t listening. “When I said I was going to marry her, I meant it. Now you want me to set her free? You don’t set free the woman you love. You make her yours and that’s what I intend to do.”

“What I meant was, forget Carter. He’s gone,” a tremor sounded in Troy’s voice.

Devin released Troy with a shove. “No. I will find him wherever he is. And when I do, he will pay for hurting her. If Cassie was any other girl, I’d let it go. But she isn’t any other fucking girl. She’s mine and I will not lose her.”

Devin marched to the bar and poured another drink, holding up the glass and looking intensely at his two friends. “You tell your friend Carter that he’d better sleep with one eye open. He’d better pray that Cassie forgives me.”

“Devin, you have to take some responsibility in all this, you did bet on her.”

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