Page 67 of Betting on You

“Laundry and packing,” he said. “Are you leaving your car at work while we’re gone?”

“No—Theo’s going to give Nekesa and me a ride in the morning.”

“Really,” he said, sounding smug.

“Shut it, they’re friends,” I defended, even as I knew they were getting too close.

“Sure they are,” he said. “I’m sure you saw the adorable winky faces she used when addressing Theo in the group chat.”

“I send winky faces to my mother,” I replied, even though the winky faces had totally been red flags to me. “Doesn’t mean anything.”

“Sure it doesn’t.”

“Are you going to be this annoying on the drive to the mountains?” I asked.

“Probably?”

I let out a long sigh. “I’m hanging up. G’night, Charlie.”

He sighed, louder and longer than mine. “G’night, Bailey.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVECharlie

I can’t believe I’m doing this, was all I could think—on repeat—the day Bailey and I were leaving for Breck.

The morning shift flew by with its usual boredom, but I couldn’t ignore the fucking annoying twirl of nerves rippling through me as I waited for her to change. Why had I agreed to this ridiculous plan?

Did it sound fun? Yes.

Did it sound like the kind of scenario that could go wrong in a thousand different ways?

Hell fucking yes.

And so the last thing I needed before jumping into a car with Bay for hours on end was Theo and his bullshit smile swaggering toward me.

“Holy shit, bro,” Theo said, grinning and shaking his head as I leaned against my car, which was parked under the canopy in front of the hotel. “This should be a slam dunk.”

“Huh?” IlikedTheo, liked him as in I didn’t want a meteor to fall from the sky and crush him, but I didn’t particularly enjoy talking to the weasel. He was the stereotypical prep school kid who enjoyed stirring up trouble because he’d never had to face any consequences in his entire life.

He was wearing the required uniform that we all wore, but the dude accessorized with a pinkie ring, a huge watch, and shoes that hadSaint Laurentscrawled across the side. If this were a movie, I’d say they’d been a little heavy-handed in costuming the prep school kid—no subtlety whatsoever.

Especially when he spoke like he’d never been unsure of himself a day in his life.

Wouldn’t that be fucking nice.

He came a little closer and lowered his voice. “The bet…?”

I was confused for a second and thought he knew about the bet Bailey and I had. But then…

SHIIIT.

“That was a joke,” I quickly snapped at him and his perfectly pomaded hair, as I suddenly remembered lunch on our first day at work, when Theo said something to me about Bailey being wound too tight for any guy to stand a chance with her. And then before I’d known what an actual sleaze he kind of was, I joked that I could do it.

“I bet you a hundred bucks that you can’t get her,” he’d said, and because I didn’t like his cocky smile, I’d replied with, “You’re on.”

But the last thing I had any interest in doing was pursuing Bailey.

For money, for fuck’s sake.

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