A Friendly Bet

PLEASE READ THE STORY TAGS BEFORE READING FURTHER

It's funny how the simplest things can have the biggest changes in your life. Even something as seemingly innocent as a bet between friends.

I was hanging out with my friend, Tony, watching Michigan play against Ohio State. We'd been drinking non-stop and talking a bunch of shit the whole game. Tony was a Buckeyes fan, and I was a die-hard Wolverines supporter. While the commercials were playing, he was telling me about this girl he'd hooked up with that he'd run into at a bar, and showing me some pictures of her on his phone.

"That's her." he said, pointing to a short, blonde in a tight-fitting pink dress.

"She's kind of cute." I said. "But she's not my type. She's not even close to being stacked enough. And I prefer brunettes."

"I take 'em wherever, and however, I can get them, dude." Tony replied.

Which wasn't a lie. Tony was a decent-looking guy, but it was his charm that actually got him laid. One time, I saw him walk up to a girl at a party we just arrived at and convince her to go somewhere private so they could talk without yelling over the music. A half-hour later, he showed me the panties she gave him as a souvenir. The guy could talk a fish out of water if he was bored enough. If he wanted a girl, Tony could get her.

"So, what's her name?" I asked.

"It's Jess, or Jen, something like that."

"Are you going to keep seeing her?"

"No way, dude." He replied. "I've already moved on."

"What a gentleman." I laughed.

"No, I'm just being realistic." Tony said. "I'm not looking for anything serious. The minute a relationship starts getting serious, it's time to cut loose. You have to be a little heartless sometimes." he explained. "Besides, it's not like it's hard for me to talk a chick into giving it up."

"This again." I said, shaking my head.

"Yeah, 'this' again. Because you know it's true." he continued confidently. "Any woman in this world I wanted, I could pull her. End of story."

"Bullshit." I scoffed.

Tony leaned back, taking a sip of his beer. "You think I can't do it?"

"It's not that I don't think you get plenty of ass, I just know that you can't hook up with EVERY woman."

"I wasn't talking about my mom or my little sister, you ass." Tony deadpanned.

"Neither was I." I replied. "You would never be able to seduce Maya."

Tony stopped short at that, his confident demeanor wavering for a moment. Which was understandable.

Maya Kelley nee Torres was five feet and seven inches of Latino passion. One minute she could be the sweetest, most innocent person in the room, and the next, a raging inferno, ready to take on the world. Maya was 130 lbs of curves and sexual confidence. Between her generous breast size, her plump, heart-shaped backside, and the long, thick, black hair that fell to the middle of her back, every male with a working pair of eyes couldn't help but fantasize about her. She was the most beautiful, amazing woman I've ever known who for some reason, chose a nerd like me to spend the rest of her life with.

"Maya?" Tony parroted before suddenly going quiet and turning to look back at the television and watch the game.

I took his silence as a concession of defeat. In my mind, Maya was an unattainable goal. Guys flirted with her all the time when was alone, and most of the time she was polite in her dismissal, but occasionally, someone would get a little too bold or handsy and she would nip that in the bud quickly.

This one time, a guy walked up to her when we were out at the mall and started hitting on her right in front of me. From the outside looking in, my inaction at stepping in probably made me look like a weak and timid guy, but the truth was, I was just shocked by his audacity. I didn't know that something like this actually happened in real life. I just stood there for a couple of seconds gawking at them. By the time I even thought to react, Maya was already tearing the guy a new asshole. I felt kind of bad after I saw how red from embarrassment his face turned. Towards the end, I actually thought he might cry, but he had no one to blame but himself.

So using Maya as a trump card to shut Tony down was a logical move. If Maya had been a normal woman, maybe things would have turned out differently, but Maya was no ordinary woman.

We sat quietly watching the game for another ten minutes before Tony got up and went into the Kitchen. He grabbed us a couple more beers and another tray of the sliders Maya had made before he came back out. I was about to bite into my third slider when he spoke up.

"I don't want to burst your bubble, but under the right circumstance everyone is capable of doing things they wouldn't normally do." I paused in mid-bite and looked over at him. "I know you think that Maya is this unapproachable bastion of integrity, but everybody has a line they're willing to cross for the right reason."

I chuckled, dismissing his statement. "Come on, Tony. You know she's not going to fall for cheesy lines or some smooth-talking guy."

He nodded, acknowledging my point. "I don't disagree. Maya is not the kind of girl that you can just walk up to and sweet-talk. But, Alex, people change under certain conditions. You might think she's impervious to charm, but in the right situation, with the right approach, even someone as stand up as Maya could be swayed."

I laughed. "If you say so, dude."

Tony's face turned serious. "I'm not saying that it would be easy. I'm just saying, don't be so sure that it's impossible. People have buttons, and if you push the right ones, they might surprise you."

I looked over at Tony with a critical eye. "Well, if Maya has a button, then I'm not sure you would have the ability to find it."

"Maybe. Maybe not." he said. "But it's a moot point, right? Not like I could actually try."

"You really think you could seduce my wife?" I asked as I realized the depths of his confidence. "The sheer fucking hubris..." I shook my head in disbelief. Tony shrugged and went back to watching the game. I, on the other hand, was still in awe.

I didn't know if he was just being cocky or if he really believed what he was saying, but the mere idea of him being able to seduce Maya was mind-boggling. Tony needed to be shown that he really couldn't have any woman he wanted. If I had been drinking just a little bit less, I never would have let the next words in my head come out of my mouth.

"Alright then. I bet you couldn't do it." I said, challenging him.

Tony turned to look at me, his mouth filled with food and doing its best impression of a chipmunk. "Hmm? You bet I couldn't what?"

"I bet you couldn't seduce Maya." I clarified.

He stared at me as he slowly chewed his food. Once he was done, he grabbed his bottle, took a swig, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he asked, looking confused.

"I'm saying that, no matter how hard you tried, I bet that you would never be able to convince Maya to have sex with you."

"You're betting me that I couldn't bang your wife?" Tony asked, incredulously.

I simply nodded in response. "You think you can seduce her, I know that you couldn't. Seems pretty simple."

Tony stared at me with a skeptical expression. I guess he was trying to figure out whether I was being serious about it or not.

"Alright, Mike, what's the terms." Tony asked me calmly. He sounded a lot less cocksure than he did when this conversation started, but too proud to back down.

"If you win... well... obviously you know what you'd win." Tony nodded, waiting for me to finish. "If I win then I want you to give me one bitcoin."

Tony's eyes grew wide at the request. A whole bitcoin was worth a lot of money at the time, and he had already made a couple million off them, but the price was expected to skyrocket soon.

I finished off the last of my beer as I watched Tony get lost in his head. He was probably weighing the pros and cons, obviously in doubt that he could actually pull it off. After a couple of minutes, he looked up at me and nodded.

"Alright, man, you're on." he said, reaching out to shake my hand.

To me, he didn't sound that confident, but he'd agreed to the terms. As far as I was concerned, he was committed.

"Good luck to you then. I'm gonna head out and give you a couple of hours to try and work your charm." I told him as I went to grab my car keys.

The smile on his face dropped as he realized I was getting ready to leave. "Wait. What? You want to do this now?"

"No better time, right?" I said with a grin.

"You're just leaving me here alone with her?" he asked, surprised.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "Besides, Maya needed to pick some things up for the barbecue we're doing tomorrow anyway. Might as well kill two birds with one stone." I told him. "You have to be honest about what happens though. If you fail, I need you to admit it." I couldn't help but feel a little smug about all of it. "And if you actually win the bet, of course."

Tony gave me a dirty look, probably irked by my smugness. Not my fault, he knew the kind of woman Maya was before he accepted the bet.

"So, good luck." I told him. "Oh and don't forget to practice your lines. You wouldn't want to sound too rehearsed." I teased.

"Fuck you, dude." he said as I headed towards the door. I laughed as I got in my car and left.

Tony was my best friend. I trusted him with everything I had, including Maya, but the idea that he could seduce my wife was absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't wait to see his face when he was forced to admit defeat.

Since I had plenty of it to waste, I took my time going through the grocery store. I grabbed the things Maya had asked for, a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes and whole corn, as well as anything else that popped into my head that we might have needed at home. Still, even with all that I'd only whittled down 30 minutes. I was curious to see if she'd shot him down yet so once I loaded everything in the trunk and got back into the car I pulled out my phone.

I had installed security cameras around the house a while ago, mainly for safety reasons, but they also served as a way to keep an eye on things whenever I wasn't around. I don't know why, but I never told Maya about them when she moved in after things became more serious between us. That forgetfulness now offered me the perfect way of checking in on the situation back at the house without either one of them being any wiser.

I logged into the app on my phone and accessed the live feed from the cameras. After cycling through the feeds, I found them sitting next to each other on the couch in the living room. Tony must have said something funny since Maya was laughing hard, her mouth stretched wide open. She had her hair tied up in a ponytail and was wearing a gray t-shirt and a pair of my black basketball shorts. Tony was laughing just as hard so he must not have made his attempt yet because I don't think either of them would be in such a jovial mood if he had.

I couldn't help but smile seeing her face so animated. I always loved it when she smiled. The way her eyes lit up and her cute little snort that she would make when she was laughing extra hard at something.

Maya said something and started laughing once more. I saw her hand land on Tony's thigh to keep her from tumbling over. Her raucous laughter died down and she patted him a couple of times on the leg before she leaned over and poured herself some wine.

As she was raising the glass to her lips, I saw her pause for a moment. She must have said something because I saw Tony's mouth start moving. I wished that I could hear what was being said, but I couldn't. For the last couple of days, the cameras installed downstairs weren't picking up any audio during their recordings. Someone was supposed to come and look at it next week, but that wouldn't help me today.

Maya, seemingly unbothered by Tony's presence, maneuvered herself around on the couch so that she could lie on her back with her knees bent. She looked like she was in a pretty relaxed mood as I saw her raise the glass and take another drink. I saw Tony look at her and say something before she spread her feet apart so she could look at him without her head having to move.

She said something to him in return and after a few seconds, stretched out across the couch, placing her legs on his lap. I think now was when Tony was going to start trying to make his move. He responded by casually putting his hand on her leg to gauge her reaction. To my surprise, Maya continued their conversation without any noticeable discomfort or objection to his touch.

A part of me wondered what was going on. Maya never let just anyone get familiar with touching her so casually. Yet, there was no sign of her telling him to stop, or even giving him a look that suggested she wasn't comfortable with his hands touching her bare leg like that. Things didn't progress any further than that, though. They spent the next few minutes talking and occasionally laughing at whatever they were talking about.

Once Maya drained the glass and sat it down, she reached over for the bottle on the table. It must have been empty because she started wiggling it around to see how much was left. She got up and took the bottle with her as she walked out of the frame. Tony's head turned and watched her leave, staring at her before it turned to look back at the TV.

I didn't know what to think about the whole thing. Maya seemed pretty chill hanging out with him, even going as far as laying her legs on him, but at the same time, nothing really inappropriate had happened.

Tony's head turned toward the direction of the kitchen once more. A few seconds later, I saw Maya return, a new bottle of wine in hand. She poured herself another glass before getting comfortable again with her legs back across his lap. Tony's hand quickly returned to its spot on Maya's leg. The next couple minutes went by in silence as both of them seemed content with watching the game. Tony's hand, however, did not stay idle. He started rubbing it back and forth across her leg in a slow and deliberate motion that I could only assume was meant to arouse her.

The boldness Tony showcased when he started rubbing on Maya's leg was surprising, but the thing that really threw me off was that she hadn't put a stop to it. Even though I couldn't hear what they were talking about, Maya should have at least reacted to what was happening. Instead, she just sat there with a glass in her hand and the same relaxed look on her face that she'd had before.

I couldn't believe it. She should have kicked him in the face and thrown him out of the house by now, but instead, she was lying there enjoying a glass of wine. People say that when you assume something, it makes an "ass out of u and me". I was starting to feel like an ass. I was so sure that Maya would shut Tony down hard, but now it looked like she might even be enjoying it. A growing part of me couldn't help but wonder how far Tony was willing to push the boundaries and whether Maya would eventually put an end to his advances.

After a few moments, his hand shifted slightly so that his thumb was grazing the soft, supple skin of her inner thigh. All Maya did was shift her legs slightly then went right back to ignoring him. The more I watched, the more I was concerned about how far things might go. I decided it was time for me to head home. Fuck the bet. This wasn't right.

I was on the other side of town, so getting on the highway to get back home was the fastest way to get there. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to keep an eye on what was going on in my house the way I could if I was driving on the surface streets. I kept the phone on and put it on the holder. I wouldn't be able to watch it, but I'd still be able to glance at it out of the corner of my eye. I turned the screen brightness up high enough so that I could still make out what was going on, even from a quick look.

As I made my way toward the highway, I felt a knot starting to form in my stomach. I let my ego push me into doing something I should have known better than to do. I shouldn't have challenged Tony like that. Yeah, it was kind of annoying hearing him brag about his prowess for the thousandth time, but it's not like it was doing anything to hurt me. I shouldn't have risked Maya's feelings.

At the light before the onramp, I looked over and saw Maya and Tony still on the couch. Tony's hand had moved even higher on Maya's thigh, dangerously close to an area that made my stomach churn. Maya's reaction wasn't as passive as it had been before. She had a small smile on her face and was shaking her head. The second the light turned green I pressed on the gas pedal, speeding onto the ramp and heading home.

The traffic was its normal weekend congestion, but today it felt like everyone on the highway was doing their best to keep me from getting home. Now and then I would glance over at the phone to see what was happening. Tony's hand was still on Maya's thigh, but now it seemed to be moving more intimately. Maya said something to him and he began to overtly rub the inside of her leg. I couldn't tell whether Maya was encouraging him or not. She should have stopped him immediately. My hands gripped the steering wheel tighter, my knuckles turning white, at the possibilities of what was about to happen.

Maybe Tony wouldn't go through with it. Maybe he would just see how far he COULD go, just to find out how Maya would react.

My mind ran wild as it imagined the possibilities of what could happen next. I don't know how long I zoned out, but the next time I glanced over, I couldn't see either of them on the couch anymore. I felt my heart start beating a thousand miles a minute as I quickly reached over to grab my phone from the dashboard mount with trembling hands. I tried to split my attention between staying on the road and using my thumb to scroll through the available cameras, but a heavy brushing with my thumb caused the phone to slip out of my hand and onto the floor of the car. Panic surged through me, and I instinctively reached down to retrieve it.

The highway was busy, and my focus should have been on the road, but my desperation to know what was happening at home took over. I fumbled around on the floor, my eyes darting between the road and the search for the fallen phone. I heard the telltale "whump" sound the tires make when you're drifting over onto the shoulder of the road. My eyes immediately snapped and I swerved back into my lane. Thankfully, no one was right near me so the sudden maneuver didn't cause any accidents.

To keep the risks of getting into an accident to a minimum, I decided to leave the phone on the car floor until I could find a safe place to pull over. My foot pressed harder on the gas pedal as I desperately tried to get home faster. Unable to look at my phone and see what was happening, the next ten minutes felt like the longest ones of my life as my mind raced with thoughts of what might be happening at home.

I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind as I finally reached the exit that would take me home. I got caught by the light, which I was thankful for the first time in my life. A few seconds of blindly feeling around on the car floor allowed me to locate my phone. I snatched it up from the floor and brought the camera selection menu back up. The preview window for each of the cameras updated every 60 seconds. None of the cameras covering the living room, kitchen, front steps, or backyard showed anyone in them. That didn't necessarily mean no one was there, but if they were standing outside of the frame, there was no way I could tell.

I continued scrolling through the list when I felt my stomach drop. All I could do was sit there staring at the preview window for the camera installed in the guest bedroom. My heart beat in my chest like a drum as I felt the world give out from underneath me. There was no mistaking what I was looking at in the preview window. Call it morbid curiosity or whatever you want, but I needed to see what was happening with my own eyes, not just a still image.