Going for Gold by Ivy Smoak Page A

Rodrigo gestured to the chair next to his couch. "Please,
take a seat."
    I couldn't run away now. There were too many people in my path
that could stop me. I hesitantly sat down and Rodrigo did the same.
    "Before we begin, would you like anything to
drink?"
    "No, thank you." I didn't want to give him a chance
to roofie me. He was giving me kind of a rapey vibe.
    "Alright then, we'll get right down to business."
Rodrigo took a sip of his drink and leaned back on the couch with one arm
around each of the strippers. "Are you much of a gambler, Bryce?"
    I shrugged. "I've never really gambled much unless you
count my yearly fantasy football league."
    "What does the winner of your league get?"
    "I think most years it's like $500."
    Rodrigo shook his head. "Doesn't it just drive you crazy
watching the games and not knowing if your players are going to perform or
not?"
    "Yeah, but isn't that kind of the whole point of
gambling?"
    "No. No, no, no. The point of gambling is to make money.
At least, that's why I gamble."
    "Okay."
    "Do you know what a parlay is?"
    The term sounded vaguely familiar. It took me a second to
remember, but then the voice of my college stat professor filled my head,
describing a parlay in his accent from God-knows-where. A parlay is when you
only get a payout if a series of events all occur. So, for example, you could
have a five part parlay that depends on the results of five different games. If
you get any of them wrong, you get nothing, but if you guess them all right,
the payout can be quite large. The more scenarios and the less likely they are
to occur, the more money you can make for getting them all correct. The small
investment combined with the extremely low probability of winning a large sum
of money made parlays a lot like playing the lottery.
    "Yeah, I know what they are," I said.
    "Good. I recently made a parlay that included a number
of events from the International Tournament of Athletes. My odds of winning are
less than a percent of a percent. I don't like those odds much, do you?"
    "No."
    "Then maybe you can help me make them better."
    "Sure. Just cut your losses and invest in something with
better odds. I know a guy who does financial planning if you're
interested."
    Rodrigo laughed. "Ah, so you're a funnyman, are you? I
should have known you'd be funny after that prank you pulled on Yao Kai."
    I tried to maintain my poker face. "I don't know who's
giving you your intel, but that wasn't me." How the hell did he know
that was me?
    "Good, deny it to the end. See, I knew you were the
right man for the job."
    "I'm sorry, but I'm really not. If you're trying to rig
the games, you'll need to get a ton of the top athletes on your payroll. I
couldn't possibly rig however many events you have in your parlay. It'll never
work."
    Rodrigo shook his head and turned to one of the strippers
next to him. "I don't get it, Isadora. Why doesn't he want to work with
us?"
    "It is possible he wants a payment," said Isadora
with a sexy accent.
    "What kind of payment do you think he wants?"
    "I could suck his cock." Isadora stood up and
unhooked her bra. It fell to the ground to reveal her oversized, tan tits. On
paper, she was attractive. Big tits, tiny waist, flat stomach, toned legs -
every physical trait a man might describe he wants in a woman. But none of it
was real, especially her smile. Sure, her lips formed a smile, but her eyes
just weren't in it. Seeing her just made me kind of sad, not horny. I'd take a
real woman over Isadora any day of the week. Especially a real woman with a
volleyball ass like Alina's.
    "Not a bad idea. What do you say, Bryce? Is this what
you were holding out for?"
    "No, I just really don't think I can help." All I
wanted to do tonight was get to know Alina better, not contract HIV from some
Brazilian stripper.
    Isadora made a pouty face. "You like Giovanna more,
yes?"
    The other stripper stood up and dropped her bra. Her tits
looked exactly the same as Isadora's. They must have had