Billionaire's Game

by Summer Cooper

  I thought about how just a few weeks ago, I probably would have run from the dance floor, but now I was busting a move, badly, but I was having fun. Finally, the song ended. Maya high-fived me and went off with Violet to get a drink.

  “Tearing up this dance floor has got me crazy thirsty,” Maya said and Violet concurred. As I’d known they would, they’d gotten along instantly. They were so much alike, it was either they would get along great or hate each other. I was glad it was the former and not the latter.

  As they walked away, I looked around, wondering if Magnus was there yet. From my position on the dance floor, I could easily see the entrance and exits. Magnus and I hadn’t discussed the party the other day on the phone. We had just talked about his family and how his parents were finally reconciling after over a decade of not even speaking with each other. I was happy for him and wondered if it were family business or actual business that was making him run late today.

  I tried to focus on the party instead of Magnus’s appearance. There were a ton of older people there, shaking it to music I hadn’t heard since my youth. Mom had been a huge fan of music from the seventies. I was glad so many members of the community had shown up to support such a great cause.

  I slinked away toward the side of the room as the dance floor began to fill up again. It was then that I saw him, and he instantly saw me too.

  He made a beeline straight across the dance floor, smiling as he headed toward me. A couple twirling to a song being played by the DJ ran into Magnus, but he seemed to barely notice as he made his way to me. I watched him watching me. My whole body responded to his presence. I shyly looked his way as goosebumps appeared on my bare arms.

  Finally, he was standing in front of me and I wanted to wrap myself in his arms in greeting. It took every fiber of my being not to.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi.”

  “I—”

  “You—”

  We both started talking at the same time and then laughed. “You first,” I said, still smiling. He looked so handsome even though he was wearing a white leisure suit that looked like something John Travolta wore in Saturday Night Fever. The movie had come out way before my time, but my mother loved John Travolta so I’d been commanded to watch all of his movies.

  “You look great,” he said to me. He then let his eyes scan my body. It was brief and discrete, but enough to make me feel flushed. I was wearing hot pants too and a cropped top. Thankfully, my shorts actually covered my bottom.

  I blushed and said, “You look very John Travolta-ish.”

  He raised a brow and said, “Thanks. I think.”

  “You just look... gorgeous. The seventies suits you.”

  “The clothes, not the era,” I said. I couldn’t help myself. I was a history major after all.

  “So do you want me to get you a drink or something?”

  “Or something,” I said facetiously. And then without thinking I reached my hand out to his and he took it. At that very moment, I saw Violet coming toward us. I guiltily removed my hand from his and opened my mouth to apologize. I know she saw us, but she seemed unconcerned as she made her way to us.

  “Magnus! There you are! Come on, Channel Seven is here. Let’s get a picture. I’ll bring him right back, Lesli. I promise.” And just like that, Violet whisked him off.

  I wondered about her last comment, about bringing him back to me. Did she know that I was secretly interested in him? Or maybe it wasn’t all that secret. She did just catch me holding hands with him. I didn’t know what I’d been thinking. The only excuse I could give myself was that it was becoming harder and harder to keep my feelings in check when Magnus was around. I didn’t know what to do from here, but I decided then and there to stop being afraid of how I felt. I vowed to tell Magnus by the end of the evening how I felt and I’d also have to tell Violet. My shoulders filled with tension again and my stomach did somersaults at the idea of how my words would hurt her, but I knew I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I couldn’t hide how I really felt from the world, not to mention from a friend.

  I caught up with Misha, Emmaline, and Lacey. They’d been staring in my direction and when I approached, they tried to appear nonchalant. They didn’t say a word but their silence spoke volumes.

  “What?” I said with a hint of annoyance.

  “You and Magnus seemed awfully cozy until Violet showed up.”

  “We’re just friends.”

  “Friends don’t stare into each other’s eyes and hold hands,” Emmaline said matter-of-factly as she helped herself to another flute of champagne as a waiter made his rounds.

  I followed her lead and helped myself to one too. I needed a little liquid courage for what I planned to do tonight.

  And then I thought to myself, maybe I needed to practice saying it out loud.

  “You guys,” I said taking a deep breath. “I’m in love with Magnus.”

  “I knew it,” Lacey said.

  “You need to tell him,” Emmaline immediately added to the conversation. “From what Lacey’s told us, he just started dating Violet, but you don’t want things to progress too far along before telling him how you feel.”

  “So true,” Misha said nodding. “Tell him how you feel and then rip his clothes off and have dirty sex with him in his limo. It’s what I would do.”

  I giggled. “I’ll definitely consider it.”

  “You do that,” she agreed before waving to someone behind us. “Oliver and Grandma are here!”

  “He made it,” Lacey said as we moved as a group toward them. On his arm was Kat, Misha’s grandmother.

  We all hugged and fussed over each other.

  “Welcome back! How was the vacation?” I asked.

  “Great. Wonderful,” Kat said.

  “But I was ready to come home,” Oliver said. “This old body isn’t what it used to be. Kat, here,” he said kissing her forehead. “Now, she could have stayed in Greece. You should have seen her, dancing on tables in the Greek isles.”

  Kat laughed. “I had a grand time. But I missed my apartment.”

  Oliver sighed. “I took her to the fanciest hotels money could buy, but this one wanted to experience hostels. I stayed at a hostel for this woman. I had to share a bathroom with strangers. It was almost inhumane.” His tone was incredulous, which made the rest of us laugh.

  Kat pinched the tip of his nose, in a very cute, affectionate manner, and said, “Oh, hush. You loved every minute of it.”

  “Only because I was with you...”

  “You’re too sweet.” They shared a brief kiss.

  “Ok, ok, get a room,” Misha said, making a face.

  “I might be your grandma but I’m also a sensual, hot-blooded woman with needs—”

  Misha held her hands up and said, “Alright, alright. I get it. Ok. Cool. Whatever. Let’s change the subject. Lesli’s in love with Magnus.”

  I opened my mouth, closed it and then opened it again. “Thanks for telling the world, Misha.”

  “I knew love was in the air!” Oliver said giddily. “I’m so happy for you. Magnus is a great guy. Hard worker. You know he single-handedly rebuilt his family’s wealth. His mom, Jenny, gave away the entire family fortune to some charlatan in Sri Lanka, I think it was.” He shrugged. “But Magnus didn’t feel entitled to her wealth like his father did. He couldn’t have cared less, but his dad was always looking for a handout. I sort of got the feeling that’s why he married Jenny. They never really had much in common. Anyway, Magnus made it his mission to build back the family fortune. Been working hard at it for nearly a decade. I have nothing but good things to say about him. You chose a real winner, Lesli.”

  I knew he was right. Magnus was a great guy. I wouldn’t have fallen for him if he wasn’t.

  “So are you guys going to tie the knot?” Oliver asked.

  “Woah, hold on Oliver,” Lacey said. “He doesn’t even know how she feels yet.”

  He looked at me in confusion. “But why?”

&nbs
p; “It’s a long story, Oliver, and he kind of has a girlfriend—”

  “What?” Now he was frowning.

  I filled them all in, leaving out any X-rated parts.

  “Wow, the situation does sound pretty complicated,” Kat said, looking concerned.

  “It is.” I felt forlorn suddenly. Why had I let things spiral out of control? If I hadn’t been so stubborn and insecure, my relationship with Magnus would have progressed like all other normal people, but nooo, I had to make things difficult.

  I was trying to find something to say when suddenly the music came to a sudden stop and we all turned in the direction of the DJ who was looking a little bit afraid. Standing next to him, waving a microphone threateningly at the security guards was a familiar looking man. I just couldn’t place him. He was young, tall, blonde.

  And then it hit me. “That’s Violet’s boyfriend!”

  “Violet’s dating Magnus and has a boyfriend. How does she find the time?” Kat wondered out loud.

  “I mean ex. That’s her ex-boyfriend.”

  “What’s he doing here? And why is he fighting the security guard over the microphone?”

  “Leave me alone. I have something to say and I’m going to say it,” Violet’s ex-boyfriend shouted into the mike.

  The security guards grabbed him and he ducked around them, disappearing under the table with the mike.

  “Violet, sweetie,” he said while kicking at the security guards’ hands as they dragged him from underneath the table. “I only want to be with you!” he crooned.

  I looked around for Violet who was standing there in shock. Magnus was by her side looking bewildered. The others and I moved closer, not wanting to miss a moment of this show.

  The security guards now had Violet’s ex-boyfriend by his underarms and were trying to drag him out.

  “Oh wait, wait. Don’t hurt him. He’s the love of my life!”

  There was an audible gasp from the audience, myself included. Magnus continued to look bewildered, turning from Violet’s ex-boyfriend to Violet.

  With much fanfare, Violet reached up and kissed Magnus on the cheek. “You’re great. You really are but, you know, I just don’t really feel anything between us.”

  Magnus opened his mouth to say something when Violet pressed her finger against his lips and said, “Shhh. Don’t say anything. I know you’re in shock. I know you’ll never meet anyone else like me in your entire life and I’m sorry for you about that.” She stood back and took his hands, continuing, “But trust me that I’ll always have a special place in my heart for you. And you can always follow me on Instagram.”

  She happily reached for her ex-boyfriend’s hand who took one last parting jab at Magnus. “Yo’ man, you better not follow my girl on Instagram, got that?”

  Violet giggled. “Oh, Steve. You’re so virile and protective. I always loved that about you.”

  “Anything for you, girl. You know you’re my girl, right? I love you so much. I messed up. I’ll never kiss another woman again unless that other woman is you.” His eyes were red as he started to tear up and his lips trembled.

  “I love you, too,” Violet said as her eyes began to water. That was the end of the sweetness as they started slobbering on each other while the rest of us watched in shock.

  “Get a room,” someone shouted. I was pretty sure that someone was Misha.

  “Let’s get married. Haven’t you always wanted to visit Vegas?” Steve said.

  To everyone’s surprise, Violet balked. “Slow down, buddy. I’m young and fun. I’m not going to let marriage ruin what I have left of my twenties. Are you freaking kidding me?”

  Steve actually looked relieved. “Cool. Want to go get some noodles? There’s this Vietnamese noodle place out near downtown. They let me park my camper there.”

  “You brought your camper with you?” she said, unwinding her arms from his neck and stepping back. “That’s so gross. I always hated that camper.”

  They walked away arguing while the rest of us looked on.

  “Well, that was something,” Emmaline muttered.

  “God, how embarrassing,” Misha said as she helped herself to the pile of shrimp at the buffet table. “These are delicious.”

  Oliver popped up next to me with Kat by his side. “Here’s your chance, Lesli. He’s sad and single. Get ready to pounce.”

  I looked at Oliver and shook my head. No, I couldn’t. This couldn’t be the right time to tell him. He’d just been publicly dumped.

  “He’s right,” Kat said. “He’s ripe for the picking... All vulnerable and sad.”

  I wanted to cover my ears and hide when suddenly Magnus walked in our direction. During Violet’s speech his face had registered shock, then disbelief and then finally amusement. He didn’t look amused now, he looked determined.

  “Shhh... he’s coming this way... he’s coming this way,” Lacey murmured. “Quick everyone, Pretend we weren’t talking about him.”

  To my embarrassment, everyone started fake laughing and awkwardly talking about the weather.

  Oliver was the worst offender. “Oh, Magnus. We didn’t see you there.” He patted him on the back with a hard hit. “Don’t worry about the breakup. Things will turn around. We’ve all had our share of public humiliation.”

  Misha laughed and then quickly tried to cover it as a cough.

  Magnus winced. “Yeah. That was pretty bad. I think I’m going to head out and lick my wounds.”

  “Nonsense. Stay. We’re all friends here. No one’s going to bring up the fact that you got dumped so publicly.”

  “No,” Magnus said with a sigh, “I think I’ll head out. I’ve given the papers enough to talk about for one night.” He looked at me then and I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes as he said, “Goodnight, Lesli.”

  He turned to walk away and people cleared a path for him. Most were still whispering among themselves about the commotion Steve had caused.

  I watched him walk away until he disappeared. My heart went out to him, but Oliver and Kat were right. Maybe this was my moment. I looked at Lacey and said, “Don’t wait up for me.”

  I could hear cheers behind me and knew Oliver, Lacey, and the rest of the gang were cheering me on.

  I picked up the pace, racing through the crowd and down the stairs. People looked at me curiously, but I knew it was now or never. I had to tell him how I felt or at the very least I had to show him.

  “Hey,” I called as I closed the distance between us.

  He turned around and looked confused but pleased to see me.

  I swallowed hard, “I could say that I’m sorry about what happened, but I’m not sorry at all.” I surprised myself by my own bluntness.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say.” He looked confused and on guard.

  “I don’t know what I want you to say either, but I do know that I’m glad that it’s over between you and Violet. She wasn’t right for you.”

  He looked at me quizzically, “Really? Then who is?”

  I raised my hand and he gave a gruff laugh.

  “You?”

  I nodded and gave him a partial smile. “I think, just maybe, that I might be.”

  He stared at me and didn’t say a word and then he took my hand and pulled me into the limo with him. I knew I should have waited, but I couldn’t. I had already waited too long in my opinion.

  I unzipped his pants as soon as the limo door closed and he spread his legs, allowing me better access. I got down on my knees and pulled his already straining sex into my mouth. I wanted this. I wanted to taste him. I wanted to claim what I felt was rightfully mine.

  I sucked at the tip and he shifted, trying to maintain his cool. I looked up at him and he looked down at me as I pulled not just the tip but the rest of him deep into my mouth.

  He groaned then and grabbed my head. He kept my face to his cock as I moved it in and out of my mouth, adjusting the speed of my licks and teasing him with my tongue. I used my other hand to play w
ith his balls and I didn’t know it was possible, but he stiffened even more, getting harder and longer.

  I couldn’t wait, I needed him right then and there. I didn’t care that the driver might hear us. I climbed into Magnus’s lap and he pulled my shorts off and pushed my panties to the side. He began to finger me as he kissed me all over, planting kisses along the tops of my breasts and freeing my nipples with a sense of urgency, sighing as he sucked one and then the other into his mouth. I ran my fingers through his hair and moaned.

  And then as I did, he fingered me harder, pushing one finger and then another deep into me. I gasped and begged him.

  “Put it in,” I whispered against his ear.

  “Say please,” he teased.

  I decided to take matters into my own hand. I grabbed his length and lowered myself on it. I wanted to take him all in at one time, but it had been a while since our last encounter so I had to take my time.

  But that made it even more pleasurable. I slowly took him in inch by inch and he tossed his head back and let me control the rhythm of our lovemaking as I buried him in my wetness.

  I began to move up and down, almost letting the tip of his sex exit my center before settling back down. He took over then, unable to control himself, and began speeding up the rhythm of our lovemaking.

  “God, you feel good...” he moaned, his head still tossed back.

  I couldn’t respond, I was on the point of no return. An orgasm hit me and I closed my eyes and luxuriated in the feel of it. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My whole body tensed, and with a gasp, I collapsed forward as my inner muscles shook, clenching around Magnus’s still hard cock.

  He grabbed my waist then and easily bounced me up and down, penetrating me as deeply as he could in our current position, as my head lay against his shoulder, until he too found his sweet spot and finally, with one last thrust of his hips, he came inside of me.