Page 29 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10

Thursday

Bryce

It was hard to get out of bed. Not because I was depressed, but because everything was so perfect.

I had won my race, and more importantly, I had kissed Alina.

And it had taken every ounce of restraint in me not to take it further.

All I wanted to do was pin her to the mattress last night and have her.

I didn't even care that there were other people in the room.

It was like I needed her. And she had kissed me like I was the air she needed to breathe.

She definitely felt the same way about me that I did about her.

Life was good. I wanted to stay in bed as long as possible so that nothing could make that feeling go away.

"Dude, come look at this," said Tim. He was on his laptop at this desk. Alex wasn't anywhere to be seen. Alina and Kristen had left last night after the movie.

I had wanted to ask Alina to stay. I wanted to hold her all night. Hell, I wanted to do a lot more than hold her. Saturday couldn't come fast enough. "Do I have to?" I groaned. "I thought I was going to be able to sleep in now that my race is over."

"Sleep in a different day. I need your help."

"Alright, one second." I rubbed my eyes, rolled out of bed, and pulled on a pair of athletic shorts.

I didn't feel comfortable wearing boxers around Tim after he wanted me to check out that dude in the showers the other day.

"So what am I looking at here?" As far as I could tell, it was just a team photo of the USA diving team.

"I think I might have found Python!"

"Who?"

"Python. The guy with the giant penis. See." He pointed at the crotch of one of the divers. "Doesn't it look like he has a huge bulge?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Oh, you think it's not big enough? Hmm...I guess you're right."

"No, I meant that you're joking about trying to track him down."

"Would the CEO of the Guinness Book of World Records pass an eight foot tall man on the street and not measure him? I don't think so."

"What does that have to do with this?" I asked. "Are you the CEO of a company that keeps track of records for the world's largest penis?"

"No, I just want to ask him how he does it. Please just tell me if you think this might be him."

"I don't know. Instead of looking at his package, why not look at some of his other features that would actually be visible in the photo."

"I didn't look at his face. All I know is that he had a huge penis, great abs, and skin the color of velvety milk chocolate."

"So he's black. Do you remember what hairstyle he had?" Am I really having this conversation right now?

Tim stroked his chin. "No, I don't think I saw that. Just his huge penis."

"I dunno how you're going to find him then. Maybe you should just give up and pray that I never tell anyone about this conversation."

"What? Why? We should tell more people so that they can help us find him. Not telling anyone would be like the police classifying an amber alert as top secret."

Tim mentioning an amber alert made me think of Em, which immediately made me think of Rodrigo and that stupid burner phone.

If Tim showing me pictures of well-endowed black men hadn't completely ruined my state of bliss, the thought of Rodrigo certainly did.

Hopefully there aren't any new missions for today.

Tim was so focused on his hunt for Python that I didn't even have to be discrete about checking the phone. I just grabbed it out of my drawer and opened the drafts folder:

Good work yesterday. I'm sure your sister appreciates it. One final mission: Make sure the USA wins the tiebreaker event.

At first I thought it was an easy assignment because the tiebreaker was so unlikely to happen, but when I reread it I realized that it was worded in such a way that made it seem like Rodrigo was certain it would happen.

The only explanation was that Rodrigo had other operatives working to ensure that the USA and Brazil tied in overall medal count.

I deleted the draft and put the phone back in my drawer.

"Hey Tim, how confident are you that you'll be able to choreograph a dance that will win Kristen gold in the tiebreaker? If it happens."

Tim spun around in his chair. "Uh, I dunno. Maybe fifty-fifty. I mean, my choreography will obviously be the best, but I found a video of Gabriela doing the samba and she's pretty freaking good at it. And our backup dancers are another variable that could tilt the odds against us."

"Could you do anything to get those odds a little higher?"

"I guess I could research the judges to see what they like, but that's bordering on violating the integrity of the ballroom. And you know I would never do anything to jeopardize such a beautiful, noble sport."

"What if someone's life depended on it?"

"I know that it's easy to get sucked into the cut-throat world of competitive dance, Bryce, but don't you think you're being a little dramatic?"

Did Tim seriously just accuse me of being dramatic? I think I might kill myself.

"Bryce? Is everything okay?"

I took a deep breath. It was clear Tim wasn't going to do anything to improve our odds unless I told him about Rodrigo and his threats against Em.

And fifty-fifty odds of the USA losing and Em getting killed were way too risky for my liking.

I had to tell him. "If I tell you something, do you promise to never tell anyone else about it? "

"You're the love of my life, Bryce. You know you can tell me your secrets."

"I'm what? No, Tim. How many times do we have to go over this? This is the same as the difference between being in love with someone and loving them like a brother."

Tim shrugged. "Still don't see the difference."

"The love of your life is the girl that you want to be with forever, not something...never mind. It's not worth explaining."

"Whatever you say. Now what was that secret?"

"Remember the other night when the Uber driver drove off with me?"

"Yeah. He made you carsick."

"No." I lowered my voice just to be sure no one would hear us. "He kidnapped me and took me to some strip club where this asshole threatened to kill Em if I didn't help them rig certain events."

Tim looked concerned for a second and then started laughing. "You had me for a second there. But you're going to have to do better than that if you want to trick me."

"Tim, I'm serious. Look, he even gave me a burner phone where he tells me what to do through drafts. He's trying to rig the games so he gets a huge payout on some bet he made." I pulled the phone out of the drawer and tossed it to Tim.

"Wow, you're serious? Why don't you take this to Coach?"

"Because he has Em. He's not messing around. He even showed me a live video feed of Em sitting in her dorm."

"Shit, really?"

"Yes."

"So what are you gonna do then?"

"I have a plan to take him down, but for now I have to play along. He wants me to ensure that the USA wins the tiebreaker event."

"And he'll kill Em if the USA loses?"

"Yes."

"Shit. Fuck the integrity of the ballroom. I'll do whatever it takes to win this thing for you."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Just let me work my magic. Em's going to be okay." He slapped my shoulder reassuringly and went back to his computer.