Beg For More

All Bets Are Off

Sapphire

It was a whirlwind of romance after that night.

The entire school knew we were an actual item and my girlfriends were smitten. Melissa was hesitant. Even though she liked Blaze for what it was worth and wanted to get with Greg, something wasn't sitting right with her.

"Girl, be happy for me," I told her when we met up for breakfast. Blaze and the guys were still mingling in the back lot.

"I am happy for you, but I don't trust them at all," she admitted. "You confessed to using him and then falling for him."

"Exactly!"I laughed, "Why would he lie again?"

She shrugged, "Maybe not to hurt you? Maybe he's lying?"

I was angry and she lowered her gaze, "You were about to leave him, Sapph. What's he going to do? Let you just walk away and lose?"

I knew they meant well, but we were so happy. It had been two weeks since that night and everything was more than OK.

He even promised me that he'd been working on his senior project and if I needed proof, he'd have it. Star was beyond herself with happiness and so was Carla. It had reached Shawn and he didn't say anything to Blaze, but he didn't ridicule him, either.

Even the guys were different.

They were so aloof up until that night.

They accepted me now.

Blaze

"You called it off, right?" I was shivering and smoking in the back lot with the boys.

Greg nodded, "For the millionth time, yes. All bets are off, you stud." he winked.

I smiled, "I fucking love her, man."

"I knew it before you did,"he told me, "I still don't understand why you won't tell her the truth."

"She doesn't need to know," I shook my head, "And if I ever do tell her, we'll be far away from Avery. She doesn't need to be humiliated like that. I can't imagine how many of the people who bet told someone who told someone who told someone else. All she told about her little scheme were four other people. It doesn't bother me."

"Rue the day if it gets back to her," he chugged his coffee.

"I'll rue the day if I lose her."

The last few weeks had been magical. I was on top of the world and I couldn't have asked for more.

Greg joked that I'd taken it to the next level of playing house and I couldn't help but recall what Linda said about us pretending to be together as kids. It was real and it felt good. I had never felt this way before. She was my everything.

The days were filled with the normal routine and she was excited to get updates from her mom about the dress. We'd even gone bowling at the bowling alley where her dad worked. They didn't talk much, and I still didn't care for the guy, but it was just another date that was real. All of it was real....

The guys were happy and they loved Sapphire, especially Greg who wanted to hook up with Melissa. I reminded him that if he let the cat out of the bag, Melissa would beat his ass. Sapphire was her best friend and he'd been the ringleader of the betting pool.

So no one talked. Greg had threatened them with God knows what, but Sapphire never let on that she knew a thing.

Sapphire

I felt like I had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders after I told Blaze the truth. He'd told me that even if I wasn't using him, money was never an object and I'd still get whatever I wanted. I told him I was planning on taking him for all he was worth, even the Impala. For some reason, he grew a little uncomfortable with me talking about it and so he'd changed the subject.