Bet

Renata slept pressed against my back in a thong while I was naked. When she opened her eyes, I knew that morning wouldn’t end as it should.

When I found out what the forfeit was, I was struck dumb. Not because I couldn’t, but because it exposed me with a man who knew half the city. And yet I arrived on time that first day.

My boyfriend thought I wouldn’t dare. He bet I’d only get the gardener worked up from the window, but that afternoon he ended up on his knees in front of me.

We started the day with a dumb bet and ended it in a stranger’s room, with a phone recording everything.

We went down to the garage to play like we used to when we were dating. What we didn’t expect was that someone else would be awake among the cars that night.

I agreed to help him organize his new house out of pity. I never imagined that each bet would leave me with less clothing and more eager to lose the next one.

She lifted her dress, looked at me with a smile, and started touching herself for the trucker driving alongside us. It was only the beginning of a trip I would never forget.

I look at myself in the mirror in my garter belt and fishnets, and I smile: I lost the bet, and I know exactly what he’s going to ask of me this afternoon.

I said yes to the game for one night only: a dress, a wig, and a name that wasn’t mine. I never imagined the girl in the mirror would look back as if she’d been waiting for me.

For years I swallowed her provocations and played the patient friend. That August afternoon, on her balcony overlooking the sea, something inside me broke.

They stepped onto the stage convinced it would only be a ridiculous dance. None of them imagined how far the girls were willing to go that end-of-term afternoon.

Two chairs with holes in the middle, a rope with a knot, and two men tied up not knowing if the next round would be theirs. The game was about to begin.

I thought enduring ten hits would be easy. I didn’t count on her enjoying every one of them, or on how much I’d end up enjoying them too.

I thought I’d pay up with a kiss or a joke. Instead, my friend dared me to show up as an escort at his best friend’s bachelor party.