Chapter 3
Liam stormed through the door of the small Brooklyn apartment he shared with his best friend Charles. He had just left the upscale Manhattan bar where he had an unexpected and charged encounter with a stunning woman named Ava.
"Charlie, you'll never believe what just happened to me!" Liam called out as he entered, still buzzing with excitement.
Charles emerged from his bedroom, doing a double take when he saw Liam dressed in his tailored gray suit and tie. "Whoa, what the hell man? Those are my clothes!"
Liam looked down at the expensive outfit he had borrowed without asking. "Oh yeah…I kind of took these from your closet. I needed to look the part."
"Look the part for what exactly?" Charles demanded, annoyed. "You know that suit cost me like two month's rent. You can't just take my stuff whenever you want!"
"I'm sorry, I'll pay you back, I promise, I needed it to look good for the contract," Liam said, running a hand through his artfully tousled hair. "But you have to hear this story..."
He launched into a breathless recap of his eventful night, from the moment he first spotted the gorgeous, high class Ava sitting alone at the bar. Charles' eyes widened as Liam described how he had boldly introduced himself and even ordered her an expensive glass of wine.
"You did what? Dude, how did you afford a $70 glass of wine?" Charles shook his head in disbelief. "Was she at least impressed by your confidence?"
Liam grinned. "Well, she pretended not to be at first. Put on this whole ice queen act like she was too good for me. But I could tell she was intrigued despite herself."
He paused, remembering the frisson of tension between them, the spark of mutual attraction no matter how much Ava tried to deny it.
"So what happened next? Did you at least get her number?" Charles prodded impatiently.
"Not exactly..." Liam admitted. "But we did share this crazy intense moment. Our eyes locked and...I don't know man, it was like we both felt this undeniable connection, you know?"
Charles rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Only you would spend that kind of money and turn on that excessive charm just for a weird lingering glance. Typical Liam move."
"It was more than that though!" Liam insisted, his eyes lighting up. "I'm telling you, this Ava woman is different. She's clearly from a whole other world of wealth and privilege, but I could sense she was interested despite trying to play it cool. I just have this gut feeling she's going to be important somehow."
As if on cue, the front door swung open and two of their buddies, Jake and Dave, strolled in unannounced as usual. "Well, well, look who's playing dress up again," Jake chuckled, eyeing Liam up and down appraisingly.
"Just borrowing a suit to go hit on some rich chick," Charles informed them with a snicker. "Said he could feel the 'connection' even though she was blowing him off."
"Sounds like our Liam alright," Dave joined in, shaking his head. "Always chasing after women way out of his league."
Liam shot his friends an indignant look, feeling slightly ganged up on despite their good-natured ribbing. "I'm serious, you guys. This girl Ava is incredible - beautiful, sophisticated, totally out of my world. And I could tell she wanted me just as much as I wanted her, no matter what game she was playing."
Dave and Jakes saw him at the bar when he was conversing with Ava that was why they came visiting.
The three other guys exchanged amused looks, chuckling at their friend's bravado. "Okay then, prove it, that isn't the Ava that I know, she wasn't a little interested in you," Jake challenged with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Let's make this interesting with a little wager."
Liam felt his pulse quicken at the prospect of a bet, his competitive drive kicking in. He was never one to back down from a challenge. "What did you have in mind?"
"If you can make this Ava fall in love with you in the next month, we'll all chip in and pay for you to take a first-class vacation anywhere in the world you want to go," Jake proposed with a cocky grin, knowing how much Liam loved to travel.
Dave laughed out loud at the ridiculously long odds. "A guy like Liam scoring with an ultra-elite socialite princess? No way he pulls that off, even with Charles' suit and his laughable moves."
"I don't know man, we've all seen how Liam can be pretty persuasive when he wants something bad enough," Charles pointed out, only half-joking. "Maybe we shouldn't underestimate his powers of seductive persistence."
The three friends looked at Liam, their eyebrows raised as they waited for his response. Liam could feel his heart pounding, adrenaline and determination surging through his veins. This was his chance - a chance to show his friends, and himself, that he had what it took to run with the upper echelons.
To finally prove himself worthy of the finer things in life he craved so deeply.
"You're on," he declared firmly, looking each of them in the eye. "One month from today, I'll not only have a date with Ava, but I'll have won her over completely, you will see to that,"
The guys whooped and hollered, already loving the high-stakes drama they had cooked up for their pal, secretly doubting Liam had an actual shot at success despite his confidence.
"We're going to hold you to that, man!" Jake clapped Liam roughly on the shoulder. "No way a girl like that gives a regular dude like you the time of day."
"I guess we'll see about that," Liam said coolly, his jaw set in steely determination. "Better start looking into those luxury vacation destinations, boys. Because I never walk away from a challenge."
As his friends laughed and exchanged bets on whether he'd pull off this lofty conquest, Liam simply smiled to himself. They had no idea what he was truly capable of, or how badly he wanted this wanted to prove himself as a self-made man worthy of life's finer pleasures.
No matter what outrageous deceptions or audacious feats of seduction it would take to win over the stunning, seemingly untouchable Ava, Liam was all in. He would stop at nothing until he emerged victorious, with the ultimate prize in his arms.
His only worry was falling too deep along the way and forgetting about his original motivations completely. Something told him Miss Ava Taylor was a woman who made fools of players who underestimated her power over them.
And as Liam nursed the single-malt scotch Charles had poured them all in a mock toast, he realized conquering her might be the greatest game he'd ever played.