"I'm serious as a heart attack," Andrew says. "Of course, you're supposed to be going there to find love … but you can be like those people who go to her to play this like a game. “
"I'm in no fucking position to be playing $100 million dollar games, Andrew. C'mon, man. This is serious. I need to make money, not spend it."
"Just hear me out—let me finish. There's more. If you win, the payout is $4 billion dollars."
"Okay, now you've got my attention," I say, turning to face him.
“That’s the total amount that has been paid in through the buy-ins to date,” Andrew says. “Minus whatever Athena takes as her cut. But people go in thinking they’re been able to not fall in love. They bet $100 million they’ll win. They come out happy to pay because they find they’re happier losing.”
“Fuck that,” I say with a snort. “No such fucking thing.”
"I told you," Andrew says, his grin widening. "If you win this pot, your problems are solved. It's that simple."
"But what makes you think I even have a shot at winning this?" I ask. If I'm fucking honest, this sounds too good to be true. And when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
"Because this is a game you know all too well," he says, standing up and clapping his hand across my back.
"And what game is that?" I ask.
He turns to me, and smiles. "Women."
"Now I'm confused. Women? What about them?"
"Over the course of 100 days, Athena will be pairing you up with women—beautiful fucking women, gorgeous women—and to win this game, you can't fall in love with any of them. Not a single one."
I can't help but laugh out loud. "Is that fucking it? I just have to keep myself from falling in love with any of them?"
"That's it," Andrew says, shrugging his shoulders. "But it's harder than it sounds, believe me. I hope your cock doesn't get in the way, and make you lose it all."
"Let me tell you something," I say. "My cock doesn't do love."
"You say that now…" Andrew smirks, giving me a sideways glance.
"I mean it. Love is like a foreign word, from a language I don't fucking speak," I smile. "This will be the easiest fucking money I've ever made. Trust me."
“I got it up on my phone if you want to make an appointment to enter yourself,” Andrew says.
And before Andrew can say another word, I'm already taking his phone and signing up.
This is too easy.
$4 billion dollars here I come.
3
Athena
An African proverb has it that love is a despot who spares no one. I tend to agree, and that’s why I break men for a living.
Hey, don’t look at me like that.
You might think I’m an evil bitch, but men are the ones taking me up on this challenge. They come to me with high hopes and expectations, and they risk it all. And love, like the despot it is, crushes them under its heel. Okay, that might be too harsh of an expression; that’s just the way I see it, though. In truth, all of my clients leave me with a wide smile on their faces and a galloping heart. They come to me looking for love and that’s exactly what they find. In the process, I line my pockets with their hard-earned money.
Money for love—it isn’t such a bad trade off, is it? Money makes me happy, love makes them happy; in the end, everyone benefits.
There are two kinds of men that come and ask me for a meeting, though. The first type comes in with a full wallet and an empty heart, and they look at me like the gatekeeper to a happy life next to a woman they can love. The second type is pretty rare, and they come to me looking for an easy payday—they think they can dodge love and its traps (and take my money in the process) but, in the end, they surrender to it all the same.
Once again, love spares no one.