Welcome to the Business
The mysterious man led me down the stairs and into the basement. Once we got in there, he slammed and locked the door. I had no clue what was going to go on and was ready to fight someone as I clenched my fists. Finally we got to the bottom of the basement, where I saw some other young men playing Texas Hold 'Em.
"Sit."
I found a seat and sat down as the other men started to stare at me. Then the head man reached his hand out to me.
"Name's Rodney."
"I'm Ethan."
"I know. That's why you're down here."
"Wait, what?"
"Ethan, I'd like to introduce you to the headquarters of the biggest sports betting operation in central New York."
I looked around the basement to see at least thirty TV monitors. Different collegiate and professional sports schedules were put on every bulletin board, and there was a huge ticker that showed the spread on every major game.
"I run shit around here, Ethan. All the guys you see at the poker table...they're my employees. Whatever they make off a game, I get at least half. They have their specialties as well. Brian is our basketball expert, Julian knows his baseball, etcetra."
I looked over and saw them over there. Squinting, I saw 100 dollar bills being used instead of chips in their poker game. Looks like Rodney wasn't lying...these guys are good.
"And what about yourself? What's your expertise?"
"Glad you asked kid. I bet on strictly player performances. If a certain player from Syracuse does well for me, he'll see some money flow his way, and vice versa."
"What do I have to do with this then?"
"You're my collegiate player, and believe me...you got a lot of money riding on you. Scouts have seen your tapes, and some agree with me and say you'll be one of the best receivers in NCAA history. A lot of the others though believe your attitude will get in the way and you'll become a bust. Now we don't want you to be a bust, right?"
"Right."
"Good. And you're playing two sports, which could mean double the money. Another reason why I chose you. You just have that 'it' factor and it was a no brainer."
That's what Britt meant about the whole two sports thing.
"And how will this go down?"
"Simple. I'll be giving you goals or 'standards' to meet every game. It'll judge on the the difficulty of the opponent, weather forecast, shit like that. You meet these standards, I win...big. And so do you. You don't meet these standards, and well...don't mess it up too many times. You don't want to know what happened to the last guy that didn't meet expectations."
I gulped. Way to put even more pressure than before on me.
"You understand? This could end up going really well for both of us, or really bad for you. I'll make my money from my other employees if you do blow it."
"And if I refuse?"
"You have no choice. Let's just say that much."
Overhearing our conversation, Julius and Brian started laughing when Rodney said that.
"Alright. I'm in."
"That's a good man. Welcome to the business Ethan. Now get the hell out of here."
I made my way up the stairs and got back to the party. I saw Delone and motioned for him to come here.
"What's up Ethan? How was Britt?"
"What...oh yeah, she's alright. You ready to go?"
"Yeah I think so. You wanna drive? I'll be all over the road if I do."
"Sure. Where's Mike?"
"Mike? Oh he's macking some girl somewhere in here. Don't worry, he'll be fine."
"Alright."
As I made my way through the door and out to Delone's car, it wasn't Melyssa nor Britt on my mind anymore. I just wanted to know what the hell I just got myself into...