FIC: It's a Bet (2/3)

[sleeper6]

Title: It’s a Bet (2/3)
Author: sleeper6
Characters: Luke/Reid
Rating: R
Summary: Reid agrees to operate on Noah . . . but only if Luke wins a bet.
Disclaimer: All belongs to the As the World Turns, not me.
Notes: Sorry for delay. Had to do rewrites to avoid making Reid a total sleaze.

Previous: Part I


“That’s not funny.”

“That’s because I’m serious.”

Luke stared at Reid, his eyes not even trying to conceal his shock at the revelation. “But-but you’re not-I mean, you’re-are you-”

“Gay?” Reid asked, his eyes wide as he pretended to be as surprised as Luke. “Why, yes, I guess I am.”

Luke kept staring.

“I just asked you, a man, to sleep with me. Yes, Mr. Snyder, I think you can rightfully assume I’m gay.”

“You-you never said anything.”

“Because my personal life is somehow your business?”

“No, but-but-” Luke stammered.

“But-but what? Do we have a bet or not?”

That shook Luke out of his shock. “What? No. No bet. No way.”

“Why not?”

Luke laughed. “You have to ask?”

“I do,” Reid said. “You said you’d do anything for Noah.”

“Not prostitute myself!”

“Now hold on. No one’s paying for sex here.”

“It’s blackmail,” Luke spat out, his face red as he glared at Reid.

“Blackmail is forcing someone to do something by threatening him and a bet is . . . not that,” Reid said. “I thought an expert in blackmail like you would know that.”

Luke furiously shook his head. “It’s wrong no matter what you call it and-and unethical and I-I could report you to the AMA.”

Reid chuckled as he scratched the top of his head. “For what, exactly?”

Luke crossed his arms over his chest. “For sexual misconduct.”

“The only sex I will be engaging in, if I win the bet of course, will be with you and you are not my patient. Noah is. Unless you’re planning on letting Mr. Mayer watch-or, uh, listen in his case?” Reid said with a smirk. “It’s not my kind of thing but if it’s yours, I gotta say I’m impressed, Mr. Snyder.” Reid winked.

Luke shook his head in disbelief.

Reid crossed his arms, mirroring Luke’s stance. “Go ahead. Report me to the AMA. Excuse me if I’m not intimidated by your empty threats. You’re good at that but I’m not buying it this time.”

“This time-what?”

“When you first dragged me here, I really believed you had something on me,” Reid said.

“I did. I do.”

“Nice try but we both know you would’ve already used the dirt you said you had on me when I tried to leave. Or you would’ve used it earlier today when you kept pestering the hell out of me.”

Luke couldn’t argue that.

“That’s what I thought. I have to admit, though, that I’m curious why you haven’t sprung your mob daddy on me to force me to do the surgery.”

“He’s not in the mob,” Luke said quickly before looking down at his feet. “Besides, he’s, uh, he left town.”

“Lucky bastard,” Reid said before glancing at his watch. “Now, are you done here wasting my time or is there actually something worthwhile you’d like to discuss?”

Luke looked up. “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“Win the bet and you won’t have to.”

“You’re disgusting,” Luke said, shaking his head. He still couldn’t get over the shock of Dr. Reid Oliver proposing such an idea. Who did this guy think he was? Who did he think Luke was that he would willingly put himself in the position of possibly bending over for the self-proclaimed best neurosurgeon in the world? Luke ignored the brief twitch in his groin as he continued staring at Reid.

Reid flinched slightly at Luke’s words. Okay, sure, he didn’t care what Luke Snyder thought of him but that was just mean. Reid was only trying to help them both out, and Luke had more to gain than lose-his boyfriend’s sight and getting laid good and hard, which is what the guy desperately needed-so why was he so disapproving of Reid’s suggestion? “Guess that answers my question.”

Reid started to walk but Luke blocked his path. “I would never cheat on Noah.”

“So you’re still together?” Reid scratched his head. “Hmm.”

“What? What the hell is that?” Luke asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Don’t get so snippy, Snyder,” Reid said with a laugh. “It’s just an observation.”

“Well, I don’t think you should be making any observations, jokes or comments about a relationship you know nothing about.”

“Relationship, huh?” Reid said. “I’m no expert at that sort of thing-probably the only area I’m not an expert in-but isn’t a relationship made up of smiley, so-happy-it-makes-you-nauseous people instead of miserable cry babies like you and Mr. Mayer?”

Luke put his hands on his hips, and Reid couldn’t help but make another observation: Luke Snyder was hot. “Noah is going through a hard time right now.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve seen his scans. But why choose to go through that alone? You’re willing to do anything-well, almost anything to help him and he doesn’t want that? Just what kind of relationship is that, Mr. Snyder?”

“The one where one of us doesn’t screw around on the other.”

“Okay, then,” Reid nodded. “As always, it’s been a displeasure, Mr. Snyder.” He started walking but Luke caught him by the arm.

“You know, it would be a real relationship again if only you quit being a jerk and helped him out.”

“You sure about that, Mr. Snyder?”

“What?”

“You obviously want Noah to get his sight back so the two of you can stay together but Noah wants his sight back so he can move to L.A. and make films and live his dream. I don’t recall hearing him say anything about you,” Reid said. He wasn’t being deliberately cruel. It was the truth.

The truth Luke Snyder did not like hearing. “He-he didn’t?”

Reid almost lied and said he did. He didn’t like the look of utter despair on Luke’s face. Reid enjoyed riling Luke up-the only fun thing to do in this hellhole-but maybe he’d gone too far this time. He liked seeing Luke angry and frustrated after their numerous run-ins, but Reid definitely knew he would not like seeing Luke cry.

“Like I’ve made clear to you, Mr. Snyder, I’m willing to help. You’re the one refusing my offer.”

“I’m not gonna sleep with you,” Luke said firmly.

Reid sighed. “Again, win the bet and you won’t have to. And who knows? Maybe it’ll be a miracle and you’ll beat me at something.” Reid chuckled and whispered under his breath, “Or maybe you’ll actually have to sleep with me.”

Luke stared at Reid, completely baffled. One minute he was a pompous ass, insulting Luke and making it obvious how much he disliked him; the next, he was propositioning Luke and plainly stating how much he wanted him.

“Who are you?”

“Noah’s only hope,” Reid said with a smile. “So, Mr. Snyder, what do you say?” When Luke didn’t respond, Reid continued. “Come on, what do you have to lose? Or better yet, think about what you stand to gain.”

Luke was not going to do it. He would never betray Noah, not even if there was the chance of him actually winning Reid’s stupid bet, thus forcing Reid to perform the surgery. No. He was tired of being pushed around by Reid, and he wasn’t going to let it go further. He was done with him. He and Noah would simply have to find another doctor to cure Noah’s blindness. To hell with the great Dr. Oliver.

Luke smiled and stepped closer to Reid. “I’m flattered that you want me so much that you’ve concocted this elaborate scheme to get me into bed, but I’m going to say no.” He patted Reid’s shoulder. “But I’m sure that big brain of yours will figure out another way to get laid.” Luke waved good bye and walked off, feeling particularly proud of himself.

Reid pursed his lips to keep from grinning. Nobody spoke to Reid Oliver like that and got away with it. But Luke had and he did, and Reid’s thrill soon turned to disappointment when he realized there’d be no more talk like that. Luke wasn’t taking Reid’s bet and Reid wasn’t operating on Noah so neither had reason to be in each other’s orbit anymore.

Reid sighed. Maybe I’ll walk around and hope I run into the barista from the coffeehouse. Reid ran a hand through his hair. Otherwise, it’s back to boredom and blue balls.

“I hate you.”

“Take off your clothes.”

“You’re disgusting,” Luke said as he stripped.

“I probably am.”

“And you’re an asshole,” Luke said as he spread his legs.

“Funny, the only asshole I see is yours,” Reid said as he pushed his hand in between Luke’s legs.

“Fuck you,” Luke whispered, gasping and squirming under Reid’s touch. “Fuck me.” Luke moaned. “Fuck me, Dr. Oliver.”

Reid groaned as he ejaculated into his hand. He grabbed the pillow from under his head and covered his face with it. He hoped Katie hadn’t heard.

It was the first time he’d jerked off thinking about Luke, but he wasn’t shocked. Ever since he’d surprised himself by suggesting the bet, Reid couldn’t deny that he had a thing for Luke. What that thing was, he had no idea. All he knew was that he wanted Luke. He wanted him bad.

What Reid didn’t know was that there was a possibility Luke wanted him too.

“Come on, Mr. Snyder, what are you waiting for? I have a surgery in an hour.”

Luke removed his and Reid’s pants. “Patience, Dr. Oliver, patience.”

“Patience is not my best event,” Reid said as he looked as his watch, “so we better get to it in the next hour instead of year and a half.”

Luke, stark naked, fell on top of Reid and placed his face inches from his. “Do you ever get tired of the sound of your own voice? ‘Cause quite frankly, I’m getting sick of it.”

“Why don’t you do something about it?” Reid challenged, a smirk on his face.

Luke smiled slyly as he moved up Reid’s body until he straddled his chest. He held his erect cock in one hand. “Open your mouth, Dr. Oliver,” Luke instructed.

“Gladly,” Reid said. “Oh, and just so you know, in the time it took you to get naked and ready, I fixed Mr. Mayer’s sight.” Reid pointed to the corner of the bedroom where a wide-eyed Noah sat staring at them. “You’re welcome.” Reid then opened his mouth and swallowed Luke.

Luke’s eyes flew open, his chest rapidly rising as he woke up and realized what-who-he’d been dreaming of. Luke rubbed his eyes. It didn’t mean anything. It didn’t. He’d meant to dream about Noah. Noah was in the dream.

But it wasn’t Noah he’d been about to have sex with.

Luke, his face flushed, shut his eyes. There was an explanation for the dream. The previous night, after wandering around Oakdale thinking about the day’s events-Noah, Damian, his parents, Reid, the bet-Luke had finally arrived home and gone straight into Noah’s bedroom, where Noah was drying off following his shower.

Luke had apologized for intruding but only after staring at Noah’s naked body for a good, long minute. He’d then gone into his bedroom and lay on the bed, horny enough to masturbate but more upset at what Reid had said to actually do anything about it. His mind, though, had.

After a quick shower, Luke, having noticed Noah’s room was empty, walked into the living room and saw Noah sitting on the couch.

“Noah, hey.”

Noah stared straight ahead. “Luke.”

“Sorry about barging in last night. I just, um, I wanted to talk to you.”

Noah nodded. “Yeah, sure. What is it?”

Luke smiled. He missed Noah. He missed talking to him about things other than the blindness, surgery and evil Dr. Oliver. He sat next to Noah, trying to ignore how Noah shifted closer to the edge of the couch. Noah would come around once his sight returned. He would. He always did. After Noah’s father’s death, return from the dead, and subsequent incarceration, after the sham marriage and army plans, after the election debacle, Noah forgave Luke and came back to him. This time, Luke was confident that Noah would do the same.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Luke said with a sigh. “It’s my mom and dad and Damian. Damian told me he was leaving but he couldn’t tell me why and then yesterday I found out that-”

A ringing interrupted Luke. Noah pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the Talk button. “Hi, yes, I’m here. I’ll be waiting. Bye.”

“Who was that?”

“Oh, uh, Maddie. She’s on her way to pick me up.”

Luke wrinkled his eyebrows. “For what? More research?”

“No, we actually already contacted some doctors. We’re just waiting for a response,” Noah said.

“I could help, you know.”

“It’s okay, Luke,” Noah said with a shake of his head. “We’re doing something else anyway.”

“What?” Luke’s voice became louder.

“Maddie is looking for a roommate,” Noah said quietly.

“Is she?” Luke asked, his jaw tight. He didn’t like where this was going.

“She, um, asked me.”

“But you live here,” Luke said.

“It’s not ‘living,’ Luke, don’t you get that? I appreciate everything you and your family do for me but I have to learn to live on my own. I need to be independent. I need to be able to go out by myself, go to the market, cook and clean. I need to know that I can do all those things without my eyes and . . . without you.”

“Yeah but once you have the surgery, you’ll get your eyesight back,” Luke argued.

“Or not. If I’m stuck like this for the rest of my life, I have to figure out some way to deal with that,” Noah said. “And since Dr. Oliver isn’t going to operate, then there’s a good chance that I might never see again.”

“Noah.”

“It’s true, Luke,” Noah said. “And I can’t ask you to give up your life to look after me 24/7. It’s not fair to you or your family. They need you right now.”

Luke stared at Noah. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew things weren’t great with them-hadn’t been for a long time, even before the accident-but he didn’t think they were this bad that Noah actually needed time away from him. “So you’re breaking up with me?”

“No, Luke. All this means is that we’re not living together.”

“So I can go visit you whenever I want?”

Noah hesitated. “Eventually, but first give me some time to adjust.”

“How much time?”

“I don’t know, Luke.”

“I hate this, Noah.”

“I hate it too. If only things were different, if only . . .”

You had your sight, Luke silently finished for him.

Luke knew what he had to do.

Reid looked through the books on the shelf, quietly chuckling at the titles: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess, 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate, How to Beat Your Dad at Chess. Reid shook his head. He was always amazed at how people wanted to be taught everything nowadays. No one wanted to learn anymore; no one attempted to learn. They wanted everything shown to them. They wanted everything given to them.

“Dr. Oliver?”

Reid turned around, looking into the eyes of exactly the kind of person Reid was thinking about. “Now you are definitely stalking me, Mr. Snyder.”

Luke shook his head and looked away. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he muttered.

“Talking to yourself?” Reid said. “That’s not normal, you know. Have you gotten your head checked?”

“Can you shut up for a minute?” Luke said, exasperatedly as he jammed his hands into his jean pockets.

Reid was taken aback. This guy definitely had balls to talk to Reid like he did. Reid admired him for that. He pretended to zip his mouth and motioned for Luke to continue.

Luke exhaled. “The bet-I’m in.”

Reid leaned back against the bookshelf. He couldn’t believe it. He never thought Luke would agree to this. He’d been messing with him, enjoying the way he’d made Luke squirm. And he sure could find a lot more ways to make Luke squirm.

“Well?”

Reid swallowed hard. “What about Noah?”

“Don’t mention his name.”

“Okay.”

“So, what’s the bet?”

“I don’t know. I, uh-do you have any ideas?”

Luke rocked back and forth on his feet. “How about basketball, one-on-one, you and me?”

Okay, this is really happening. “Nice try but I know you played in high school.”

“The Internet?”

Reid nodded. “You didn’t win any titles but you were still pretty good from what I read.”

Luke blushed slightly. “Thanks.” Okay, maybe I can do this. “What do you suggest-a brain surgery contest?”

Reid laughed. “I want to fuck someone, not kill anyone.”

Luke cleared his throat as if to clear his mind of the images from his dream. “What then? Poker?”

“I’ve never played.”

“Go Fish?” Luke asked with a smirk.

“Ha ha,” Reid said wryly. “It should be something that tests our skills, challenges our minds.”

Luke glanced at the books behind Reid. Hmm, so Dr. Know-It-All is learning how to play chess. “How about chess?”

“Chess?”

“That takes skill, critical thinking.”

“And patience. Can you sit still without talking for more than an hour?”

“Can you?” Luke shot back.

Reid grinned. If only Luke knew why Reid was perusing the How To section of the bookstore, he definitely would not have suggested chess. A former childhood rival of Reid during his chess tournament days had recently written a book to teach the game, and Reid was curious to know if the guy had learned anything in the past twenty-five years, Reid having beaten him every time they played each other.

“Well, Dr. Oliver?” Even if Reid didn’t know how to play chess-whether well or at all-Luke knew he wouldn’t back down from the challenge. He was that cocky.

Reid’s grin disappeared. If he agreed, it wouldn’t be fair to Luke. Reid would be cheating. He had the advantage, and he should let Luke know.

If he didn’t, though, Reid would win for sure. And he’d get to have sex with Luke. Dirty, fast, rough sex. Or gentle, slow sex. Reid didn’t care-sex was sex. And he wasn’t really cheating. Reid wasn’t going to pull any illegal moves. It would be just another chess game of skill and talent. If Luke beat him, then he beat him. If Luke lost, then he lost.

“It’s a bet,” Reid said.

Luke stuck out his right hand, which Reid shook firmly. “So where do we do this? When?”

“Neutral ground.”

“Java?” suggested Luke. “There’s a table in the corner where no one ever sits. Tomorrow?”

“That soon, huh?”

“The sooner I beat you, the faster Noah gets his sight back,” Luke said with a grin.

Or the sooner I get laid, Reid thought. “I really want to find out what else that mouth of yours can do.” He gave Luke a sly smile.

“You’ll have to beat me to find out,” Luke said.

“I’m out early so I’ll see you at six.”

“Bet on it,” Luke said before walking out.

At 6:10 p.m. the following evening, Luke, sweaty and panting, fell into a chair across from Reid.

“I thought we agreed on meeting at six, Mr. Snyder.”

“I have a lot of stuff going on,” Luke said defensively as he smoothed his hair.

“With Mr. Mayer?”

Luke sat up straighter and looked at the chess set on the table. “With my family. My dad and . . . should we get started?”

“I’ll be a gentleman and let you go first.”

“There’s a first,” Luke muttered as he began the game. He’d gone home last night and studied the game online. Though he definitely would’ve liked to research it more thoroughly, the drama with his parents and Damian distracted him. Still, he knew he was a competent player and if Dr. Oliver was barely learning the game, then Luke was confident he’d do all right. He had to. For Noah. Noah, Noah, Noah.

Reid tried hard not to stare too long at Luke’s nimble fingers or his mouth-which he kept moving throughout the game-as he planned his next move. Reid was impressed that Luke was good. Not great like Reid but not horrible either. Still, Reid knew that all he had to do was make a few more moves and he’d win. Sex, sex, sex.

After one and a half hours of each of them trying to outmaneuver the other, Luke made a key move and he knew it. He looked up at Reid with a wide grin on his face. He looked like he’d just won the lottery . . . or Noah’s sight. “Your move, Dr. Oliver.”

Reid didn’t flinch. It was a move so many of Reid’s opponents had made back when he was a kid. And a move that always spelled defeat . . . for the other guy.

Reid picked up his chess piece and set it back down. He heard Luke inhale sharply. He looked up, and their eyes met. Luke had his mouth open in shock while Reid couldn’t stop the smile forming on his face.

“Checkmate.”