I am Hollywood

[Chapter 851: No Playing Too Wild]

The ones who could hang out with Gisele were naturally not those struggling little models at the bottom rung. The modeling industry, while it seemed glamorous, didn't actually pay very well. There were only a few of them who could earn over a hundred thousand dollars a year. When Eric placed a bet of a hundred grand, plus a shopping trip on a private jet, the girls immediately screamed in excitement.

However, it wasn't long before one girl questioned, "Eric, even if we each had a fifty-fifty chance of beating you, the total probability of all of us winning is only one in 16,384. That's almost zero; it's so unfair."

Eric was surprised and turned to look at her. The girl who spoke had a Latina look, not particularly pretty, but she had the tall and curvy figure typical of a Latin girl.

"Who would've thought there was a math girl here," he replied.

"Hey, Eric, that's discrimination!" protested a girl leaning against him, being Qusie Gauff.

"Alright, I apologize," Eric laughed, turning his attention back to the girl who had just spoken. "What's your name?"

The girl, with a slight accent, carefully pronounced, "Fernanda Tavares."

Eric patted the thigh of the girl next to him and smiled, saying, "I like girls who can do math. Come sit here."

Fernanda Tavares walked over without hesitation, and the girl next to her reluctantly gave up her spot.

Gisele and Alessandra, squeezed not far away, felt frustrated. Fernanda Tavares was from Brazil. Alessandra had invited her today since they were from the same country, and now it turned out she was also a math whiz. It was infuriating.

What on earth does one in 16,384 even mean?

Gisele, still grappling with her English, thought bitterly and couldn't help but glare at Alessandra, who merely shrank back and continued to play the innocent.

Eric gestured to the girl sitting by the coffee table on the carpet to hand him a glass of champagne, which he passed to Fernanda Tavares before saying, "Alright, if I draw an Ace, I'll lose. This way, you'll have a one in thirteen chance of winning. Ten thousand dollars a pop, your turn to raise the stakes."

There was a moment of silence before the girls started thinking it over. Suddenly, one girl exclaimed, "Oh, I get it! Eric, you want us to take our clothes off, right? It must be that!"

The other girls seemed to also 'get it' at the same time and began laughing and joking.

Eric laughed too, replying, "I'm really not interested in your A cup frames; you look better with your clothes on."

The average cup size for professional models wasn't that high. When Eric originally produced the Victoria's Secret show, even after selecting girls with the best bodies, many of the Angels still resorted to little tricks like padding to achieve the optimal look.

Although Eric was saying the truth, a chorus of discontented protests erupted. Qusie gently slapped his arm, pouting, "Well, what do you want then, Eric? Do you want us to go to bed with you?"

Eric turned and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek, nodding eagerly, "That's a decent suggestion."

"Ah!!!"

Amidst the screams, a bunch of candy pillows and other small items flew through the air. Eric almost covered his ears, quickly saying, "Stop, stop, stop! I can't handle you little fairies all ganging up on me. Alright, since I see you can't really raise effective stakes, let's just use notes instead."

Qusie quickly said, "Eric, that would look so tacky, and it would mess up our makeup."

Eric reached for the deck of cards, shuffled them and cheerfully replied, "That's so unoriginal! I never said you had to stick them to your faces; you can stick them on other places too."

The girls paused for a moment, and then another round of little shrieks erupted.

"I knew it! I knew Eric still wanted us to take our clothes off!"

"Alright, alright, if you keep shouting, I'll go deaf from your little voices! Now, let's start until all the drinks are gone."

Even though they understood Eric's intentions, the girls' reactions were quite 'intense,' but in the end, none of them backed down, encircling him instead.

Thanks to the simple rules, the game moved quickly, and eventually, they didn't manage to finish all the drinks. By the time most girls had blurry eyes and were swaying, with two rushing to the restroom, Eric decided it was the perfect time to announce the game was over.

...

When the sunlight brightened in the sky, he woke up next to two soft bodies -- Gisele and Alessandra. While he hadn't lost that many rounds, each time, the girls had filled his glass with champagne to the brim. Eric didn't feel too light either and didn't have the energy to handle a group of drunken girls. He merely carried Gisele and Alessandra into the bedroom and fell into a deep sleep.

Looking at his watch, it was already 8:30.

They were supposed to continue discussing matters with Marvel today, so Eric perked up and sat up in bed.

As he moved, Alessandra grunted twice, shifted positions, and went back to sleep. Gisele, however, opened her eyes, mumbled a soft "Good morning," and cuddled closer, feeling the man's morning arousal. She whispered, "Eric, do you want some?"

After the game had wrapped up post-midnight, while Eric was still awake, he didn't want to take advantage of the two girls while they were intoxicated, so he hadn't done anything.

Although he was tempted, he kissed Gisele gently on the forehead and laughed, "This isn't a good time. Maybe next time? Besides, I lost quite a bit last night; I need to get back to work and earn it back."

Gisele sensed that Eric had held back last night and felt a little moved by his thoughtfulness. She reached out to grab his neck, leaning in to whisper, "Then let's take a shower together. I can help you out with my mouth."

Feeling Gisele's tongue teasing his cheek, Eric ultimately couldn't resist and got out of bed, picking her up amid her soft laughter as they headed toward the bathroom.

...

After more than half an hour, the two emerged from the bathroom. Eric knew he was destined to be late today. Although being a bit late didn't matter to him, he decided to give Marvel a quick call before heading downstairs with Gisele.

With the curtains drawn, sunlight didn't flood the room, but the living room was still a mess. A group of nearly naked girls sprawled across the sofa and carpet, some clutching pillows, others snuggled together, all in a deep sleep.

Looking at the scene in the living room, Gisele recalled how Eric had carried her off to the bedroom. She felt a faint sense of superiority, and her initial wariness dissipated. Since Eric hadn't done anything out of line last night, it followed that he wouldn't do anything today, especially since she had already satisfied his needs.

Letting down her guard, Gisele became much more considerate. She and Eric quietly tiptoed through the living room and headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

However, just as she popped a piece of bread into the toaster, Gisele remembered something, saying, "Eric, you lost eight times last night. Are you really going to..."

Eric carefully flipped an egg in the skillet and chuckled, "You want me to back out?"

"That's eighty thousand dollars! Plus the private jet."

Just thinking about it made Gisele feel a pinch in her heart. Thanks to Eric's strong support, she had earned over a hundred grand in the past six months, but after deducting various agent fees and taxes, along with her and Alessandra's expenses, there wasn't much left. Not to mention the expensive cost of the private jet, eighty thousand dollars was a sum that felt unattainable, both then and now.

Eric plated the cooked eggs and cracked two more, continuing, "Here, I'll give you a math problem. Subtract 67.7 from 98.7 and then divide by 365 -- what do you get?"

Gisele thought of Fernanda Tavares from last night, turning things over in her mind, but she didn't have a clue; her math skills weren't that great. Yet, not wanting to give up, she put her milk carton down, walked over to grab a notepad and pen from the fridge, and calculated for a bit. Soon after, she turned back and announced, "It's roughly 0.085, right?"

Eric smiled as he watched her and replied, "Exactly! My net worth was $67.7 billion the year before last and $98.7 billion last year, which is a difference of one year and 365 days. So, what did you calculate?"

Gisele's mouth dropped open in surprise. "So... that means you make $85 million a day?"

"Yep, $85 million a day, $3.5 million an hour, and $60,000 a minute. Let me see... to earn back this $80,000, I'd only need about 13 minutes of work, so I can definitely cover the bet."

Gisele felt slightly dizzy at the thought. "That's just... insane."

Chuckling, Eric plated another egg. "Here, sweetheart, see how my three-minute egg tastes. It's very pricey."

It took the playful jab from Eric to bring Gisele back to her senses, compelling her to focus on anything but the overwhelming numbers. She walked over, picked up a fork, and tried a piece of the egg, grimacing exaggeratedly, "It's a bit salty."

"Should I make you another one for six minutes?"

"Ha! That one would definitely be burnt."

With laughter, they prepared breakfast. They didn't head to the dining room but rather sat at the bar by the window after pulling the curtains back a bit, and they began eating.

...

Perhaps because the indoor light increased or due to the delicious smells, one girl lying closer to them on the carpet stirred and woke up -- it was Qusie.

She sat up, shook her head, and hazily looked down at her chest. She reached to peel off a note that had stuck to her and instinctively put it in her mouth; it was a sweet piece of parchment glued to her from the cream on the cake Eric had brought last night.

The bitterness from her hangover faded, and she felt more awake. After sniffing, Qusie turned toward the bar area.

Eric happened to be sitting facing the living room and greeted her, "Good morning, Qusie! Want something to eat?"

Waking up, it was impossible to be as wild as the previous night, but seeing her equally disheveled companions didn't make Qusie feel overly shy.

Smiling shyly, Qusie peeled off the notes still stuck to her and casually tossed on a nearby dress before walking over to say hi, "Morning, Eric. Gisele."

Eric gestured for her to sit beside Gisele and pushed over the milk he had. "If you don't mind, drink this glass of milk first. It's heated."

With the enticing smells from the food, Qusie felt her stomach churn and knew she wouldn't mind. Thanking him, she took Eric's milk and sipped it slowly.

Seeing Eric offer his milk to Qusie, Gisele immediately got up and dashed to the kitchen to prepare more for him.

Once Qusie finished the milk, feeling relieved in her stomach, she looked up and smiled brightly at Eric, "Eric, can I take a shower?"

"Of course! The bathroom is over there," Eric said, pointing. Qusie thanked him and got up to head to the shower.

...

After a speedy wash, Qusie walked out to see that Eric had already finished breakfast and was seated at the bar, pen in hand, filling something out. As she approached, she realized it was a check. Remembering the events from the previous night, her heart raced. Eric had lost eight times -- that meant $80,000! Even if they split among fourteen girls, each would still get over $5,000.

Over five grand!

Oh, and a private jet and a world shopping trip.

When Eric proposed that bet, she, along with most of the girls, didn't expect him to follow through -- especially as he lost, the expectations dropped even lower. They generally didn't think someone would easily drop $80,000.

Pondering this, Qusie cautiously tiptoed closer to the bar, making herself seem invisible, but her eyes were glued to the numbers Eric was writing.

One zero, two zeros, three zeros... Huh, why was the first number a one? Shouldn't that be an eight?

Finishing the check, Eric looked up at Qusie with a smile and handed the check to Gisele. "Here, the extra is for you and Alessandra's pocket money. Here's my assistant's business card. Call him; he'll help arrange the private jet for you. You can go wherever you want."

Gisele held the hefty check in hand, her eyes sparkling at the string of zeros, but after hesitating, she reminded him, "But, Eric, the company probably wouldn't approve of us skipping town. We still have work to do."

"It's not fashion season now. There won't be that much work. Just say, I said it's a vacation. If anyone disagrees, have John Casablancas from Elite and... who's the president of IMG again? Let them call me." With that, Eric put away the checkbook, stood, and hugged Gisele. Glancing at the girls still sound asleep in the living room, he added with a smirk, "Now I'm off to work. And you, as the head girl, keep an eye on them; wherever you go, don't let them play too wild."

*****

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