Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Leo watched Anya's guilty little face and couldn't help but grin as he nodded. "Yeah, she's on my side. Sure, she's blunt, but she's not wrong."

Chunky stared in disbelief. Not wrong? She basically jinxed him!

Leo gave Chunky's belly a friendly slap. "Alright, Chunky, how about this: you help me out, we'll talk salary later. First, let's sign a weight loss deal-I'll help you drop fifty pounds in a year. If you do it, you work for me for another five years and I'll get you to a healthy weight. But if you don't hit the target, I'll hand over the company to you."

Leo was basically sweet-talking Chunky into a trap, and Anya was right there, ready to pass him the shovel-or maybe just give him a gentle nudge in.

Anya had a whole stack of motivational stories ready, though she'd just swapped out the hero for herself. "Chunky, I used to be almost two hundred pounds. But after I got together with my Chad, I—”

"Cough, cough. Next story, please." That one was just a bit too far-fetched.

Anya pouted. "But I really was super chubby before. I only changed for Chad."

Chunky raised an eyebrow. "You mean before you turned four?”

"Huh? How'd you know?"

Chunky pointed at himself. "I'm a hacker. You think I wouldn't know?"

Anya was ready to make up another story. She'd recently followed a weight-loss coach online, who'd told her a whole pile of inspiring tales—and she remembered every single one. "Okay, here's one about my friend. This time, it's not about me."

Leo grinned, reaching over to squeeze Anya's hand, stopping her before she could spin another wild yarn. "Chunky, honestly, with your skills, you're not hurting for money. What you need is a push-something outside yourself. You're in your early thirties now, about the same age as my uncle. My uncle's got a solid career, a happy family, a 'sweet' wife, and a 'well-behaved' son. But you're still single, don't have much, and you've put on thirty pounds. It's not about the weight-I'm just worried about your health."

"Right now, I need you, and you need someone to keep you in check. I'll be your accountability buddy, and you'll be my right-hand man. Let's not talk about money for once-let's just work together."

"Why not talk about money?" Chunky shot back.

Anya jumped in, knowing they were broke and needing to sell this hard. "Health is way more important than anything else. My Chad's gonna help you get it back-and that's worth more than any paycheck."

Chunky just rolled his eyes.

Leo laughed, looking uncannily like his uncle for a second. "If you really want to talk money, fine. Name your price, Chunky. I brought our finance chief and all our bank cards. As long as you agree, I'll pay you a year's salary up front-within my limits, of course."

Chunky, used to his free-roaming hacker life, just couldn't picture himself tied to a nine-to-five. "Leo, do you really need me that much?"

Leo nodded, locking eyes with him and saying honestly, "Yeah, bro. I really do."

Chunky looked at Anya. "Sis, how much money does your company actually have?"

Anya glanced at Leo, got his nod, then pulled up her phone and showed Chunky their bank balance-down to the last few coins.

After seeing it, Chunky shot them a

look. "Seriously? That's not even close to what I make in a year. Leo, you're supposed to be

talented-how'd you end up with so little?"

Leo just smiled, silent.

Chunky looked at his favorite buddy, heart softening. "Fifty pounds, huh? You said it."

He agreed.

Leo lit up like a kid, for once ditching his usual cool and hugging Chunky tight. "Come on, bro. Let's eat!"noveldrama