I find Trevor sitting behind my desk, his feet propped up insouciantly on the hundred and fifty year old wood. I had this desk custom-made from a ship I helped salvage off the coast of Ireland a few years ago. But Trevor isn’t the kind of guy to notice stuff like that. I can’t remember him ever having had a job other than spending his trust fund. His father had been a wise man and set up the trust to only disburse a certain amount per month. It is a lot, but Trevor is usually through it in no time anyway. He just has no concept of what things cost. It’s not like I grew up poor, but I have some measure of self-discipline.

“Feet off the desk,” I say, perhaps a bit too harshly. Trevor sweeps his calfskin loafers off the lacquered surface and leans back in my chair.

“Dude, where you been? I’ve been waiting here for like an hour.”

“Did I miss something? Were we supposed to meet up?” I am pretty sure we didn’t have anything planned, but then again, I am pretty bad at remembering anything that gets in the way of getting me out on the water. “I had to do the sea trial for the new fifty-five. The owner is getting impatient for delivery.”

“Who is that, Ted Gordon?”

I nod yes.

“Screw that guy, he can wait. I met him at one of my dad’s parties. He’s an ass.”

I exhale slowly. Trevor doesn’t understand anything about consequences, about relationships, about reputation. He walks around with a get out of jail free card for any situation. His family is rich and connected, even by the standards of the crowd we run in.

“He may be an ass, but he is a paying client, and one with a lot of very rich friends.”

Trevor blows a raspberry.

“When are you going to build me a boat, Blake? I’m a rich friend. Man, think of the tail I could pull with a yacht.”

“You have to learn to handle a boat, first, dumbass. You won’t be getting laid when you run your boat onto the rocks and drown your date.”

“What the hell would I be doing driving the boat? That’s what captains are for, right? I’ll be sunning naked with some hotties on the, what do you call it, foredeck?”

I sigh. At least he got the terminology right.

“Oh, just got a great idea. You don’t have to deliver that new boat to Gordon yet, right? Let’s go out tomorrow. You can steer the boat and I will bring the ladies. Just find us a nice place to drop anchor and we can all get wet.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Come on! Let’s break in Gordon’s new boat. Give it some fun before that boring old bastard gets his hands on it.”

“Trevor, it is a client’s boat, not mine. My boat is in Greece right now, so unless you want to bring your hotties there…”

He waves his hand, the idea has passed already like a wisp of cloud in the wind.

“So, was there a specific reason you came here?”

“Ah, yes. I almost forgot since I’ve been sitting here so long.” Trevor pops up out of the chair and grasps both of my shoulders in his hands. “I had sex with the hottest girl last night.” He releases me and runs his hand through his hair, apparently reveling in the memory. “Do you remember that girl I told you about, the one who works behind the bar at the Capital Hilton? The one with black hair and the really tight ass.”

I don’t remember, but I nod anyway. It helps to move things along. Trevor spends a lot of time in D.C.. It’s odd, because a lot of the D.C. crowd is very earnest, engaged: the ‘work hard – play harder’ types. Trevor is purely ‘play hard.’ I guess it gives him more time to chase bartenders and waitresses.

He goes on for a few minutes, describing the details of the encounter, in extreme detail. If I didn’t know the girl before, I could certainly pick her out now. At least, the parts of her that appealed to Trevor. While he is talking, I remember that my food is waiting for me at O’Leary’s.

I realize that he has finished talking and is waiting for me to reply. I hadn’t really been paying attention, but my ‘That sounds hot’ apparently is enough to satisfy him. Trevor grins.

“I have a great idea. Something fun we can do together.”

Great. Trevor’s ideas are always expensive and time consuming. Since his own time and money are seemingly inexhaustible, he never seems to understand that other people do not have lives as unfettered. Still, now that this custom job is basically finished, I have a few weeks off before I need to get started on my next project. It might be a good idea to unwind a little bit. I had planned on heading back to the Aegean and getting on my own boat, but I decide to listen to Trevor’s proposal.

“Tell me while we walk, I have takeout waiting for me.”

“Oh, great, I was getting hungry.”

Sometimes I wonder why I am still friends with Trevor. It is hard to shake childhood friendships, especially when your parents are close. And Trevor has a lot of good qualities. When I am in the mood to let loose and have a good time, he is a great guy to party with. He just doesn’t understand boundaries at all. And for a rich guy, he is a terrible mooch.

“Ok, so I was talking to this guy the other day, you know Dave Summers? Anyway, he told me about a party in D.C. that is absolutely wild. Totally underground, exclusive guest list, NDAs, everything is super-secret. They have them once a month, different location every time.”

“What is it, like a swinger’s thing? I thought they didn’t let single guys into parties like that.”

“No, dude, not like that. It’s an auction.”

“What do you mean, an auction? Like art?” I am failing to grasp why this party is so exciting.

Trevor laughs and shakes his head.

“No. You don’t bid on art, antiques, or any of that crap. It’s girls, man. You get to bid on girls.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, man, it is wild. You bid on a girl and if you win, she has to do whatever you want. And apparently, the girls are, like, ridiculously hot.”

“Is that even legal? It sounds pretty sketchy.”

“Oh, yeah, they sign agreements, they know what’s up. It’s all voluntary. And it’s serious money, too.”

We reach the door to O’Leary’s. I nod to the hostess. She recognizes me and immediately goes to the back to retrieve my order.

“So, what do you say? You in?”

I am a little uncomfortable with the concept and I am certain that I am not going to be doing any bidding on anyone, but at the same time, it does sound like a crazy thing to watch. Maybe it will be fun. It will at least be a unique experience.

“When is the party?”

“Saturday night.” Trevor smiles and claps me on the shoulder. “This is going to be awesome!”