Gavin and I dance close together and Maxim asks if we’d like something to drink.
“Sure,” I tell him, “A Cosmo, please.”
“I’ll have one too,” Celeste and Veronica both chime in.
Isaac goes to the bar with Maxim to get everyone’s drinks so I draw the girls into the fold for a dance- slash- hug.
“I’m so glad to meet you both,” I tell them, having to speak loudly to be heard over the music, which is a strange Dub-style remake of an Adele song. “I can’t believe we all met our guys the exact same way.”
“I know,” Veronica says, laughing. “Leave it to our guys to pick up their serious romantic partners at a billionaires’ auction club.”
We all laugh, but it is rather incredulous.
A slow song begins, so I nestle back into Gavin’s arms as Celeste and Veronica peer around looking for their men and their drinks.
“Must be a long line at the bar,” Veronica remarks.
“Yeah, this party is really hopping,” Celeste says. “There are so many people here.”
“For being a ‘gentleman’s best kept secret,’ this place sure is well known,” Veronica says, making fun of the company’s unofficial motto.
“I sure would like our own gentlemen to come back with our drinks,” Celeste says.
And suddenly Issac is there, handing her her Cosmo and another one to me. Then he slaps her playfully on the butt and says, “Have a little patience, dear. We navigated field and stream to get this for you.”
“Or at least a lot of people,” Maxim chimes in.
I take a sip of my drink and then put my head back down on Gavin’s shoulder, ready to dance with him some more. He isn’t usually the dancing type so I want to take advantage of this while I can.
But he nudges the drink closer to my mouth again while Maxim hands him his beer.
“You might want to drink up, Darling,” he says, with a wink. “I think you’ll find you need a little liquid courage.”
I look around, unsure of what he could mean. But everyone else’s faces look as puzzled as I feel. No one seems to have a clue why I would need liquid courage, least of all me.
“What do you mean?” I ask him, but then Amanda taps on the mic, making sure it’s still on.
I hadn’t realized she was back on the stage.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a couple fun surprises tonight,” she says, with a smile. “First up, can I please have Jade up here on the stage?”
“Me?” I ask, pointing at myself.
“You,” Gavin says, kissing me on the head and then nudging me towards the stage. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“What?” I ask, turning around to look at him. “You just told me less than thirty seconds ago that…”
“…that you’ll want some liquid courage,” Veronica says, and then takes my hand that’s holding the Cosmo glass and pushing it towards my mouth.
“For what?” I ask her, still confused.
“I have no idea,” she confesses, her face lighting up in a bright smile. “But I bet this is gonna be good.”
Oh, my God, I think, as I gulp down the drink she’s practically force-feeding me and then make my way up to the stage.
Are they going to make me sing the National Anthem? Tap dance? Show off some special skill? I don’t even have any special skills.
I stand beside Amanda on the stage, which is much more overwhelming than the one in Boston was. I’m flooded with memories of the first time I saw Gavin; when I didn’t even know who he was or what his connection with me was or even that he had any connection. I just knew he was fucking hot and I wanted him to take me— and he sure did.
Amanda squeezes my hand and says, “Okay, Ladies and Gentleman, since the Exchange is known as an auction house, I have someone— or something— to auction off tonight.”
“What?” I look out at the crowd but I can barely make out Gavin’s face.
From what I can tell, though, there’s a huge grin across it.
“This is Miss Jade,” Amanda announces, winking at me. “And we’re going to auction her off tonight. Who would like to do what with Miss Jade, and what are you willing to pay to do it?”
Hands go up and people start clamoring.
This makes no sense. Clearly Gavin couldn’t have orchestrated this, could he have? But he knew something was up and the smile on his face says I’m supposed to be happy about it. Even though the last place I want to be is up here being auctioned off again, to who knows who to do who knows what to me…
“Hey, hey, hey,” Amanda says, tapping the microphone again to declare order. “This is a PG rated auction right here, but don’t worry, something a lot more X-rated is coming later. Let’s keep these bids clean and fun, because this lady’s already spoken for by one of our fine new partial owners of the club. All right, everyone?”
I see Veronica and Celeste look at each other and start squeezing each other’s hands, then putting one hand over their own mouths so as not to squeal with glee. I think they’re beginning to recognize what’s going on here, and so am I.
Holy shit.
It’s finally happening. And leave it to my fun-loving, prank-playing boyfriend to have it happen like this.