Chapter Fifty One
“Next up we have number six,” the auctioneer announces. “Please put your hands together for the very lovely Sophia.”
After what feels like hours waiting backstage, I walk out to loud cheers and wolf whistles. I spot Mason and Lori standing next to each other. Mason smiles at me but I can tell that something is bothering him. He’s shifting from one foot to the other and keeps looking over at the exit. Lori waits until he’s not looking before giving me a little nod to let me know that our plan is still going ahead.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s start the bidding at one hundred dollars.” A guy standing on the other side of Lori immediately raises his paddle. “Thank you, sir. How about two hundred?” Another man standing in a small group of men holds his paddle up. “Two hundred dollars. Anyone for three?” Lori’s bidder is about to make his move when the other guy beats him to it.
“Five hundred bucks!” he shouts. The crowd cheer and Lori uses it as her opportunity to whisper something to her secret bidder.
“Wow, five hundred dollars! Do you think we can get six?”
Lori’s bidder holds up his paddle and shouts, “One thousand dollars!”
I raise my eyebrow but give Lori a huge smile. Even though we agreed to only bid up to five hundred, I can always count on her to have my back. “Thank you, sir,” the auctioneer says. “Any advance on one thousand?”
The man standing in the group takes a step forward and shouts, “Five thousand dollars!” The crowd cheer as Lori frowns and mouths ‘sorry’ to me. Why the hell would anybody pay that much money to take me on a date? Even I don’t think I’m worth that much. I try to catch Mason’s eye but he’s too busy burning a hole into the back of the guy’s skull.
“Thank you very much! Any advance on five thousand dollars?”
“Ten thousand,” a third bidder shouts from the other side of the room, close to the exit. He’s dressed differently to the rest of the other guests. He’s wearing a tailored jacket with gold buttons running down both sides and his hair is flattened to his head as though he’s been wearing a hat. His face looks familiar but I can’t think where I’ve seen him before.
“Wow, ten thousand dollars! The highest bid of the night so far! Thank you, sir. Do we have any other bids in the room?”
The group of men laugh and snicker as the guy who appears to be the ringleader holds his paddle up once more. “Fifteen thousand!” My jaw hits the ground but Lori gives me a look to say ‘I told you so’. “Now can we just be done with it and skip to the date part?” he asks. I’ve never seen Mason look so angry as he turns and heads towards the exit. I have to stop myself from watching his every step.
The auctioneer laughs. “It sounds like somebody is very eager to take Sophia on a date. Let’s put him out of his misery. Fifteen thousand dollars going once…fifteen thousand dollars going twice…”
“Thirty thousand,” the bidder by the door shouts, just as Mason walks by.
The crowd goes wild and the other bidder shakes his head to signal that he’s out. “Well, well, well! It looks like we have a high bidder! Thirty thousand going once…thirty thousand going twice…ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a date!” It’s only then that the reality of the situation kicks in. I fully expected to be going home with Lori, like we had planned. It’s a good thing I have experience going on dates with complete strangers. “Please give it up one more time for Sophia.” He gestures for me to leave the stage and I walk off in complete shock at the huge amounts of money being spent here tonight. I guess I should have listened to Lori when she tried telling me that five hundred bucks is like spare change to a millionaire.
I instantly relax when I see Mason waiting for me backstage. His arms are crossed but he’s no longer annoyed. In fact, he has a huge grin on his face. “Well you’ve certainly set the bar high for the rest of the auctions.”
I look down at my feet. “I can’t believe it.”
“I can.”
“I hope the high bidder isn’t going to be disappointed.”
“He won’t be.”
“But I’m not worth thirty thousand dollars.”
“You’re worth every last dime.”
My cheeks start to warm. “Thank you. So when do I get to meet him?”
“Right now.”
I nod and we stand in silence for a moment. “Where is he?” I ask while looking around.
“You’re looking at him.”
I stop breathing as his eyes burn into mine. “You…you’re…you bid on me?”
“Well technically my friend bid on you but yes, it was on my behalf.”
“The guy with the gold buttons?”
“Yes. My doorman, Eric.”
So that explains his outfit and why Mason kept looking towards the exit. “I thought I recognized him from somewhere.”
“I hope you’re not disappointed.”
I’m not. I’m just worried in case Emily finds out. “It’s just…I don’t…why?”
“Because our last outing turned into a trip to the hospital.”
I shake my head. “Why, Mason?”
I can tell that he’s having some kind of internal battle with himself. “Because…I owe you an ice cream, remember?” His smile isn’t convincing.
“That’s a very expensive ice cream.” I find the courage to take a step closer to him. “No censoring, remember?”
He keeps his eyes locked with mine as he whispers, “Because I was lost. Before you, I was lost.”
I let the truth of his words sink in, followed by the truth of how I feel about him. I sigh. “I’m still lost. And I can’t see a way out.” Not for at least another five weeks.
“Then let me find you.”
His words hit me hard. “Mason, there are things you don’t know…”
“I know enough,” he interrupts. “I know how you make me feel. I know that I want to spend more time with you.”
“And that’s truly enough for you?”
“Yes, it is. I didn’t see you coming, Sophia. I didn’t see you coming, but I’m so glad that you did.”
“But you’re going through a break up. It’s a tough time for you…”
“What’s tough is watching other men try to take you on a date. And I’ve been going through a break up for the past year. I made my peace with it a long time ago. Is that what you’re worried about? Do you think you would be some kind of rebound? Because you wouldn’t be. Emily has nothing to do with this.”
“Emily has everything to do with his,” I reply. More than you could ever imagine.
He shakes his head. “Do you want me to go on stage right now and announce that we’ve broken up? Announce that I’m filing for divorce? Because I will.”
“Jesus, no.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t want you to do anything.”
“Do you feel it? Do you feel the connection between us?”
Say no, say no, say no! I sigh. “Yes, I feel it.” What a selfish heart I have. I deserve any pain that comes my way at the end of all of this.
“Then what are you scared of?” We stare at each other for what feels like minutes and that’s when it really hits me. I’m scared of losing someone who isn’t even mine.
The next auction ends and I take a few steps away from Mason when I see them walking off the stage. He thanks them for taking part and after half a minute or so of small talk, we’re alone again. The silence is deafening. He closes the gap between us. “Let me find you, Sophia.”
“What if you don’t like what you find?”
He smiles sweetly. “Take the risk or lose the chance.”
The door at the end of the hallway opens and the next person to be auctioned heads our way. I smile politely and wait for them to pass. “We should probably get back before Lori sends out a search party.”
“Ah yeah, Buzz told me how worried she was the other night. My sister thought I was dead because I didn’t answer my cell.”
“Oh yeah, that reminds me.” I pull his cell out of my purse. “You can have it back now that you’ve agreed to pay the thirty thousand ransom.”
He laughs. “I was hoping you’d forgotten about it and left it at home.”
“Why?”
“Because how am I supposed to send you elevator porn now?”
“You’ll have to send them to someone else.” We begin to walk down the hallway, back to the main room.
“I don’t think they would know what the hell was happening. And there would definitely be some crossed wires if I asked somebody to text me a picture of a shaft. Speaking of which,” he raises an eyebrow. “What did you think of my naked selfies?”
“I didn’t look.”
“Ah, so you passed your test after all?”
“Yep.” A lie. I didn’t pass anything. In fact, I failed miserably. After telling Lori not to snoop at his photos, I went straight to my bedroom and looked in every single folder in his gallery. There were no selfies, only a few pictures of him and his sister and a couple of random ones. I was a very disappointed girl that night.
“Don’t worry, you didn’t miss out on anything. I was only joking about them.” He winks. “They’re all on my work phone.”
We pause when we reach the door. “So when will we be going on our date?” I ask.
“Well, you haven’t actually agreed to it yet.”
I shrug. “It’s for charity. What kind of person would I be if I said no?”
“For charity,” he says, grinning. “Got it. Well seeing as though I’m going to be here all night, I think I’ll bank it for now, if that’s okay with you?”
“That’s fine.” He holds the door open for me. “Well…I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.”
“You too.” His eyes burn into mine. “I meant everything that I said.”
I nod. “Goodnight, Mason.”
“Until next time, Sophia.”
About an hour later, I’m back in the safety of my own bedroom, having some much needed alone time. I need to somehow try and process everything that Mason said to me. I don’t even care if Emily has a problem with me leaving the event early. There was nothing in the contract which stated exactly how much time I have to spend with him.
For some reason, I didn’t even tell Lori the full story of what had happened backstage. I only told her that he was the highest bidder because he wanted to make up for our failed movie night. Lori can be brutally honest and I’m not ready to admit my feelings out loud yet.
I look over at my bedside table and his little handwritten card catches my eye. I reach over and grab it then read his words over and over until they don’t even sound like real words in my head anymore. I turn it over and my heart starts to race when I see a number. A phone number. How have I not noticed it before now? I spend the next fifteen minutes debating whether I should rip the card up or send him a message. I know what I should do but once again, my selfish heart ends up winning.