Page 65 of Bid For Me
I reach for my phone, but then I pause, staring at the screen in frustration. I want to call her, to hear her voice, to fix this before it’s too late. But I know it’s not the right time. Every time I try to get closer to her, it feels like she pulls further away.
“You alright, man?” a voice interrupts my thoughts, and I look up to find Asher Sullivan leaning against the bar beside me, a friendly grin on his face.
“Yeah,” I say gruffly, my voice betraying me as I take another sip. “Just…trying to figure some shit out.”
He nods knowingly, taking a sip of his own drink. “I get it. Women, huh?”
I give him a tight smile. “Something like that.”
But it’s not just women. It’sher. Elle. I never should have let it get this far.
“Liked the latest proposals you sent over. Think we should move that meeting up.”
“Yeah,” I reply, completely distracted.
“I’m going to double my investment,” Sullivan adds.
“Great…” His words slowly penetrate my brain. “What?”
He chuckles and claps me on the shoulder. “Wondered what would get through to you. Clearly tonight’s not the night to discuss business. And you don’t look like you came here to scene, so whyareyou here, Knight?”
I shrug. “No where else to go. Needed…discretion.”
Sullivan nods. “I get it.”
“What about you? Are you here to scene?” I ask, already knowing the answer. Asher Sullivanneverscenes. With anyone. Despite many women, and guys, trying to entice him.
He laughs, a full deep belly laugh this time, and downs his drink. “Nah. I come for the company of this lovely lady only.” He grins and shoots a wink at Faith, but she simply shakes her head at his antics and pours him his next, and final, drink. I don’t miss the slight flush to her cheeks though.
“I’ll leave you to it. I’m gonna go and watch tonight’s demonstration,” I tell him, grabbing my drink and turning away.
“You’ll like this one, there’s some rope bunnies here to play tonight,” he calls after me.
As I sit there in the club, my thoughts spiraling further, I know one thing for sure: I can’t let this go. I can’t let her go. But I also can’t keep pretending that everything’s fine. My father’s expectations weigh heavily on me, and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to break free from them, not with everything riding on this marriage.
But if I lose Elle in the process, then what the hell do I have left?
My mind spins, the noise of the club fading into the background as I stare at my phone again, knowing that I need to take a risk. But I don’t know what risk I’m willing to take yet.
And that scares the shit out of me.
The lights dim, and the music shifts, taking on a more seductive rhythm. The atmosphere in the club changes, the energy thickening as bodies start to move with the beat. I glance around, the familiar faces of the club’s regulars filling the room, but my mind is elsewhere. My thoughts keep drifting back to Elle. To the way her eyes spark when she’s angry, the way her lips feel when she lets go just a little, and how, when she smiles – truly smiles – everything in the world seems to make sense.
I’m so damn distracted that I almost don’t notice the woman who slides onto the barstool beside me until she leans in, her perfume sweet and almost too heavy, the kind of scent that lingers in the air long after the person’s gone.
“Hey, handsome,” she purrs, a flirtatious smile curling on her lips. “Buy a girl a drink?”
I shake my head, trying to hold back my disapproving look, my fingers tightening around the glass in my hand. She’s attractive, sure, but I can’t even bring myself to care. All I can think about is Elle. How she looked tonight – how she performed flawlessly for my father, but I could see the walls she built up. She’s holding something back, and I’m not sure I can take it anymore.
“Not tonight,” I say curtly.
The woman raises an eyebrow but doesn’t push it. She swivels on her heels, clearly expecting someone else to take the bait. But I’m already lost in thought, watching the way the lights play off the glass of my drink.
A few minutes pass, and then another woman steps into my line of sight. This one is younger, dressed in a skimpy blackdress, her hair in loose waves. She places her hand lightly on my arm, giving me a shy smile.
“You look lonely,” she says, her voice soft and teasing. “Mind if I keep you company?”
I glance at her, but the only thing I see is Elle’s face again. The hurt in her eyes when she looked at me tonight, the way she shut down the second the dinner ended. She’s not mine, not really. This contract, this damn deal – it’s all I have to offer. And I can’t shake the feeling that it’s not enough.