Page 8 of Mischief Mayhem

Coward.

Though, to be fair, Alba would probably claw a girl’s eyes out before anyone else got their hands on him.

Ru climbed the platform to get things started and rev up the crowd while I stood on the sidelines waiting for my turn to go.

“Thank you all for coming,” Ru said. “As you know, the proceeds from tonight will go to help our brother, Pollux, recover and pay his medical bills, which are piling up, so please be generous.”

The crowd whooped and hollered, clapping for Ru as she went on. She called the brothers up one at a time and read their highlight reel out to the audience.

“Skulls is a graduate of Baltimore College,” she said, gesturing to the brother in question while he model-walked his way to the middle of the stage and grinned into the spotlight. “He’s six foot three-inches of intimidating fun, working as a bouncer at the Viper. When he’s not keeping dive bars safe, he enjoys reading and romantic walks on the beach.”

Skulls narrowed his eyes at that last embellishment but maintained his forced smile while the bidding began. After one of the old ladies won, he stepped off the stage so that Ru could call up the next brother, Switch, our resident IT guru.

“He’s smart,” Ru said, “and he’s good with his fingers, ladies. He can type over two hundred words a minute. Give him anyone to track down, he’ll find them in under an hour.” She rattled on about Switch’s most precious assets, and after he went for two hundred dollars, I figured the night would go well for Pollux. The brothers after him went for a similar amount, and all was going fine until Aris started a bidding war among three of the hang-arounds. Everyone else found it hilarious, but I worried about the veep. Until recently, he’d never been one to sleep around, not with club girls. I figured he musta hit a midlife crisis going a thousand miles an hour, especially after his daughter, Ru, got engaged to his best friend, Saint.

Maybe I ought to try talking to him after this is over. Maybe I can cheer him up. That could help, right?

“Are you ready?” Alba finally asked, squeezing my shoulders and bringing me back to reality.

“Of course. I’m always ready.” I straightened my suit jacket and grinned, giving her a wink that had her rolling her eyes with a laugh.

“There’s a reason they put you last,” KC said, clapping me on the back.

“I’m hoping you clean house.” Alba smiled and cupped both sides of my face before giving each of my cheeks a big kiss. “Go make me proud.”

Once upon a time, KC had dated a hang-around, Nikki, before she turned traitor and betrayed us to the Caputis. Their relationship had been one of the most toxic things I’d ever witnessed. When KC met Alba, I worried it might end up being the same thing, but they balanced each other out more than I could have ever hoped. She brightened his world, and he kept her safe, giving her a place to call home. I envied what they had with a passion—the intimacy, the adoration, the trust in another person to be a peaceful haven.

“And last up,” Ru said, drawing my attention back to the stage. “You’ve all been waiting for him. Hell, he’s probably the reason most of you are here. Let’s give it up for Hollywood!”

I walked up on the platform, waving to the crowd of hang-arounds, members, and old ladies. Everyone clapped, some whistling and shouting, “Take it off!”

I laughed, amused and delighted by the attention. I knew I looked good. I took great pride in staying that way. If I wasn’t at the garage or Saint’s house, I was in the clubhouse’s makeshift gym behind the back rooms. Of course, my Leo babysitting duties and extra shifts at the shop had put a damper on that recently, but I still got it in when I could.

“By day, Hollywood is a mechanic, but by night, he has been known to prowl the clubhouse with his charismatic grin, searching for anyone who might need a laugh.” Ru read a SparkNotes version of my life from an index card while whoever ran the music blasted “Whatta Man” by Salt-N-Pepa over the speaker. “We’ll start the bidding at one hundred dollars.”

Chelsea was the first to raise her bid.

“I see one hundred,” Ru said. “Do I have two?”

KC made everyone laugh by putting up his number. “I need help renovating the Beacon.”

I chuckled and shook my head, knowing I’d do it regardless, but I was happy he’d pushed the bid higher.

“Two hundred,” Ru added. “Anyone going for three?”

Chelsea fought back, shooting a sneer at KC while she raised her marker. Then another hang-around, Amber, joined her and my heart dropped into my gut. I hadn’t talked to Amber in months, not since that awkward drunken night between us, and not that I’d mind a few hours in her company, but she’d probably want to fuck. That was all anyone ever wanted from me.

I cleared my throat and tried to smile wider, knowing a million eyes were on me and they’d see any sign of insecurity. Besides, the money went to a good cause, right? Pollux would have some of his medical bills paid, and all I had to do was sit through an afternoon of a beautiful woman pawing at my bits. I’d done worse for less.

After those two duked it out up to five hundred dollars, someone else joined the fray, someone I’d been avoiding for weeks now, someone I purposely hadn’t looked at or talked to for reasons I couldn’t explain.

“Eight hundred dollars,” Verona said, raising an eyebrow at Chelsea before shooting a side-eye at Amber. My pulse hammered through my body, thrumming down to my cock before traveling the length of my legs and back up again. My grin tightened. My hands clenched into fists before I consciously relaxed them.

What the fuck does she want with me?

3

VERONA

---