Page 14 of Hazel and Elijah Find Out: First They F*cked Around

In one motion, he shook my shoulder and handed Hazel a menu before sliding into the booth next to her. “This jackass. Hazel, how are you?”

“I’m doing well, thanks.” She leaned against the wall to speak directly to him.

“No, please, have a seat. Make yourself at home,” I grumbled, not appreciating the way his arm was slung across the backrest, or that I couldn’t talk to her about the things I needed to.

He shot me a shit-eating grin. “I will, thank you.” To her, he said, “I haven’t seen you in a couple of weekends. You doin’ okay? The first year of this place nearly killed me.”

Back in my seat, I watched her closely.

Her shoulders lifted toward her ears. And while she kept her features comfortable and easy, there was tension in her body. “I’m good. I’ve needed quite a bit of sleep on the weekends.”

“Weeks can get long.”

“They can.”

“If there’s anything I can help with, just let me know. I should’ve asked for more help that first year. I didn’t have to do everything alone.”

She sucked her lips between her teeth and squinted between me and Ben.

“What’s up?” I asked.

A groan rumbled in the back of her throat. When she spoke, it was quieter than before. “Did you get a weird text from Nora?”

Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. “About selling my body? I did. I decided not to step into what I hoped was a philosophical conversation.”

All my thoughts screeched to a halt, and instead, only one question roared in my mind,Why did Nora send a text to Ben that was just like the one Hazel sent me?

Hazel’s cheeks grew bright red before she hid behind her hands. “I don’t even want to say this out loud.” Her hands lowered to her throat. “She wants to hold a bachelor auction.”

“A bachelor auction?” he asked.

“Where people buy dates?” I asked.

She nodded. “I don’t like the idea, but I don’t know what else to do. We’re in a bit of a tight spot…”

“What’s going on?”

We all leaned in to hear better as she explained about the donation the humane society was expecting, and how she didn’t have the funds for it. Her anxiety was woven into every one of her words.

My hand clenched in a fist under the table. “Dad didn’t tell you about this?”

“He did, but we had to redraft the pricing at the end of the deal. One of the things that was no longer in consideration was this donation.” She held my gaze, conveying that there was more to the story, but that we’d have to talk about it later.

This was right out of his playbook. If Hazel didn’t make the donation, then everyone would talk about how she wasn’t running the clinic well. My dad would come out of the ordeal appearing like the better man for offering help that she turned down. It didn’t matter to him that she would look flaky and foolish.

I didn’t know how, but I would not let that happen to her. Even if I was disappointed that it had been Nora who’d texted me, not Hazel.

“Do you need some of the money to come from the bar?” Ben offered.

“That’d be amazing. But, um…” She bit her lip and tilted her head down. “If we do the auction, can we hold it here?”

We all leaned back in our seats, considering each other. In the short time I’d spent in town, I’d seen that there was a shift happening. A more accepting and less staunchly evangelical sector of the community was beginning to grow. But there was still a large portion of the population that would be beyond offended by an event that could be seen as salacious.

After a few moments of silence, Ben shifted. “Why… this?”

“Nora thinks it could bring in a decent crowd, and we’d have a relatively low investment. You know, we could ask Sterling to make some graphics and do some posts on social media. The auction itself would be the entertainment. But…”

“Obviously, this could backfire.” He ran a hand through his dark blond hair.

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