Page 2 of Hacker Auction

“She’s single,” Brock countered.

I wanted to know how a man could not want to keep that woman to himself. “Who in their right mind would walk away from her.” She was sexy as hell.

“I’m not sure. I could always ask my mom. If I’m not mistaken, they have lunch together often.” Alex paused. “For the last three weeks, all you did was complain about how you felt like a piece of meat.”

Brock cut in. “You also went into detail yesterday how this auction was borderline like the one we are trying to shut down.”

I winced as I remembered Mia’s glare across the table when I compared the two events. She wasn’t happy with my thoughts. After we left the meeting, she sent me articles on how much the charity helped children in need and then sent me a picture of the little girl my sister was helping because Zarus’s church sold her mother.

“The next time any of you change your mind, I’ll make sure to throw it back in your face.” I grabbed the bottle and filled my drink up for the third time. “Back to the auction money. If I don’t go on this date, the charity won’t get the money Rachelle bid?”

Alex stood and stretched. “Yes and no. Rachelle and her family have old money. Her father did good for himself, but the money she has is on her mother’s side. Rachelle could always donate the money another way. Now I’m going to go back out and sit with my wife before they auction the remaining women off. Kat and Bridget are supporting Kaylene tonight.”

My brother-in-law’s group of friends was large, and they’d welcomed me the second I met them at Patty and Sam’s wedding. Brock took over the company he partially owned with Sam, Blackwood Security. The security firm also had a BDSM club on the main floor. Over the past few weeks, I played a couple of times. Rachelle tied to a spanking bench crossed my mind.

“I’m still not sure this was a good idea, allowing Kaylene to join the auction. Jared has a worse temper than Alex when people pull strings behind his back,” Brock stated. I’d only heard tidbits of the conversation. Kaylene was in love with her boss, but he wouldn’t commit to her, so she was going to do this auction so she could dip her toes back into the dating world. My sister’s friends had so much drama going on within it, sometimes was hard to keep up with everyone.

The only text group I made sure I had Brock add me to was the one that shared Kat’s security camera footage. I hadn’t seen her drag a body through the backyard yet, but I couldn’t wait to watch the small woman feed her latest assassination to her gators. Antonio told me his wife no longer killed, but nobody around them believed the woman would allow a man to continue hurting women at the shelter she opened.

“Come join our table,” Brock said before he tilted his head back and drained the glass of dark liquid. “After the event, you can talk with Martha. I’m sure Martha wants to know where you plan to take Rachelle on your date. If you really want this to happen, drop a hint Rachelle is trying to get out of the date.”

“Brock has a good point. Rachelle’s mom believes in the happily ever after and I think I remember someone broke her heart not too long ago.”

I held up my hand and panicked for a second. “I just want the one date, nobody said anything about a happily ever after.”

Brock rolled his eyes. “You act like you’re scorned because she backed away, but you don’t want more than the date. If you want your dick to get wet, head to the club. I swear all the subs wait to find out if you’ll do a scene with them. It’s your damn gray eyes. The subs were talking about how you hypnotize them with one look.”

“I like my women wet.”

“Jesus, man.” Alex shook his head. “I want to go on record. You are going to fall, and when you do, it’s going to be so fun to sit back and watch.”

“I’ve experienced love, and no way will I ever make myself vulnerable to a woman again. Nothing in life is worth the heartache which will always follow,” I shot back.

Like the time I found my fiancée Elise Levy fucking my teammate in our bed. Neither Elise nor Milton expected me to be released from the hospital early. Two weeks prior, our SEAL team went to Venezuela on a rescue mission. Except the intel we received was wrong and our team came under gun fire. Three of our teammates died and I caught a bullet to my upper thigh. After multiple surgeries I still had a slight limp, but the betrayal of my own teammate still stung. He was my closest friend I think it hurt more to see him with her, than her with my teammate. The night I walked in on them was still vivid in my mind. Her diamond engagement ring I’d bought her a year earlier shined in the night as she rode the man I thought had my back. I stood there and watched as the two people I thought I could count on betrayed me when Milton’s eyes landed on me. He shoved Elise to the side. Elise blamed me for holding her back in life. She hated living in base housing in Virginia. Elise didn’t understand why I wouldn’t transfer to California so she could go in to acting. No matter how many ways I explained it she never understood the brotherhood of the team, but neither did Milton.

The last I heard, she’d moved to California to purse her dreams, but it hadn’t worked out. Milton had moved with her a year later when he left the Navy. At times I missed my close friend, but the wrongdoing my friend did hurt worse than what she did, but it also taught me a life lesson. Never open my heart to a woman again, that didn’t mean I couldn’t spend time with a beautiful woman in bed though.

“Let’s go.” Alex waved toward the door.

I followed the two men back into the main area as the bidding ended for the last man. Jessica, Brock’s wife, moved a little so I could sit down between her and Bridget.

Rachelle’s back was to me. Her mother glanced in my direction, and the woman gave me a warm smile. It seems she didn’t know what her daughter did. Finally, the auctioneer spoke, and the first woman came out. One by one, they paraded women across the stage. Most seemed to get into the auction, egging the men to spend more and more money. The women’s part of the auction was utterly different from the men’s. I relaxed back into the seat and took a sip of my drink.

The next woman walked on stage. Her long black hair came down to the middle of her back. Unlike the other women, she seemed a little nervous. She kept searching the room like she was looking for someone.

“She’s looking for him.” Jessica sighed.

“Who?” I asked. Not sure why I asked, but I hated the sad look on the woman’s face.

“Jared,” Brock replied. “We all thought he would show up, but it seems he’s not going to go after her.”

The bidding started. A man in the back corner kept raising the bid. Brock shifted next to me, but we couldn’t see the person. The auction reached an all-time high and kept going up. Then the man in the back corner bid ten million dollars, and the room went silent. Kaylene held up her hand as she tried to see the back of the room, but the auctioneer ushered her off the stage.

I glanced over to Rachelle’s table and noticed she was no longer next to her mother. “I’m going to go use the restroom.”

None of the men around the table said anything or called me out about going to find Rachelle. I weaved through the tables. My eyes searched the crowd for the sexy woman who thought she could escape me.

When I couldn’t find her in the banquet room, I stepped outside. Three weeks hadn’t helped me adjust to the muggy Florida weather. I stripped off my jacket. I heard a woman yelp in pain down a side path. Instincts kicked in, and I jogged down the path to find the sexy woman I couldn’t get out of my mind, with a man’s hand wrapped around her wrist. She was trying to step back as the man towered over her.

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