Page 17 of Sold to the Highest Bidder
Nazalie lied to Katherine; she had told her that she was going for a special two-month baking class. It was to prepare her for when she would take over the bakery. Now she thought that that lie wasn’t worth it. All she did was wait for him to come home. She knew next to nothing about him. All she did was sit pretty and wait for him to return. Nazalie wished she could call Katherine and rant to her. She couldn’t tell her about her deal with Joshua. She loved Katherine, but she could be a bit overprotective sometimes. She would never let her go through with it. Katherine was protective of her like that. Two months in a strange man’s house? That was Katherine’s worst nightmare. Especially since she recently started watching real-life crime shows. She was continually warning her and telling her how many young girls get kidnapped, raped and murdered.
His place was the dream, it was easy to get used to it. It was filled with all the modern gadgets and devices. He had all the subscriptions on TV. Even though it was filled with various luxuries, it was kind of empty at the same time. There were no pictures, it was like he had no memories; he … existed. Nazalie wanted to ask about it, but he never seemed to be in the mood for questions. He never seemed to be in the mood for anything but sex.
Nazalie decided to go out. Joshua was barely around, so she decided to go to the mall. She realized that she didn’t have fancy clothes.
She stopped by the bakery on her way to the mall. Everything seemed to be in order; Nazalie decided to get herself something that would stand out.
She spotted a blue dress that she liked and checked the price. It was $1200. Nazalie shook her head. A month ago, she couldn’t have afforded this. She was about to pay for it when she heard someone call her name.
“Nazalie? Nazalie, is that you?”
It was Deondre, a guy she dated in high school. He looked pretty much the same – tall, lanky and just as good looking. He was about five feet away, but he covered the distance in a beat. He has always had long legs.
He pulled her into a hug, almost lifting her off the floor. Nazalie laughed; it was like old times.
“Wow, you haven’t changed. You looked exactly the same. Don’t you age?” Deondre asked as he let go of her.
Nazalie laughed, “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. I could be a vampire for all you know.”
“You must be a twilight vampire because you sparkle under the sunlight.”
Nazalie laughed again, clutching her stomach. He hadn’t changed a bit. Still had those tacky pick-up lines.
“Would you like to get a drink? To catch up? That’s if you’re not busy.”
“Of course, it’s not every day you see Nazalie.”
“You’re such a goof. Hold on a second, I need to pay for this.” She said, lifting the dress and the matching purse.
Deondre nodded, facing the attendant.
“Ring this up, please,” he said, handing her his card. Nazalie was still struggling to look for her purse in her large tote bag.
The attendant had already swiped Thomas’s card before she could protest.
It happened so fast that she couldn’t even protest.
“Now, I certainly have to take you out to lunch.”
Deondre laughed and collected her bags. They walked to a nearby restaurant and sat down. They talked for so long that it was already dark outside by the time they finished.
Things actually worked out for Deon; he was a successful tech genius. He was also married with two adorable kids. Everyone seemed to have their life planned out, except her.
After they broke up, they remained friends for a while before they lost contact. It was nice talking to him again. He dropped her off in front of Joshua’s apartment.
When she got upstairs, Joshua was waiting for her. He was sitting on one of the kitchen stools with his legs crossed.
“Where have you been?” He asked, in a voice so low that if the room wasn’t so quiet, she wouldn’t have heard him.
“I was out with a friend,” Nazalie answered, dropping the shopping bags on the kitchen counter.
“A friend?” Joshua asked scoffing. “Is this the so-called friend you were out with?”
Joshua turned his phone towards her. It was a picture of her and Deon hugging affectionately on the screen. Deon was hugging her tightly with a broad smile on his face, and she was laughing. Nazalie didn’t see anything wrong with the picture.
“Wait, did you have me followed?”
“Followed? Why would I do that?”
