“Please.” I rolled my eyes, looking around the room. “Don’t give me that shit. I know these things get you two, hot and heavy.”
“I don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about.” Liam chuckled, sending a smirk to his long-time girlfriend up on the stage. “I’m just donating to a good cause.”
Over my shoulder, I noticed Richard fucking Sinclair strolling into the ballroom. “Listen.” I groaned, the seconds ticking down. “Unlike you and Gina, I don’t have a kink for spending an exorbitant amount of money on something that’s already mine.” I relaxed, as Richard headed across the room and ambushed Taggart and Eric instead. I smirked, knowing he’d probably talktheir ears off long enough to keep them from bidding on Sara.Good.
Liam raised a brow. “Do you know anything about foreplay?”
“If I wanted to make a donation to a shitty charity, I’d just cut a check.” Yet another reason I couldn’t stand most of the people in this room, the vast majority of these charity events were complete fraud. Shell companies, owned by the people standing all around us. I lowered my voice. “Besides, you know I don’t find it particularly appealing to buy a date with a woman when she’s only drooling over my inheritance and not me.”
“Can’t it be both?” Liam asked, not taking his eyes off the stage.
I huffed out a breath. “Sure, but it never is.”
“Suit yourself.” He shrugged, lifting his paddle as the auctioneer opened the bidding for Gina. “If you don’t have game, just say so.”
Across the room, the other half of our crew was busy stirring up shit as usual. Cade and Theo snickered, taking turns counter-bidding Liam, and I rolled my eyes. “You know they’re just going to push you to your ceiling.”
“Eh, she’s worth it.” Liam raised his paddle again. “Besides, this isn’t completely selfless.”
“Like I said, I don’t want to know.” I raised my hands in surrender and backed away with a chuckle. “I’m going to get some fresh air. It’s a bit hot in here.” Sara was up next and I knew it was an incredibly bad idea for me to stand here,in front of her brother, while someone else bid on the girl that I’d burn my entire inheritance for, let alone the chance to take on a real date.
It also occurred to me that if I timed it right, maybe I could catch her backstage and steal her away without anyone seeing.
“Kensington, where are you going?” Cade called a head above the crowd as I headed for the hallway. “The fun is just getting started.” He threw his long arms out with a grin, while Theo avoided my gaze altogether.
“I’ll be back in a bit.” I waved my hand at Cade, still heading for the door.
“Sure you will.” Cade rolled his blue eyes at me. “You’re coming tonight, right? You know, I’m not taking no for an answer.” He joked, but I could see the worry in his expression, and I quickly shoved the guilt down.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.” I chuckled as the auctioneer prattled on in the background and Cade and Theo both threw their paddles up in unison.
“I will hurt you.” Liam mouthed silently to them across the ballroom.
I made it about three steps outside the ballroom before a man with graying hair, a red velvet tux, and a cigar hanging out of his mouth ambushed me. “Richard.” I greeted him thinly, sliding my hands into my pockets to hide the tension in my curling fingers.
“You should be in there, bidding on your future wife.” He scolded me, and it was a struggle to keep from rolling my eyes. “When I was your age…” I tuned him out as he launched into an aspirational lecture that made me grit my teeth.
Eyeing the door just beyond the curved staircase, I wondered if I could slip backstage and steal Sara away before her date did. Eric was no longer occupied and would probably bid on her tonight,he usually did.The two of them had the most unexciting, on-again-off-again situation-ship I’d ever seen. Sara could do so much better than him, and it was almost comical seeing the two of them together, because he was just so incredibly dull compared to Sara. Why she continued to entertain him, I honestly had no idea; her father seemed to like him a lot more than she did.
I blew out a slow breath, trying to find some sort of Zen while Richard badgered me for an investment. That’s all I was to the people in this room, a walking money bag, ripe for the picking. Not only was it exhausting, but it made me suspicious of everyone’s intentions, and left me feeling even more isolated than I already was.
As grateful as I was for the life I had, sometimes I couldn’thelp feeling like it wasn’t even mine. Like I’d been backed into a corner that I’d never walked into in the first place.
Right now, I desperately wanted to steal a quiet moment away from everything and clear my head, because in a matter of hours, everything was about to change and I wasn’t entirely sure I was ready.
“Come on, what will it take for you to open your pocketbook?” Richard nudged me as if we had that sort of friendliness. “Your father, rest his soul, was a huge advocate of the arts and very generous. What do you think he would do?” So fucking condescending, as if I wasn’t running the art curation and asset management business my father left behind day in and day out.
I grimaced. “I can assure you, the estate backs many amazing charities as it is.”Just not the ones that funnel into your pocket.Greedy bastard.
Richard was like a bug-eyed lizard who couldn’t generate any of his own warmth. He had to find some little rock to leech from so he could survive, and I’d be damned if I let him perch on my back. I was so sick of playing this game that my temper was about to boil over and scald his little lizard feet.
“Have you considered my offer?” Richard asked.
“As I’ve said before, I can appreciate that my father did business with you, but I’m just not in a place to continue that at this time.” Joining theelitesecret Society that was possibly involved in my parents’ untimely deaths wasn’t exactly at the top of my bucket list.
Richard reached up to squeeze my shoulder. “I just worry about you, son. It pities me to think of you navigating your career without your father’s guidance.”And here it comes.“Let me take you under my wing, show you the benefits of being part of the organization.”
What exactly he wanted from me, I was never quite sure, but I knew it was about more than just joining theorganization.
