“Ladies and gentlemen, firstly, may I give you a warm welcome and thank you for joining us this evening. You should all have a copy of the auction programme, which lists all the items kindly donated for tonight's cause. Bidding will start after dinner, around eight, and I hope to see plenty of paddles raised. Let’s see if we can beat our target from last year.”
There was a brief cheer around the room and a wave of auction paddles.
“As most of you are aware, the Save the Bay Charity has always been important to me. Its sole purpose is to protect and restore the Narragansett Bay ecosystem, and I am sure you all agree on how important it is to keep our shorelines healthy and thriving for our future generations.
I remember joining my grandfather when I was a boy and patrolling the shores around Newport. He was a Baykeeper in his spare time, and my passion for the sea and its various forms of wildlife came from him…”
I had heard his speech so many times before, but Daddy always managed to deliver it with an enthusiastic freshness. Almost, like he was speaking the lines for the very first time.
Fidgeting in my seat, I felt very aware of Jasper’s thigh so close to my own. He’d only been back from his trip for a few hours, and he was already stifling me. Saying that, there was hardly any elbow room at our table anyway. Why they had to squeeze twelve seats into a space that was clearly designed for ten, I would never understand. As usual, it was all about money. The event must have been oversubscribed, and the Trustees of the Charity would never turn anyone away for fear of upsetting a member of Newport's finest. Most people in attendance had deep pockets. Something that every thriving charity fed off.
And there they were, all squished together into that slightly larger-than-average sports hall. It was amazing to see so many influential people all occupying the same space. The room was a terrorist's dream come true, a perfect opportunity to off some of the most influential people in Rhode Island: in just one go.
“He sounds great,” my fiancé whispered in my ear. He was such a brown-noser. “You look beautiful tonight,” Jasper added into my ear. His hot breath tickled my neck, and not in a good way.
“Thank you.”
Shooting him a smile to keep the peace, I glanced around the room. As I mentioned, that year the Save the Bay Charity Ball was being held in the sports hall at Harbor Heights High, my old high school, and the place I volunteered one day a week.
Principal Miller and his staff had done an amazing job dressing the room. There were balloons everywhere, and the tables were covered with white cloths and decorated with assorted wild flowers. There must have been around twenty tables in that small space, each accommodating twelve guests. The view was a sea of color and money, all carefully brought together.
My father was standing on the stage, that same place where I had accepted my high school diploma. I remember walking behind Reed, my eyes pinned to his broad back, appreciating how the graduation gown had pulled tight across those muscles. Bythen, we had been hooking up for two years on the quiet. I missed those times, that sense of danger, the thought of getting caught.
Daddy revealed his master plan for me just after my sixteenth birthday. I remembered he had sweetened the deal by buying me my first car, a Range Rover. It even came with a vanity plate with my name on.
The wedding discussion was raised during a family dinner with the Remmingtons. I had known Jasper for years as our parents were school friends. When I found out about the proposedbusiness arrangement, I was horrified at first, but my father managed to manipulate me into thinking it was a good thing. I had never thought of myself as the type of girl to fall in love and have babies. I was too selfish to have any of those types of dreams. Marrying for money and security hadn’t sounded like that bad of a deal at the time.
I remember Jasper coming into the library at our house. He had been so kind, pointing out all the benefits of bringing our families together. He sold the marriage as more of a friendship. I even recall him making me laugh a few times. Eventually, I got how being married to a powerful man would have its advantages. I had never been in love. Well, not with anyone other than myself. I hadn’t realized what I would have been throwing away. And then I’d met Reed.
That night at the house, Jasper and I had made an off-the-record agreement that we were allowed to see other people (discreetly), but when the engagement was made public on my twenty-first birthday, any dalliances were to be ended.
Three months after the deal was sealed, I slept with Reed. He was my first lover. It wasn’t totally perfect. I remember how nervous we both were, but we certainly made up for that during the months that followed.
In those earlier days, things between us had been a bit of fun, with no major feelings. But then things got serious. And all that time, I was engaged to another man: one who was out of sight and out of mind. Jasper worked in a different state, and I only saw him once a month. That gave me more time to spend with my ‘dalliance’ that was fast becoming much more than that.
It had taken time, but I had fallen in love with Reed. It was deep and all-consuming, and I tried to end it so many times. And by that, I mean both my agreement with the proposal and my relationship with Reed. Each attempt to make things right had backfired, but for very different reasons.
When I found out my father cheated on my mother when she was pregnant with me, it almost tore me apart. The fact that the man I worshipped could do something like that, fuck another woman when his wife was struggling with prenatal depression, forced me to take a good look at myself. And then reality kicked in. I was just as bad. A fucking hypocrite, living my life in acake and eating itway and lying through my teeth to the one person I cared about more than anyone, Reed. Daddies’ affair had consequences too, ones in the shape of Phoenix.
When my father called a family meeting one night and confessed that he’d fathered a child, I realized I was in love with Reed. And I told him everything. Well, almost everything. I had never confessed to loving him. What would be the point? It didn’t change anything. Even that last day at the beach, before the night of the accident, I couldn’t say the words. It would have been too cruel.
I swallowed down those recurring thoughts of guilt. We had never made any promises to each other or agreed to remain exclusive. And it’s not like he didn’t get up to stuff. I remember when I found out that Reed had slept with my best friend, Tate, although he denied it.
To sum it up in one sentence. My history with Reed Prescott was painful and messy, and it needed to stay as part of my past. For both our sakes.
After his behavior at the club, I had no doubts that Jasper would still go after Reed somehow. And I couldn’t let that happen, not to someone I still cared so much about.
Speaking of the slut that was Tate fucking Parker. I nodded in acknowledgement of Mrs. Parker’s fingertipped wave. She looked more like she was going to prom than a charity event. Tate wasn’t with them as she was still in France. I dragged mygaze from Mr. Parker. I was surprised they still attended charity events, as they rarely put their hands in their pockets.
As Daddy powered through the rest of his speech, I slid the list of items that would open for bids after dinner towards me.
“Anything you want me to bid on for you?” Jasper questioned from my side, like I couldn’t do that myself, the chauvinistic pig. That comment had nothing to do with being generous; it was all about control. My fiancé's expression was too smug for my liking that evening. He liked to show me off like a trophy. The girl I used to be would have loved that. I emphasize the ‘used’ to be.
Pushing the list back into the center of the table, I shook my head and lifted my eyes off where my name was printed. I was listed under Lot Ten, or at least, "A Date with the Chair of the Trust’s Daughter," was. I had volunteered for the last three years for a bit of fun, and Jasper had been forced to go along with it. It’s not like he had anything to worry about. When I’d first offered time with myself for money, I had been the Mayor of Newport’s daughter, but of course, Daddy had stepped down when he went back into business with Jasper and his father, Theodore.
The date was always in a public place, and the press were usually involved. It helped to raise the Charities’ profile. Our engagement was announced on the evening of my twenty-first birthday as planned, and so everyone in Newport knew about it. It was just a charity publicity stunt, and that was it.
Last year, Mr. Alfred Cumberworth had won me for nine thousand dollars, and I had earned every fucking penny. He was a retired accountant, overweight and balding, and around the same age as my father. He also had rank breath and had gotten handsy as the night dragged on. I hadn’t been amused and ended the date by stomping on his foot. I remember Jasper had found it funny, and of course, he would; the Cumberworths of this world posed no threat to him and his plans. I imagined that if it had been a young guy of a similar age to me, he would have been laughing on the other side of his face. And yes, my fiancé had two of them. Didn’t all would-be politicians/businessmen?
