“A thousand dollars to the lady in red.”
Dallas eyes me, pleased. “A thousand dollars!” he repeats. “Do I hear fifteen hundred?”
“Two thousand!”
“Three thousand!”
The sound of the crowd shifts … less excited, more ravenous. It’s not laughter anymore but shrill cries, greedy gasps, claws dragging across the gym’s air. They don’t see me. They see what they can take. The auction block isn’t a stage. It’s a cage.
Numbers continue in rapid-fire progression until I’ve raised ten thousand dollars for the animal rescue. It’s all well and good, but what in the hell is someone going to expect for five digits?
Silence settles apart from the shuffling of feet.
“Ten thousand five?” the shiny cowboy asks.
A resigned quiet overtakes the auditorium. I look down at my boots, coming to terms with my fate.
“Sold to the pink lady for ten thousand dollars!”
Pink lady?Huh.
Wild cries of disappointment rise above the din of the murmuring crowd, inebriated, wild.
Dallas shakes his head. “Oh, boy! Do you realize that we could stop the entire auction right now and be halfway to our original projected goal?”
As if they needed encouragement, groups of women start sullenly heading for the door, expressions irate.
Dallas shoves the mic in front of my face, spotlight still burning a hole through my retinas, as I strain to see Catalina. I have to register her expression, try to read her thoughts, and whether she’ll ever want anything to do with me again …. or the date I tried to ask her out on before we got interrupted.
“Thank you,” I say, swallowing loudly. “But don’t leave yet. There are plenty more small-town bachelors to be had. My firemen brothers-in-arms, sheriff’s deputies, search and rescue guys, cowboys, ex-military men, farmers …” I feel like a snakeoil salesman caught red-handed, peddling things the majority of women in this crowd don’t want.
Suddenly, my eyes find Catalina again. Her expression looks grim, disappointed. It reflects everything I feel inside. I wonder if she bid at all. I can’t imagine it, seeing as we quickly skyrocketed into the four digits and beyond. I wonder if she’ll ever talk to me again outside of politely serving me at the DMV counter …
I nod in Catalina’s direction, and her cheeks brighten. At least, that’s what I convince myself. Dallas grabs my arm, whispering under his breath, “We know you like bright lights and big stages, Hollywood. But time to give it up to the next lot number.”
Behind the curtain, the other bachelors break into cheers and jeers. Sheriff Christian still stands with his arms crossed, his face stony and unreadable. Hawk’s very much the same, though adjusting the lighting and audio makes him draw his face in concentration.
“Nice job, Hollywood,” Kurt grumbles, clasping a hand on my shoulder. “Now, you’ve ruined the auction for everyone else.” He narrows his gaze sternly before laughing. “At least you made a lot of money doing it.”
I drag a hand down my face, the adrenaline gone and nothing left but bone-deep fatigue. I thought leaving L.A. meant leaving the performance behind. But out there under those lights, I was the same damn actor, selling a version of myself I don’t even want anymore.And Catalina saw that.
Hawk’s cell phone vibrates, and he pulls it from his pocket, accepting a call and holding it up to his ear. He speaks in tones so quiet I can barely make out what he’s saying as Christian and Kurt go back and forth about my next steps.
Finally, the Native cowboy looks up, grinning, an expression generally out of character for him. “So, the drama continues,” he teases, heading off the conversation between the Fire Chief and Sheriff.
We all stare at him, waiting for elaboration.
“Turns out pink lady doesn’t want you for herself, though she’s still good for the ten thousand. She just gifted you to another bidder.”
“Huh,” Kurt says, looking puzzled. “No matter, you’ll have a place in these annual festivities for as long as you like.”
Just what I don’t want to hear.
“I need to get this over with,” I groan impatiently, ready to put this evening behind me. A rustling from the side of the stage catches my attention.
I brace for the worst … until Roxy appears, dragging the one woman I prayed for behind her.
The curvy, nerdy girl is even more stunning than I remember her from the tree earlier, her cheeks glowing and her dark, intuitive eyes rounding.
