Page 89 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

How had she picked up on my nerves? Was I that obvious? “How do you know?”

“It’s not that hard to read you. At least for me. I’m not saying the whole world knows you don’t like to drive, but I’ve picked up on it.”

I tried not to show that it bothered me she could sense my anxiety, but she grabbed my arm. “Hey—it doesn’t change the way I feel about you. You know that, right? I’ve had lots of friends with anxiety, and we both know my mom struggles with it. I hate to tell you this, but it seems like half the world has to battle something like what you’re going through.”

I held her hand as I listened to what she said. I’d been ashamed of my anxiety and social awkwardness for a long time. None of my siblings were like I was. They all thrived in social settings. I’d always felt weird for being nothing like them.

Thank goodness for Grandma. She’d taken me to a therapist and psychiatrist, and I was on a low dose of medicine. I’d gone up on the dosage, but then I’d had trouble with reduced creativity and sleepiness. It was like I liked how my mind worked in some ways, but not others. Like taking the good with the bad. I stopped walking and stared down at her. “Iactually get really nervous when someone drives me, too. Do you mind if we walk?”

“Not at all.” And I could tell by the way she said it, she was being honest.

“Thanks.”

We walked hand in hand, and I kept casting glances at her. She had turned her face up to the sun, absorbing the beautiful day with a relish I envied. I wanted to be more like her, but, maybe even more, I just wanted to be okay with who I actually was. I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Maybe I was on my way to achieving that goal.

“What are we getting?” she asked.

“Do you prefer a gaming console, or gaming computers?”

She raised her eyebrows. “I… don’t know?”

“Cool. Do you mind if I pick out a setup for you?” I was so excited at the prospect I was practically vibrating.

I think she could tell. She laughed. “Sure, whatever you think. I know you’re the expert.”

My God, those were some of the best words a guy like me could ever hear. “Great.” I rubbed my hands together as we made it to the store. I opened the door for her, and it wasn’t long before we were looking at some sweet gaming computer setups.

“What do you mainly use your computer for? These are for gaming, but I’d like you to be able to use if for work, too, if you wanted to.”

“Oh. I’m getting my degree in marketing. I use a lot of presentation software, but it will run on pretty much anything.”

“Marketing, huh?” I vaguely remembered Nico saying something about her being smart. “Hey, if you could change one thing aboutCaveSphere, what would it be?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but we were abruptly interrupted.

“Oh my God. OH MY GOD!” My head swiveled to look at the employee freaking out in front of me, and I regarded him with a mixture of fear and humor.

“Calm down, okay?” I whispered to him. He was making a scene, and the last thing I wanted was for a bunch ofCaveSpherefans to mob us in the store.

“I can’t! I can’t, I can’t, I can’t,” he started gasping and leaning over to grab his knees. “I’m going to faint,” he said weakly, right before he toppled over onto the ground.

I stared at him for a moment, then stepped over his prone body. “Well, let’s get someone else to help us…”

“Jack!” Daisy looked horrified. “You can’t just leave him like that.” She looked around until she saw another employee. “Hey, can you help us over here? He kind of… fainted.” She gestured to the guy on the ground.

“Jesus. These guys are idiots. Sorry, ma’am. They aren’t around women very much, and, well, you’re very pretty.” The guy blinked a bit and seemed to break out in a sweat. “It’s actually kind of hot in here.” He started fanning himself as he stared at Daisy’s tits in her tight T-shirt.

“Oh. I don’t think it was about me,” she protested.

“I can assure you, it was,” he grinned.

“No, see…” she motioned towards me.

The guy stopped fanning himself and stared at me. “Jack Lancaster?TheJack Lancaster?” He seemed incapable of speech after that and started looking for someone else to help us before this turned into a whole big scene.

“Jack Lancaster. This is the best fucking day of my life,” a teenager out with his family said. His little sister gasped and looked up at her dad as if she knew he was going to punish her brother, but he was staring at me with his mouth wide open, too.

“Damn,” he finally said, as a small crowd began to form.