Page 84 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Surgeon

I wanted to punch the wall. Anonymity at the clubs were ensured by NDAs and a mutual desire among the other gentlemen to keep the public from knowing we were members. I couldn’t let her get away with this… but how in the world would I stop her?

***

It was Monday night, and I was officially in hell, otherwise known as my mother’s mansion in the Estates at South neighborhood.

We were seated around the massive dining room table, in the middle of a dinner so formal you’d think the president was attending. We were trying desperately to come up with topicsto discuss.

It was a fucked up group, that was for sure, and I’d be giving my dad an earful later. Sitting around the table were me, Jelly, Mom, Dad, and freaking Gia Santoro and her parents.

Gia Santoro and her parents. I had no clue that they would be there, and it was freaking me out. I was no closer to figuring out how to distance myself from Gia, or to refute her claims. Jelly could tell I’d been off ever since the benefit, but she wasn’t prying into what was going on with me. I was thankful since I sure as hell wouldn’t know what to say. And there was no way I wanted her to know Gia and I had been sexually involved in the slightest, even if it was before I’d met her. It just didn’t look good since we’d known each other since we were kids. I was afraid Jelly would think I was lying if I told her I hadn’t recognized Gia.

It also didn’t help that my mom and Mrs. Santoro were basically treating this dinner as a pre-engagement party for Gia and me while they completely ignored Jelly. Dad and Mr. Santoro openly leered at Jelly, convinced she was just some pretty floozy I was fucking. I was sitting in between Gia and Mrs. Santoro, while Jelly was seated across from me between my mom and dad. Gia kept grabbing my thigh and trying to give me a hand job under the table. I’d jumped twice now, hitting my knees underneath the table and almost knocking everyone’s drinks over.

I could tell from the dark look on Jelly’s face she knew exactly what was going on.

It was awkward as hell, and I felt like I was going to have to do a song and dance routine to keep everyone at least somewhat happy.

I rubbed a hand over my face. Why the hell had I said yes to this dinner?

Then it got worse.

“Remember,” Gia leaned in and whispered, “if you don’t want your family to know about your extracurricular activities or what a cheap slut your date is, you’ll go along with me.”

“What exactly do you mean by going along with you?” Iasked quietly.

“Just follow my lead wherever that goes.” She had a self-satisfied look on her face that was making me very, very nervous.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Jelly

I was ready to go about five minutes after we’d arrived at Paolo’s mom’s house.

She was a tall, elegant woman who oozed class. And bitchiness. I had mistakenly thought she was nice at the benefit. I was wrong. “Oh, you must be Jammy. So nice to meet you, dear.”

“I met you at the benefit, Mrs. Lanetti.” I was confused. She couldn’t have forgotten that quickly. I didn’t even try to correct the name, though it felt purposeful. Maybe I was being paranoid, though.

“Oh, we meet so many of Paolo’s… women… it’s hard to keep them all straight. Come on inside and meet everyone else.”

Okay. Probably not paranoid.

“Everyone else?” Paolo asked in a strained voice.

“Of course. Don’t you remember that sweet Gia Santoro is in town? Her parents flew in for this dinner, so make sure you’re very nice to everyone, son.”

“They flew in from Italy?” Paolo’s face drained of color.

Um… what the fuck? Did they invite me to a dinner where they were trying to hook their son up with another woman?

It soon became abundantly clear that’s exactly what they’d done. I didn’t even get to sit next to Paolo. Instead, Gia Santoro, who couldn’t shut up about how she had known Paolo since they were in diapers back in Italy, sat beside him. Anytime I tried to speak to him, she interrupted me.

It didn’t help that she was an absolute bombshell. She had the perfect hourglass figure that I knew Paolo liked best. I had some nice curves, but hers were unreal. And she had long brown hair and big brown eyes, golden skin, and was quite elegant. She looked polished; like she came from money.

I felt… less than. And it didn’t help that no one was talking to me. At all.

“Have you two had a chance to go out on the town lately?” Gia’s mom asked Paolo.

Gia giggled. “Not lately. But the times we have seen each other have been… eventful. Wouldn’t you say, Paolo?”