“Oh my God,” I snapped at her.
“Also what you say?—”
“I already made that joke,” Maddie cut in. At Wren’s pout, she gave an unapologetic shrug. “That’s what happens when you’re late.”
It was said with joking love, but there was a hint of concern on Maddie’s face. I recognized it easily since it was mirrored in my own chest.
Wren twisted a napkin, and I glanced down as her pale pink nails tore through it. But she was smiling when she said, “I, uh, got distracted and lost track of time.”
“Right,” Maddie drawled before leaning in. “Is that why you winced when you sat?”
My gaze moved from Maddie to Wren because I’d missed that.
“Don’t try to change the subject,” Wren said.
“I’m not,” Maddie said even though she totally was. “I’m continuing the conversation so there are no lulls.”
“And avoiding talking about whatever Greer was alluding to.”
Maddie speared me with a glare. “I should kick you again.” She gave a long-suffering sigh to mask her nerves. It was pointless, we saw right past it. “This is not a big deal. And it’s TMI. And you probably won’t even care?—”
“Spit it out,” I gently encouraged.
“What Tripp doesnotsay to you,” Wren said.
Maddie gave a huff, but it worked to lighten the mood. “When you walked in on Easton and me on Friday, I wasn’t going down on him.”
“Hey, what you two do in the privacy of his very public office in the middle of the day is your own business.”
“I’m serious. I was just kneeling near him because I like to.”
That would’ve been easy to make into a dirty joke, but at the anxiety in Maddie’s tone, Wren pressed her lips together.
“Ugh, this is awkward. Okay, you know how I was just supposed to be Easton’s event date at first?”
Wren nodded, and I leaned closer because I wanted the details, too. All I knew was what little Tripp had shared.
“That is the truth. But we started that arrangement because there was an auction, and he bought me.”
I sat right back.
“Like one of those fundraiser auctions?” Wren asked. “My cousin in Seattle did one of those. She won a rescue puppy and a firefighter. The puppy worked out. The firefighter? Not so much. Worst date of her life. Her friend Aria ended up married to her firefighter, though, so now the event is nearly impossible to get tickets for.”
“Uh, no. This is more of, um, anadultauction.”
“Oh.Ohhhh.”
‘Their kink comes from the fact that she belongs to him.’
Tripp’s words from my first night at Gilded floated through my head and suddenly made a lot more sense.
She belonged to him.
Bought and paid for.
The server finally picked a good time to approach since we were stunned silent.
Once we ordered, and he walked away, Maddie launched back in. “Anyway, I can’t really go into detail about that, but we started out with the fake dating. Then I was his sugar baby. And now I am just… you know…his.”
