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“Alright, so Deacon, here, has offered one lucky lady–or man?--” Arizona glanced at me, and I shrugged, not particularly caring since sex wasn’t attached to this date, not that I expected any guy to be interested in buying me. “Or man, a day in Pleasant Lake, boating on the lake, a park-side high-tea picnic, and, ooh, shopping along the main street. Well, you had me sold at shopping, Mr. Butler!—on you, right?”
I nodded my head and then flashed a smile at the audience, surveying the options of who might be thinking of buying the date. My eyes collided with the bartender, who flashed me a grin, and I wondered if she was actually going to go for it.
“Alright, let’s start the bid at a hundred dollars. Do I hear a hundred?” Arizona scanned the room and then pointed at a redhead who raised her hand. “Two-hundred, do I hear two-hundred?” Someone else raised their hand.
It felt like watching ping-pong as the three women battled it out.
I recognized the redhead vaguely, she worked at the grocery store, or maybe I went to school with her. It was hard to tell under the stage lights glaring at me and dimming the audience. The second woman, after a while, I recognized as my old gym teacher, which was a bit weird, but we were grown-ups now, I supposed.
The bid was going up and up. Before I knew it, they were in the thousands fighting overme. And sure, it was a charity auction, so the money would go to the town. That was great, but I still couldn’t believe someone would spend that much to hang out with me for a day, especially with no guarantees of what would even happen beyond a picnic and shopping.
My eyes jumped to Dakota, who was looking grimmer and grimmer at the proceedings. I wanted to smile at her, give her some reassurance, but Forrest was watching me too, and I didn’t want him to catch on.
He leaned over and whispered something humorous to Dakota, but she only opened her mouth to snap it shut again. My eyes turned back to the redhead as Arizona asked if one thousand three hundred was the final bid, trying to see what she was going to do.
“Two thousand.”
I gave myself whiplash as my head pivoted back toward the voice, and I stared at Dakota in horror, her hand raised.
“Two thousand to Dakota Moore, do I hear two thousand and two hundred? Two thousand and one hundred?” A buzzing in my ear began as the world slowed around me. Forrest was frowning and leaning in to say something to Dakota, but she was ignoring him. Ma was sitting beside Dakota with a huge grin on her face. And the rest of my family looked-right shocked.
“Alright, sold for two thousand to my little sister. Good for you, babe.” Arizona was grinning, and I glanced at her, trying to discern if Dakota had told her about our little arrangement. But she looked as shocked as everyone else.
Forrest and Dakota were meant to be as far as the whole town was concerned. It was a matter of time before they pulled their heads out of the sand and realized it.
Neither of them would ever feel that way about the other. They’d tried once, and it didn’t work.
“Deacon, you need to get off the stage now, hun. I need to move on to the next firefighter.”
Arizona snapped me out of my thoughts as I turned to her in a daze and nodded my head slowly. Then, putting one foot in front of the other, I forced myself to walk backstage again.
I needed to see Dakota and find out what the hell she was thinking. But I had no doubt everyone else in the Butler crew was coming down on her for the same reason.
When I got back from backstage, I walked down the hallway toward the table they’d set up for people to complete their purchases. Dakota was bent over the table, talking to Oaklee, the fire station’s receptionist. Oaklee bobbed her head and pointed to a paper, which Dakota was signing as I walked up behind her.
“Kota, what the hell?” She turned quickly, knocking the table and sending a bunch of papers up in a fuss. Gripping the edge of it, she leaned back like she was trying to escape me before her eyes flicked away from me and back toward the main room.
“We can talk about this later, Deacon.” She turned to Oaklee, who nodded her head at some silent conversation they had, and then Dakota took off, walking past me and past Forrest, who was standing in the doorway, watching us with a curious expression on his face.
“I don’t know, man, I had no idea …” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck.Should I have gone after her?
dakota
I was avoiding everyone.My phone was blowing up. Several people, or maybe just one, had come to my door and attempted to break it down. Then, when that didn’t work, they tried the back door, but I remained locked in my bedroom where no one could get me under the safety of a blanket, sound-blocking headphones, and lots, and lots, of chocolate.
What had I done?
One minute I was sitting there, feeling more and more unnerved by these three women fighting over Deacon, Ma’s words replaying in my head, while this voice told me to go for it and be selfish for once … and next thing I knew, my hand was in the air. I was offering eight hundred dollars higher than the last bid.
Like the lunatic I was.
And Ma sat there, squeezing my thigh in approval. While Forrest shouted at me about how this wasn’t the kind of joke he meant.
Fuck my life.
This was the total opposite effect from what I expected buying the love of my life would have. I called in sick to work for three days, hiding in my house, and continuing to avoid anything that started with a B and ended with -ulter. Including Wren, who would’ve been supportive, albeit confused, but would also likely pass on any intel she got from me to her husband, who would talk to his brother.
I was totally alone. Even my sisters didn’t bother reaching out, or maybe none of them realized what kind of shit storm I’d created for myself.
