by Nicole James
He nodded. “Absolutely. Let me just grab our bags.”
***
Twenty minutes later, they were in the truck, coffee and donuts in hand, and heading down the highway. Jameson popped the last of his into his mouth and crumbled up the wax paper, stuffing it back in the paper bag.
Ava did the same and sipped her coffee.
He glanced over at her. “You okay? You’re so quiet.”
“Just ready to get back. I have a lot of preparation to get ready for the Gala Saturday night.”
“Right. Of course.”
“I hope you don’t mind if I don’t come into the shop the next two days. I mean our deal is coming to an end.”
His brows drew together, and he studied her strangely. “Yeah, of course. You need time to get ready for the event. I understand.”
“Good. It’s been fun learning the tattoo business, but now its time to get back to the real world. I bet there’s a ton of work piled up at my office.”
He stared out the windshield. Things had been fine between them last night and this morning. Hell, better than fine. Now things had seemed to chill. She was suddenly acting as if none of it meant anything to her.
“I’ll be sure to send over a tux for you to wear,” she added, looking out the passenger window.
“That won’t be necessary,” he snapped.
She turned to look at him, frowning. “What do you mean?”
“I have a suit I can wear. I do have the ability to clean up. I can dress myself.”
“I didn’t mean…”
“I know what you meant.”
“It’s just that it’s black tie and…”
“I highly doubt the women coming because of me, expect me in a tux. Hell, they’ll probably want to see the ink. Maybe I should do this gig shirtless.” Now he was being a jerk, he knew, but he couldn’t stop himself. He stared out the windshield. He wasn’t gonna lie, at least not to himself. Her callous attitude hurt and the way she just trivialized what they’d shared the last week, like it meant nothing to her but a means to an end, pissed him off.
The trip back was filled with tension. They both barely said a word after that and hardly looked at each other. When he finally hit the city limits, he glanced over at her. “You don’t have to be afraid of that guy who broke into your home. I spoke with Ryder. He’ll make sure you never lay eyes on him again.”
She stared over at him, wide-eyed. “You talked to him about what happened?”
“Yeah. Called him Monday.”
“I didn’t know. You never said.”
“Well, I did.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
She looked down at her hands a moment. “Do you think… do you think he’ll stay away?”
“Absolutely. Ryder runs that crew with an iron fist. You won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“Okay.”
He glanced over at her. “You can come home with me, or I can take you to your place. Your choice.”
She met his eyes and then looked away. “I really should get back, I’ve so much to do with the Gala and all.”
“Sure. Whatever you want,” he said coldly.
Five minutes later, he pulled the truck to the curb in front of her house. Getting out, he came around and pulled her bag out of the back and carried it to her door. “I know I said you’d be safe, but I can come in and make sure no one’s inside if it’ll make you feel better,” he offered.
She nodded. “Thank you.”
He carried her bag and briefly checked around inside. Satisfied, he turned to leave, pausing in the doorway. His eyes hit her, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Ava, is everything okay? Did I do something or—?”
She shook her head. “No, Jameson, I’m just tired.”
He hated that things had changed between them somewhere on the trip. And it drove him crazy that he didn’t know why. But his pride kept him from making a fool out of himself if he’d misread the situation, and she didn’t return the feelings he’d been starting to develop for her. He nodded. “Okay, then. I guess I’ll see you Saturday night.”
“Yes. Saturday. If you could be there a half hour before the event starts, that would be great.”
“Yeah. No problem. Take care.” He turned and left without a kiss, without even a touch. If what they had was over, he’d better accept it and be done with it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The night of the Gala, Ava was backstage. The hall was filled with people, all in black tie attire. Bars were set up in several locations. Hors d’oeuvres were being passed on silver trays by wait staff. A DJ played music, and some of the crowd were dancing.
The bachelor auction was about to begin. Ava was lining the men up. A popular local TV newswoman would play auctioneer, introduce the men, and get the crowd going. There were twenty men scheduled. Each would walk down the little runway as the host spoke about them and the DJ played upbeat music.
It was just about time for the auctioneer to call the hall to attention. The buzz in the crowd was growing as the lights dimmed and the music changed.
Ava spotted Jameson at the end of the lineup. He had his brothers all with him, each in a well-dressed suit. She moved to greet them.
“Hi, guys. Thanks for coming.”
“Ava, darlin’.” Max pulled her in for a hug, then moved back, his eyes sweeping down over the black strapless gown she wore. “Don’t you look gorgeous.”
Next was Liam’s turn. “Come here, beautiful.”
Then Rory hugged her. “Hey, sweetheart.”
Lastly stood Jameson. His eyes moved over her. “Ava.”
“Jameson.” She nodded. Why did things have to be so uncomfortable and awkward now? Her eyes moved over his black suit, stark white shirt, and gray tie. She smiled. “You clean up well.”
The corner of his mouth pulled up in half a grin. “Want to give the ladies their money’s worth, right?”
She broke her gaze from his to take in all of them. “So am I to understand Max is also going to participate?”
“They all are,” Jameson replied and handed her some papers. “Here, I had them fill out copies of the form you sent me the other day.”
Ava had given Jameson a copy of the information sheet she’d asked each bachelor to complete for the auction. It contained fun facts about each man, like his favorite foods, sports or activities he participated in, etcetera. It was so the auctioneer could have something to work with when she made commentary as each bachelor walked the runway.
She accepted the forms. “Really? That’s wonderful. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go inform our host we’ve got some additions.” She made a hasty retreat, glad to have an excuse to walk away. It had been terribly awkward with Jameson, and it hurt so much to pretend like what they’d shared hadn’t meant anything. But even as she made her exit, she felt Jameson’s eyes upon her, watching her run away like the scared little coward he must think she was. If only he knew how much courage it took to walk away from a life with him.
***
A few minutes later, the auction began.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen,” the auctioneer said. “We have quite a crowd here tonight. The fun is just beginning, I promise you. I hope you’ve all had time to mingle with tonight’s bachelors and got to drop your answers in the boxes to the trivia questions about each of them. We’ll be pulling winners to each for some special prizes we’ll be giving away at the end of the evening. Right now though, we’d like to get the auction started. So, get out your checkbooks, ladies, and please join us as we raise lots of money for this very worthwhile cause.”
From backstage, Ava watched the proceedings. She couldn’t help but observe the O’Rourke brothers at the back of the pack as Jameson flagged over a waiter and whispered something to him. A few moments later, he returned with a tray of four shots. The men lifted them up in the air and then downed them.
She turned her attention back to the proceedings.
/> As each bachelor walked, the crowd grew more excited. The auctioneer was doing a great job rousing the crowd with her fun commentary. The bachelors were all getting into it, playing along with enthusiasm, some dancing down the runway. So far the bids had stayed in the mid and upper hundreds. Ava hoped they would go up as each bachelor came out.
“Ladies, things are about to get hot in here tonight. I’d like you to meet Clint Jackson, a Grand Junction fire fighter. Clint enjoys putting out fires, saving lives and saving damsels in distress. How much am I bid?”
The women were soon bidding back and forth, the price climbing higher.
He took off his jacket and did a handstand and then a backflip.
“And he’s flexible, ladies.”
They all hooted and screamed.
“I’ve got $575 in the back, can we get $600? Going once, twice, sold for $600 dollars to the lady in gold.”
Soon it was down to the four men from Brothers Ink. Rory was up first. With his long hair and rock-star looks, he had the crowd hooting and whistling as he came out on stage. The auctioneer introduced him.
“Next up we have Rory O’Rourke. Some of you may know him from his work as a tattoo artist at Brothers Ink and appearing with those brothers on the hit show Inked Up,” she paused for the roar in applause and whistles. “And some of you may know him as the lead guitarist and front man from the band Convicted Chrome.” There were even louder cheers.
Rory walked down the runway, he paused at the end, turning and sliding his hands in his pockets. The silver bracelets he wore flashed in the spotlights. Calvin Klein’s top models had nothing on him as he scanned the crowd, that cute little pirate smile making each woman swoon.
“How much am I bid for a date with this gorgeous man, ladies?”
Bids were shouted back and forth and soon climbed to the thousand mark. Ava stood just on the edge of the curtain, watching, open-mouthed as the bids soon surpassed the two thousand mark.
Rory ended up going to a beautiful brunette that Ava knew was an assistant district attorney for $3000. He exited the stage down a set of steps to greet the woman. It was left up to the bachelor and winning bidder to work out the details of the date.
Up next was Liam. As he strode out onto the stage, the mood in the hall was raucous. The auctioneer began to describe him, and to a striptease beat, Liam took his jacket off, tossing it into the crowd to the screams of the women. Then he undid his tie, leaving it hanging around his neck while he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, pulling the tails free. As the screams and bids went higher, he slowly drew his tie off and twirled it, then flicked it like a whip.
“Things are getting racy now,” the auctioneer laughed into the microphone. “I think he’s looking for a bad girl, ladies, one who needs some discipline.”
That got all the women screaming.
In the end, Liam ended up going for $2500.
Next up was Max. He soon was yanking his tie off and tossing his jacket aside to reveal he’d torn the sleeves off his dress shirt. When the women got a look at his huge biceps, covered in tribal tattoos, they went crazy. He posed and flexed. The crowd of women began to scream for the shirt to come off. He didn’t disappoint, shimmying it off after a few teasing moves to reveal rock hard abs. The bidding finally topped off at $2800.
As the women all cheered him on as he came down the steps to the winning bidder, the auctioneer called their attention to the next bachelor.
“And now, ladies, the man you’ve all been waiting for, the man of the hour, the star of the show, Inked Up… the King of Ink himself, Jameson O’Rourke!”
There was a roar, unlike anything the hall had heard up until that point. Jameson strolled out, his hands in his pockets. His eyes moved over the crowd and he smiled that sexy little smile Ava knew he was capable of, but had only seen once or twice. The music changed to a driving rock beat, all comedy aside, as he strolled down the runway.
“He likes mountain biking, art of any kind, and Thai food. He rides a Harley and he’s got several piercings. I leave that to your imagination, girls.” There were some high-pitched screams. “And ladies, he’s got an artist’s touch I’m sure you could persuade him to put to good use.”
There were more screams and whistles.
Jameson looked back at the auctioneer. “I’ll throw a free tattoo into the date.” Then he turned back to the audience, his eyes moving slowly over the crowd as he gave them his best wolf’s smile. “If any of you ladies are wild enough.”
That threw the crowd into a frenzy and bidding intensified to a furious pace. They were approaching $5000 when a voice in the crowd shouted, “Ten thousand!”
From her position behind the curtain, Ava couldn’t see the area from which the bid had come. But she saw Jameson’s eyes as he zeroed in on the bidder, and the big grin that formed on his face.
The auctioneer yelled out, “Going once, going twice,” then slammed the gavel down. “Sold, for ten thousand dollars to the lady in red.”
Ava stepped around the curtain and moved to the podium. As the organizer and host of the event, she would announce the final amount they’d raised this evening. One of the assistants stepped forward to hand her the tally he’d been running, adding in all the auction amounts.
Ava greeted the auctioneer, who shook her hand and stepped away from the microphone. Ava leaned to it. “Thank you so much, Tanya. Let’s have a round of applause for tonight’s auctioneer. From channel 7, KLRS news anchor…Tanya Davis.”
There was more applause.
“And how about a round of applause for our bachelors?” she added. As another roar went up, Ava’s eyes found Jameson. He was standing next to a woman in a red evening gown. It was then Ava realized it was Courtney Kemp, the woman who’d come to see him at the shop. Jameson stared back at her and something about the way he looked at her was almost challenging, like he dared her to do something.
Seeing him with Courtney Kemp again, knowing they’d had a relationship in the past, twisted inside Ava like a knife. It hurt to let him go the other night. She knew if his plan was to move out to L.A. then letting go was the best thing to do to protect her heart, but that didn’t make it any easier.
As her eyes moved from Jameson to the woman at his side, Ava wondered if Ms. Kemp knew of his plans to move to the West Coast. Perhaps she even had a home there.
Ava turned back to the microphone as the applause died down. “I want to thank each and every one of you for coming out tonight and supporting this cause. It’s one that’s dear to my heart, as some of you know. I’ve been handed the total figures for tonight.” She unfolded the piece of paper. “With ticket sales, sponsors, the silent auction items and our bachelor auction, along with the donations we’ve collected tonight…” She glanced down at the amount. “Oh my. We surpassed our goal by over $100,000. For a grand total of $487,000.”
There was a roar of applause.
She turned toward the curtain, where Stephanie stood just out of sight. “I’d like to bring out my sister, Stephanie, if I could.”
Steffy moved to stand beside her, and Ava put her arm around her. “Without her help, this wouldn’t be possible.” She turned and addressed Stephanie. “I couldn’t have done this without you, Steffy. You’ve worked tirelessly all year on this event, and you’ve been my rock for longer than you know.” She turned back to the crowd. “Many of you may not know, but our sister, Lily suffered from this disease. She was struck with it at the age of fifteen and fought a good fight; unfortunately a cure didn’t come quickly enough to save her. She died at the age of seventeen.
“It was always her dream to study music. And so, in honor of her, tonight I’m establishing the Lily Hightower Music Scholarship.”
There was another round of applause. Ava turned and hugged Stephanie, who was near tears.
***
As the Gala winded down, Ava made her way through the crowd, thanking sponsors and attendees as she went. Eventually, she noticed Jameson standing with Courtney Kemp. Lift
ing her chin and determined to handle the situation with dignity and class, she moved to thank the couple.
Jameson had a drink in his hand and took a sip, watching her approach. Ava pasted a bright smile on her face. She extended her hand. “Good evening, Ms. Kemp. It was so nice of you to attend, and thank you for the generous donation. It is greatly appreciated.”
“You’re very welcome. I could hardly let our boy, here, go for anything less than a show-stopping amount, now could I?”
Ava smiled over at Jameson. “No, of course not. And thank you so much for participating, Jameson.”
He nodded. “It’s a worthy cause, as you said.”
“Thank you.”
Looks were exchanged between them. Meaningful looks.
Courtney touched his arm. “I see an old friend across the room. I’ll be right back, darling.”
“Of course, Courtney. Go ahead.”
Ava watched her walk away, wondering if the woman had caught the vibe between the two of them and was graciously giving them a few moments. For whatever reason, it left her and Jameson alone and gave her an opportunity to say what she felt needed saying. “So, I understand you’re leaving.”
“Leaving?”
“Yes, Jameson. Leaving town.” She hoped he wasn’t going to stoop to play games with her now, pretending like he didn’t know what she was referring to.
“Who told you that?”
“I spoke with Ms. Thompson at your book signing. She told me she was there to lock up the deal for another season of Inked Up. In L.A. this time around.”
Jameson nodded. “I see.”
“So you’re leaving?”
“What difference does it make to you? I’m only a means to an end for you, right? You just needed someone to headline your show.”
She lifted her chin. “I suppose you’re right, at that. If you’ll excuse me, I need to say goodbye to the mayor.”
He raised his glass. “By all means, can’t keep the mayor waiting, now can we?”
She refused to be baited by his smart-ass remark, and took her leave. If he wanted to play the dick, he could go right ahead. She, on the other hand, would maintain a modicum of decorum and graciousness.
