“I’m sorry to interrupt,” the woman said. She skimmed her hands over the sheer, silky material of her dress, looking uncomfortable. “The auction is about to start and you’re needed.”
I did remember something about an auction to raise money -this was a fundraiser gala, after all- but I couldn’t put the two pieces together. Why did they need Harrison unless he was involved? Was he even more important than I originally thought? I looked at him, trying to decipher an answer from his expression.
The admirable older alpha I’d become so smitten with was gone, replaced by a man who had been thrown into a different time, a different place. “That can’t be right. What time is it?”
“It’s nine o’clock.”
Harrison reeled like he’d been slapped. His shock resonated inside me. That couldn’t be right, could it? It hadn’t been two hours since I got here, two hours of talking, had it? Or had I really been so lost in conversing with Harrison that the real world had fallen away, taking with it all sense of time?
“I can’t believe I let time get away from me like this,” he said. He looked at me, his eyes pained. I would have been relieved that he felt the separation as strongly as I did, if I wasn’t too busy wishing he didn’t feel so badly. “I’m sorry, Kade. I have some things I need to attend to. Would you mind meeting up with me again after the auction?”
“I’d love to!” Every fiber of my being went into my agreement.
Harrison relaxed and nodded. “Wonderful. You should join everyone else in the banquet hall, help yourself to the food. After the auction, there’s going to be a short play and musical performance. I’ll find you and we’ll watch together.”
“It’s a date.” I touched his hand, squeezed his fingers with mine.
He gave me an odd look, as if what I’d said was weird, but clasped my hand between his and held on. He held me in place, his eyes capturing me, holding me still for a moment that felt as long as an eternity. Then, he let go, and placed his hands on his wheels. “See you then, Kade.”
He left me with that promise. My tongue tangled up on itself, my brain wracked with indecision over how I wanted to answer. By the time I came up with something, the door had already shut behind him.
I lingered out on the balcony and tilted my head back to look up at the sky. There were no visible stars, just a pale moon and a blinking, traveling light that was probably an airplane. Nothing to wish on, to nudge my luck in the right direction.
I hadn’t ever imagined I’d be talking to Harrison like this, although I had secretly wanted to get him alone ever since I first saw him on the court. It must have been one of my hunches. I hoped I was right about him.
And, I hoped my focus on this course of action didn’t fizzle out like it had for everything else. There was only so long I could keep doing this, coming back to the same place again and again after ditching what I’d been working on. I worked a job, I met people, but then things grew too hard, too complicated, and I looked for something else that was less effortful. A new job, a new group of friends.
I didn’t want that to happen with Harrison.
He said we’d meet up again. I’ll just have to start there.
I left the balcony and retraced my steps through the hallways until I saw a flow of people in the distance, a river of bodies heading in the same direction. To the banquet hall, no doubt. I hurried to join them and, pushing my way toward the line, I accidentally ran into someone.
“Sorry!” I said. My voice went nowhere, too quiet. I’d forgotten how loud it was out here.
The man I’d run into spun around, and I recognized the cheap rental tux before I even saw his face.
“Kade!” Sterling said, grabbing onto my arm. His grip was nothing compared to Harrison’s. “Where have you been?”
“I found someone to talk to. I lost track of you as soon as we came in.”
The banquet hall loomed ahead, delicious scents of cooked meats and savory vegetables pouring out of the ornate doorway. Slowly, ever so slowly, we made our way past tables and to the back of the long buffet line. It struck me as strange how quiet the hall was, when every single noisy person from before was coming in. A manageable background clamor replaced the prior cacophony of shouts.
“I didn’t mean to ditch you so suddenly,” Sterling apologized. He looked a little more bothered than I thought he should. We’d had that disagreement before coming, but we’d both gone our separate ways and wound up together again. No harm done. “Some friends called me over. I was going to introduce you. I thought you’d be able to see me, but I guess the crowd got between us.”
I patted his shoulder and handed him a plate and a set of silverware, rolled up in one of those annoying cloth napkins. We were so close to the food and yet so far. Caterers hustled around, clearly doing their best, replacing empty trays of food that disappeared just as quickly as the ones before. I half-worried Sterling and I wouldn’t see a single bite.
“Did you find your date?”
Sterling scowled. “No. I went to the bar to meet him at the right time and he never showed up. I can’t believe it. We had everything figured out and then he just doesn’t show?”
Oh, I get it. He’s not disappointed in himself. He’s just disappointed in general.
That really sucks,” I said. “What did you do instead?”
“I waited a while for him, but after half an hour, I cut my losses and went back to my friends. I’ll introduce you to them once we sit down. They’ve already got a table and chairs.”
“They won’t wonder where I was this entire time?”
“I’ll tell them you got lost.”
“It won’t be far from the truth,” I agreed. Though, in getting lost, I had found something very worthwhile.
We talked a little more back and forth, Sterling telling me about his friends and what they’d discussed. I listened idly, thoughts of meeting up with Harrison constantly shortening my attention span. Eventually, we got to the buffet and I wasted no time in grabbing a bit of everything within reach. The food was mostly fancier versions of everyday meal components, macaroni with expensive cheese and crumble on top, roast beef, chicken breast in a sauce I couldn’t pronounce, five different types of bread, herbed vegetables, wilted salads; there were assorted cold cuts arranged in patterns with pickles and olives and banana peppers, roasted potatoes, baked beans with tofu instead of bacon, rice, and a ton of other options Sterling and I didn’t even reach. Our plates laden, we skipped around the rest of the dinner line and went to the dessert section. Neither of us wanted to have to come back here once we were sitting.
The desserts were surprisingly on the simpler side, cookies, fudge, brownies, and thin slices of cake. Did fancy people not eat a lot of dessert?
I grabbed a plate of cake and stacked a few cookies on top, and waited for Sterling to join me. His plate resembled a diabetic’s nightmare by the time he stopped.
After that, he took me over to the table where his friends waited. I took my seat, introductions occurred, and then what followed was a dinner much like every other dinner that took place in a formal setting where not everyone was exactly familiar with each other. The conversation began with a lot of comments on the food, which gradually turned into discussions of jobs, and then gossip about what had been heard earlier during the event.
Normal stuff, nothing worth remembering. The food was good, if a touch on the bland side. “Fancy” apparently meant subtle tastes that blurred together to a regular person like me.
The jerk wings were better. Well, Harrison’s company was better.
The dinner lasted for longer than I thought it should have before someone finally went up on the stage at the back of the hall, giving a speech about the mission of the Limitless Foundation and the charities they sponsored. Tonight would apparently include a special reveal from the CEO of the foundation himself. But first, the auction! And more speeches!
Hours passed as valuable items and services were auctioned off, members of the audience bat
tling for their possession. Some people got really into it, and the auctioneer goaded them on with clever quips and jokes. It was almost like a show in of itself, but one that I wouldn’t normally watch unless nothing else was on.
Then, at long last, the auction ended, all the items having been sold. The same speaker as before came on and gave a smaller speech, thanking everyone for their participation. I zoned most of it out until I heard her say, “I won’t make you listen to me for much longer. We need to hear how much money we’ve raised tonight, so please welcome the CEO himself: Harrison Carr.”
I sat up straighter in my chair. Did she say Harrison?
Sterling sat up beside me, his mouth falling open. “Harrison? He’s here?”
I had no idea what he meant by that and I was too busy to figure it out, occupied with trying to calm my pounding heart. Harrison wasn’t too uncommon of a name. It could be someone else with the same name. It…
The lights on the stage swept over to one end, illuminating a man in a wheelchair as he made his way to the center. His hair glistened silver, his suit crisp and immaculate, every feature, every line, every inch of him on display. He was smiling, the corners of his eyes crinkled with joy. It was Harrison, the Harrison I had spent hours out on the balcony with.
Not only was he the anonymous donor at the rec center, he was a fucking CEO? How had I not connected the dots with the little hints he’d dropped all night, the way that woman had treated him so importantly? I was pissed at my own stupidity… and also thrilled that the CEO had been flirting with me, had bought me drinks and spent time with me.
The way I’d felt so important, as if I was the one person who mattered to him while we were on the balcony, came back to me and almost knocked me on the floor. I felt dizzy, unbalanced. The magnitude of what this meant, of what I wanted it to mean, was too vast for me to comprehend. I could only stare at Harrison on the stage, his words whirling through my head as he talked about his goals in life. He gave a speech then, explaining how the Limitless Foundation helped so many in the past and how they would continue to do so. Each year, one place helped by the company was singled out to stand in the spotlight. This year, that place was the rec center.
He didn’t mention his own personal involvement.
Harrison gestured to someone out of sight. An assistant dressed in an impressive white suit came over, holding a gigantic fake check. The assistant passed the check to Harrison.
Elsewhere on the stage, an older woman in a dress was being led onto the stage. She was crying and accepted the fake check as it was handed to her. She must have been in charge of the center and now, at long last, was meeting the man who had done so much good for her.
Harrison embraced her and then kept her at his side while saying a few final words about what he expected to accomplish in the future. Then, smiling, he thanked everyone for coming out tonight and informed us of the show.
“And please, enjoy the rest of your evening,” he said, his voice a purr. He took the woman’s hand and guided her off the stage amidst cascades of applause. Attendees stood up, blocking my view.
I pushed back from my chair and got up. Sterling glanced at me. “What are you doing? The show…”
“I need to go talk to Harrison,” I said.
“Harrison?” he repeated, an array of emotions slashing across his face. If he said anything else after that, I didn’t hear him. I was already walking away, weaving around chairs, between tables. Even though Harrison said he would come to me, I wanted to get to him and start asking some questions of my own. There were so many things I needed to know about him after what I’d learned. I’d go mad if I didn’t release some of this pressure building inside of me.
I knew the direction he’d gone in. He wouldn’t be too difficult for me to find.
I forced my way through the last portion of the crowd separating me from a better view of the stage. My eyes were instantly drawn to Harrison where he sat in front of the woman from before and a group of other people I vaguely recognized from my brief time at the center.
After the time we’d spent together talking, I was sure he wouldn’t mind me joining him.
“Harrison, hi,” I said, coming up to him and grabbing his hand.
He looked up at me and smiled. “Hello, there. I’ll be with you in a moment, okay?”
I shook my head and kept ahold of his hand, even as he tried to pull away. “You think I can just walk away after all the questions you’ve given me? I didn’t know who you were at all until you came up on the stage!”
“Harrison, who’s your friend?” the woman from the rec center asked, tilting her head.
“Kade, please,” Harrison said. “I’ll explain everything to you in a minute. Just let me finish up here.”
“One question first.” I kept holding onto him, refusing to let go.
Harrison’s smile took on a strained edge. “Yes?”
““Why would you go on a date with me when, as a CEO, you should be able to find a date anytime, anywhere?””
Harrison stopped smiling. His face went cold and still, statuesque. He wrenched his hand away from mine, confusing me.
It was a joke. Why is he so angry?
“Kade, I think you should go,” he said, voice low and angry. I shouldn’t have been able to hear him in the crowded hall, but his tone slithered through the other sounds like a snake through grass.
“But why?” I must have been a little drunk because I couldn’t figure out why he was mad. I needed him not to be angry. I tried to explain. “I think you could do better, you know. You could find someone more suitable for a man of your status. I know I would if the roles had been reversed.” Was I making sense? I think I was because Harrison really deserved a man who wasn’t as fickle as me.
“Is that why you’re on a sugar daddy app? To find someone suitable for your needs? Someone to give you handouts?”
“A sugar daddy app?” Baffled, feeling again that I was off-balance, I lifted my hands. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
“So now you decide to adhere to the agreement you made?” Harrison asked acidly.
“What agreements?” I demanded. “I didn’t make any agreements with anyone about anything. You just came up to me and…”
“And what? You took advantage of the opportunity, as you said you always do?”
“Well of course I did.” My voice rose, frustration spiraling out of control inside me. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“So is that all I am? An opportunity?” The harsh look in Harrison’s eyes frightened me, and for a few moments I grew more confused.
“What else would you be?”
Harrison shook his head and jerked on his chair, spinning away from me. “I suppose I was wrong, then.”
The utter distaste in his voice sizzled along my spine like I was a cat carelessly petted in the wrong direction. I bristled, squaring my shoulders. “I guess I was, too!”
I spun on my heel and ran right into Sterling, who grabbed my shoulder while looking back and forth from me to Harrison. “Kade, what…”
I yanked away from him and marched off. Screw all of this. This wonderful night was ruined by something I didn’t even understand, all the good feelings ripped away from me by the very man who’d brought them into existence. Message received. This wasn’t the right place for me to be.
But, still, as I walked away, my heart ached at what I was leaving behind.
7
Harrison
I watched Kade disappear into the crowd, pushing his way through without any attempts to be polite. My chest ached. I gripped the arms of my chair as hard as I could, digging my fingers in. My nails bent back, the pain providing a slight distraction from the onslaught of embarrassment brought on by all the eyes watching me. These amazing people I had just honored and made feel so special had been witness to an event I didn’t understand except to know it was awkward and much too public.
My cheeks burned. The lights were too bright here. Everyo
ne could see, must think I’d lost my mind or my dignity. Well, I certainly felt like I’d lost something, something Kade had given me that he had taken away again when he walked off.
“Mr. Carr?” a soft voice said.
Gentle Mrs. Morgan, the widowed woman in charge of the rec center, looked at me in the way a person might look at a defenseless, confused infant.
No. No, I can’t let them see me as being weak. Panic clawed my lungs with needle talons. Struggling to control my breathing, I pushed myself to sit up straighter in my chair. “I’m fine.” I forced the words through gritted teeth, not sounding fine at all. “I think I need to get some fresh air.”
“O-of course.”
I pushed myself away from the stage, blinded by fear and desperation, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might come bursting out of my chest at any moment. People jumped out of my way, although once again they seemed less like people and more like strange beings who didn’t belong on this world. Or, maybe I was the one who didn’t belong.
The place I used to go to get air was now tainted by memories of Kade. I thought he was so nice, so funny and sensitive, but I had been wrong and it hurt. What hurt even worse was that Kade seemed to think he’d been wrong about me too. The best thing for me to do now was to go home. Get out of here. Let the gossip grow in my absence now that I’d outed myself as being on a sugar daddy dating app. Scandals were nothing new to big businesses, but I never thought I or my company would be involved in one.
One of the security guards standing watch over the front doors bid me a good night, which I ignored. I headed for the ramp and let momentum carry me down until I hit the bottom. I turned to the parking lot and started off again, and that was when someone grabbed my chair from behind.
Anger flashed bright and red behind my eyes, blocking out all other lights. I hated when people touched my chair. I could usually forget about my condition until someone grabbed onto the damn contraption, reminding me how much easier I could be overtaken and manipulated than the average person.
Sweet Emotion: East Coast Sugar Daddies: Book 1 Page 6
