As she relaxed back onto the end of the line after giving her speech she concentrated on slowing her breathing and just calming down as the nerves threatened to return with a vengeance. She no longer felt the support she had just a moment ago for some reason.
And Zander was gone. She searched the space he was in just a moment ago and he wasn’t there, was he? The bright lights were shining in her eyes making it very difficult to really see the crowd. She tried not to squint (that was the last thing these guys wanted to see) and stay smiling but she desperately wanted to find Zander. Would he bid on her? Would he be able to outbid the others? She had no idea how high these bids could go. As far as she knew there really wasn’t a limit.
“You look nervous,” Violet whispered beside her.
“Do I? Well there is a reason for that,” Ember joked.
“Just relax, you are doing fine,” Violet replied. “These guys love you in case you couldn’t tell.”
Ember smiled. “Thanks,” she said. It was nice having Violet helping her through all this. In lieu of Liza not being able to be there she was the next best thing. Ember wasn’t sure she would have made it through the night and actually gone through with all of this otherwise. Well, until she met Zander that was. She had a feeling that she would have stood up there hoping to end up with that man at any cost.
There he was!
Zander was returning from the bar with a new drink in hand. He made his way around the outer edge of the stage until he was now standing very close to where she was. He was still staring right at her and only her with that sexy smirk of his. Butterflies collided repeatedly in Ember’s stomach.
“You know he comes here all the time,” Violet said.
“What? He gave me the impression he didn’t,” Ember replied. Had she totally misread him? Was he being serious when she thought he was being coy?
“Yeah, the guy is a real player. He is loaded like nobody’s business. All the girls are in love with him; I mean how can you not be? He always picks someone different.”
Ember felt a bit of resentment growing inside of her. “Is that so? Have you been with him yet?”
“No, not yet. I’ve heard he is a bit of a jerk and has a cruel streak, so I’m not really waiting for him. I’m hoping he doesn’t bid on me actually.”
“You could have told me this earlier when I was flirting with him,” Ember said. “I feel stupid.”
“I’m sorry. I thought you were just having fun. Besides harmless flirting never hurt anyone. I figured you knew who he was. He has a bit of reputation around town as one of the hotshot rich, young, New York City tycoons. You can google all about him.”
“I might just have to do that,” Ember said. A pit was now growing in her stomach. Was Violet, right? What had she gotten herself into?
She just needed to relax. Even if he did bid on her the she could just go out and have fun, see for herself what he was like and if she decided that she did not want it to go farther then it wouldn’t. Except she knew that this man could easily have the kind of seductive power over her that she had only read about before. She had felt it the moment she was in his presence and held that steely, cold, yet warm and sexy gaze. That man was so naturally dominant without being domineering. It was a natural alpha male in his element and she could not resist it. Could she? Oh, what was a girl to do?
Vienna was now opening the bidding on her. Ember felt her heart beating wildly in her chest as she tried to relax, tried to calm down. She was starting to sweat profusely. She wanted to wipe at it but she knew that it would only attract the wrong kind of attention. Hopefully nobody could really tell.
Maybe Zander wasn’t even here for dating purposes. He might have had some business engagement going on. She did see him talking to some fancy looking business executive, earlier didn’t she? But it was very brief. Perhaps Violet was all wrong about him? It was easy to get the wrong idea about someone. And as for a rich and somewhat famous guy in this town, the media could be vicious and could just tear people apart.
“Let’s start the bidding at five thousand dollars,” Vienna said.
Ember tried to pay attention to what she was saying, but she kept getting distracted by her spinning thoughts. She had to concentrate though. She took another deep breath and forced her mouth to smile widely, added some batting eyelashes, and pretty much tried to look as cheesy and clichéd sexy as she could.
Zander was still eying her strongly. He had yet to make a wager. Maybe he was toying with her? Did he really have a bad streak like Violet was saying? Or maybe he was just biding his time to wait until almost the end and sweep through with some high-priced bid in a dramatic fashion. She could see a guy like Zander having a flair for theatrics.
“Five thousand!” A voice from the crowd.
“We have five thousand, how about ten? Anyone for ten thousand?” Vienna said, her voice rising to higher inflections as she became more excited. The woman really loved what she did and Ember had to admit she was really good at working a crowd. She was starting to gain some respect for Vienna’s talents, but she doubted she would ever have much respect for her as a person. She was just too fake.
“Ten thousand!” Another voice.
Ember tried to see into the crowd who was actually making these bids but the lights were too bright. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was almost right in front of the stage now she wouldn’t have seen him either. He was still standing there with that rakish grin of his that made her heart flutter every time she saw it.
“How about twenty thousand? Do we hear twenty thousand?” Vienna asked.
Ember was getting excited now. Imagine if someone paid that much for her. She would not have to worry about any of her bills for a while. It was all surreal. Just yesterday she’d been down in the dumps worrying about her uncertain future with a mountain of bills looming in front of her and now she was poised to make thousands for doing practically nothing. And if she was popular she might be invited back, possibly regularly. Hell, if she kept this up for a year or so she could save enough to quit her day job and just do whatever she wanted to make her happy. She could think about what kind of a business she wanted to start and run things her own way. She realized that was still the dream; it was very much alive and kicking deeply inside of her subconscious. It might be time to grab that dream off the shelf and dust it off. Let it stretch its legs.
“Twenty thousand!” A voice from the back called.
Ember’s eyes widened and she glanced down at Zander who was laughing hard. What was he laughing at? That someone would pay that much for her company or because he could do so much better. Ember was a bit confused by his behavior and she desperately wanted to know what he was up to.
“Thirty thousand? Do we have thirty thousand dollars?” Vienna asked.
Ember gasped. No one had received more than a twenty thousand dollar bid all night. Were these rich guys really willing to pay that much money for women when they could get any woman they wanted practically for free? She just did not get the psychology of it, the mindset. It seemed ridiculous, but she was smart enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth. No reason to question the gifts we are given in this life.
“Thirty thousand!” A man in the back shouted.
“We have thirty thousand! Thirty thousand going once… going twice…” Vienna began closing the deal.
“One hundred thousand dollars!”
It was like someone had taken a giant vacuum and sucked all of the air out of the room. Everyone was looking at each other in total shock and awe. Someone had just bid a hundred thousand dollars for her. She couldn’t believe it, but she had heard it with her own ears.
The crowd began to cheer now and applaud this person who was willing to make that insane leap in price on this bid.
“Wow, that is amazing everyone! This is officially the highest bid we’ve ever had in the Club Privaat auction!”
Ember remembered how to breathe and began to focus on what was happening. After a moment, the sh
ock started to wear off that someone was actually bidding one hundred thousand dollars and Ember finally realized who had called out that bid.
It was Zander.
CHAPTER 8
Zander
Zander had bid one hundred thousand dollars for her. That was insane, wasn’t it? Was he just in the habit of throwing his money away or did he actually feel the same connection for her that she felt for him, that sweet spark of total attraction?
The crowd was erupting now into huge cheers as Vienna announced that this was in fact the highest bid in the history of the club so far. It was four times higher than the previous highest bid. Ember was having trouble getting all of this straight in her head. How was she this special? Was she this special? Or did Zander just like to waste money any way he could just because he could?
“Sold to Mr. Zander Michaels! Everyone give him a round of applause!” Vienna shouted into the microphone. She sounded on the verge of collapsing under the total glee she was experiencing.
Ember looked over at Violet who was staring at her with an expression of both shock and what appeared to be anger. Was it anger? Was she jealous of Ember? It suddenly dawned on Ember that Violet might have made up what she had said about Zander. She wanted him for herself, as did all of the other women. It was becoming pretty obvious to her.
But still there was something gnawing in the back of her mind about it all. There was something about Zander she did not fully trust. It wasn’t about what Violet had said either; it was just a feeling she had deep in her guts. Something was telling her to be careful and to tread lightly. But the other part of her was so excited she could not see straight. She was actually going out with Zander Michaels and she had also just made twenty thousand dollars. All for just standing up on this stage. It boggled her mind. That was more than half a year’s salary at her day job. What in the world was going on?
“Well, ladies and gentleman. We’ve had quite a night here, one that will go down in our history books but the night is still young. The ladies will be right out for those of you who won the bids of your choice and you can begin your evening. We do this auction every night of the week, so please come back tomorrow night for more lovely ladies and be ready to bid, bid, bid!”
Vienna practically dropped the microphone as she hustled off stage right behind the last girls, almost tripping over them. Ember was by this time sitting on a couch and having herself a beer she grabbed from the bucket they had in the back for the girls. She had to calm herself down.
She’d expected the other girls to begin congratulating her but the tone was one of coldness. The other girls were all terribly jealous of her; it was obvious and funny when she really thought about it. But they had no reason to be. She had just done the same thing that the rest of them had. It just so happened the right guy was there that night and he was very attracted to her. She couldn’t help that and she wasn’t about to apologize for it.
“That was amazing!” Vienna said rushing up to Ember and wrapping her up in her arms. Ember almost spilled her drink, the hug taking her by surprise. She really didn’t expect that from Vienna of all people.
“Thanks!” Ember said.
She caught Violet’s cold, icy stare and erupted into a giggle. The girl was being stupid and childish; it was funny. If the other girls wanted to pout and moan because the new girl had just stolen their thunder then that was their fault.
“Wow, you are going to go far in this game, girl!” Vienna said as she started to walk away towards the bar.
“Guess someone has a new pet,” Veronica said as she passed. Veronica had received a fifteen thousand dollar bid tonight, nothing to sneeze at. But wow, the jealousy and the catty nature of the girls was starting to come out in full force.
Ember smiled and ignored it all. She did not need their approval. She had not come here to make friends; she had come here to make money.
And now it looked as if she might have met the man of her dreams.
Life was funnier than hell sometimes.
CHAPTER 9
Zander
“Wow, it looks like you are the star of the evening,” Harrison said sitting down beside Zander with an entire bottle of Jack Daniels. He sat two glasses down on the table and poured them both three quarters of the way full of whiskey.
“Well, that’s very generous of you,” Zander said. “I don’t remember a time when you ever gave away anything for free, especially booze.”
“Have you forgotten already? You just paid this club twenty grand,” Harrison said.
“That is true,” Zander replied. “Truthfully I would have paid more.”
“Wow, this girl means that much to you? I mean, I saw you chatting her up earlier, but wow… you aren’t going soft on me, are you? I mean I came to you about investing in the club but if you’ve developed a conscience or something I’m not sure we can do business together.”
“Oh, my conscience is clean. It may in fact be missing,” Zander said. “But I do have to admit there is something amazing about this girl that really grabs me in that special way.”
“Yeah, I know that way. The kind that will turn your body into a human pretzel trying to impress her in bed.”
“I don’t mean that,” Zander said. “And I don’t ever try to impress anybody. I don’t have to. I’m impressive as is.”
“And I thought I was an arrogant jerk,” Harrison joked.
“You are.”
Harrison gave a fake glass and finished gulping the whiskey.
“Wow, you drink like a college kid on his twenty-first birthday who just heard that tossing shots back is all the rage.”
“I prefer to think I drink like a man. You got to toss it back,” Harrison said.
“Nah, I drink like a gentleman. You are holding in your hands a fine bottle of top shelf whiskey. It may not be as expensive as others but it is in a league of its own for sure,” Zander began. It was time to teach this fool a lesson about fine liquor. He held his cup in his hands, watching the amber liquid move back and forth. “You see you want to warm up the glass with the whiskey, to make sure that all there is no separation between the oils on the glass and the whiskey itself; that can muddle the flavor. Now, you take a good sip and you don’t swallow right away. No, you got to hold it in your mouth, feel that sweet burn moving up your nose and down the back of your throat too. Then after several seconds you swallow it. That is how you drink whiskey, my friend.”
Harrison was staring at him like he was a fungus. “You are out of your mind. I don’t know what drugs you are on, but it ain’t just whiskey.”
Zander laughed. “You know I’ve been thinking that I might invest in your little operation after all.”
“Outstanding. See, I knew you would come to see the light.”
“But,” Zander started.
“Here it comes; I figured there was a catch. There always is with you.”
“I want sixty percent,” Zander said. “I guarantee I can devote the time this place needs to make it something monstrous. I’ve been looking for something new and exciting to sink my teeth into and I think this might just be it.”
“Wow, amazing how you can change your tune after an amazing girl puts the whammy on you, isn’t it?”
“No one is putting the whammy on me. I am not whammied,” Zander joked.
“Oh, I am not so sure about that,” Harrison said. “But sixty percent… wow that is really cutting into my turf, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, that is the idea,” Zander said.
“Normally when people screw me they buy me dinner first,” Harrison said.
“Yeah, that isn’t my style.”
Harrison looked at him for a moment. He recognized that evil look, that gleam of arrogance that was pretty much Harrison’s staple.
“Ok, done. You twisted my arm into submission; congrats,” Harrison said holding out his hand.
Zander shook it. He was glad to make this deal. He was definitely seeing the potential of a place like this. For Harris
on, it was just a goof, something he did one day because he was bored and he liked to have multiple back up plans. And it also gave him a legitimate business for his money laundering he was most assuredly into. Zander wasn’t sure exactly what illegal operations Harrison was a part of that required his money to be laundered but he’d heard rumors and seen the signs that pointed to some not so legal transgressions.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Zander said as he finished his drink. “If you will excuse me, I do have a lady waiting.”
“Go get her champ!” Harrison said as he poured another glass of whiskey.
Zander made his way across the crowded floor of the club over to where the girls are waiting to be claimed by their dates and another lovely woman is finalizing payments with a line of guys, all eager to start a fun evening.
As he stands in line he can’t believe that he paid so much for Ember. When he heard the other guys bidding, he was amused. It was a fun game to see how they would bin low and then he would bid high, but as the game continued they started to get into some serious cash. He wasn’t aware that most of these men had quite that much money to just play around with, but then again most of them were “paper rich”, meaning they were rich only on paper. They were all in debt to their eyebrows and most of them were just one bad business deal away from the poorhouse pretty much all the time. They lived on the illusion and promise of money; not real cash.
Hunter (The Bad Disciples MC Book 2) Page 42
