Never Have You Ever (The Love Game Book 1)

by Elizabeth Hayley

  “One fifty,” he said. “Not too bad.”

  It wasn’t bad at all, and I was torn between wanting to outdo him and wanting no one to bid so I could be done with this nightmare. But before I could solidly decide which I wanted, Gina was calling me to the stage.

  Stepping into the spotlight—literally—was jarring, and I stumbled a bit before I got my shit together and stood up taller, striding down the stage with confidence I hoped looked believable, because it definitely didn’t feel that way.

  “Brody Mason, brother of Zeta Eta Chi’s very own Sophia Mason, is a six-two, two-hundred-and-ten-pound ball of charisma and charm. He’s not necessarily used to hard labor, but he’s agreed to perform some moderate tasks for charity. We’ll start the bidding at thirty dollars.”

  It felt like a slap to my ego to start the bidding so low, even though that was where all the guys had started. Sophia had explained that she thought she would get more people to participate if the bidding started out at a reasonable price. I just hoped I made it up to at least a hundred by the time this was over. Or not. I was still conflicted.

  But the choice to walk out of here free and clear was squashed when a female voice rang out. “I bid thirty.”

  A male voice replied, “Thirty-five.”

  I shot my eyes toward the voice, and I saw Carter standing beside a smirking Joey, whose paddle was high in the air.

  Even though Joey had been nothing but nice at the costume party, the way he was eyeing me up was a little unnerving. Maybe I didn’t want him to win after all.

  Another voice called out, “Forty dollars,” but I didn’t get a chance to see who had said it before a “forty-five” was yelled through the air. It turned into a bit of a bidding war after that, and I stopped trying to figure out who was calling out.

  The lights made it difficult to see most people unless they were standing off to the side of the stage, like Joey and Carter were. And Joey, bless his heart, hung in there with the rest of them. I wasn’t sure how much Carter and Sophia had given him to bid with, but I hoped it was a lot, because these chicks were insane.

  When the bidding got to two hundred dollars, I noticed Joey look over at Carter, who looked a little worried. Then, when it passed two hundred and Joey stopped raising his paddle, I started getting worried.

  I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter. The most I’d probably have to do was carry a girl’s books around to class and hang out with her for a day. I didn’t want to do it, but it wouldn’t kill me.

  The money kept climbing, and it began to feel ridiculous. The only reason anyone was interested in me was because I was the “gay” guy who was maybe bi and maybe fucking my sister. Just the thought of having to spend the day with someone attempting to pump me for information was exhausting. But as the total approached three hundred dollars, I resigned myself to exactly that fate.

  Gina, on the other hand, seemed to be having the time of her life. “I’ve got two-eighty; can we get three hundred? Come on, everyone. It’s for a good cause.”

  I heard murmurs in the crowd, and I saw a paddle begin to be raised but stopped midair as another voice rang out.

  “I bid five hundred.”

  Everyone’s head, including mine, swung toward the voice. I squinted into the crowd and held a hand over my eyebrows to block some of the glare. It took me a moment to find exactly where the person who had bid on me was, but the fact that a wide berth had begun to form around her was clue enough.

  Sophia?

  I felt my brow furrow as my hand dropped back to my side. What the hell was she doing? We’d had a plan…didn’t we?

  “Uh, sold to…Sophia Mason. Congratulations.” Poor Gina sounded as confused as the rest of us, but there was also concern in her voice. This wasn’t going to look good to anyone, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why Sophia would bid on me, let alone bid so much.

  Though I had to admit, part of me warmed at the action. That crazy lunatic had bid on me even though doing so was a horrible, horrible idea. The ramifications would likely be huge, but she’d done it anyway for some bizarre, poorly thought-out reason, and it made my chest flutter just thinking about it.

  I was either falling for her or she was giving me a heart attack.

  Eventually I realized I was standing on stage gaping like a dead fish, so I hurried off. Everyone backstage was either smirking at me or staring at me like they were contemplating calling campus security.

  I could just imagine how that call would go. “Um, yes, I’d like to report a possible case of incest. Please send every available officer to help clean up this train wreck.”

  Unable to get the fuck out of here fast enough, I flew around the curtain to try to hunt down Sophia. But instead, I practically ran into Carter…and Joey.

  “Bro! What. The. Fuck? Why did Sophia do that?” Carter asked.

  “I honestly have no idea,” I replied distractedly as I tried to peer around him to find Sophia.

  “She sounded jealous to me,” Joey said, snark evident in his voice.

  I fixed a hard gaze on him. “Really? She said, like, three words. You were able to pull jealousy from that? Get real.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “And you sound defensive. There’s no need to get snippy.”

  I gave Carter a look that I hoped said, “Get this kid the fuck away from me,” and it must’ve been relatively on point.

  Carter gripped Joey’s arm. “Come on, man. I’ll buy you a drink and be your wingman for the night.”

  Joey seemed happy with this development, because he let Carter tug him away without any protest.

  I scanned the room for Sophia again, and I was just about to brave the crowd to look for her when Emma hurried over to me.

  “She’s waiting for you up in my room,” she said. “Take the back stairs through the kitchen so no one sees you going up. I’m the third door from the left.”

  I nodded at her before walking, as casually as I could muster, through the kitchen and into a small foyer that had stairs off to one side. When I got to the door Emma had directed me to, I tapped on it lightly. When I heard the door unlock, I turned the knob and went inside, relocking it behind me.

  Sophia was standing in the middle of the room, two twin beds on either side of her. She was backlit by a small lamp, which was providing the only light in the room. She looked almost angelic, and it was all I could do to not kiss her. But the worried look on her face told me it wasn’t the time for that.

  “Taking men into other people’s rooms now? Will you never learn?”

  She stared at me blankly for a second, causing me to belatedly think it was maybe not the time for jokes. But then her shoulders dropped, and she gusted out a laugh. “Evidently not.”

  I’m not sure which of us moved first, but a millisecond later we were wrapped around each other. “You okay?” I whispered against her hair.

  “Probably not,” she murmured. “I think I just committed social suicide.”

  “It was probably a homicide slash suicide, since I’m pretty sure I was also a casualty.”

  She groaned loudly and burrowed into me.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m just teasing. It’ll be fine.”

  “It really won’t.” Her words were muffled against my chest, but I could hear the genuine fear behind them.

  Unsure of what to say to make things better, I continued to hold her and hope that was enough. We swayed gently together, the movement calming and almost meditative. After a few minutes, she pulled back enough that I could see her face.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “For what?”

  “Continually messing everything up.”

  “You haven’t messed anything up.”

  “You’re just saying that.”

  “I know.”

  She smacked me, but it also got a smile out of her, so I considered it a win.

  “Not that I’m not thrilled to have to be at your beck and call for a day, but why
did you do it?” I didn’t want to seem accusatory, but I was curious as hell. We’d had a plan. Not a great plan, but a plan all the same. And then she’d gone rogue, and I was dying to know why.

  “I’m stupid,” she replied.

  I hesitated. “I feel like there’s no good way for me to respond to that.”

  She rolled her eyes but smiled again before rubbing a hand over her face. “Joey wanted to win you.”

  “Well, yes, that would be a reason to bid.”

  “So did all those other girls.”

  “You did know what an auction was before you held one, right?”

  She sighed loudly. “Can you shut up for a second? Jesus, I’m about to march you downstairs and sell you myself.”

  “I don’t think Jesus is available for that.” The menacing look she gave me had me quickly saying, “Sorry,” and I mimed closing a zipper over my lips.

  Her hand flailed around a little as if she were searching the air around her for the words she wanted to say. “I don’t want someone else thinking they can have you.”

  When she looked at me, I nodded since I’d promised to be quiet.

  “They can’t,” she continued. When I again didn’t say anything, she stepped closer. “No one else is allowed to have you because you’re already mine.”

  I slid my arms around her waist and pulled her close.

  “I’ve never been good at sharing,” she said quietly as she looked up at me, her face full of vulnerability.

  “No matter who the highest bidder was, I still would’ve been yours.” Maybe those words weren’t the most reassuring that she’d done the right thing, but I needed her to know. Despite the crazy situation we found ourselves in, I wouldn’t have traded a second of it, because it gave me her. And I wasn’t going to lose that for some scantily clad coed who thought it was a turn-on to buy someone like a prized steed at a county fair.

  “I know. But I needed them to know it too. Even though it complicates everything even more. I needed them to know, even if we’ll have to figure out a way to spin it. At least for a minute, we weren’t hiding.”

  I pulled her closer to me so I could rest my cheek against her forehead. “We won’t have to hide it forever. This is a temporary situation.”

  “Are we?” she asked, her voice the smallest I’d ever heard it.

  “Are we what?”

  “Temporary.”

  I looked down at her so she could see the honesty in my response. “Fuck no.” And then I kissed her like I never had before. I owned her mouth, demonstrating every ounce of possessiveness I could.

  She met every bit of that kiss with an urgency of her own. There was no denying what this was: a claiming—just like what she’d done downstairs. We’d have to spin what happened at the auction somehow, but for a short time, we thrust our feelings into the spotlight.

  And even though we’d have to lie about it afterward, I couldn’t deny that I’d needed the proverbial moment in the sun. It was easy to tell someone what they wanted to hear behind closed doors. But declaring it in front of over a hundred people? No one had ever done something like that for me before. I didn’t realize how much I needed it done until Sophia had found the balls to do it.

  We broke apart before the kiss got away from us and we ended up naked on Emma’s bed. It was going to be hard—pun intended—enough to face everyone after that kiss, but if we’d actually gotten off, there’d have been no way of facing everyone.

  Thankfully, when we got ourselves sorted and went back downstairs, the party was in full swing and people didn’t pay much attention to us. We decided it would be best to mingle separately, so Sophia went off to keep tabs on how things were going, and I went in search of anyone who’d get drunk with me. It didn’t take me long to find Aniyah, Toby, Xander, and Carter hanging out by the makeshift bar.

  Xander saw me coming and turned and said something to the bartender. When I reached them, Xander was accepting a drink from the guy and handing it to me. “Don’t ask what’s in it. Just drink.”

  I knew there was a reason I liked this guy.

  After slamming the drink back, I handed the glass back to him and he ordered me another. Once I’d knocked that back too, the burn making its way down my esophagus and into my belly, I felt better. They were all quiet, looking at me as if I were a ticking time bomb getting close to detonation.

  “Where’s Joey?” I asked because I wasn’t sure what else to say.

  “I’m not sure,” Carter said with a shrug. “He was here one second and gone the next.”

  “Hmm.” I glanced around the room.

  “So that was an interesting turn of events this evening,” Aniyah said.

  “Yup,” I replied.

  “Are we talking about it?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  And…that was it. Xander asked Toby who in the room was his type, and Aniyah began dissecting every woman he pointed out, explaining why she wasn’t good enough for him and that he could do better.

  Carter, who actually knew some of these people, clarified which girls should still be contenders, despite Aniyah’s analysis. He’d described one particular girl as “open-minded,” prompting Xander to immediately escort Toby in her direction.

  The three of us shot the shit for a while until I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around to see a girl holding a camera.

  “We need a picture of all the bachelors and winning bidders.”

  “Oh, um, sure, okay.” I handed Carter my beer, which I’d been nursing much more slowly than the drinks Xander had given me. After telling them I’d see them later, I followed the girl to where a group congregated. Sophia was already there, and the girl with the camera organized us so she could snap our picture.

  Most of the bachelors stood close to the people who’d bid on them, some even slinging their arms around them, but I made sure to maintain a respectable distance from Sophia.

  Once the girl, who Sophia had called Bethany, had fiddled with her camera for a bit, she yelled, “Say auction!”

  Just as we all said the word to the camera, I heard someone yell my name and turned my head. Carter was motioning toward the door, where Toby was leaving with the girl Xander had taken him to talk to. I smiled widely as I turned back to the camera, but everyone was already moving, so I guessed I’d botched my photo op. Oh well.

  “What time does the party end?” I asked Sophia.

  She groaned. “Not soon enough. And I’ll have to help clean up after.”

  Looking around, I made sure no one was watching us as I leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I hope what they say is true.” She looked up at me quizzically, so I clarified. “That good things come to those who wait. I feel that we’re both entitled to some very good things when this party is over.”

  A smile slowly overtook her face. “And just who will be delivering these good things?”

  I locked my eyes on hers as I said, “I think we both deserve some solid delivery service after all this.”

  The heat in her gaze was all the affirmation I needed.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  S O P H I A

  We practically sprinted back to the apartment, and once inside, Drew pinned me to the back of the door with his hips. He looked at me for a moment, his eyes fixed on mine in a way that made my heart thump loudly in my chest. I felt blood spreading to every part of my body, specifically the parts below my waist, and my stomach tightened in anticipation.

  It was one of those moments I wish I could’ve kept tucked away deep inside me. A moment to come back to when I needed to remember what it was like to feel wanted. Or what it felt like to want. Because God, did I want Drew Nolan.

  Even this, I loved—sharing his space, breathing his air. All of it had me both wanting more and wanting whatever we had to never end. No guy had ever looked at me like Drew did, like he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to hold me or fuck me. I hoped he did both.

  His hands went to where mine had been scratching lightly under
the back of his shirt, and he laced his fingers between mine. The backs of my hands pressed against the glossy paint of the door, and I was suddenly aware of how turned on I was. Drew slid my hands up the door and held them above my head, finally bringing his lips to mine.

  And just like that we were on each other, the still moment replaced with a heated, rushed one. Drew’s tongue moved over mine, teasing me in a way I didn’t know was possible with only a kiss.

  I felt him against me but needed him lower, against my abdomen. If this time didn’t result in an orgasm, I might have to give up completely and commit myself to a nunnery.

  He brought a hand up to the back of my neck and tangled his fingers in my hair, massaging me as he deepened the kiss.

  He pulled away just long enough to say, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.”

  I smiled. I definitely had some idea. As much as I’d tried not to focus on what I felt about Drew or what he felt about me, because it would only complicate things, the reality was a part of me always knew we’d end up here—our lips searching for anything they could make contact with, our hands fumbling frantically with articles of clothing like two hurried teenagers worried they might get caught.

  Zippers unzipped, buttons unbuttoned, and clasps unclasped until both of us had nothing left to take off. But once both of us were naked, our rushed moment slowed to one that allowed us to savor every kiss and brush our skin against each other’s.

  Drew led me to my bedroom, guiding me backward so slowly it was almost painful. But as much as I wanted to consummate everything we’d experienced over the past few months, I wanted this moment too. The one where I was lost in the anticipation of it all, lost in Drew’s scent of soap laced with salt from the little bit of sweat on his skin.

  He was intoxicating, and I decided Drew-drunk was the best kind of drunk.

  Arriving in the bedroom, he lowered me to the mattress and lay beside me as he traced his fingers in a line from my jaw to my breast, over my hip bone, down my thigh, and everywhere in between. Then his lips were on my chest, ears, anywhere he could reach.