First to Bid: A Bachelor Auction Romance (Unraveled Book 2)

by Marie Johnston

  The drive home was filled with more pondering. It was harder not knowing why I’d been fired.

  I arrived home and parked. Worrying my lower lip, I glowered out of the window. How rude and unprofessional of Mr. Woods to treat me like that! No explanation. No notice. This was my livelihood. I wasn’t stupid rich like the Woods.

  What an ass.

  Before I got out, I dug through my tote for my phone. What was Flynn doing tonight? Would he care to hear about my woes?

  Missed calls popped up on the screen. Dammit. I shut my ringer off when I was working.

  I recognized two of the numbers as current clients. One had left a message.

  “Hi, Tilly. I’m sorry. Um…we’re going to have to cancel all of our sessions. Your services are no longer required.”

  Services no longer required? What was going on?

  A text popped up from one of the missed calls. Please don’t come tomorrow. Or any other day. We’re done with tutoring.

  Another one?

  Tears sprang up. I sniffled. The tiny empire I’d busted my ass to build was crumbling and I had zero idea why.

  Pulling up the first missed number, I called. Fire me over voicemail? Where was the respect?

  “Miss Johnson.” The grim tone of one of my favorite clients didn’t bolster my confidence.

  “Mr. Graham, hi. Can you let me know why you’ve decided to part ways?” I fiddled with my hair and racked my brain for ways to sound professional and not desperate. “I strive to keep improving my business and your feedback is valuable.” Because I’d lost three accounts in an hour.

  Mr. Graham huffed. “I can’t imagine why I have to explain. The safety of our daughter is our utmost concern.”

  “Why would you—”

  “Look, Miss Johnson, I’m not going to sit and debate this. I can’t have a woman suspected of beating a kid allowed to be alone with mine.”

  The air whooshed out of my lungs. “What?”

  But Mr. Graham had hung up.

  I sucked in a sharp breath. And another. If I kept doing it, I’d hyperventilate.

  Hyperventilating sounded good right now.

  Beating a kid?

  Who? When?

  I dialed the client who’d left the text. They didn’t answer.

  Dare I call Mr. Woods and ask for his specific reasoning? You of all people should know the answer. And he’d slammed a door in my face. A guy like him didn’t think he needed to answer to anyone.

  Beat a kid?

  I grabbed my tote and stomped into the house. My phone buzzed. I fumbled to answer it.

  “This is Tilly.”

  “Oh…Uh, Miss Johnson. This is Samantha Kringle, we talked last week.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose before I let out a giant sob. “Yes, Ms. Kringle. How are you?”

  “Good. Well, I called to say we’ve reconsidered our need for tutoring. I’m afraid we’re not interested after all.”

  I struggled to dam my tears. I shook from the effort. Squeezing my eyes shut, I asked, “Please be honest about why you’re not interested. There seems to be something circulating about me and no one will clue me in.”

  There was a beat of silence. “Well, the friends who recommended you said another family they know became suspicious when their son developed sores and bruises after your sessions.”

  Charlie? “And they thought I was hitting him? That’s a lie.” He had been injured before my time with him.

  “I—I don’t know what to believe. But I’m sure you can understand the position it puts parents in. We’ll have to find a new tutor. Goodbye, Miss Johnson.”

  I tossed her phone on the couch and shrieked, releasing a well of fury and frustration. Instead of questioning me, Mr. Woods had fired me and then spread the word to other clients, who’d told other friends they’d recommended me to.

  I now had no summer income. The three other families I worked for would can me as soon as I explained what was happening. And Ms. Kringle was correct. If I was a parent, I’d be overly cautious about protecting my kids from the ugliness I’d endured.

  There was no way Mr. Woods would find enough proof to press charges. I’d done nothing but teach and nurture Charlie.

  But so much damage had been done. I’d have to be honest with my full-time job, too, and let the principal know what was going on. Then I’d probably lose my position at the school.

  I sank into the sofa and sobbed.

  Chapter 13

  Flynn

  The restaurant bustled with activity. Fluorescent lights lit the mirrored columns and reflected off counters in contrast with the exposed brick walls, giving the bar an ultra-hip vibe. It wasn’t one of my favorite places. Young entrepreneurs like me swaggered from the entrance, to table, to barstool. They talked loudly, guffawed unnecessarily, and preened at their reflections.

  I was one of them, but lately, I’d felt disconnected from locales like this. John Woods probably thrived in an environment like this, where boasting and pontificating was a pastime meant to drive the career train further and harder.

  I glanced at Tilly. She poked at her food with a fork. All the fire had been drained out of her and I’d hated bringing her here, but I’d been swamped in work when she’d called last night. I’d rushed over in time to hold her as she cried herself to sleep.

  Some asshole had accused her of abusing a child.

  The rage set my teeth on edge. I was 120 percent positive that the accusations were false. Why would someone destroy her life like that? She’d worked so hard for everything. It’d be like someone flouncing in and dismantling my construction empire with nothing but rumors.

  I’d had another full schedule today but had Mrs. Silverstein clear a couple of meetings and I coaxed Tilly out for food. Then John Woods had called for another meeting over drinks. The guy was getting relentless like he wanted me to be his wingman ever since the nanny had quit or gotten fired because maybe Mrs. Woods wasn’t as clueless as her husband thought she was.

  Tilly didn’t need to suffer a place like this, but I wouldn’t be done until who knew what hour, and it’d be too late to make sure she’d taken care of herself. This way, she met me here and got out of her house, and I could still have my meeting.

  A stranger wouldn’t know anything was wrong, but I did. Seeing her so dejected tore me up, no matter what she wore. Her butter-soft leggings with the Wonder Woman logo on them must’ve come from Arcadia. Mara wore similar ones. Tilly’s shirt was oversized and as bold as Tilly usually was.

  Not today.

  The ensemble didn’t stop the business-formal crowd from ogling her. The men’s gazes traveled up and down her legs. Like me, they probably envisioned peeling them down and uncovering the present underneath. I made sure to glare each one down. The women, too, if their gaze was anything beyond, hey, where did she get those awesome leggings?

  Tilly set her fork down with a resigned sigh.

  “You don’t like the chicken?” I asked. She didn’t have much time to eat before John arrived. Tilly didn’t need to deal with his presence, and I didn’t feel like warding off comments from the guy. I couldn’t delude myself into thinking that the man would quit with sexual references when he saw I was taken. John was married and open, to me at least, about his trysts with the nanny. He could be lying, but I doubted it. Men like John didn’t have to lie. They had the looks and the money and knew how to target those with similar ambitions or morals.

  It was likely what had attracted John to me.

  I scowled across the bar at that thought.

  I hadn’t been the only company bidding for the project. An international corporate construction company had fought hard for John’s business, but I had wined and dined the man while pushing my company hard. We’re local. I understand what you need.

  Had John only seen a young man willing to sell out for money?

  No. Because that wasn’t me. No matter my personal life, I made sure my work was tight and defensible. I’d sell out for my comp
any. There’s a difference.

  “I’m just not hungry.” Tilly caught the server. “May I get a to-go box?”

  Tilly slumped in her seat after the server left. “You don’t mind, do you? I don’t want to waste your money, but I also need to be thrifty since I have no income.” Her eyes glistened.

  “Tilly…” What could I say? It sucks. Shit happens but you’ll get through this. Look at everything you’ve gone through. You got this. It all sounded inane. Her career was destroyed, and she had nothing to fall back on.

  “So I’ve been looking up legal jargon. I haven’t been arrested yet and I think that’s a good sign.”

  “I can always help with that, get a recommendation from my legal team for a good lawyer.”

  Hope infused her gaze and it was the most life I’d seen out of her since the weekend. Then she glanced at her phone. “Oh, I gotta get going. I don’t want to tank your career, too.”

  I shook my head to tell her not to worry, but then my gaze caught on a man striding through the restaurant, an arrogant smile on his face as he checked out a millennial with mile-long legs sticking out from her skirt. Damn, he was early.

  John jutted his chin up when he saw me.

  “I’m sorry, Tilly. My client’s here. And don’t worry about food. I’m not going to let you starve.”

  “Oh, no problem.” Tilly gathered her tote. “Anyway, he can ruin my career, but I don’t think he can get me arrested.”

  John drew even with the table, the arrogance fading from his expression the closer he got until it morphed into menace. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Miss Johnson.”

  Color leeched from Tilly’s face. My stomach bottomed out.

  These two knew each other? And what the hell had John’s comment meant?

  “Mr. Woods?” Tilly’s eyes widened, a mixture of emotions making her irises gray. She turned her stare on me. “You two know each other?”

  “This is who I was meeting,” I said.

  A cruel sneer twisted John’s face. “I can’t stand even looking at you, Miss Johnson, but I shouldn’t be talking to you. My lawyer might be upset with me.”

  Oh shit. John Woods was the guy accusing Tilly of child abuse? How could that be?

  A cold wave of dread washed through me as I sat by and watched the two interact.

  “Your lawyer,” Tilly sputtered. “Wasn’t scaring all my business away enough for you? How could you think I’d do something like that to Charlie?”

  “I didn’t at first, I’ll be honest. But the week you were on vacation, he was fine. You come back, and he has black-and-blue marks all over his torso. I guess the ‘he hit his head during one of his fits’ excuse only worked a couple of times.”

  “I only helped Charlie. I would never hurt anyone.” She rose to face John. I made to stand, but John held up a hand, his gaze calculating.

  “Have a seat and let me tell you both how it’s going to go.”

  I bristled at the man’s tone, but John didn’t operate by the same moral compass as everyone else. I had Abe’s advice running in a steady stream through my head about everything, but my mind was silent. What would Abe say about my largest account ruining my girlfriend’s life?

  I pulled Tilly down in the chair next to me. She stiffened at the force and I lightened my hold. To not hear what John had to say would be stupid. The entitled prick was like an evil villain in a TV show, monologuing his plan to show her how much smarter he was.

  John sat across from us, his face as cold as when he’d worked up the contract for his new bank. “I’m surprised to see you two together.”

  “I didn’t hurt Charlie,” Tilly said through gritted teeth.

  John rolled a hard gaze toward her. “As you know, he’s nonverbal and can’t speak for himself. Therefore, he can’t tell me what you did. But since I contribute considerably well to the officer’s association and the county attorney is an old frat buddy, they’re listening closely to what I have to say. In four instances, my son had injuries after your visit. In two cases, you even cared for them and played them off as results of his condition. A truly deplorable tactic.”

  She clutched her hands around her tote. “It wasn’t me. And a deplorable tactic is trying to get an innocent person arrested and not find out what really happened.”

  I rested my hand on hers. There was no way Tilly could afford an attorney. I was on the verge of offering my help, but as soon as I did, I’d burn any dealings with John Woods to ash. The repercussions could be as devastating as what Tilly was going through. Only her business employed one person. I employed hundreds. I had to think through what exactly I could do.

  The action didn’t escape John’s notice. “Mr. Halstengard, I certainly hope you don’t plan to use your access to a team of lawyers to aid Miss Johnson in her fight. I can’t imagine the public taking kindly to such a prominent businessman helping a child abuser.”

  “John—” I didn’t like threats, but the undertone of John’s words was clear. Help Tilly and he’d launch a smear campaign.

  John’s sharp gaze darted between me and Tilly. “What a small world. It makes sense, I guess. Do you know why I chose your company, Flynn? Because it was local. Because I looked into your past and knew that if you ever tried to fuck with me, I could just tell my good friend at the TV station about how you run a multimillion-dollar corporation, yet your sister’s in a state-run home, receiving not a dime from her dear brother.”

  My world slowed. The thump of my heart grew until it drowned out all other sounds. I withdrew my hand from Tilly’s.

  Struggling to regain mental equilibrium, bits of information flowed in. John knew about Lynne. Now Tilly knew I lied.

  But John had said “state-run home.” Lynne was supposed to be in a four-bed group home not far from Mom. A private-run facility she had complained cost a couple of grand a month.

  “I thought your sister died.” Tilly’s soft voice broke through my haze.

  I dragged my gaze to hers, so full of confusion and infusing quickly with betrayal as the realization that I’m a shit liar at the very least and a calloused and cold-hearted brother at the worst.

  There was no way to explain and come out the good guy—because I wasn’t a good guy. Walking away from Lynne and trusting my mother to do right by her was deplorable. I should’ve followed up when I got on my feet instead of shoving money at Mom to assuage my guilt.

  “Tilly, I—”

  John laughed, the sound full of scorn. “That’s rich. When I saw you together, I thought you’d bonded over your mutual mistreatment of the disadvantaged.”

  Tilly

  “Flynn?” I tried again.

  Mr. Woods and his superiority complex grated on my nerves on a normal day. He turned his snide gaze on me. “Died? No, she suffered brain damage from a boating accident. Flynn here hasn’t had a thing to do with her since.”

  “That’s not true,” Flynn bit out. His color was returning, but the answer dulled the brilliant color of his eyes. The panic of John’s statement was fading, remorse setting in. For lying to me? Or for his alive and maybe not well sister?

  “Then when are you around her? When you put her in the home? Is that what you think I should do with my son. Throw him away and forget about him? How nice of you and your mother to let the taxpayers foot the bill. I’m sure future clients will think you’re the guy to entrust with all their money on a project.”

  His sister was alive? He’d let me believe she’d drowned, but she’d survived and not without major complications. State-run group home? When Flynn had a house bigger than any of the group homes I had ever seen? He could employ his own staff just for his sister, but he’d carved her out of his life.

  Mr. Woods switched his attention to me and I tensed. “And you, Miss Johnson. I’ve already investigated your past. I should’ve done a more thorough job before my wife hired you, but finding someone for Charlie was so difficult.” Regret rippled over his face. The man was a complete bastard, but he cared about h
is son. If only he’d find out who’d hurt Charlie. “But if you think about tapping into your boyfriend’s legal resources, think about how it will look for a girl whose own parents are scared of her.”

  “What?” Several heads turned our way at my shout. How could he bring up my parents? They were only scared of me because I was an adult now and not under their guardianship. The thought would almost be laughable if my abuse hadn’t been so severe.

  “I had my investigator track them down. They had a lot to say. Killing stray cats? Miss Johnson, I won’t stop until you’re locked away for a long time. No one hurts my family.” He knocked on the table in front of a stunned Flynn. I flinched. “Tread carefully. I will not let my family and everything I’ve worked for suffer for two hateful individuals.”

  He got up, straightening his suit with curt, practiced actions, and eyed us both before striding away.

  I squeezed the handles of my tote and looked at Flynn. “He’s a monster.”

  Flynn nodded absently, his gaze on the tabletop.

  Had Mr. Woods been the one beating Charlie?

  No. I hadn’t gotten that sense from him. With all the anger radiating off of him, I would’ve crawled under the table if I’d sensed violence. A man like him bullied with the force of his resources, not his body.

  I didn’t hit Charlie. I’d figure out how to deal with the accusations later. I had another mess to sort.

  “What’s the story with Lynne?” It couldn’t be true. Flynn was too caring to leave his sister floundering. He’d described his mom as a bitter, awful person. He wouldn’t leave someone who couldn’t help themselves with someone like that. Would he?

  “It’s, uh…” He sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands, then slumped in his seat. “It’s exactly as he said. I left home and never looked back. I send money to Mom for Lynne’s care.”

  “You send money,” I echoed. “You pay her off to not bother you with her?”