The Auction House Deal: Bought by A Billionaire

By the end of the song, I really was feeling out of place and paranoid.

My mind kept running back to the last time that Kristen and I went clubbing together. While I had been lucky that the guy who grabbed me had been someone at least a little trustworthy, there wasn’t any promise that a bad guy wouldn’t be the one to grab me. I could feel the hands on me, the panic of being cornered, the quickening of my heart.

No, I needed a break.

Well, what I really needed was to go home, but I promised Lori to give them half an hour.

Moving to the bar, I ordered myself a ginger ale and sat down at the bar. Just as soon as my bottom hit the stool, Kristen was at my side.

"Come on! This is a great song."

"No, thank you," I stated with a weak smile. "You guys have fun. I’m just not really in the mood."

"Com on, Hannah," Kristen frowned. "This is all about getting you out of your comfort zone. If you do something extreme, the average stuff won’t even be something to think about. It’s like exposure therapy."

"I understand that and I appreciate that, I just don’t think this is something I’m ready for. Not while people are still out there trying to get Roman and me. I just don’t feel safe," I told her honestly.

As much as Lori and Lauren would defend her, and I could understand all of that, I had to be honest. She meant well, but it was a serious misstep.

I looked at her with a shyness I couldn’t hide. "How am I supposed to have fun if I don’t feel safe?"

"That’s the whole point," she urged. "Those guards are just a reminder of what’s going on. How can you embrace the present, let go, and be free, if you walk around like that all the time? I’m not saying it’s always a bad idea, I’m just saying we’re in the middle of downtown, you’re with a bunch of friends, and it’s a weekday so the club isn’t packed or anything. If there was ever a way to dive into having a normal life again, it would be this way."

"Life isn’t normal yet, though, Kristen," I groaned. "I literally was almost taken like a month ago."

"And are you willing to give another day to letting that creep dictate how you live your life?" Kristen asked. "Aren’t you the one who’s been saying that you aren’t going to live in fear?"

She had me there. I was sure there was still an argument for me to make, but I was tired and failing to find any sort of reason to not try and embrace the experience, especially because I was already in it.

My thoughts returned to Roman, but I knew that Kristen wasn’t going to give me my phone so easily. Not when I hadn’t yet had the fun she was so desperate for me to have.

Letting out a sigh, I nodded. "Alright, alright."

She grinned, ordered us each a margarita and a tequila shot. I dutifully took the shot, and then moved to the dance floor with the other drink.

The song changed, and I moved with Kristen to the beat. Dancing always made me feel a bit silly, as I hadn’t really ever had much experience with it. Only dancing with her and Roman, and Roman and I never exactly club-styled dance. However, there was something about being around Kristen that was absolutely magnetic. Once you gave into her carefree ways, it was like you were in her web and at her whim oh-so-willingly.

She was a force of nature. She commanded the room without saying a word. When men approached trying to dance with us, she would only shake her head or wave them on and they would listen. No one was forceful.

I sipped my drink and tried my best to surrender to her ways as best I could. Being around her made me want to have fun, but it didn’t mean I was.

Lori and Lauren joined us and we danced in a little crowd to the music. I found myself forcing a smile, wanting them to believe that I was having fun. I just wasn’t.

The mental block of knowing Roman must have known by then and must have been dying with worry was enough to make my entire heart hurt. I could put a smile on, but I didn’t mean it. How could I even try to enjoy it with all sincerity, when my husband had to have been falling apart?

Still, I made a promise to Lori, and I told Kristen I would try. So I would, even if I knew it wasn’t going to be successful. What mattered to them was I gave it a shot, since it was already in motion. What was important to me was appeasing them enough, because I knew they didn’t mean any harm, and trying to appease them so that they would let the evening end quickly. If I dragged out the process by resisting, it would have taken possibly hours to convince them to let me walk free, or even get my phone back.

So, when another drink was handed to me, I took it. I had all intentions of nursing it for the rest of the time. I had the slightest buzz, but was nowhere near drunk. For that, I was so grateful. I needed to be in control of myself to be comfortable, but to drink enough to make the others believe I was having a good time.

It was a strange feeling, to feel as though I was being forced to party but knowing it was for good intentions. It was kind of like being dragged out for a day by friends when in a depressive episode. You appreciate the heart and thought that went into it, and as much as you long to join in on the fun, your heart simply isn’t in it no matter how hard you try. It was frustrating, wanting to either embrace it and actually enjoy it or to just go home to put an end to it.

After a couple more songs, I could feel my ability to fake it slowly draining from my body.

I excused myself to the bathroom, which Lori escorted me to. She giggled about how much fun she was having, and went back out. While she joined the dance floor again, I stepped to the side and once again found an empty table to sit at.

I started thinking about Roman again. I needed to find a way to call him. I didn’t think I had his number memorized, though, and so couldn’t just ask another person to borrow their phone.

I inwardly groaned, not knowing what to do to put an end to it. I ordered a water and sipped it as I tried to think.

If only we could have had the night I originally planned. I thought that could have been enough. A dinner out, a movie night with wine. Did the three of them secretly find me boring? Did the movie nights not resonate in them the way they did me?

The thought made my heart ache, but I did my best to brush it away. I was only upset and was beginning to spiral. There wasn’t any need for that.

And yet, that was all I had to do. There was nothing else in sight for me to spend my time on. I didn’t have my phone, I didn’t exactly know where I could go on my own, and the thought of even trying to terrified me. I just had to wait.

How long had it been since I told Lori I would give them a half hour? That had to have been... One, two, three... Six songs. So about twenty minutes?

I let out a sigh. I only had ten minutes before I could finally protest to go home. At least I had that. I was thankful to have that. Just ten minutes. That was about three songs. I could do this. It was just a little longer.

Some man approached my table. I felt my throat dry. My eyes could hardly take in his details from how nervous I was.

Blonde hair. Light eyes. That was all I could really focus on. He wasn’t the dark haired man from the gala.

But that still didn’t help my pulse slow.

He gave me an easy smile. He spoke, but I couldn’t tell if it was my heart beat or the music blocking him out.

"Sorry?" I called over the music to him.

"Can I get you another drink?" he called.

"Oh... Uh... No. I’m drinking water," I called back.

"Another water then," he beamed.

At that moment, just as panic began to set in, Lauren slid into the booth next to me and shot me an easy grin.