Page 47 of Highest Bidder

Vivian blew out a breath. “My dad died a few months ago. He drank himself to death and left my mom with a lot of debt. Like,a lotof debt. The loan-shark kind. I did the auction to pay Lorenzo so he wouldn’t cut my mom’s fingers off.”

What the fuck?

I knew there had to be something up with her dad.

“And your cut from the club is going to cover it?”

“It’s a start. I’m hoping it buys us some time, anyway.”

I didn’t say anything. Just drove.

But I couldn’t get the image of her in that apartment building out of my head. She didn’t belong there, of that I was certain.

An image of her in my bed when I woke up this morning popped into my head, likethatwas where she belonged.

I gave myself an internal shake.

No, she doesn’t belong there either.

But I wasn’t as convinced about that.

~~~~

The church lot was already full by the time we pulled in, so I parked in a gravel overflow near the back fence. We walked toward the entrance in silence, but I absentmindedly reached over and took her hand as we passed hay bales, orange lights, and pumpkins. The faint sound of a fiddle from a small stage near the food trucks filled the air, along with the smell of cinnamon and the crunch of fall leaves beneath our feet.

A kid ran past us with his face painted like a jack-o’-lantern, dragging a balloon by a string. Another tripped over a cornstalk and started wailing.

Vivian slowed when we passed a table stacked with little jars of honey and homemade jam.

“You ever come to one of these growing up?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. We didn’t do stuff like this.”

I didn’t press, although from what she’d told me, I wasn’t surprised.

As if trying to defend herself, she continued, “I mean, San Diego doesn’t exactly have a fall, you know?”

“That’s true.”

I motioned toward the tables lined with crafts. “If you see anything you want, let me know.”

Her smile was almost childlike when she replied, “I will.”

We walked around like a regular couple in the crowd. I should have been alarmed at how normal it felt to hold her hand and smile back at her whenever she got excited over a new find on one of the card tables filled with what she called treasures.

I thought it was all crap, but I kept that to myself. I was an asshole, but I wasn’t going to rain on her parade. Especially since I was the one who’d brought us here in the first place.

****

Vivian

“This is so fun,” I said as I leaned my head against his shoulder while we waited in line for warm apple cider. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

He winked at me. “You can thank me on the way home.”

I gave his jeans pocket a subtle squeeze as I murmured, “I’d be happy to.”

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Be careful, baby, or you might just find yourself bent over a hay bale in a corner somewhere with my cock in your ass.” Then he added, “But you’d probably like that.”

---