Page 6 of Chance's Choice
I manage to hold onto that positivity for the entire time before the auction begins. When I’m on the little stage as the third Daddy to go up for bidding, I’m relieved to find that the spotlight on me makes it impossible to see into the crowd of people in the audience.
The auctioneer -a master Dom I’ve seen around The Grove over the years- reads my bio before the bidding commences. I have to admit that Tony did a pretty fantastic job hyping me up. He wrote about how much I enjoy taking on a nurturing role, but that I like to get involved in play time, too. He also discussed my goofy sense of humor and how close I am with my friends.
Listening to Tony’s description, evenIwant to bid on some time with me. I make a note to buy him a new stuffy or something to show my appreciation. He’s a sweet kid, and he makes my best friend stupidly happy to boot.
I try not to pay attention when the bidding starts. I’m still afraid that nobody will bid. After all, I visit The Grove regularly, and I’m almost always open to play. Why would anyone pay for a day with me, when they can find me at the club for free?
But then I hear the price escalating, and it almost sounds like there’s a bidding war happening, and it’s not that much longer before the gavel goes down with an echoingcrackand I’ve been sold for a day to the highest bidder.
I walk off the stage with wobbling legs, and Charlie’s there to pat my back and grin. “Did you hear that?!” He asks me, his blue eyes twinkling with the reflection of the stage lights at my back. “You outsold Bryce.”
I had assumed Bryce would bring in the most money, and I’d told Charlie as much. Bryce is hot as fuck and pansexual, so open to play with Littles of all genders, and a day of Daddy time with him had sold for almost two thousand dollars. I can’t imagine being worth anywhere near that sort of cash.
My fears of living up to the value start to simmer away at the back of my brain. Talk about pressure!
I blink at Charlie, genuinely surprised. “I did not.”
“You did, man, I swear.”
“Who the hell would be insane enough to pay that kind of money for time with me?” I ask, feeling bewildered. I turn around, trying to peer back over the stage and towards the audience. “Do we know him?”
Charlie shrugs and shakes his head. “Emmett does. Says he’s new to town. Has seen him at The Grove a couple of times. About our age. Short. Slim. He’s private, but a nice guy…according to Em, anyway.”
Charlie’s answer only leaves me with more questions. Why would a random Little who has never met me want to pay that kind of cash for a day of my time? Especially if he’s been hanging out with the attractive counselor Charlie just mentioned?
Emmett also volunteered a day of Daddy time for the auction and he’s up next, so it’s not like I was a second choice or anything.
Charlie claps a hand on my shoulder and leads me through the door that lets us back out into the main room. “Come on: you can meet the guy and ask him all your questions yourself. He should be paying Cherie about now.”
We walk down the narrow aisle of space between the wall and the chairs that have been set up for the bidding audience, and I’m dimly aware of Emmett’s bio being read to the crowd. I don’t turn back to watch the proceedings, though. I’m too curious to meet the man who bought a day with me.
Charlie opens the door at the back of the room, guiding me through the rec room and towards the back offices. Cherie usually mans the reception desk, and as we turn the corner from the rec room, her little office is brightly lit up and she’s sitting in her usual spot at the desk in front of the wall, chatting with a short, blonde man whose back is currently to me.
There’s something vaguely familiar about the set of his shoulders, but it’s not until Cherie brightly declares, “And here they are now,” that the guy tenses and then turns slowly to face me.
I feel the air leave my lungs at the same time as Charlie walks into my back because I’ve frozen unexpectedly in place.
“Hey, Chance,” Kade says, as if the past twenty years haven’t happened. As if our final conversation didn’t leave me hurting and alone.
He’s aged well, I realize dimly. He still looks like himself, though his face has filled out and his shoulders and chest seem more solid beneath the figure-hugging Henley he wears. He’s still as short as he always was, still as slim and still as pretty, but very much a man opposed to the angry eighteen-year-old from my memories.
When I fail to speak, he steps a bit closer, his smile a little bit rueful. “Surprise?”
I exhale, reminding myself that I let go of the hurt between us a long time ago. I even forgave him. But there’s an echo of pain and embarrassment as I look at him which makes me uncomfortable.
The conversation ahead is inevitable and I know it. Honestly, we should have had it twenty years ago.
Turning to Charlie, I softly murmur, “Refund him,” before I turn on my heel and walk away.
I know that Kade will follow me.
Chapter Four – Kade
“Don’t refund me,” I tell the tall, dark-haired man with the impressive biceps. Usually, I’d pause to admire such a handsome specimen, but I’m too concerned with catching up to Chance and begging him to listen to me.
Honestly, I know I don’t really deserve it. But when I arrived tonight and saw his picture in among the Daddy Day auction ‘prizes’, it was like a sucker punch to the gut before instinct took over.
I mean, how unlikely is it, really, that my best friend from high school is aDaddywhen I’m a Little? It’s either a cruel joke from fate, or a sign that we’ve always just been that compatible.
