Page 28 of Auction Time
The man I saw today looked like he wanted me, but… I could have been wrong. It was all so confusing.
Gage saw me waiting by the door and smiled.
“Vanessa, come in,” he beckoned me to come inside.
His secretary gave me the usual phony smile, but her eyes spoke of her annoyance of me interrupting her conversation with Gage.
She left us and closed the door behind her.
“You okay?” Gage asked, and I did the silly girly thing I used to do from way back when.
I walked over to him and rested my head on his chest.
The minute I did that, he got his answer.
At sixteen, when Cole had turned me away, I went to Gage. I’d found him at a party and did just this, except I burst into tears and cried for at least an hour.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in a soothing voice.
I sighed. “I don’t feel right.”
He moved back, put and arm around me, and ushered me to sit over by the little sofa area we sometimes ate lunch in.
“What happened?”
Ever since that time with Cole and Gage’s parents’ divorce, I hated talking to him about Cole. It was the occurrence of that, that made me stop. That was why I’d never told him what made me cry for an hour after Cole rejected me.
Maybe it was time to push it aside because I’d reached a point in my life where this thing had come back for me, and I wanted something…someonewho was so wrong for me in every way. And not because of our teenaged encounter.
I just wished the way he touched me didn’t feel the way it had. Like I wanted it, and I wanted him. I’d wanted him to take me right there against the wall of the changing room, just like the rebel he was.
“Have… you ever gone after something that may be bad for you?” I breathed.
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. A lock of his blond hair fell forward and hung over his eyes, and it was strange I got that high school vibe again.
Gage looked like he did back in high school, Cole still plagued my mind, and I was acting like a child.
“What did he do now?” Gage asked.
My breath hitched. “What?”
“Cole? You’re talking about him. Aren’t you?” He looked at me with raised brows.
“How did you know?”
“Vanessa, you’re kind of like my little sister. We’re cousins, sure, but did you notice how while the others run wild, we’re usually the last ones standing, holding on to logic?”
My shoulders slumped. “Yes, but maybe that’s a bad thing.”
“Well, the point is, I know you, and I know when there’s something up with you because of him. I endured it all through high school and then again three months ago when he came back on the scene.”
“I’m sorry. I know you hate him.”
“I hate his ass more than I can actually say, but… in fairness, it’s not like he lied. The past wasn’t a lie. Not one ounce of it. Nothing he said about my dad was a lie. Was all true. Was just embarrassing. Cole was a complete jerk back then and doesn’t look to me like he’s changed.”
“Really?” It was good for me to hear this. It was.
I needed to get back on the straight and narrow, and focus. Look at the amazing opportunity my mother had given me. Now was not the time to lose my head over this guy. Again.
