Page 6 of Sugar Rush
“Yeah, it’s no problem,” I echoed. “I heard everyone running lines earlier. The play is going to turn out great.”
We chatted about the expected turnout for another minute or so, before finally voicing we were about to head home.
“Oh, wait!” He said, giving me a slightly apologetic look. “There was one more favor I wanted to ask, Jordy.”
“What’s up?”
“Well, we’re still one guy short for the charity auction we’re throwing next month.”
“The date thing?” I asked, barely able to suppress the urge to wrinkle my nose. I didn’t want to be put up for auction and bid on like a prized cow.
“You’d be perfect for it,” he assured me. We all knew what he meant by that. I was cute. “And you won’t even have to doanything, really. Just stand up there and we’ll read some facts about you, and then people will bid. It’s easy. You’ll have fun.”
I wanted to ask if it was so easy and fun, why didn’t he just stand on the stage and get bids? But I struggled with telling people no. An actual physical struggle, like my throat was clogged with glue whenever I tried.
“What about the date part?”
“We're partnered with a couple of nearby restaurants so the highest bidders will get vouchers for those. You’ll just have a nice dinner and that’s it. Everyone knows there’s no expectation for a real date at these things,” he said. Eating dinner with some old perv sounded like a real date to me. “You’d really be helping us out a lot. And I promise we’ll make sure everyone involved feels comfortable with everything.”
Biting down into the tip of my tongue, I gave a small nod. “Okay, I guess.”
“Thank you, Jordy. You’re a lifesaver.” He gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder, before scribbling something down on a clipboard. “I’ll have Sandy reach out to you with the details later.”
“Great.”
“Oh! I forgot we borrowed these,” Dani suddenly remembered, gesturing down to the aprons we’d worn over our clothes to help keep paint from getting on them. “I’ll go put them back really quick,” she added, once I’d pulled mine up over my head and put it in her hands, then bounded off back to the art room.
Yawning, I pulled my phone out to check the time. As I started to enter the code for my lock screen, a large shadow slithered over me from behind. Whirling around, I found myself face to face with Andrew Cantrell. Well, more like face to chest. Like pretty much every alpha on the planet, he was way taller than me.
Andrew was the son of Sandy, the owner and director of the youth center. While she was a lovely, generous, and hardworking woman, it seemed that those traits hadn’t made their way into his genetics. He was always hanging around, but I never really saw him working or doing anything useful.
“Awfully nice of you to participate in that date auction,” he commented, smirking a little bit as he ran a hand through his slicked back hair. It was an unremarkable shade of light brown, which fit alongside all his other traits. Maybe I was being harsh, but something about him had always given me the creeps.
He’d never made it a secret that he found me attractive, and he’d definitely implied, more than once, that he wanted to take me out. Sometimes more than an implication. But I’d always found a way to politely dodge his requests and keep the dynamic between us light and casual.
“Well, it’s for charity, so…” I trailed off, taking a deliberate step back so I didn’t have to stare straight up at him.
“Still,” he reasoned, and it looked like for a second he was considering taking a step forward to nullify the distance I’d put between us. Or maybe I was just imagining that. “You’re always fluttering around being helpful. You’re like a… cute little wish-granting fairy,” he decided.
“Oh.” I didn’t really know what to say to that. I’d never imagined myself as a fluttering fairy. If it was meant to be a compliment, I didn’t find it particularly flattering. “Okay.”
“You should be careful, though. You don’t want to get stuck going out with the wrong kind of person.”
“Yeah, I don’t think Dave is going to let anyone too strange participate so I should be fine,” I said, although I wasn’t entirely sure I agreed with my own statement. I just instinctively felt the need to argue with him.
“You need a ride home?” He wondered, to which I quickly shook my head.
“Ah, no. I came over with Dani.” Like always, I thought, but didn’t add. And I knew he knew that. Where the hell was she? It didn’t take that long to throw a couple of aprons onto a table. “Thanks, though.”
“Anytime,” he said, tilting his head a little like he was appraising me. I wasn’t shy, but the intensity of his gaze made me want to put on a few more layers of clothing. His eyes flicked up to somewhere behind me, right before I heard Dani’s footsteps coming closer. “See you later, Jordy.”
“Bye,” I answered automatically, relieved to see him stepping away.
“Bye, Andrew!” Dani called, as she saw him retreating. He answered her with a small wave. I noticed he wasn’t fucking her with his eyes like he seemed to love doing to me. Probably because she was a beta. Omegas had it harder because alphas were always creeping on us. Or at least, that’s what Kieran and my dad were always trying to drill into my head and make me believe. In Andrew’s case, it actually might have been true.
As we made our way across the parking lot to Dani’s car, she noticed my sour expression and gave me a sympathetic look.
“Maybe it won’t be that bad,” she said. “Maybe some billionaire philanthropist will fall in love with how you look and want to keep you as a sugar baby.”
