The Bachelor Auction(89)
“Watch this,” Nadine snickered, lifting her paddle.
Bentley went completely pale, and his mouth dropped open as he gave Jane a psychotic, wide-eyed look.
“Bid me up, dear, this is how these things work.” Nadine said out of the side of her mouth.
Jane lifted her paddle.
Bentley, once again relieved, exhaled loudly.
Only to pale again when Nadine raised her paddle.
This went on for a good fifteen minutes.
“Most stressful moments of that boy’s life,” Nadine murmured. “Although I find I’m quite enjoying myself.” She lifted her paddle again.
Jane burst out laughing. “You really should put him out of his misery. He looks like he’s about to have a stroke.”
“Oh, fine.” Nadine coughed into her hand, and instantly another paddle rose across the room.
“Ten thousand dollars.”
Jane’s eyes widened as an elderly lady shouted from the back of the room. “Who’s that?”
“My first choice,” Nadine smiled warmly. “She’ll be so great for our Bentley. He’ll have to see past a few things first, but I have faith that it will go great.”
Jane frowned. “The lady looks your age.”
“Oh, Prudence isn’t bidding for herself.” Nadine laughed. “She has a lovely granddaughter that needs a little cheering up.”
“Cheering up?”
“Going once, twice,” Charles said in the distance. “Sold! To Prudence McCleery!”
Nadine sighed. “Yes well, ever since Margot lost her leg she’s been impossible to live with.”
“Lost,” Jane repeated, “her leg?”
“Just one.” Nadine shrugged. “She has another. But sometimes when in pain we focus on the loss, not the gain.”
“But—”
“Oh look, Brant’s up!”
Bentley walked off the stage, sweat marks marring his armpits as he tugged off his tie and made a beeline for the bar. He looked like he’d just seen a ghost.
“This one’s a good deal more difficult,” Nadine raised her paddle when the opening bid went out, then elbowed Jane to do the same.
Brant’s expression was stone. He didn’t show his emotions like Bentley did, so Jane had no idea if he was angry or just in his mental happy place drinking shots from some poor woman’s breasts.
Brant was walking talking sex, and so completely unapologetic about it that there had to be a story there.
One she knew she would most likely never get if Brant had anything to say about it.
For ten minutes Brant stood, expression indifferent, until Nadine coughed again and a new paddle flew into the air.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.” A small voice echoed through the room.
Charles gaped and then glanced around the room. “Going once, twice, three times, sold, to number…” He squinted, “Ma’am, I need to see your paddle. what’s your number please?”
“Zero, Zero, Five.” A gorgeous Hispanic woman with bright red lipstick and jet black hair stood.
And Brant flinched.
Once, twice.
Until finally, his façade shattered and an expression of pure sadness crossed his features, only to switch to red hot anger as his jaw clenched.
“Who is that?” Jane asked Nadine, “She’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“Oh her? That’s Brant’s ex-wife.”
“What?” Stunned, Jane watched the gorgeous woman smile toward the stage, but not directly at Brant, and then a man to her side grabbed her hand and led her back to the table. “Wait, is she—”
“She went blind, from the accident.”
“The accident?”
Nadine didn’t say anything else, but Brant moved from the stage past the bar and directly out the doors of the ballroom.
“I sense a story.”
Nadine snorted. “You have no idea. That little jackass has had it coming for a while.”
You could feel the tension swirl in the room as the next two bachelors were auctioned off in the exact same manner as Brant and Bentley.
Nadine coughed.
Paddles were raised.
The next two bachelors, Nadine’s cousins, couldn’t have looked more angry if they tried.
“Oh good, Brock’s next.” Nadine sighed happily. “You know, if you want me to do the inspection before he jumps into the sack with you I’d be more than happy to volunteer.”
“I, uh…” Jane laughed. “I’ve seen under the hood.”
“A hussy after my own heart.” Nadine grinned. “Oh, the hoods I saw beneath in my day were—”
“And our last item of the evening!” Charles beamed. “My eldest grandson, Brock Wellington.”
Jane was just getting ready to lift her paddle when she locked eyes on her sisters across the room. Had they just arrived? She’d been there at least an hour and hadn’t seen them anywhere.