Easton
I scanned the room for him. I didn’t know what he thought he was doing, but he was playing with fire. It had to be him, who else would do something like this? And without even telling me first? This had his name all over it and he had some explaining to do. I told Missy to wait for a second and walked off, looking for him. If I didn’t find him, that was going to be another issue entirely. I was out of here regardless. I wasn’t staying for this shit.
Did he think that I would stay at a fucking auction when I found out that I was going to be sold in it? I finally saw him, talking in a small group with three other people, all of them women. They weren’t so much talking, as Toby was the one talking and they were paying attention like students in a classroom. I stalked up to them and tapped him on the shoulder. He slowly turned around.
“Oh, great, you’re here.”
“Is there a good reason why my name is on this program?” I asked him. Forced to stop his flirting, he slowly disentangled himself from the two ladies who were hanging off of him.
“Will you give me a moment ladies, I have some business to attend to,” he said to them. I pulled him aside. Questions came up. Who were those women and why was he flirting with them? Well, I knew why he was doing that but was he aware that he had a lipstick stain on his collar already and the night had not even begun? I pushed those questions aside and asked the most pertinent one.
“Why the hell is my name on this program?” I asked him.
“Oh, that? Because I submitted your name as a lot for the auction.” He said it so calmly and matter-of-factly that it annoyed me.
“You did this without telling me, without even asking me first?”
Toby shrugged. He didn’t even care. It enraged me. “Honestly, when I did it, I didn’t care what you thought. It was payback.”
“Payback? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Remember Alex, the Fed? Remember what you did to him? Remember how we lost, no wait, we didn’t lose it, you lost us a federal contract for half a billion dollars? Remember that?” he said. I couldn’t believe it, he was still angry about that? We had gotten other clients since and pretty soon we would be able to recoup the money that we could have potentially gotten from that man. Yes, I could remember what happened with Alex the Fed, but I wasn’t sorry about it and I wasn’t apologizing now.
“The man was an asshole, I lost my temper that night but you saw the way he was acting. He was harassing Missy, pushing himself on her even after she clearly said no more than once. You told me that he got kicked out for harassing a different woman after that anyway.”
“Sorry, but I had submitted your name anyway. So, long story short, you’re doing it.” I ran a hand through my hair, effectively ruining the careful hairstyle that Missy had made for me. Who the hell did Toby think he was going over my head like this in the company where we were co-owners? I didn’t want to have him making these kinds of decisions just because he was mad.
“And what exactly is this supposed to achieve? Who the hell is going to bid on me?”
“Putting you up in the auction kills two birds with one stone. It shows everyone your new look, and it will make them talk about our company. Literally, the least we can come away with his new business leads from tonight. If not that, we’ll be on the mi
nds of everyone here as soon as they hear who you are and what we do. If none of our clients are in here now, I guarantee that the people here can connect us to them.”
“Yeah, some CEO’s going to bid on me, that sounds likely.”
“CEO, Senator from the wealthy district, I’m looking forward to that bidding war,” Toby said.
“You were wrong for this,” I said to him. He just shrugged his shoulders.
“Maybe, but we're doing it. You owe me this. You lost us a contract with the federal government. Don’t fuck this up too.” I walked away from him back towards Missy. I didn’t know that Toby was this petty. It upset me but it annoyed me more. Why would he say something like this to me first? He had had plenty of time to let me know and he had just chosen not to. He was still stewing about that stupid contract. I couldn’t deal with this. I needed a drink or something. I grabbed Missy and walked her over to the bar.
“What’s going on? Did you find him?” she asked me. I started telling her what had happened.
“You remember that creep at the club who wouldn’t take no for an answer? Dancing all over you?” I asked her.
“What about him? Is he here right now?”
“No, he isn’t, but that’s why I’m here tonight. Toby submitted my name for the auction as revenge for losing the contract with him.” Out of all the possible reactions I expected from Missy, laughter, for some reason was not one of them, but she laughed at me.
“Oh my God. I don’t even know what to say. How about this, I’ll have a drink with you.”
“Thank you for your support in this hard time,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“Look, this isn’t going to be nearly as bad as you think. The only thing that’s gonna happen is someone will pick you and you will have to share a meal with them. That’s it. An attractive man as part of the charity auction is going to get attention from the wealthy women in attendance. One dinner date where all you have to do is smile and compliment her. That’s it.”
I took my drink down in one shot. “I feel like a piece of meat.”
“Well, surely you can permit yourself to be a piece of meat for good cause, can’t you?”