Only One Chance (Only One 2)

“Yes, an event that was uneventful.” I open my eyes wide. “An event where I think the champagne was expired.”

“There was nothing wrong with the champagne,” Candace says. “Except maybe you had too much of it.”

“Tomato, tomatoe,” I say to her.

“I can’t believe that you don’t remember.” She laughs, holding her stomach.

“Would you stop being so vague and just fucking tell me?” I shout now.

“Well, there was an auction,” she says, and I gasp when she looks at me.

“Did I win the tickets to the All-Star game?” I cross my fingers. “Please tell me I won.”

“Oh, you won, all right,” she mumbles. “There was the auction and …” she starts to say slowly. I just look at her, and I try to remember anything, but it’s just coming up blank. “Well, it started at fifty cents,” she tells me, “then it went all the way up to twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“Holy shit, who the hell would bid twenty-five thousand dollars?” I ask, crossing my hands over my chest. And like a wave crashing into the sand, it all comes back to me. Sitting at the table, listening to those women bid on him. One trying to outbid the other like it was a pissing contest. The blonde who bid five thousand dollars, sitting there so smug. Like she owned the world just because she could bid that much. Then the sound of my voice echoes in my ears, followed by Nico’s sold.

I gasp out and shout. “Nooooo,” I say, shaking my head.

“Oh, but yes,” Candace says. “Twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“Oh my God,” I say, putting my hands on my knees. “Oh my God, how could you make me do that?”

“How could I make you do that?” she asks me. “How can you do that? You hate him.”

“I know,” I tell her.

“Every single time he’s asked you out, you denied him.”

“You’re not telling me anything that I don’t know, Candace. I have to call Nico,” I say, looking around for my phone. “I have to call him and tell him that I’m sorry, but that was a mistake.” I rush around the house looking for my phone. My heart speeds up in my chest, my palms sweaty, and then I have the sudden urge to vomit when I pick up my phone and see the top notification.

Thank you so much for your donation of twenty-five thousand dollars. Your bid has now been accepted.Chapter 6MillerThe door shuts behind me as I make my way into the practice facility. My phone’s in my hand as I look for pictures of last night, hoping that I find one of just the two of us. “Hey, there he is.” I look up, seeing one of the rookies who was for auction yesterday come out of the kitchen. “Mr. Twenty-five K.”

I laugh at the nickname. “That would be me.”

“It was insane.” He starts to tell me, and I half-listen because I finally find a picture of us. She stands beside me, and all I can see is her leg coming out. I save the picture and send it to her with the caption.

Me: This is what twenty-five K looks like.

“So where do you think you’re going to take her?” he asks, and I stop walking when we get to the door of the team’s changing room. “For twenty-five K, you better get a private jet and fly her to Italy for pizza.” He walks into the changing room, leaving me in the middle of the hallway, thinking.

“I can smell wood burning.” I hear Ralph as he walks toward me, and I look up at him. “Jesus, did someone kick your dog?”

“I don’t have a dog,” I say, shaking my head.

“Then why the sad face?” he asks, stopping beside me but not before I look over his shoulder and see Manning coming in.

He’s dressed in a tracksuit. “I thought this was an optional skate?”

“It is,” Manning says. “But what does it say when your captain doesn’t show up?” He looks at us. “What is going on here?”

“I was thinking about where to take Layla on our date.” I look at the two of them.

Ralph laughs. “The question you should be asking yourself is if she is actually going to let you take her out?”

“She has no choice. She bought me.” I point at myself.

“Don’t say that again,” Manning says, shaking his head. “You sound like a piece of meat.”

“Seriously, guys, I have to wow the shit out of her.” My stomach starts to sink, and I open Safari on my phone. “Siri,” I say, pressing the button. “Tell me the top ten romantic things to do on a date.” The two of them laugh out loud. “Don’t knock this; you might get ideas.”

“My idea of a romantic date is sitting down with Candace, just her and me and being next to her,” Ralph says, and Manning looks at him.