Page 28 of The Auction
Lottie clearly adores her brother, and I admire her for taking on the responsibility of a child. Her mother must have been over forty when she’d had him. I can’t help wondering what she was thinking having a child after such a large gap, but I liked Mary Miller so don’t think too badly of her. The grief on Lottie’s face when she told me about her passing made it clear that the wound is still raw, even three years later.
Harrison was furious with me for pulling that ‘stunt’, as he put it, but I calmed him down by telling him I’d cover the membership for both angry bidders for the next year. I hadn’t told any of my friends why I’d done what I had, or that I’d proposed to Lottie, but I will when it’s done. When Harrison pushed for an answer, I told him I thought she was going to faint. He didn’t believe me but thankfully didn’t push. That’s the good thing about everyone thinking you’re an asshole, they don’t push you.
I turn to look at Lottie who’s still watching the world go by out of the car window. “Does Eric know I’m coming to meet him?”
Lottie glances my way and pulls her lips between her teeth with nerves. It makes me want to taste her again. We haven’t touched since the night in the club when she gave me the best blow job of my life. She was so innocent and unsure, but so enthusiastic and eager to learn. It had blown my mind and I knew it would be my favorite spank bank material until I could crawl between her soft thighs and make her mine.
“Yes, he does but he’s more excited about moving to a new house and getting his own room. Our apartment isn’t much but it’s all I can afford right now.”
I see shame flame across her cheeks. “Do you share a room?” I frown, not liking the idea of her being so strapped for cash. Lottie looks away as if the view is suddenly so consuming.
“I sleep on the couch.”
Her words cut like a knife through my gut, and I hate that she’s living like this, and even a week seems like too long. She wants to stay until the wedding, but I’ll have my lawyer amend the agreement so she moves in the second she signs the contract. Lottie is living like a sewer rat when she’s a motherfucking Queen.
I don’t know when it happened, but I fell head over heels for Violet Miller a long time ago. She was my first love and unbeknownst to her, my last love. She was the only woman to ever have found her way inside my cold heart. I realize now that she’s the missing piece I’ve been searching for all this time. The second she walked back into my life I felt peace, but I fought it tooth and nail because I don’t want to be that weak man who’s led around by his dick. Now my feelings are only intensified as they’re mixed with a sexual chemistry that is off the charts. I know she feels it, and it frightens my little Lottie to death, but I’ll make her see that she’s mine, she always has been.
The truth is, when I saw her again my heart recognized that I never stopped caring about the woman who was about to become my wife. I just need to convince her I won’t hurt her ever again and that’s a battle I’m ready for even if I must use her body’s reaction to me against her to win. I just need to do it in such a way that I don’t reveal how weak I am around her and expose my vulnerability.
We pull up outside an apartment in the lower east side of Manhattan and I look up to the fire escape where teenagers are hanging out smoking god knows what. I grimace and exit the car, moving toward Lottie who has already gotten out.
“Hey, Vi.”
She looks up at one of the teens and waves. “Hi, Anthony.”
“Who’s the suit? He your john?”
I go to step forward, to teach the little shit some manners but I feel a hand clamp down on my arm.
“Watch your mouth, Anthony, or I’ll tell your mother you’re smoking her pot again.”
“Sorry, Vi.”
She shakes her head with a smile and heads inside.
“Does he always talk to you like that?”
She regards me as we head inside. “He’s a good kid really, he just hasn’t had a lot of supervision.”
I hold my tongue, not wanting to end up the bad guy again. We’ve reached an uneasy truce for now and I’d like to keep it that way.
The inside of the building is no better than the outside. Damp with black mold growing up the walls and a broken lock allowing anyone inside the halls. I know people live like this, I’m not stupid or so ignorant of the world that I can’t see it, but to think my Lottie has been living this way when I was enjoying every luxury known to man makes me sick to my stomach.
“It gets better.”
I feel her shy embarrassment as she looks at me and follow her up the stairs. I keep my mouth shut knowing anything I say now will only anger her and make her feel worse.
As she unlocks the door to her apartment, I hear a kids TV tune and smile. The Simpsons was my favorite show growing up too. Her apartment is clean and tidy with homey knickknacks throughout including several kid’s paintings and pictures on the fridge. The smell of dampness is less pungent in here, but it still lingers. From the doorway, I can see the living room, a tiny kitchenette, and then two doors which must be for the bathroom and the one bedroom she said she had.
On the couch, which is threadbare and sunken in the middle, is an older black woman who is watching me intently. At her feet is a little boy with bright blue eyes and brown hair that flops over his face.
“Eric, Mary, this is my friend Lincoln.”
I move closer, putting my hand on her back, and feel her stiffen as I greet them.
“Very nice to meet you, Mary, and you too, Eric.” Somehow this meeting feels important like it could change my life in some way, but I’m not sure how a nine-year-old boy could have such an impact. I crouch to his eye level before sitting my ass on the floor beside him. “I love The Simpsons. Have you seen the movie with spider pig?”
Eric grins wide and I feel my chest tighten.
