Highest Bidder

10. Hunter

10

HUNTER

“Hey, want to go get some drinks?” Jess asks while we’re walking off the auction block. “A few of the block clerks like to go to this place close by after the sale. It’s like a midweek decompression.”

“That sounds like fun. I hope they don’t mind me crashing the party,” I say as I pull my hair into a messy bun. The humidity today is off the charts.

“Heck no, this group is the best. They’ll be ecstatic to have another face joining us! Not every block clerk you meet will be so welcoming, but stick with me and you won’t need to worry,” she says. We both laugh, because I know what she means. I’ve met some nice block clerks and some really interesting ones. Most are only nice to your face.

I follow her to the bar, and we walk inside. There are pool tables everywhere, and I gasp, “I love playing pool!” I realize too late that I said it too loud when the bar goes silent, and almost everyone is staring at me. I give a sheepish smile and wave.

Jess snorts and pulls me over to a table where several other girls are shooting pool. “Hey, everyone.” Jess motions to me. “ This is Hunter Smith. Hunter, this is Lydia, Charley, and Blake.” She points to each girl as she says her name.

“Oh, hey again, Lydia,” I say to the girl with red hair and a slender figure who was on my block earlier. “You did awesome today.”

“Yeah, you too.” Lydia smiles. “You’re so smooth. I love listening to you.”

“Oh, well thank you,” I say, pressing my hand against my chest. “I’ve only been practicing my whole life.” This makes everyone giggle.

“What was that like?” Charley, the girl with light brown, curly hair, asks. “Everyone knows your dad and most have seen videos of him selling things at one time or another. Has it been hard? What was it like working with him?” She’s nearly out of breath from the back to back questions.

I blink a few times and give a nervous chuckle. “My dad and I are very close. He’s why I chose this line of work. But he does have a huge reputation, and that’s made it hard. We struggled with our relationship in the beginning, figuring out our father-daughter relationship versus our mentor-work relationship. He only wanted what was best for me, but that also meant hours of practice until any chant that wasn’t flowing well was fixed. He expected a lot out of me.” Becoming an auctioneer was a lot harder than I like to admit. Not only did I have to live up to my dad’s expectations, my colleagues made it harder to even get a job.

"It is impressive.” Blake, whose caramel-colored hair is twisted into an elegant bun, adds. “You’ve made your mark by getting hired at all the Manheim auctions around here. It’s amazing!”

“Well, Jess is the reason the rest of the auctions hired me.” I nudge Jess with my shoulder. “She called the GMs at Lakeland, Tampa, and St. Pete.” The girl already has my back, and I love how close we have gotten so fast. I’m deeply indebted to her .

“Hey,” Jess says. “I only told them how good you are and that everywhere was hiring you. They would be stupid not to do the same!” The other girls hoot in agreement. I already feel accepted by these girls. I’m relieved I have some friends to hang with now. I never felt like I fit into any clique before. People were either getting close to me to get close to my dad, or they were friends of Steve’s. During the time we were together, he isolated me, so I didn’t have many close friends to hang out with.

A loud commotion brings our attention to the other side of the bar. That’s when my eyes land on a worn, tan hat, blue eyes, and an ego the size of Texas. Oh great. Right when I was having such a good time.

“We know them!” Charley states the obvious.

“Yeah. Let’s ignore them,” I mutter. They all turn to stare at me like I’ve grown a third head.

“Why would we do that?” Lydia asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Well—” Jess begins and looks at me. I give her a small smile. “Hunter and Myles kind of have some problems with each other.” I’m thankful she is here to back me up.

“Why?” Charley asks while folding her arms across her chest. “He’s always been nice to me, in his own kind of way,” she says and looks at the other girls. “Do you guys remember when my ex-boyfriend was threatening to kick me out of my own apartment? Myles was the first one to volunteer to help move my stuff to a safer place. He also talked to my ex and basically threatened him to leave me alone. He even got JT involved. They convinced my landlord to take me off the lease, so I didn’t get fined.”

Charley’s story has my mind muddled. Who she describes sounds nothing like the Myles I know.

“Do you remember the time my horse got injured?” Blake asks. “JT and Myles showed up to see if they could help keep him calm while the vet took care of his injuries. They came back several times to check and make sure he was okay.”

All the girls are smiling while exchanging stories about Myles that paint a different picture than what I’ve seen. It makes me wish I knew this side of him. JT has already shown me how nice he is, but Myles has never been kind to me. Maybe we need to hang out in a non-work setting?

“We should have them join us, or we could join them,” Blake says.

“Let’s go!” Lydia adds.

All the girls walk over, and I reluctantly follow. The guys cheer when they catch sight of us.

“Well, hello ladies! So happy you could join us.” JT’s deep, velvety voice is warm and inviting. “Can we get you anything to drink?” He comes around and gives each of us a brief hug.

We all order drinks, but I’ve decided I’ll drink one and go home. This isn’t my idea of a good time. Mr. Grouch is still sending daggers my way. I’m growing tired of his moods. After hearing what the block clerks think of him, it makes me jealous that I don’t have those types of encounters with him. Why can’t he move past everything and be friendly to me, too?

“Hunter!” Jess wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Let’s play a round of pool.” She grabs a pool stick and tosses it across to me.

Catching it one-handed, I shake my head and hand it back. “No thanks. I'm going to take off soon.” I’m trying to get out of here with the least amount of drama and glaring as possible.

Myles walks toward the pool table from the corner he was sulking in. Standing in front of me, he leans back, putting his weight on the pool table behind him, and crosses his arms across his chest. He’s wearing worn jeans and a black T-shirt. I have to fight the urge to scan him. Did I know that he has tattoos? They are sexy as hell. I can’t lie, if he wasn’t such an ass and was the guy the girls talked about, I would have a very hard time not being into him. Fuck, I’m struggling even when he is an ass to me .

The muscles in his jaw flex. “What? Are you afraid you’ll embarrass yourself, and we’ll find out you actually suck at something?”

What the fuck is his problem? I drill him with a glare. He was giving me the evil eye earlier and then comes to intervene just when I decide to leave.

“No, I don’t want to hang out with you any more than I have to.” I put a hand on my hip. His eyes rake over me, and I wonder if he feels the same. Does he find me just as attractive? The heat is clearly in his eyes, and I guess there’s only one way to find out. “Also, I wouldn’t want to bruise your ego even more by whipping your ass in pool.” It’s hard not to be snarky when his whole demeanor asks for it.

His eyes flash. “Oh, it’s on, Hershey.” The danger in his low growl sends an unexpected thrill through me as he prowls closer with a toothpick balanced in the corner of his mouth.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. My body is screaming at me, as if it knows I’m playing with fire.

JT racks up the balls, beaming. His anticipation is palpable. I’m realizing JT loves to stir the pot. Okay, if these boys want a good time, fuck it, that’s exactly what I’m going to give them. There’s only one way to find out if he feels anything for me.

Squaring my shoulders, I prepare myself for what’s coming. “Fine, but let’s put a little wager on it. Shall we?” Looking directly at Myles, I arch an eyebrow.

His eyes darken. “Okay. Loser has to take three shots of whiskey,” he challenges.

“Fine.” I nod. “But then you won’t be able to drive home. It’ll be an expensive Uber for you.” Giving him a confident wink, I chalk my stick.

His eyes flare as he rolls that damn toothpick across his bottom lip with his tongue. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll break.” I saunter around the pool table, never taking my eyes off his. Our friends stand around the high tops as they eat, drink and talk. But I don’t miss the subtle glances they give each other during our exchange.

Sweeping his arm toward the pool table, he says, “By all means.”

JT jumps up and yells over to the bar, “Hey, can we get another round over here and four shots of whiskey?” The bartender nods his head and gets to work on the drinks.

I aim and hit the cue ball, making all the balls scatter across the table and sinking two solids into different holes. I look up at Myles and smirk. Take that, big boy. “Guess I’m solids.” I enjoy the devilish little smile I feel curling the corners of my lips.

Myles scoffs and fingers the rim of his hat as he adjusts it nervously. “Beginner's luck.”

“I don’t know, man,” JT says, leaning over the table to get a better look. “Might want to change your bet.”

“Yeah. I’m definitely on Hunter’s team.” Jess comes to stand next to JT.

Going around the table, I line up my next shot, which happens to be right in front of him. I make a show of bending over and getting into position. I make sure to give him the perfect view of my ass because I happen to know it looks good in these jeans. Giving my hips a little wiggle, I hit the white ball. I am not above using all my assets to my advantage. If he’s thinking of my ass, he’s not thinking about the game. Before standing up, I peek over my shoulder to find him biting the knuckle of his fist as an inferno burns behind his eyes.

I sink two more balls before missing the next one. “Your turn,” I say in my most alluring voice. “Unless you want to give up now.” I brush imaginary lint from my shoulders as I peer at him from under my lashes.

Clearing his throat, Myles squares his shoulders and stares me down. “In your dreams. ”

He goes around the table, looking for his best angle. Turning his hat around backward, he sinks four stripes before he misses. He walks around, leans close to my ear, and whispers, “Don’t choke.”

I hold back the shiver from his breath against my skin. Slowly looking up, I meet his eyes, then glance at his full lips. “I never do, baby .”

His eyes spark with hunger as his grip tightens on his pool stick. I smirk and bump him with my hip as I walk by. God, he’s fucking hot.

Charley leans over to Jess and JT. “Are they always like this?” she says in a low voice.

They both say in unison, “Yes.” Their shoulders slump, clearly exasperated by the whole thing.

JT looks down at Jess, and she glances over at him, tucking her bottom lip beneath her teeth. When he winks at her, a huge smile begs to take over her face.

Turning my attention back to the table, I look for my next shot. There is no way I can let him beat me. I line up my stick and pocket another ball, immediately meeting Myles’ deep, blue eyes. After sinking my last two balls, I look to see the eight ball is at a hard angle and is going to be difficult to get. I line up, but I already know I’m going to miss it. So I just try to place the cue as close to the eight ball as I can. Maybe Myles will accidentally hit it in.

Myles walks toward me. “Aw, that’s too bad. I guess you do choke .”

Blake starts fanning herself. “Is it getting hot in here?” she says to no one in particular.

I pop my hip to lean on my pool stick. “Let’s see what you got, big boy .”

Was that necessary? No. Do I care? Also, no.

Myles smirks and lands his last two balls. His last ball touches the eight ball. Oh, please let him miss. I can’t let him win. He takes one more long look at me, making me squirm under his gaze, and shoots his shot. The cue ball sinks his last ball, ricocheting back and going into a hole. His shoulders slump, and he lets out a huff.

The girls and I raise our arms in the air and let out a loud scream and laughter follows. The guys laugh and each take turns smacking Myles on the back.

Picking up all three shots, I walk them over to Myles. “Better drink up.”

Myles’ heated gaze rakes over me slowly, and I have to stop myself from fidgeting. Picking up the first shot, he lifts it to me, holding my gaze for longer than he should before shooting it back. He does the same thing with the next one, keeping me in his sight. When he holds the last one in the air and everyone cheers, he slowly licks the rim, winks at me, and throws it back. Sliding his tongue across his lower lip, he removes all evidence of the Whiskey, then moves in closer. Someone accidentally bumps into me, causing me to fall into his arms. His strong hands grip my hips protectively. Unable to stop myself, I allow my hands to slide up to his hard abs, his eyes boring into mine intensely. Neither of us dare move. His fingers squeeze me tighter, sending a jolt of heat through my body.

Pushing up on my tippy toes, I lean forward until my lips graze the shell of his ear. He doesn’t move. Doesn’t breathe. “Enjoy your ride home,” I whisper. Patting his firm chest, I turn to the rest of the group. “Well, I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow!”

I turn to leave when a large arm snakes around my waist, pulling me back with a force that has my back smacking into his concrete chest.

“Where are you going?” The words lazily roll off his tongue, and I get a little too much enjoyment knowing the shots are already taking effect .

“It’s getting late. I’m going home.” I tilt my head to the side, looking up into his handsome face. “We have an early morning.”

He leans into my space, sucking all the air from the room. “Fine.” The pad of his thumb drags across his bottom lip, his gaze more heated than ever, making it impossible to look away. “But this isn’t over.”