Highest Bidder

19. Myles

19

MYLES

The top of her hair vanishes as she disappears through security. That had to be the best first kiss of my life, and I didn’t want to stop. It was hard letting her go. The way she grabbed my hair had me going crazy. I’ve never reacted to someone like this before. The hard-on I have right now is making things very uncomfortable. It doesn’t help that I’m in an airport with people all around. I adjust myself in the least obvious way to get a little relief before turning around to leave.

It has never been this easy with a girl. There weren’t any awkward moments on our drive. Everything just flowed. I want to know everything about her, what makes her happy, sad, or angry. She’s such a hard worker. I never knew how hard it is for females in the auction world. I mean, I knew a little bit, but now I know that it really sucks for them. She never gave up and that shows the kind of person she is. She’s amazing, and I am blown away that she’s even giving me the time of day.

After I get back to my truck, I glance at my phone to see I still have about four hours until the auction sale starts. I’m right around the corner from it, so I drive to the parking lot and decide to sleep while I still have a little time left, but I shoot Hunter a text before closing my eyes.

Myles:

Hey, Hershey. Let me know when you land safely. Enjoy some time with your dad.

Hunter:

Thank you! I will be back before you know it.

I hope she will be. I put my phone down and lean my seat back. Putting my hat over my eyes, I drift off thinking about a little brunette green-eyed beauty the whole time.

I startle awake to a knock on my window. I rub the sleep from my eyes because I was dreaming a little too well. After getting excited at the airport, then dreaming of her, I’m a little uncomfortable right now especially having someone at my window. It has been a long time since I’ve even been with a woman, so my current predicament isn’t all that shocking. I turn to see JT smiling at me, arching an eyebrow. I roll down my window.

“What?” I bite out.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like, asshole? Sleeping.” I grab my bag of clothes on the passenger seat and then open the door..

“I see that, but why are you sleeping here? Don’t you usually sleep... I dunno, in your bed?”

It’s too early for his sarcasm. “Fuck off.” I roll up my window and shut the door. “I dropped Hunter off at the airport before the ass crack of dawn, so I was getting some sleep,” I say as thoughts of Hunter invade my mind again. I check my phone, but there’s nothing.

“I assume it’s going well with you two? I mean, she had you drive her to the airport.” He looks at me a little cautiously.

He knows I never wake up well, and he’s used to me biting his head off when he has the nerve to wake me .

“Yeah. Things are good.” Not too happy she’s gone for a while, but there isn’t much I can do. I give him a knowing look with a wink.

“Ahh. You bastard!” He guffaws and shoves me, and I laugh with him.

Thinking about kissing her makes me feel ten times better. After being miserable for so long, I like being this happy. I can’t remember the last time I was.

We walk into the auction, and Marcella says I’m going to run Hunter’s lane while she’s away. It’s bittersweet because I wish Hunter were here, but this is an opportunity to run my very own lane. I’m not just giving auctioneers breaks, it’s my lane. It feels surreal. But I have to admit, I’d still rather be a ringman if it meant Hunter were here.

“Hey. Congrats. You’re finally getting what you’ve always wanted,” JT says while we walk to our lane.

Since JT was scheduled to be her ringman, now he’s mine. At least I know the day will go by quickly with him by my side.

“Yeah. It’s great.” I know I sound a little less than pleased.

“Okay. You don’t sound like all your dreams are coming true.” He smacks me on the shoulder. “Yeah, it’s not a permanent thing, but at least you get to run the show for a little while. Right?”

He knows better than anyone how much I’ve wanted this. He’s watched how hard growing up was for me because I always felt like I needed to help my mom. It made me grow up faster than the rest of our class in high school. I wasn’t worried about the petty drama. I was making sure my mom didn’t have to work harder than she already was. No one in our class ever understood why I was always busy. They didn’t know how much I worked outside of school. They thought I had a part-time job like the rest of them, but little did they know I was picking up every side hustle to help my mom. I don’t think she even knows how much I worked back then.

“Yeah. You’re right. I just”— I trail off and shake my head. “ Eh, nevermind. Let’s do this.” I put my fist out, and he bumps it. He’s right. She will be back. I need to enjoy this time. Although I wish she were here to see it and for us both to have our own lanes at the same time. That would make this moment even sweeter, but I’m going to show these guys what I’ve got since I finally have my chance.

The sale is running smoothly, and we’re selling a shit ton of cars but a nagging distraction gnaws at my chest. Hunter’s flight should have landed by now, but I’ve heard nothing from her. It’s making me lose my focus, and JT keeps his eyes on me to make sure I stay on track. I need to do well, so I need to push all the outside thoughts out of my head. I pocket my phone and get back to business. The rest of the sale blows by, and many of the selling dealers give me tips and praise for my performance which did my ego some good.

“Hey. You did good, man.” JT slaps me on the back.

He’s always the first one to cheer me on. No matter what it is, I can always count on JT to have my back, but he’s also the first one to give me a hard time when I fuck something up too.

“Yeah. It felt good.”

“You got a little distracted for a bit, but you came back,” he says, laughing.

“Yeah, yeah. Alright, let’s go get some food before the next sale.” I slap him on the back in return. Looking at my phone and still not seeing anything from Hunter, I tell myself that she probably just forgot. I know she has a lot on her plate with her dad. My gut nags at me, wanting to make sure she’s safe.

The day flew by on the lane, but it has slowed to a snail's pace as I wait to hear from Hunter. The bright side was the Lakeland sale also let me take Hunter’s place on her lane. It seems like they don’t want to permanently fill her spot, just a temporary fill in. I’m not complaining. Both sales went great, and the GMs let me know they were happy with how I did. I'm hoping they will keep me in the back of their minds if another position opens. There’s no telling what they’ll do though.

I’m exhausted after being up a good chunk of the night, so I head home instead of out with the guys to shoot some pool. Once I’m home, I put on joggers and a sweatshirt and throw a frozen pizza in the oven. I’m too exhausted to make a full dinner. I check my phone again, but there’s still nothing from Hunter. I’m just going to text her. It’s been a long day, probably for both of us.

Myles:

I’m thinking about you. Hope everything’s okay.

I get my pizza out and continue watching the first season of Game of Thrones .

I must have fallen asleep because I wake up to my phone’s ringtone blasting. Rubbing my eyes, I look at the screen to find Hunter’s name.

“Hello?” My voice is laced with sleep.

“Myles? Were you sleeping? I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to wake you. I didn’t text you back because my mom took my purse and bags to the house without me realizing. Then, when I finally got home, I texted you. When I didn’t hear back, I thought I’d call before I went to bed. I’m sorry. Please go back to sleep,” she blurts out.

I have a hard time following along, still a bit groggy. “Hershey, slow down. It’s fine. I fell asleep on the couch. But I’m up now, so talk to me,” I urge her. I don’t want her to go now that I’m finally hearing from her.

“Okay. How was work?”

“Work was fine, but I want to hear about you. Are you okay? What’s going on with your dad?” I don’t want to talk about me. I need to hear all about what is causing her to ramble a hundred words a minute.

“Oh, um. He’s okay, I guess. They said it was a minor heart attack, but he’s still in the hospital. It was hard to see him like that. It made me realize how much I’ve missed him. He was in and out of sleep, and I couldn’t bring myself to leave until visiting hours were over.”

She sounds exhausted. I want to be with her so she can curl up in my arms, and I can comfort her.

“How’s it going with your mom?” I know they don’t get along. I have to know if she’s okay.

She lets out a breath. “Normal,” she grumbles.

“I’m here, Hunter. I’ll listen if you want to talk. I was worried about you today, so it’s good to hear your voice.”

“It’s good to hear your voice, too. It was a tough day. My mom isn’t the easiest to be around, and my dad’s too weak to be the usual buffer between us. But the doctors seem to think he could go home in about 48 hours. I’m hoping for that.”

I can’t help but smile. I love listening to her and hearing about her life and family. I can tell how much she cares for her dad. Stretching back out on the couch, I get comfortable.

“Tell me something real.” I change the subject to distract her from her current situation. “Something few people know about you.” She laughs, and it’s music to my ears.

“Hm. That’s a hard one for sure because I’m an open book.” She pauses.

I’m excited to hear whatever it is she’s about to tell me, but I’m stalling because I don’t want to get off the phone with her.

“Okay, when I was little, my parents would have me pull weeds outside. I always hated it, but I had to fill a grocery bag.”

“How is that something not many people know? Don't all kids do that when they’re younger, either as a punishment or chores around the house?” I was always doing yard work around the house to help my mom, which meant I was always dirty. I used to get made fun of when I was little for wearing shirts with stains to school because my mom was too busy working. She didn't have much time to make sure the clothes I wore were clean.

“Well, the thing is, I would always take a lot longer to do it because I had a crazy imagination. So I would pretend the weeds were people and instead of dolls talking to each other, I had the weeds talk to each other, like little weed people.” She laughs while explaining her story.

“Wow. . . so you were kind of a weirdo?” I laugh through my question.

“Ha. Ha. Yes, I was. I’m not ashamed of it. I loved creating my own little world. It made a very annoying chore more fun. But it made it take way longer than it should have,” she pauses and a few beats pass before she says, “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Your turn. I told you something real. You had to know it was coming back to you. You have to tell me something now.”

I rub my hand over my face. I didn’t think this through. I wasn’t expecting her to ask me the same thing.

“Okay. Well, something real would be,” I pause, because I don’t want to scare her, but this is the most genuine I can be. “I really like a wild-haired brunette that I can’t stop thinking about.”

She’s so quiet that I can’t hear a peep from her end.

I tap my fist against my forehead and squeeze my eyes shut. “Hunter?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“ This scares me.” Her voice is quiet. “The whole thing, I want to believe it’s all real. I’m just scared,” she admits. “I don’t want to get hurt.”

“I know you are. I am too. Let’s be scared together,” I say. “I wish I could hold you in my arms.” As long as she doesn’t shut me out, we can make this work .

“Me too, Myles.”

“Why don’t you get some sleep, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Alright?” I don’t want to get off the phone, but I know we both are sleep-deprived. Hunter has the added emotional exhaustion that comes with travel, an entire day at the hospital, and strained conversation with her mom.

“Okay. I’ll call you when I can tomorrow. Goodnight, Myles.”

“Goodnight, Hershey.”

She ends the call. Man, I have never felt like this before, but I wasn’t completely honest with her. This doesn’t scare me. If anything, it makes me crave her more.