Page 100 of Auctioned To Be Mine

“As always, your support means the world to me,” I said with a grin.

“This is what real support looks like,” Drew said with a shrug.

“Go home.”

“Nope. Not yet.” He walked out of the kitchen. I was about to get up and dump the rest of the smoothie when he returned with my bottle of scotch. I watched as he poured it down the sink.

“Why would you do that?” I asked.

“Because you need to drink water. No more of this.”

“You know I have a full bar, right? Shit, I have two if I’m counting the one out back.”

“It’s symbolic.”

I shook my head. I didn’t have the energy to argue.

The doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of our food. I got up to get myself some water and I caught my reflection in the fridge door. Even after the shower, I looked like hell—pale, tired, and older than my years.

Drew returned with a few bags. Grilled chicken salad was never going to be my favorite food, but after liquor and greasy pizza the last few days, it actually looked good.

He had ordered a salad for himself. After the first few bites of chicken, I could feel my body coming alive. I was never going to tell Drew he was right, but damn, he’d been right.

“Better?” he asked after we’d finished.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. Go to bed. Sleep for twelve hours. You need your beauty rest for tomorrow.” He grabbed another bottle of water and paused. “And if you think you’re going for another drink, call me. If I find out you crawled back into the bottle, I’ll drag your ass down to the beach for running on the sand. It won’t be pretty.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just wait. It’ll happen to you.”

“The hell it will. Definitely not after seeing what you’re going through.” Drew laughed. “Love will fuck a guy up.”

After he left, I went to my room and collapsed on my bed. I was exhausted. The run and the lack of sleep had caught up with me.

Hopefully, tomorrow night I would reclaim my life.

36

VICTORIA

Iwoke up with a knot in my stomach that had nothing to do with the three-day wine binge I’d finally broken. Today was the charity runway show. I was excited and terrified. Nervous and anxious. I wanted to do well. I wanted Tiana’s new foundation to raise a ton of money. And I knew I had to keep my shit together because Callum would be there. We had to be professional.

I showered, dressed carefully, and applied more makeup than usual. The dark circles under my eyes needed serious work. I applied an extra coat of the waterproof mascara. Tonight mattered. The charity needed this to succeed.

“You can do this,” I told my reflection. “One foot in front of the other.”

I arrived at the store early, before the scheduled time. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. The auction area looked good. The screens were positioned correctly. The riser for the auctioneer was in place. I moved through the space, checking off items on my checklist again and again. It gave me something focus on instead of the storm of butterflies in my stomach.

There was no sign of Callum. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed. Probably both. The longer I could go without seeing him, the better.

“Victoria!”

I turned to see Tiana making her way toward me. She looked stunning, as always, in a black dress that looked like it had been made for her. It probably had. The woman had a ton of kid, at least five decades under her belt, and she still looked like she could walk a runway and own it.

“You look beautiful,” she said, hugging me. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine,” I lied. “Just making sure everything’s ready.”