5. Ethan
5
ETHAN
I climb the tree fast and efficiently. With this job, there’s always been safety in numbers, but I prefer to work alone. I start to saw the top half of the tree, and when it’s about to fall, I holler out, “Timber!” It’s not really needed because there’s no one around to cause a safety risk or anything, but I do it because I know it’s the right thing to do. The tree I’m holding on to shakes as the top half of it falls to the ground.
I scale back down the tree and start hacking away at the bottom to get the rest of the tree. Lumberjacking was never something I thought I’d be interested in doing. My plan was to work for my father, be married, and have one kid with another on the way right now, but shit doesn’t always work out the way we want it to.
After I got out of the hospital, I moved up on this mountain. It was months later that I started cutting down trees, and I only did it because I was literally going crazy on this mountain alone.
There’s a buzzing noise that has me raising my head and looking toward the sky. I see the Cannon Industries helicopter fly overhead, and I know it’s either my father or my brother coming to see me. Most of our correspondence is done by email or phone, so I’m a little surprised to see them coming up here. I take one last hack at the tree and watch as it falls in front of me before I throw the ax over my shoulder and make the trek back to my cabin in the woods. I’ll probably make it there before my family does because it’s almost a mile from the helipad to the cabin.
The whole way home, I have an uneasy feeling, and I’m hoping that something hasn’t happened with my father. Just the thought has me picking up the pace.
When I get to the clearing, I see Bobby walking toward the front of my house, and I call out to him, “Hey! Is everything okay? Dad all right?”
Bobby nods his head and waits for me to catch up to him. We never were a touchy-feely type of family, but since everything that happened to me, my father and brother make a point to hug me every time they see me.
When he wraps his arms around me, I pull back and look at him in his suit and tie, now covered in dirt and debris. “What’s up? You usually don’t come out here in your suit and tie.”
“I flew all the way out here to make you check your email.”
I laugh. “Really? Something important from the board members that needs my vote or something?”
He shakes his head. “No. It’s not work-related.”
I give him a surprised look before opening the front door. I go over to the kitchen sink and wash my hands. “Not work-related? That doesn’t sound like you. Everything you do is work-related.”
I dry off my hands and turn to look at my brother. He’s giving me THAT look. The one that tells me he’s nervous and he’s done something he shouldn’t have. Even though he’s my older brother, I spent half my childhood getting him out of trouble. I lean back against the counter, crossing my ankles and then my arms over my chest. I can’t help but smirk. “What did you do?”
He takes a deep breath and looks at me worriedly. “You can’t be mad.”
That has me uncrossing my feet and standing up to my full height. “That doesn’t sound good. What did you do?”
He flinches and shakes his head side to side before blowing out a breath. “You’re not going to like it.”
I laugh. My brother does some stupid shit sometimes, but it always seems to work out. “Try me.”
He nods, bracing his hands on the chair at the kitchen table in front of him. “It’s Nicole.”
My stomach drops, and I take steps toward him. “What about her? Is she okay?”
His eyes won’t meet mine. “Yes, she’s fine. Look, you’re not going to like this... Just read your email.”
“What the fuck is going on, Bobby?” I ask him as I pull my phone out of my pocket and start to scan my emails. I’m looking for anything that would indicate it came from my brother or Nicole, but I don’t see anything. “What is it? There’s nothing.”
He closes his eyes and opens them. “It’s the one from BBAH.”
I scan it again while asking him. “What the hell is BBAH?”
As soon as I get the words out, I find the email. Breeding Bidders Auction House. What the actual fuck? I read the first paragraph of the email and find out I’ve been invited to a super-secret auction house to bid on women. I scan the rest of the email, and it talks about virginity, million-dollar bids, and marriage. I grip my phone in my hand and look at my brother. There’s a sinking feeling in my gut. “What does this have to do with Nikki?”
My brother takes a deep breath, and I watch him closely. Finally, his eyes lift to mine. “She’s one of the virgins.”
I shake my phone at him. “She’s auctioning off her virginity?”
My brother crosses his arms over his chest. “Yes, she is.”
I throw my phone across the room, and it breaks as it smashes against the wall. “What the fuck!” I roar.
My brother doesn’t cower. He stands perfectly still as I start to pace the room. I try to keep it together, but I’m panting as my mind starts to whirl. Nikki, the love of my life, is going to auction herself off. Fuck, I was finally making peace with the fact that she wasn’t mine anymore, and now she does this. “Whose idea was this? Did you put her up to it?”
Bobby puts his hands on his hips and shakes his head. “Really? You think I’d put her in this situation? I’ve kept my eye on her this past year to make sure she’s okay like you’ve asked me to, but who would have thought she’d do something like this? It was all her idea, and no matter what I said, I couldn’t stop her.”
Fuck! I look at my phone across the way and see it smashed on the ground. I’ll have to log into my computer to read it again. I point at my brother. “Call her. Tell her to back out of it.”
He shakes his head. “She can’t.”
I slam my hand on the table next to me. “The hell she can’t. Do it. Whatever it takes, pay the money, she’s not doing this.”
My brother takes a step toward me and pauses. When I don’t move, he takes a few more steps until he’s only a foot from me. His eyes search my face, and I know the exact moment he looks at my marred skin. There are times where I forget that I look the way I do. That is until someone gives me the sad, pitiful look like the one my brother’s giving me now. But before I can go into another rage, Bobby raises his hands up in front of him. “Nicole came to me and told me what she did. I tried to talk her out of it, but she’s bullheaded and stubborn. She says she’s doing it.”
My voice is savage when I demand, “Why? Why is she doing this?”
“Honestly?”
Frustrated, I ram my hand through my hair. “Yes, fuckin’ honestly, don’t lie to me.”
A sudden deep frown creases Bobby’s forehead. “She came to me and asked me to tell you about it and get you an invitation. That’s it. She didn’t tell me to make you go or anything else. I think she’s a little embarrassed by the way she’s tried to throw herself at you this last year. She feels like she’s all but chased you out of town, but she said she has to do this. She wants you to be there.”
I shake my head side to side. “I can’t watch her walk away with another man.”
Bobby takes a seat at the table and kicks his legs out. “I swear being out in these woods has turned you stupid. Ethan, this is her making one last ditch effort. She loves you. The girl has been through hell and back. She’s hoping that you’ll come and not be able to let her go to another man. She’s hoping that you’ll be the one to get the highest bid.”
I stand frozen in one spot. Just the thought of going to an auction has a cold sweat breaking out across my body. “Does she know that I don’t go out in public? That I don’t go and see people? Does she have any idea what she’s asking of me?”
Bobby is worried, and I don’t blame him. He’s always liked Nikki, and I know he hates the way I’ve treated her. Fuck, I hate the way I’ve treated her. All this time, I would have thought she’d have moved on by now. The thought kills me, but all I wanted was for her to be happy. “She’s not moving on, Ethan. She doesn’t want to but...”
His voice trails off, and I ask him, “She doesn’t want to but what?”
He tilts his head and meets my eyes. “But she may not have a choice. If you don’t show up... if you don’t bid on her and win... she’ll have no choice because she’ll be married to someone else.”
He wants to say something else, but he stops. It doesn’t matter, though, because I know what he was going to say. And someone else will be taking her virginity. The thought has me clenching my fists at my sides.
I walk across the room and sit down at my desk. “What are you going to do, Ethan?”
I start typing into the laptop in front of me and hope I’m making the right decision. “I’m rsvp’ing to this auction.”
My brother comes to stand behind me and squeezes my shoulders. “Thatta boy! All right, so I looked into this and there are big spenders that show up to this thing. Do you need any money?”
I look up at my brother, and it’s obvious he wants this to work out. He’s a penny pincher and doesn’t normally throw his money around. “Nope. I have my trust fund, and I haven’t spent any of the money I’ve made from Cannon Industries since I was twenty. I’m good.”
He nods and sits down beside me. “Great. So you think we need to do something about your hair and maybe trim the beard a little bit?”
I put my hand on my hair that I’ve let grow long. I won’t lie, it’s become a comfort for me. But I know the beard looks ridiculous. I don’t take the time to shave up here, and the fact that I’m only able to grow hair on the right side of my face looks weird. “Yeah, I probably should do something with it.”
Bobby slaps me on the back, excited, and it’s obvious he seems to think that I’ve had some kind of breakthrough or something. The truth is, I feel as if I don’t have a choice anymore. I can’t just stand to the side and let this go down. Fuck, I hope I can do this. I think about Nikki and what she’s about to do, and I know I no longer have a choice. I need to go get what’s mine.