Hope’s Highest Bidders

1. Maggie

1

MAGGIE

“ D on’t be mad.”

I clench my eyes and blow out a breath just trying to imagine what it is this time. Any time Elana, my best friend and boss, says those three words, I know I’m probably going to end up mad. The first time she said it to me, I laughed it off. We were in our final year of college, and I had just met her the week prior. She had planned a party in our dorm and invited the whole Alpha Theta fraternity. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t have a big exam the next morning at seven a.m.

I force a smile to my face. “Is this worse than the time I had to stay in the library all night to avoid the Alpha Theta party and almost failed my exam because I was exhausted?”

She shakes her head, but before I let her say anything, I continue, “Okay, is this worse than the time we broke down in Jasper, and instead of calling your brothers to come get us, you thought it was fine to hitchhike back to campus?”

She puts her hand on her hip. “Trust me, riding with a hitchhiker was a better idea than calling either of my brothers. They would have flipped out if they knew I was?—”

I interrupt her with a nod of my head. “Right. At the sex club. So is this worse than the time when you told me that we were going to a book club meeting at the library in the city but instead you took me to the sex club?”

She is completely unfazed as she looks at her freshly painted nails. “You said you wanted to lose your virginity. I was trying to help you out.”

I stalk toward her and whisper loudly, “Really! Why don’t you say that a little louder? I’m sure the men setting up tables over there didn’t hear you.”

Elana laughs and flips her hair, unbothered. “Just say it, Mags! You would live a boring life if it wasn’t for me.”

Begrudgingly, I shrug. There’s some truth in what she’s saying. I have always been the responsible one. I studied, got good grades, and did what I was supposed to do. Since I met Elana, life has definitely gotten more interesting. “Okay, I give up. What are you telling me not to be mad about?”

She crosses her arms over her chest and juts her chin out at me. “Are you going to be mad?”

I mirror her actions and smirk at her. “Probably. What did you do?”

She gives me her best smile. “I got us dates for tonight.”

I throw my hands up. “Nope. No way. I’m working. This is a work event. It’s the biggest fundraiser of the year, and I need to be able to concentrate on what’s happening. I can’t be entertaining some guy I don’t even know. Nope. It’s not happening.”

I turn away from her and go back to arranging the centerpiece on the table. Tonight is Moonshine Mountain Distillery’s annual fundraiser. It happens every year, but this will be the first year I’m attending. I know how important this is to the family, and I’ve done everything I can to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. Plus, with the new social media campaign I started, there are more high rollers planning to attend than ever before, which in turn means more money will be donated to the local hospital. There’s no way I’m going to get caught up in one of Elana’s schemes.

I can feel her staring a hole in my back. “Forget it, Elana. I’m not doing it.”

She comes to stand beside me and grabs my arm. “Will you stop? The centerpiece looked perfect ten minutes ago. Look around this room; everything is perfect. You’re freaking out for nothing.”

I cross my arms on my chest and challenge her. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re part owner. You graduated college and instantly became director of public relations?—”

She scrunches her nose up, and I hold my hand out. “Let me finish. You deserve the position, and everyone knows it. The point I’m making is you’ve trained for this job since you were little. College for you was just something to bide your time until you were able to take over your position. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I, on the other hand, got this job because you are my best friend. I do have something to prove, and bringing a date to a work function is not a smart thing for me to do.”

She rolls her eyes and laughs. “It’ll be fine.”

Exasperated, I pull away from her and move to the next table to get it set up. “Fine? Fine like the time you set me up on a blind date, and it ended up being my psychology professor?”

She giggles. “He was hot.”

“Oh my God, Elana, he thought I set the whole thing up. I swear for the rest of the semester, he thought I was stalking him.”

She points at me. “You got an A, though.”

My voice rises with indignation. “I always got A’s.”

“See? No harm, no foul.”

I shake my head but can’t hold back my laugh. This has to be why Elana and I get along so well. We are complete opposites in every way, but she livens up every situation. “Tonight is important to me, Elana. They are calling this the party of the year. That’s huge, and if everything goes off without a hitch, we can raise a lot of money for the pediatric hospital.”

“I know how important tonight is, Maggie.”

As soon as I hear the dip in Elana’s voice, I want to kick myself. “Elana… I’m sorry. Of course you know how important tonight is. I wasn’t thinking.”

She busies herself working on the centerpiece at the table next to where I’m standing. “It’s fine. Yes, this fundraiser is important. When our parents died, my brothers and I wanted to do something in their memory, and the pediatric hospital that my mom worked at would be what they want. They’ve been gone for a long time, Mags. I’m fine.”

I move over to stand next to her. “I know you’re fine. You’re one of the strongest women I know, Elana. And I really do know how important tonight is to you. Your parents would be so proud of you.”

She takes a deep breath and nods her head. “I know.” She smiles at me. “Did I tell you? My brother is coming tonight too. He promised.”

I squeeze her arm and move to the next table. “The elusive Bentley? I’ll be honest with you, I can’t wait to meet him.” Elana and her two brothers are owners of Moonshine Mountain Distillery. Their dad started the company years ago, and when their parents passed, the three of them inherited it. The oldest, Edward, is acting manager, and I see him every day. Bentley is the one that I’ve never met and everyone is hush hush about. I can’t even get the scoop from Elana about him.

Elana threads her arm through mine. “You’ll get to meet him. He won’t stay long. Crowds are not his thing, so he’ll be in and out, but he’ll want to meet you. He’s heard all about your social media plans for the company.”

I try to keep my mouth shut, but I can’t. “It’s just so weird. I see Edward every day, but I don’t even know what Bentley looks like. No one talks about him, and he’s never at the board meetings or anything. I mean, it’s obvious you love him and think highly of him, but he’s like a mystery man. What’s his deal?”

She shrugs, and I see the indecision on her face. She gets like this any time we’re talking about her brother. “Bentley is… look, he’s a great guy.”

I burst out with a laugh. “Really? You don’t sound very convincing.”

She swats me on the shoulder. “He is. He would do anything for me, and I know if I ever needed him, he would be there for me. He’s just been through some stuff…”

It’s obvious she’s uncomfortable with this, and that’s not what I want. I know Elana, and I know that even though she acts like it’s not a big deal, tonight is important, and it’s going to be hard for her. I don’t need to interrogate her about her brother anymore, especially since I’m going to get to meet him in a few hours. “Okay, so back to work. What’s left to do?”

She pulls out her phone and starts swiping. “Tables, check. Centerpieces, check. The audio and visual team has set up, and everything is ready. The itinerary of speeches for tonight are scheduled, and everyone’s received copies so they know where to be and when. There’s only one thing left that needs done.”

I breathe out a sigh of relief. One thing. I can handle one more thing. I feel like I’ve been working double-time for so long it’s nice to know that after tonight I'm going to have a little bit of a breather. “Okay. What’s left?”

“Get ourselves ready for the party.”

She starts pulling me toward the door, and I go willingly. “About the date—” I start.

She huffs as she pushes the button on the elevator that will take us upstairs to the corporate offices. “It’s not a big deal. Tom and Cole know we have to work tonight too. They’ll enjoy dinner, and I told them to bring their checkbooks. If nothing else, you can have a drink with Cole to see if you do want to go on a date with him.”

I want to argue with her, but I don’t. It would be pointless anyway. Elana always gets her way, and knowing what tonight is and how much it means to her, I’m not going to fight her on it. “A drink. I can fit him in for a drink, but seriously, I want to make sure that tonight goes off without a hitch, so that’s it.”

She jumps up and down excitedly, and I grab her to stop her. “One drink, Elana. This is not a date.”

With a big smile and eyes lit up in mischief, she nods. “A drink… I got it. We are going to have so much fun tonight, Mags. I just feel like something big is going to happen.”

I shake my head as we get onto the elevator because I know Elana, and most likely she’s right. If it’s up to her, something big will happen tonight. I just don’t know if I’m ready for it.