The Date Auction Read Free Page A

possibly deduced that on my own.”
    “Smart ass.”
    “I'd rather be a smart ass than a dumb ass.” Harry kept his eyes on the man on stage, who planted his hands on his hips and shook his pelvis like a stripper. “Look at that! I don't think I could ever work the crowd like that.”
    “I commend him,” Jamie spoke up. “He's giving me some ideas. I'm not above taking off my shirt to raise some money.”
    “If I took off my shirt, I think it would be detrimental to the cause.” Harry's feeble attempt at self-deprecation was met with silence. It was a ridiculous thing to claim. More women fancied Harry Shaw than any other man at the auction.
    The man on stage ended up selling himself for $1,300 dollars to a screaming, middle-aged woman in the front row. When the emcee announced, “Next, we have William Thierry...” William could feel his stomach turning. He had been anticipating the auction more than his friends, but now that he was about to walk out on stage, a wave of terror washed over him. What if he wasn't well-received? What if no one bid for him? What if he raised less money than anyone else?
    “Well, it's now or never,” William sighed. “How do I look?”
    “Beautiful.” Harry's sarcastic reply earned him a chuckle from Jamie. “You always look beautiful, Will. In fact, if I was out there, I'd bid on a date with you.”
    “ Can a man bid on a date with me?!” William's blonde eyebrows were hoisted like sails. He peered out in the audience and tried to spot some men's faces. There were, in fact, a few. “Well... no matter. If I end up going on a date with a man, it wouldn't be the end of the world.”
    “Spoken like a true heterosexual.” Jamie clapped a hand on his brother's arm.
    “ William Thierry !” the impatient emcee called for him again, so William took a deep breath and walked out on stage.
    Don't trip, don't trip, the voice in his head beseeched him—which meant, of course, he ended up stumbling over to the emcee. The subsequent chuckles from the crowd drained the color from William's face.
    “Twenty-six-year-old William Thierry has been in television shows such as Vampire Republic and My Brother's Wife,” the emcee told the crowd. “He recently had a starring role in Brooklyn Rookie, where he played bad boy Ty Brockland.”
    William's mind hovered on the word recently. It wasn't really so recent. Ever since Brooklyn Rookie was canceled, his agent had struggled to find more work for him. He wasn't a terrible actor, but didn't have natural acting talent, not like Harry. And he wasn't as attractive as Jamie. Whatever he hoped to accomplish in life, he knew it would be a struggle.
    “Let's start the bidding at 100...” the emcee said. “One hundred. Do I have one hundred?”
    The crowd was so silent, William swore he could hear crickets. No one was speaking up. His worst fears were coming to fruition. His panicked eyes searched the faces in the crowd, silently begging one of them to want him.
    “One hundred,” the emcee kept at it. “Come on, Ladies. We have Ty Brockland here!”
    The emcee was making him wince. He hadn't been Ty Brockland in almost two years. What if no one even remembered him?
    When a lady in the back of the room raised her hand, some of the tension in William's shoulders was alleviated. Even if his date was only a hundred dollars, it was better than nothing. As pitiful as the price tag was, he was relieved.
    “One twenty-five,” the emcee continued. “Can I get one twenty-five?”
    Someone else raised her hand. Someone else was bidding for him! He couldn't believe there were actually two people in the audience who liked him well enough to pay for a date with him. Or maybe they were just rich women who wanted to give money to a good cause, and their bids had nothing to do with him?
    150: The woman in the back put in another bid for him.
    “One seventy-five,” the announcer kept at it. “Come on, ladies! One seventy-five for this fine young