The Highest Bidder

❊ Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Tᴡᴇɴᴛʏ﹣Oɴᴇ ❊

A month passed without incident, although I hadn't left the house since the wedding. If I left, even to go on the front porch, I was to bring Thomas with me. It was a hassle, always having everyone know where I was at all times, but with the amount of cleaning and serving that I did on a daily basis, I eventually got my mind off of it long enough to concentrate on the task at hand.

But that day, Enzo was having Thomas take me out to the mall to get more clothes that weren't just sweatpants and tank tops. I had no problem wearing those when I wasn't in my maid's uniform, but apparently it wasn't "proper", and his family was going to be joining us for dinner - which meant that I had to play the part of a good girlfriend.

Thomas slid into the driver's seat in a black Audi A4. I got into the passenger's seat and sat stiffly on the black leather cushions. After a month of being cooped up and constantly watched by literally everyone in the estate, it was weird being out with only one person with me. Enzo believed that the threat was anything but over and that was the main reason Thomas was coming with me. The time that I had spent in the mansion, he and I had become close and I looked up to him like I would my father.

My ass warmed and I turned confused eyes down at my seat.

"Seat warmers." Thomas chuckled.

I figured as much, but I had never been in a car with seat warmers. So the entire drive to the mall, my butt was happy and warm.

I stepped out of the car, which was parked in the middle of nowhere, and waited for Thomas to get to my side before I began walking to the main doors.

"I'm not that great with clothes shopping," Thomas stated sheepishly, looking around at the first few stores that we walked by, his eyes scanning the mannequins. His eyebrows creased and he pulled out his phone, typed something, and then slid it back in his pocket.

I shrugged. "It's no big deal. What does he want me to get?"

He pursed his lips, pulled his phone out again, typed again, and put it back in his pocket again. When I shot him a questioning look, he pretended not to notice and pointed me towards the food court. He said something about loving the pretzels, and how they were the best damn pretzels in the world, before forcing me to take half of his.

I chewed silently, reveling in the taste but not allowing him to see how fantastic the damn pretzel really was. He was looking for a reaction, and a reaction he would not get.

Then he pulled out his phone again and cocked his head to the side, his chewing ceasing for only a split second before he glanced up and looked over at a map. Motioning for me to follow him, he began walking that way. Once we got there, he looked back down to his phone and back up, shaking his head.

"What are you looking for," I asked, keeping my eyes on the map and not on his phone, no matter how curious I was.

"Victoria's Secret," he asked, searching the map. "Enzo says to get you some nice lingerie from there."

I almost choked on my pretzel. "What?"

He grinned. "I'm kidding. He said just get you clothes and some shoes to match. I have no damn clue where to go."

It had been a while since I went shopping, but I probably knew the mall better than he did, even though I'd never stepped foot into that mall until then.

In the end, I ended up pulling him around with me to different clothing stores and forcing him to judge how I looked in everything that I chose. The thing about Thomas was, he was brutally honest. When I tried on an olive-colored shirt, his face told me I didn't look good, but he felt the need to tell me "Olive isn't your color. Never wear olive again. Ever."

And, holy hell, I will never wear olive again.

By the time we were done, two hours had passed and I had two different kinds of shoes - white sandals and black strappy heels. I ended up choosing a couple sun dresses, a pair of black dress pants, and a few blouses. I didn't want to go too crazy, but Thomas insisted that I got the dresses and more than one blouse. I had to make an impression, I knew. But I wouldn't be changing my outfit multiple times in one night.

I stopped walking and turned around, feeling eyes on me. But everyone visible was looking at what they were doing or where they were going. I didn't catch anyone's eye, no matter how much I turned.

"What's wrong?" Thomas put a hand on my shoulder protectively.

I looked back at him. "I thought I felt someone looking at me."

His guards immediately went up and his eyes narrowed as he searched around us. I knew what he'd find. He would find people going about their shopping, laughing and deep in conversation with one another. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

The grip on my shoulder tightened and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He pressed one button and put it to his ear, ushering me to the exit as quickly as we could go without drawing attention.

"Thomas," I asked nervously.

"Enzo." He spoke into the phone, his voice angry. "Yes. I think so."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention as a cold shiver ran down my spine. I didn't need to know what they were talking about to know.

"I think he has someone watching her."

I cursed and took longer strides, internally screaming at myself to walk quicker. The exit was in sight and the bags in my hands just seemed to get heavier as the dread settled. It had been a month, why the hell was he still looking out for me? And he had someone watching me? What did that even mean?

We reached the exit and pushed through to the warm spring air.

Thomas turned his head to face me, as if he was going to speak to me, but his eyes flicked to the side to look behind us. He was in full work mode. He had none of the spunk and humor that he did earlier when he was forcing a pretzel down my throat. The look he gave me was one of forced reassurance as he smiled.

"We are, in fact, being followed," he growled through a forced smile.

Halfway to the car, I turned my head too and saw the man exiting the mall with his head down. He had his hands in his jean pockets and wore a black shirt. When he raised his head, our eyes met and I froze in place.

My sudden stop brought Thomas to a halt. He spoke something quick and low into the phone before shoving it back into his pocket. His eyes were locked on the man at the exit while my eyes wandered to the man leaning against the Audi.

A wolfish grin spread across his face, making his liquid green eyes glint with something I could only consider as malicious.

"Maverick," I whispered.

Thomas pulled me closer to him. "Enzo is coming."

"You think they won't do anything in that time," I hissed as quietly as I could.

There was no way that we could fend off the two men for as long as it took to drive there. Thomas looked strong, but I had no combat training. Maverick was much younger than him, and so was the guy standing by the doors. The man standing by the mall looked like he could drop-kick Thomas without breaking a sweat.

And what the hell did he expect Enzo to do? Come on in and tell them taking me was a big no-no and slap their wrists? Yeah, right.

Maverick didn't move from his spot. "Come here, Eva."

I shook my head, moving closer to Thomas. He wrapped an arm around me and kept moving his head back and forth between the two men. I had never felt so helpless in my life.