Chapter 34

Phoenix

Victor and I stand at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for McKenzie and Olivia. I inhale slowly, trying to calm my nerves. I never thought I'd have to do this, but here I am. I've been trying to get in touch with my father for days now without any word. I shake my head and roll my shoulders. If Kenz ever decides to have kids with me, I will not be like either of my parents.

I adjust the cuff link on my sleeve and take one more last deep breath. "Tonight will go well," Victor says. I turn my attention to him and nod. "It's perfectly normal to be nervous, though."

I snort. "My whole world has changed in the past several months. This is surreal." He knows I just found out about my mother.

"The man I used to think was a friend turned out to be a complete psychopath, so I do understand some of what you're going through." He pats me on the shoulder. "Our friends will be there tonight. One of them has his own private detective firm and his wife works with him. He's all about doing things the legal way, but he's had his morals tested lately, so I'm sure he'll look the other way where all this is concerned."

I huff. "Obviously I'm not the straight laced guy, so maybe don't tell him what I do."

Victor chuckles. "I'm not so straight laced either." He glances up the stairs, likely thinking of Olivia. He is older than her, but other than that, I don't know much about their relationship. Heels land on the steps above us, which draw our attention to the two women walking down the stairs.

Olivia is in front, wearing a black lace dress. "Jesus," Victor says and I smirk, understanding how he feels. It's one of the reasons I love these auctions. It's me and Kenz's time to dress up and wear something we wouldn't normally wear. Well, her mainly. I always wear suits, but it gives me a chance to match her and wear something a bit more formal. Tonight I'm wearing a red tux with a black vest and tie. The only thing Kenz would tell me was her dress was red and black. She gave me a fabric sample of the color red so I could give it to my tailor to match.

When McKenzie comes into view, I forget how to breathe for several moments. She looks gorgeous wearing a black and red strapless dress. The lacy top giving the illusion it might be see through; it hugs her hips and flares out with black and red roses. The only jewelry she's wearing is the sterling silver collar I gave her and some diamond hoop earrings.

Her hair hangs in soft curls around her shoulders, but she's done a braid around the crown of her head. She looks like the fucking queen she is. She stops in front of me, a small smirk on her mouth. "I love the way you look at me," she whispers. I don't say anything, instead I wrap my hand around her waist and pull her into me, kissing her hard.

She giggles against my lips and everything in me wants to take her back upstairs and fuck her while she's still wearing this dress. "You look like a queen. My queen," I murmur against her lips. Her eyes brighten as her smile widens.

"And you're my king." Her eyes cloud over with worry, so I pull her close and hold her for a few minutes before we have to leave. Rex will drive us to the house, while Jason takes Anna to one of Olivia's and Victor's other friends that we met yesterday: Caroline and Bass.

They have two young kids and don't want to come tonight just in case things don't go exactly as planned. Anna swears she'll be okay by herself, but I know Rex won't be able to focus tonight if she isn't protected.

After Jason drops her off and assures she'll be safe, he'll join us at the house. Usually those who are security and working the auction wear blue masks to separate them from the rest of the guests, but tonight they'll be there with some of the undercover women that were hired posing as their dates to blend in. When the other girls that work the fight club heard what happened to Shay, they were all willing to help bring my bitch of a mother down.

Maybe she didn't have anything to do with Shay directly, but she empowered Bill so she's responsible in my eyes. Felix wanted to be involved as well, but he didn't want to leave Shay alone. So, he stayed back in Savannah to stay with her. Victor opens the door and gestures for us to leave.

I put my hand on Kenz's lower back and guide her outside to the Hummer Limo that's waiting. I was worried renting this would result in Rex not being able to drive us, but Victor and his partner have a lot of pull in this town, so it wasn't an issue. I am surprised to see the three couples waiting around the limo.

"Friends of yours?" I ask Victor. He told me they had friends coming. I didn't realize they were riding with us. Victor nods and proceeds to introduce us to everyone. They all act like they're family, not just friends. I watch McKenzie as she interacts with them, wondering if she's envious of their obvious closeness.

When we all climb in the car, I pull McKenzie as close to me as possible. "You okay, love?" I ask her.

She smiles and nods. "I really like them," she whispers. She doesn't seem to be envious, just happy. I don't know if I can ever offer her a group of friends like this. She rubs her hand up and down my arm. "Are you okay? You look so serious." I catch one of the guys eyeing me up. I think his name is Julian.

His wife, Bailey, is laughing with the girl with light pink hair, but she notices how he's staring at us and rolls her eyes. She slaps his arm and leans toward us. "Don't mind my husband. This is just his face. He can't help it." He scowls at her, but one side of his mouth tips up. She leans forward slightly and his eyes drop to her cleavage. She winks at us. "I know how to distract him."

McKenzie laughs, and I chuckle slightly. "You have yourself a handful," I tell him.

He sighs good naturedly. "You have no idea." He wraps his arm around her shoulders and drops a kiss on top of her head.

"You couldn't live without me." She flutters her eyelashes at him and he finally breaks into a grin.

"This is true," he says as she leans up and kisses him.

The girl with the pink hair smirks and leans forward. "I'm Bec and this is my husband, Connor. Julian is Connor's brother, but they're as different as night and day."

McKenzie leans forward. "So, you're the one that throws the great BDSM parties." Everyone stops their side conversations and is silent for a few moments before they burst into laughter. They all then proceed to tell us about the BDSM parties. It's a great way to loosen up the atmosphere before the night begins.

Olivia and Victor don their masks and take their place at the front of the house after they've taken us on a tour and shown us everything. McKenzie and I head to the limo so we can all take a ride around town before coming back to keep up appearances. As everyone puts on their masks, I hand McKenzie her mask; it's red and black with a swan on one side. She gazes at it, her fingers stroking over the swan.

"It's beautiful." I help her put it on and she turns back to face me with a smile on her face. "You know how in the movie Twilight they have all the graduation caps framed on the wall?" She asks. I shrug, not really remembering if I've ever seen that movie. "Anyway, we'll watch it after all this. But we should do that with our masks. Find a way to display them all."

She motions for me to turn and helps me put my mask on. Mine is a Day of the Dead mask that covers my whole face. It's gold, black, and red. There are some changes in this auction. We're not going with the typical theme of having to wear a certain color mask so people know if you're buying, selling, being bought, or up for sharing.

If the couple is up for sharing or an individual wants to join a couple, they'll wear a gold cuff on their wrist so people will know. I like this new system because it gives more options for masks. With the old system, I never would have allowed myself or McKenzie to wear a black and red mask since that meant sharing was an option. I will never share McKenzie.

I settle back in the seat, mentally putting my game face on. Just as Rex pulls back up in front of the house, my phone goes off. I scowl at the sight of my father's name on the screen.

"Father," I answer, coldness in my voice.

"Whatever you're planning, stop it right now." No hello or how are you. I share a look with McKenzie. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, worry evident in her eyes. I bring my forefinger and thumb up to her chin and pull on her lip slightly so she'll release it. I rub my thumb just under her lip so I don't mess up her lipstick, communicating with her that everything will be okay.

"Too late, father." I hang up as he yells my name.

"Nix?" I kiss her jaw.

"Everything will be fine," I promise her, then hand her my mask so she can put it on for me. Everyone climbs out of the limo, McKenzie and I are last. I get out first and extend my hand to her to help her. Wrapping my arm around her waist, we get in line to greet Victor and Olivia.

Let the night begin.