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Chapter Twenty-One

Jemma

C rammed with several hundred people, the auditorium comes alive with excitement.

Girls crowd the front rows of the room, holding bidding paddles in their hands.

According to Jordan, this event raises the most money for charity all year at Strickland University.

Everyone is in attendance, even Dean Whittaker and the heads of the departments.

The auction is going according to plan, with all the guys on the ice hockey team settling in with the girls who paid for a date with them. Trent is the last one up for bid. They announce his name before he strolls onto the stage, his head held high and confident.

It kills me to think of him with another girl on his arm.

The auction starts at a measly twenty-five dollars, yet not a single hand rises.

What the hell is going on right now? No one is bidding on Trent, of all people.

I expected hands to fly in the air as they did for Tucker and the rest of his teammates.

This is bizarre.

Trent stands on stage next to the podium, a confused expression crossing his face as he stares at the crowd. He holds the same smile he’s donned since he stepped onto the stage, pretending he’s not bothered. Though, it’s easy to see the confusion on his face.

I don’t blame him.

I’m equally confused about why no one has bid on him yet. I was sure paddles would fly in the air with girls fighting over who would win a date with him. And yet, not a single paddle has lifted. Not one girl in the crowd seems the least bit interested.

I look over at Jordan. She covers her mouth with her hand and whispers into Abby’s ear. They lean against the wall and laugh. Did they have a hand in this? Was this part of some evil plan they concocted to get back at Trent?

Anger seethes through me at the thought of my sister sabotaging this event on purpose. She wouldn’t, would she? This day means too much to our sorority, too important to place a stupid vendetta ahead of our core mission. The twins pissed off Jordan, but they don’t deserve this humiliation.

“We’ll start the bid at twenty-five dollars,” Bella, a senior in my sorority, repeats the exact words she had muttered several times before with no reaction. “Do I have twenty-five dollars?”

Again, girls turn their heads away, uninterested. Their paddles are on their laps, their backs arched against the chairs. Of all the women in this room, no one wants a date with Trent.

I want the date he owes me.

So, I do something I hadn’t planned, hoping I don’t regret my decision to save him. A brunette in the chair closest to me rests her paddle on her knee, so I swipe it in one fell swoop and raise my hand high enough for Bella to acknowledge me.

She points at me. “We have twenty-five. Do I have thirty?”

Trent’s gaze meets mine. A smile reaches his beautiful blue eyes. There’s so much heat and intensity behind his irises. I can’t stop looking at him.

Bella declares me the winner of the auction. I snap out of my trance and give the girl her paddle back. I’m greeted with an angry scowl from the brunette. She can be mad all she wants. I had to do it. Trent needed me to save him from humiliation.

I still can’t believe what I did, but I don’t regret it. Trent disappears behind the curtains draped across the stage, and I set off in his direction, unsure of what to say.

Once backstage, I push past the men on stage and move toward the green room, where I assume I’ll find Trent.

He’s perched against a couch on one side of the room, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead.

I’ve never seen him look so worried before.

He’s always sure of himself, never a doubt in his mind.

Trent mutters something to his friends, chatting with two pretty blondes on the couch.

Drake Donovan and Preston Parker sit between the girls, Preston with his arm around one girl and Drake sitting awkwardly next to the other.

The girls are tall with athletic builds, and by the looks of it, they’re friends or at least know each other.

With shaky hands and sweaty palms, I approach Trent and his friends. A thousand different thoughts race through my head. The room practically swirls around me the closer I get to him.

Luckily, Trent sees me coming and closes the distance between us. The corners of his mouth turn up into a wide grin that makes the crease in his cheek pop.

“Hey,” he says, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Thanks for saving me out there.”

“I didn’t know what else to do,” I admit.

“That was weird, huh?”

I nod. “Yeah. I’d love to know what that was all about. I was expecting every girl in the room to bid on you. I figured by now you’d have your hands full.”

He winks. “I’m happy it turned out this way.” His hand falls to my shoulder, pulling me to his chest. “Because now I get to make up for the date we never had.”

I try to push that day to the back of my mind. There’s no sense in dwelling on the past, though that day still stings a little when I think about it. “I’m looking forward to it. Make it a good one. It might be your only shot.”

I’m joking, but my face doesn’t give away the slightest hint. Well, it’s not a lie entirely. If the date doesn’t go well, there’s no point in seeing him again. And if it does, then we have something to talk about.

Trent smirks. “I plan to make it a date you won’t forget.”