Max nodded again but added, “You need me to make a phone call or a visit to someone’s apartment with a warning?”
Cam’s eyebrows lifted. Having Max show up to tell some creepy ex-boyfriend to back-off might be something they should talk about having him do regardless of the auction.
“Nah, the photo will be enough,” the cute brunette told him.
“Let’s do that anyway, then,” Max told her.
Cam liked Max. They thought alike.
“Great,” the girl gave him a big smile. “And maybe a ride on your motorcycle?”
Max laughed. “Sure.”
“I’m totally in this for a ride on your… motorcycle,” the other guy said, moving in next to the girls right in front of the stage.
Max lifted a brow. “That right? You from out of town?”
“Yep.”
Max glanced at Elliot. “Huh.”
Elliot held up a wad of cash. “One thousand dollars.”
There was a beat of silence, then the three other bidders turned toward Elliot.
“Seriously?” one of the girls demanded.
“Dammit,” the other said. But she was going to get the selfie and maybe a ride anyway.
“One thousand and one dol—” the guy started.
But Elliot pulled more money out of his pocket. “Fifteen hundred.”
Max’s laugh boomed over the mic. “He came all the way from Chicago for this… motorcycle ride,” he said to the guy.
The guy frowned at Elliot and then turned to Max. “Well, how about my two hundred bucks for your number. For after “Chicago” here goes home.”
Elliot had pushed his way to the front of the stage now too. “Two thousand for the dessert date and for you to not give him your number.”
Max looked over at Cam, clearly feeling cocky now. “Hot Cakes is matching this bid, right?”
“If it’s the highest,” Cam told him mildly.
Max laughed. “You think you’ll go for more?”
Cam lifted a shoulder. “I think we should find out.”
Dax pointed at the guy next to Elliot. “You going higher than two thousand?”
The guy sighed. “No.”
Dax looked at the girls. “How about you?”
The brunette shook her head. “We even talked about putting our money together and… nope.”
“Selfie right after this though,” Max told her.
“Okay.” She gave him a grateful smile.
“Okay then, the caramel crunch bars and an hour with Max go to Elliot Even!” Dax pointed toward Piper. “You can settle up with Piper.”
The crowd applauded, Elliot grinned widely, and turned toward Piper.
“Now it’s Oliver’s turn,” Dax said. “Lemon bars and an hour with the brilliant creator of Warriors of Easton and one of the new owners of our beloved Hot Cakes!”
The group of women down front moved closer to the stage. Seemed it didn’t matter that his lemon bars probably tasted like shit. Cam grinned and turned, settling his hip against his kitchen station, to watch.
“Who will start the bidding at fifty dollars?” Dax asked.
Ten hands, nine females and the one guy who had lost Max to Elliot, went up.
Dax looked surprised. And amused. “You’re in again?” he asked the guy.
The guy shrugged. “Love Warriors of Easton.”
“Free game tokens for a year if you take these lemon bars and let me go home,” Ollie told him.
The guy opened his mouth, but Dax cut him off. “Not how this works, Oliver.”
Ollie rolled his eyes.
Cam laughed.
“How about free game tokens for a year, a selfie for my social media, and you give me Max’s phone number?” the guy asked.
Everyone laughed. Ollie looked at Max. “Well…”
“You have to bid,” Dax said. “How much you want to put up?”
“Two hundred,” the guy answered.
Several of the girls in front of him turned on him with scowls.
“Ladies?” Dax asked. “Anyone going higher than two hundred?”
Cam scanned the crowd but didn’t see Paige anywhere. He frowned and glanced over toward Whitney again. She should be over here making sure this went according to plan, shouldn’t she?
Of course, Piper was here. And she didn’t seem concerned that Paige wasn’t one of the bidders. Maybe something had come up and they’d planted someone else. But whoever it was wasn’t bidding against this guy.
“Two hundred and fifty,” one of the women finally said.
Dax nodded. “Anyone got two hundred and sixty?”
“Two hundred and sixty!” one called.
“Two hundred and sixty-five,” the guy said.
“Two hundred and sixty-six,” the first woman called.
“Four thousand dollars!”
Everyone turned toward the voice a couple of rows behind the bidders. Cam’s eyes widened. He knew that voice. That was his little brother.
Henry and his friends pushed to the front of the crowd.
“Four thousand?” Dax asked him.
“No, not four thousand.” This came from Piper who moved in behind the boys. She leaned down and said something in Henry’s ear.
“Four hundred,” Henry amended.
Dax laughed. “Okay. You sure?”
“Yep!”
Cam frowned. Where the hell had Henry gotten four hundred dollars? He scanned the crowd for Zoe. Maybe she’d had something to do with it. But he didn’t see her.
“Dude, where’d you get that?” Cam finally asked.
Everyone in the crowd—or at least most of them—knew Henry was Cam’s younger brother.
“No, no,” Ollie said. “You can’t talk him out of this now.”
It made sense that Ollie liked the idea of an hour with three eleven-year-olds better than with any of the women. Ollie talked to eleven-year-olds all the time, both at cons and online. That was their target demographic. Even though their fans ranged anywhere from about eight to forty and were both male and female, their core was truly boys from about ten to twenty.
“Well, he can’t use Monopoly money or something,” Cam said.
“Sure he can,” Ollie said. “I’ll trade you your fake money for real.”
“It’s real,” Henry said. Then he looked up at Piper. “Right?”
She nodded. “Right.”
“You’re giving him the money?” Cam asked. Yes, he still had his mic on and, yes, everyone could hear this. But it was all for fun. And charity. No one would actually care if Piper was giving money to kids to bid on time with Ollie, right?
“Hey, he’s bidding for his mom? Does she get to go on the date too?” one of the women asked. “That’s not fair.”
Okay, maybe someone would care.
“I’m not his mom!” Piper said.
“Much older sister?” the woman asked, then turned to Dax. “Just
