Addiction

Chapter 56.

I went through plenty of different wardrobe options, Hayden was a great help at first but after the sixth dress he was losing interest. "Baby if you wear leggings and a t-shirt you'd still look sexy, just wear anything."

I sigh, "You're no help Hayden."

"I'm sorry," He chuckles, "I told you which gown I liked and you said you didn't like it. You look beautiful in all of them Alice, why does it matter which gown you wear?"

I never told Hayden I signed myself up for the auction to be bought for the night. The only reason I decided not to tell him was because I didn't know how he'd take it. He could either be upset with me for doing it or he could be happy with me for helping out his charity. "I signed myself up to be a part of the date auction."

"You did what?" He's angry, I think.

"When I RSVP'd for the event, they asked if I would be willing to be in the auction and I said yes."

"And you just now decide to tell me?" I can't decipher his tone. It sounds like he's angry with me, but at the same time it sounds like he's just curious. Is it really that big of a deal?

"I wasn't going to tell you at all actually. I thought you would get that it was just for charity."

He shuts his eyes and lets out a deep, heavy sigh. When he opens them again he says, "You know what, it's okay. It's all for a good cause."

"Yeah, exactly."

"Just know that you're mine." He says, standing from his seat and kissing me. His hand moves to my neck coaxing my mouth against his. He kisses me hard, his lips possessive and domineering. "These men get rapacious when they see a beautiful woman. I don't care how high the bidding will go Alice, no one is taking you home except me."

I ended up going with the black lace V neck and open back dress Hayden said he liked. Luckily the open back didn't show off my little tattoo back there. "You look beautiful." Hayden whispers to me once inside of the ball room.

We were sat at one of the round tables in the center of the room but closer to the front. The founder of the charity, Spencer Byne, was speaking at the glass podium of the change we can make in the lives of the children.

It wasn't long before Hayden had to take the stage. "Good evening," Hayden starts off with a small smile. I can tell he's very nervous. He doesn't know what he's going to say, how his words will play out and I'm sure that bothers him. "I've tried writing this speech over twenty times but I just can't seem to get the words out on paper, so I've decided I'm just going to wing it. With that being said, I apologize for anything I say in advance." He says causing the room to erupt with laughter.

"I have been funding this charity from the moment I found out about it which was approximately five years ago. I didn't have much to give back then but to them it was a lot. This charity is very dear to me because child abandonment is a topic I can relate with on a personal level. As a child or adolescent, we expect our parents to raise us, love us and nurture us. We are blood, and we live off of that connection. But for some, blood relative or not, their parents don't care. They don't love their child or children like they're supposed to, they don't raise the child or children like they're supposed to. They leave them, or they hurt them, which ultimately leads to abandoned children. I myself was abandoned emotionally and physically by my own father and mother."

I place my hand over my aching heart. My poor baby. I know Hayden told me all of this already but it still hurts me to hear what his parents did to him. It hurts me knowing everything Hayden has gone through with them and they still expect him to jump when they say jump. Hayden's parents have still been calling him at early hours of the night trying to convince him to go back to England. When he listens to his voicemails, he automatically tries to delete them because somewhere in their few minutes to talk they manage to call him out of his name multiple times. I don't like that he's still going through this with them.