Chapter 14
Lucky made his way backstage and found Nikolas. “Hey, man, where do you need me?”
“Just hang around back here for now until Lucy gets everything together. Just make sure you stand back: she’s like a cyclone right now!”
Lucky chuckled and nodded, looking around for the other bachelors. Kevin was trying to calm down Lucy, Jerry and Jax were talking to Ned off to the side, Chris Ramsey and Joe Scanlon were also talking, although their conversation seemed rather strained. Taggert was standing near Edward and Tony Jones, and all three were glaring across the backstage area at Sonny and Jason. Lucky smiled at the diversity of the “bachelors” and wandered over to Sonny and Jason.
“Lucky!” Sonny greeted happily. “Your father mentioned you were back in town. How is everything?”
Lucky shook his hand and grinned. “Pretty good. I just finished the tour and decided to take a break. If I had known Nikolas would con me into doing this, I would have waited a few more weeks before coming back!”
Sonny laughed. “Tell me about it. I still haven’t figured out how Carly got me to agree to this thing. Why do I get the sinking feeling I’m going to end up with Lucy? Or worse!”
Jason chuckled and patted his friend on the back. “Sonny, I don’t think you can get much worse than Lucy for a dinner date!”
~*~
Out in the ballroom, Liz and Carly were gossiping about everyone’s dresses.
“So what’s with the new chick over there?” she asked, nodding in Charisma’s direction, a hint of distaste in her voice.
Liz rolled her eyes. “That’s Charisma,” she answered, putting a sarcastic tone to the name like she always did. “She’s Lucky’s manager. One of them at least. The guy with her is Rich, another manager.”
“Wow, I never knew my little cousin was so big,” Carly chuckled. She looked over at Liz., leaning close to whisper, “Just so I get this straight, we don’t like her, right?”
Liz laughed and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, she was doing a good job of bugging Lucky earlier, and as much as I admire her for being able to do that, something about her annoys me.”
“Okay, well, for the record, I didn’t like the way she was looking at Sonny earlier,” Carly said with a frown.
“When was she was looking at him?” Liz asked.
“I saw them come in with Lucky, and they were all staring over at us, whispering about something.”
Liz shrugged. “I’m sure it wasn’t anything to worry about. Hey, there’s Bobbie, let’s go say hi.” The two women walked over to where Bobbie was talking to Alexis.
“Hey, mama,” Carly greeted, quickly hugging her as Liz said her hellos to them as well. They exchanged compliments on each other’s dresses, then chatted about the auction while they waited for Lucy to come out and begin the evening.
~*~
“Don’t tell Spence I said this, but I don’t like his cousin,” Charisma muttered to Rich as they wandered around the room, checking everyone out. “She was giving me a dirty look earlier for no reason.”
Rich chuckled. “Well, maybe she felt threatened that there was another beautiful woman in the room.”
Charisma rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s it. Give me a break, everyone here is gorgeous! It’s like some weird parallel universe where everybody is rich, successful and good-looking. I wonder how Spence could have lived here for so long and still be so normal.”
Rich shrugged. “Hey, she’s pretty hot, you think she’d go for me?” he asked jokingly, pointing at V, who was talking to Chloe and Felicia a few feet away.
“Man, this sucks,” Charisma grumbled. “All the bachelors are backstage, so the only guys out here are the married ones!”
Rich laughed. “Poor baby. Don’t worry, you’ll always have me,” he teased, laughing again as Charisma groaned and tried to walk away.
~*~
A few minutes later, Lucy came out on-stage to a long round of applause. “Thank you, thank you all! Welcome to the Sixth Annual Bachelor’s Auction, sponsored by Deception-Jax Cosmetics!” Everyone cheered and applauded once again.
Lucy quickly went through the details about the AIDS wing and pushed for people to donate money, then called out Nikolas to introduce him as her co-chair.
“Okay, now I need my very bestest friend, Felicia Scorpio-Jones, to come up here and take over for me, since I’m a bachelorette this year,” Lucy announced with a giggle. Losing Christina to Julie and Chris had slowly torn her and Scott Baldwin apart, and they had divorced a little over a year ago, although they remained friends. She had tried to convince him to do the auction, but he refused.
Felicia hurried onto the stage and took the microphone from her. “Thanks, Lucy. Now I need for my lovely assistant to come up here,” she said with a grin. “Luke? Where are you?”
Everyone chuckled as Luke pranced onto the stage, waving his arms around like he was one of Barker’s Beauties on the Price Is Right. “Okay, Luke, that’s enough!” Felicia scolded. He stopped and stood next to the wheel with a pout. “I guess it’s time to bring out the bachelors!” she announced, turning to watch as the curtain was opened, and the men reluctantly took the stage.
“This year, we’ve got 13 bachelors to auction off. We’re going to do it alphabetically, so Bachelor number 1 is Ned Ashton!” She gave a quick bio of him as he stood awkwardly at the front of the stage, shooting dirty looks out at Alexis and Chloe, who were responsible for convincing him and Jax to do the auction. Their “mixed marriages” had made it through the year, and they were now all divorced. It had aroused some mixed feelings among them, so instead of just jumping back into their previous relationships, they agreed to all just be friends for a while.
Luke turned the wheel and pulled out one of the bachelorette’s names, then read it off. “Dr. Karen Wexler!” Ned smiled in relief, happy that he got someone normal. He climbed off the stage to meet her, standing of to the side to watch the rest.
“Bachelor number 2 is tonight’s co-chair and head of Deception, Nikolas Cassidine,” Felicia said. After a quick bio, Luke spun the cage and pulled out a name.
“Emily Quartermaine!” Nikolas smiled as he joined her with Ned and Karen, happy that he didn’t get Lucy. Emily looked at him nervously, then glanced up at Lucky, who was grinning at her from the stage. She rolled her eyes, trying to act like she didn’t care, even though inside, her stomach was doing flip-flops.
“Bachelor number 3 is Kevin Collins,” Felicia continued, smiling at him as he took center stage and nervously waited. Luke spun the wheel, pulled out a name, and chuckled to himself.
“Julie Ramsey,” he said, grinning at Kevin’s obvious disgust. Julie had been released from Ferncliff a few years ago and married Chris, but they were divorced only a few years later, and now shared custody of her daughter, Christina. Kevin slowly made his way down the steps to join Julie, who was looking equally annoyed.
“Bachelor number 4, Sonny Corinthos,” Felicia said, giving a short, edited bio of him as he took the stage. He looked down at Carly, who had her hands clasped together, praying to be called.
Luke spun the cage, pulled out a name and grinned. “Natasha!” Alexis groaned as everyone looked around in confusion. “Sorry, that’s just my pet name for her. You all know her as the lovely Alexis Davis-Jacks.”
Sonny flashed Carly a dirty look, then joined Alexis with the others.
“Bachelor number 5, Jasper Jacks,” Felicia announced. He took the stage and flashed a smile at everyone as Luke turned the wheel.
“V Ardanowski!” he called. V grinned, trying to hide her excitement, and waited for Jax to come offstage. He smiled and hugged her quickly, happy that he was at least going to be spending the evening with a friend.
“Bachelor number 6 is Jerry Jacks.” Jerry stepped forward, his eyes locking with Bobbie’s, hoping that he would have the same luck as his brother. Luke puled out a name and laughed.
“Lucy Coe!” Everyone chuckled as she stepped forward. Jerry rolled his eyes as he descended the steps, but still managed to flash her his trademark grin as he joined her with the others. Bobbie sighed, looking over the remaining bachelors, praying she wouldn’t be stuck with Tony.
“Bachelor number 7 is Dr. Tony Jones,” Felicia called out, grinning at her ex-brother-in-law as he nervously took the stage. He had managed to rebuild his life, but he still had the stigma of kidnapping Michael and Robin following him around everywhere he went. He looked over the remaining women, silently praying he wouldn’t get Carly.
Luke grabbed a name, secretly hoping it would be Carly, but smiled anyway as he read the name. “Dara Jensen!” Tony groaned, joining Dara with the rest. This was going to be a long evening. Granted, he wasn’t dining with the woman who shot him in open court, but instead he’d be sitting with the woman who had been trying to get him convicted.
“Okay, we’re more than half-way done. Bachelor number 8 is Jason Morgan,” Felicia said, giving a quick, similar bio as Sonny’s. Liz grinned up at him, knowing that if he got someone else, she would never hear the end of it.
Luke pulled out a name and snickered, adding his own little spin to it. “Caroline Roberts-Benson-Spencer-Quartermaine-Morgan!”
Carly rolled her eyes. “Very funny, Luke!”
“Hey, that’s Uncle Luke to you, missy!” he joked. Jason sighed and joined his ex-wife with the others, shooting a look at Liz to let her know she’d be hearing about this later. Liz groaned as she surveyed the rest of the bachelors. This didn’t look good, not at all.
“Bachelor number 9, on loan from his lovely wife, Edward Quartermaine.”
Luke spun, pulled out a name and chuckled. “Barbara Jean, come on down!” he cheered. Bobbie sighed, figuring it could be worse, then joined Edward off stage.
“Bachelor number 10, Dr. Chris Ramsey.”
Luke grabbed one of the remaining balls, making sure not to get the one that Lucy had specially marked for him as Liz’s. “Dr. Eve Lambert!” Eve sighed, joining her former best friend. They still talked, but ever since the whole Julie thing, she never seemed to be able to understand him. Chris, on the other hand, was thrilled. He still had a huge crush on Eve, and hoped that maybe this was his chance to win her back.
“Almost there, guys. Okay, Bachelor number 11 is Dr. Joe Scanlon.”
“Courtney Kanelos!” Luke announced, not really sure who either of them were.
Once Joe had reluctantly joined Courtney, Lucky stepped forward, knowing that he was pretty much screwed. The only two women left were Chloe and Liz, and by the huge grin on his father’s face, something told him he wouldn’t be eating with Chloe that night.
Liz sighed as she looked at the stage. It was either Lucky or Taggert. She glanced at Luke, who was grinning like a madman, and knew that her fate was sealed.
“Bachelor number 12, Lucky Spencer,” Felicia announced. Luke spun the wheel dramatically, even though there were only two names left. He grabbed Liz’s.
“Well, Cowboy,” he said with an evil grin. “Looks like you’ll be dining with the lovely Miss Webber tonight!”
Lucky rolled his eyes and left the stage, glaring at his father on the way.
“That means Lt. Marcus Taggert will be with Chloe Ashton tonight,” Felicia said, completing the auction.
“Whatever your father just did, remind me to kill him,” Liz growled at Lucky as they headed off to their designated table.
“You won’t have to, because I’m going to kill him first!” he said, looking one more time at the stage. Luke flashed him a thumbs-up and laughed.
