A.U: Warning for a bit of smut at the end of this chapter!
Chapter Eleven
Nothing filled Klaus with disgust more than his mother's Charity Gala; but nothing was worse than her charity raising events. He hated the way his father and Kol were sitting at the very front, leering at the nominees for the Date Auction. Especially the way his narrowed eyed father was watching them all, eyeing them up and down one by one like they were waxwork models.
His eyes settled on Caroline, drinking her in for an especially long time. Klaus wanted nothing more than to stomp over to his seat right in front of the stage, and poke out his gawping eyeballs.
Instead, he shook his head and gritted his teeth, deciding instead to focus on Caroline. She was standing awkwardly on the end of the row with her arms folded, chewing on her bottom lip. Klaus found himself becoming so strangely enticed by the way she caught her plump lip between her teeth, sucking it into her mouth nervously, that he almost missed his mother introducing the Date Auction.
It was completely dire. She read through the list of eligible women, describing their features and professions accordingly. Rebekah was 'sold' first, for an impressive ten thousand dollars. The splashing of such a large amount of cash just to spend time with someone like the exquisite Rebekah seemed to excite the various bachelors around the garden, as many wallets rustled when Esther moved on.
One by one the women were auctioned off and given tickets for various, lavish dates. Finally, the only nominee left on the stage was Caroline.
"…welcoming Caroline Forbes. She is a home-grown beauty from the village of Mystic Falls in Virginia!" a round of applause responded to Esther's introduction, and Caroline forced a tight smile, and folded her arms a little tighter. She was no stranger to being in the public eye – after all, she had lead committees at college, and had the honour of being Miss Mystic Falls whilst she was at high school. But somehow, this audience made her a lot more nervous than she'd ever been. Most of them seemed harmless enough, smiling up at her sympathetically – but there were several greedy faces in the audience; staring at her with hungry eyes whilst they fingered the rolls of cash in their pockets. "We'll start the bidding off at five thousand."
"Five fifty," called Kol immediately. There was a series of sniggers, and comments about how cheap Kol had gotten over the years. Caroline watched Kol shrug off the remarks and then turn back to smile at her. Before she could remember she was annoyed with him, she was smiling back – as much as he was a complete jackass at times, he was still her friend. If it was him and a bunch of these old, money-clogged guys in their sharp suits, she would rather go on the date with Kol – that was, if he managed to keep his drugs at home.
"Seven thousand!" shouted a new voice. Caroline looked out into the audience, and saw a dark haired man with brown eyes grinning up at her. He was quite handsome, in a boyish kind of way.
"Seven thousand to Mr Tyler Lockwood," Esther nodded.
"Seven fifty?" Kol tried. There was another round of sniggering at Kol's effort. Tyler shot it up to another eight thousand, and Kol made a swiping motion across his neck. "I draw the line at seven fifty," he replied, and leaned back in his chair, putting his arm around the back of the dark skinned girl he had brought with him. Caroline rolled her eyes – of course, Kol didn't need to worry about getting any kind of charitable date.
"Eight thousand to Tyler Lockwood," Esther continued. She held up three fingers, beginning to count down. "Going once…going twice…"
"Ten thousand," a determined voice cut in. Esther raised her eyebrow, and Caroline saw, to her shock, that the speaker was Klaus's father; Esther's husband, Mikael. He was raising his hand, giving Caroline a lazy half smile, his eyes burning into her.
Caroline felt herself glowing. This was ridiculously awkward – she knew it was only for fun, and the main aim of this was to get money for charity. But the thought of her sitting down for a dinner date with Mikael made her cringe inwardly. Kol, who was sitting between his date and his father, looked initially shocked, but then a humoured grin had replaced his previous image. Esther looked at Caroline first, one silky brow arched, and then back to her husband. But the worst was when Caroline found the eyes of her boss in the audience; Klaus was staring into his father's back – and if looks could kill, Mikael would be a pile of ash on the grass.
Klaus and his father already had their bad relationship, and Caroline couldn't help but wonder if Mikael had deliberately bid for a date with her just to irritate Klaus. He had seen the pair dancing earlier; and judging from what Klaus had told Caroline on the beach, he would use any means of emotional blackmail to get at Klaus, even in his adulthood.
But pondering over this wouldn't help. Klaus had made it pretty clear earlier that he didn't believe in this charity event that his mother hosted, and Tyler Lockwood appeared to have backed down from the bid – double figures were clearly not in his expectations. Just as Caroline was beginning to accept her fate and prepare for the slimy Mikael to step onto the stage to accept his date with her, Esther reluctantly raised her hand again.
Before she could speak, a hand shot up from the audience. "Twelve thousand." It was Klaus.
"Fifteen," replied Mikael smoothly.
"Twenty thousand," uttered Klaus immediately. They were going quickly, not giving themselves the time to think about the amount they were putting down on a date with Caroline, but it was all she thought about. As each of the men shouted out their amounts, Caroline was beginning to get irritated. They thought nothing of the value of money – but she reminded herself that the real reason was charity, even if they didn't really see that.
"Thirty five!" Mikael hissed. He wasn't looking up at the stage anymore, he had turned around in his seat and was glaring right at his son. Klaus was staring back just as harshly. The whole audience was reacting to this bidding battle – everyone's smiles had fallen, and an air of tension swept across the garden.
"Fifty fucking thousand!" yelled Klaus, standing up as he spoke. There was a brief silence, but then everyone broke into nervous laughter.
Mikael gave his son a tight grin, which he then forwarded to Caroline. He put his hand down, and Esther took a breath. "Fifty thousand to Niklaus Mikaelson. Going once, going twice…" she gave a pause, but shot her husband a deathly, daring stare as she did so. "Sold, to Klaus Mikaelson."
There was a smattering of applause, and Caroline felt herself sigh with relief. It was only a matter of time before Klaus had managed to find an excuse to take her out for dinner, and he had paid fifty thousand dollars for the privilege.
"Your date is…" Esther continued. Caroline remembered that she had being pulling scraps of paper from a ceramic bowl that sat on the same podium that held the microphone. She fished her hand in, and pulled out the final remaining scrap. "…a four day mini break to Amsterdam!" the applause resumed, but there was also a lot of murmuring going on. Esther handed the paper to Caroline, and then quietly, she returned to her seat, trying to process the information.
Esther said a few more words, and then requested for the party to move back to the ball room, where more dancing would commence. Caroline remained in her seat as the people returned inside, staring at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand.
"I haven't been to Amsterdam since I was seventeen. It should be good," Klaus commented. Caroline turned to look at him, confusion in her eyes.
"What are we doing?"
Klaus raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"You're acting like we're together – the cute dancing, the jealousy over Kol taking me to the Gala and now this," she waved the paper. "Spending fifty thousand bucks just to go to Europe?"
"Caroline, we're just friends. I care about my friends."
This was going back to familiar territory. Caroline could remember this argument, and it didn't end well. She didn't want to return to that awkward place with Klaus again, but she just wished they could establish their boundaries. So she pressed the paper into Klaus' chest, and stood up. "I can't go to Europe."
"Why not? You were saying you needed a holiday."
"I'm on holiday now!" snapped Caroline. "I'm not going to Europe," she hitched up her skirts and started walking across the grass. "I'm going back to the house."
"Caroline!" called Klaus. He groaned, and jumped out of his seat, storming after her. "What, would you rather have gone with Kol? Or my father?"
"Of course not," hissed Caroline, as they reached the edge of the garden, and came to the roadside. She had begun to walk down the sidewalk, with Klaus right behind her. "I don't want to go at all – so I'm not going to," she threw up her hands in distress. "Seriously – it was supposed to just be a date! A date is dinner, or the movies, or seeing a play in the park. Not a four day holiday to Europe!" Caroline was shrieking now – the champagne she had been drinking all night had clearly gone straight to her head.
"Caroline, get in my car," Klaus muttered as they stopped by his car. Caroline folded her arms adamantly, and Klaus tried not to smirk at the sight of her. Her make-up was smudged and her hair was falling out of its up-do, and the scowl on her face could rival that of a toddler.
"No," she replied, and turned on her heel. "I'm walking."
Klaus had expected this, so he took drastic measures. As she started stomping down the street, he unlocked his car and opened the back door, and then swooped in on her. He grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder, ignoring her angry protests. She thumped his back as he carried her back to the car, and then threw her onto the backseat.
He had jumped in the front before she could make a rash escape, and booted the engine up, setting the car into first. He started to drive instantly, eyeing Caroline through the rear-view mirror.
"You can't drive," she muttered. "You were drinking too."
"We're only going down the road," he replied. Before long, they had pulled up to his Hampton house, and he helped her out of the car. Thankfully, Caroline seemed to have calmed down by this point, and she allowed him to take her inside.
She expected him to cart her to her bedroom and allow her to collapse into sleep, but instead he pushed her down onto a barstool in the kitchen, and placed a shallow glass in front of her. He took one as well, and then removed a crystal decanter, filled with glistening amber liquid, from an overhead cabinet. He placed it on the counter, and then sat opposite her, unfastening his necktie.
"What is this?" she asked.
"Therapy," he replied tartly. "Clearly, nothing we have ever done before has helped us resolve our…situations…so, this is a new effort. I want you to say something that is on your mind, and then have a drink. Every time you speak your mind, have a drink. And then when we get back to the city, it will all be gone. Everything you say will be left here," he told her. "What you say in the Hamptons will stay in the Hamptons."
"And what if we return to the Hamptons?" questioned Caroline.
"Do you really want to come back to my mother's Gala next year?" Caroline didn't answer. "I didn't think so. I'll go first," he poured himself a measurement of Bourbon into the glass, and looked at Caroline. "I have been intrigued by you since I first met you at our family's soiree," he downed the whiskey when he finished, and then proceeded to pour some into Caroline's glass.
Caroline took a deep breath, and cupped her hand around the glass. "Sometimes I wish you weren't my boss, so that I didn't have to feel guilty about my feelings," she poured the whiskey down her throat, wincing at the sharp taste.
"I hired you because I fancied you," Klaus replied. He drank.
"I hate it when you have women around in your apartment." She drank.
"I hate it when you hang around with Kol." Drink.
"I think about when you kissed me all the time."
"So do I."
They paused. The whiskey was reducing substantially, and without realising, the pair of them had stood up from their seats, and they were staring at each other across the breakfast bar. Caroline could feel that electric sensation in her stomach; a tangled mass of conflicting emotions that were somehow dragging her towards Klaus. She stopped in front of him, feeling her breath shuddering in her throat. "I hate how confusing this is," she whispered, her eyes focusing determinedly on his.
"It doesn't have to be," he muttered.
"Doesn't it?"
Klaus shook his head. "You could just…" he leaned forward, and reached his hand out, letting his fingers brush through a strand of her blonde hair. "Go with it."
Caroline closed her eyes as his hand touched her face, and exerted a long breath. "What happens in the Hamptons…" she murmured, curling her cheek into his warm palm.
"Stays in the Hamptons," Klaus finished, his voice sounding rough. Before she could respond, his hand had clamped around the back of her neck and the other one found her waist. He pulled her into him, and they were kissing ferociously and desperately, fighting for dominance. He reached around the back of her dress and pulled apart the bodice of her expensive dress roughly, sending the pearly buttons rocketing across the kitchen floor, but neither of them cared. Caroline scrabbled with his shirt buttons, pushing the garment over his shoulders and running her hands over his bare shoulders – his skin was burning hot, and that only excited Caroline more.
When Klaus had managed to strip Caroline down to her underwear, he reached his hands around her upper thighs and lifted her from her feet, turning her and placing her on the breakfast bar. He stood between her legs, burying his face in her neck and planting kisses all across her collarbone to her ear, and she arched her back in response. They were too heated; too needy; too enthralled in each other. It was all going too fast, but neither of them seemed to care. They needed to get to it quickly, before anything or anyone could make them decide otherwise. Caroline soon found that she had her hand down the front of his pants.
Klaus pulled the front of his trousers open, and was suddenly pressing himself against Caroline. With one quick thrust, he had immersed himself inside of her, and the two of them groaned out loud in unison – but Klaus didn't start up again straight away. He held her fast to him, savouring the feeling of Caroline holding him, kissing him, her femininity engulfing him. This kind of event between Klaus and Caroline had been a long time coming, and he was prepared to savour every moment.