CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

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By the end of the fifth course Juice quietly leans over the table and says I was right about the fullness factor. Everyone looks a lot more relaxed after the delay between the fifth and seventh course, the punch that had been served in a central bowl for each table giving us an almost 30 minute gap between the steak course and the roast lamb. Even though each plate could easily sit on a saucer by the time I've finished my lamb I'm starting to feel rather full, even with having given half of my steak to Opie and half the lamb to Jax. The 'salad' that comes out next makes me giggle a little. The entire plate is covered by a single lettuce leaf, on the top three stalks of asparagus (two green, one white), each wrapped in a single slice of prosciutto.

Jax leans towards me as I cut one in half "The only course you had wrong so far was the chicken course." I nod, instead of baked chicken breasts we'd been served a chicken parmigiana with a tower of thick cut fries, well tower would be an over exaggeration with each plate only having 6 chips.

The ninth course is a split plate of two pates, a cracked pepper one and a garlic one with crackers, the tenth course Graham went completely out of the ordinary for and instead of doing individual dessert plates each table gets two full sized cakes, one dark chocolate fudge cake and a lighter vanilla cake with a sharp lemon icing.

As we all sit eating the cake and drinking coffee Derek gets to his feet and walks through the crowd towards the stage, his speech isn't long. Thanking everyone for coming and announcing that they've already made over 200,000 from donations with the auction still to come. Checking that each seat had its auction paddle he reminds us all again that the auction is completely silent and if anyone makes a verbal bid they have to pay a fine of 1 thousand dollars per word. That statement is greeted with laughs all around, including an overly loud one from a woman I remember having broken the non-verbal part of the auction so many times in one night that her fines were almost 10 thousand dollars alone.

Jax leans over Abel's chair and points to one thing on the auction list "That sounds pretty awesome."

Looking down I almost choke on my breath and meet his eyes "Seriously? You know I won't be doing that with you don't you?"

Jax nods "Yeah I figured that."

I shrug "If you want it, bid on it. It's all for a good cause, then you can take Ope, Hap and Juice. But it'll have to be done soon, like within the next four days."

Jax leans forwards and catches Derek's attention, checking if it would be possible to take the heli-tour of the city prior to our departure on Wednesday.

Derek shrugs and gestures towards one of the tables "The balding guy at table two is the owner of the company, and the pilot for the tour. Go ask."

Jax turns his blue eyes to mine, before he can open his mouth I'm out of my seat and picking my way across the room. Returning to his side a couple of minutes later he looks up with a lifted eyebrow.

"You can do the tour either Monday morning or Tuesday afternoon. They might have a space for a night tour on Tuesday as well but he's not sure."

Jax nods, marking a little tick beside the lot number. I almost giggle at him but his continued examination of the list has his head suddenly shooting up. "Don't you own that winery?"

He's pointing to a line in the auction for a customised crate of 10 bottles of wine, with the wine selection up to the buyer and personalised label. I nod "Well we don't own it all, but about 60% of it is ours."

Jax shakes his head "I can't get over the amount of shit I suddenly co-own just cause of you."

I shrug and rest my head on his shoulder "That's probably a good thing. If you thought about it I'm sure you'd have a meltdown." I start reading the list over his shoulder and tap my finger on one line "I wanna get that for Bobby seeing we missed his birthday."

Jax reads the words above my finger and starts laughing "Of course you do."

Opie looks over the table at Jax "I know that laugh, it's an 'Oh my god why didn't I think of that' laugh."

Jax keeps laughing, his head nodding slightly as I gesture towards the list "Lot 8. For Bobby's birthday, which no one told me we missed."

Donna reads the line and shakes her head "Only you would do that."

I shrug, picking up my glass of lemonade "I'm sure I'm not the only one really. But I think it'll be perfect for him."

Jax makes a check mark beside it as well "So we only want lots 8 and 14?"

I nod, swallowing the lemonade in my mouth and setting the glass back down "Yep, and anything else that may come to my attention."

"Just make sure they're easily transportable S." Cam reminds me from across the table "We don't have that much room in the cars for all the stuff we've already got."

The first 8 lots pass fairly quickly. The wine that I'd donated ended up fetching almost 20 thousand dollars. Watching as the Elvis stuff is brought out Jax chuckles "How on earth do you plan on getting that home?"

I shrug "It's not that big. It'll fit in one of the cars."

The bidding for the two items of Elvis memorabilia starts at 5 thousand dollars, but when it hits 10 Jax leans over again but I lift my eyebrow, tapping the word 'silent' on the sheet. Eventually the bidding stops at 14500 and when the auctioneer taps his pen to the page saying sold everyone at the table breathe a sigh of relief.

Looking at Jax I lift my hand "Proceed to go nuts."

Shaking his head "I get that it's for a good cause, I really do. But 15 thousand dollars for a pair of sunglasses and a microphone?"

Laughing I take another mouthful of my drink and look over at him "Really good cause. And it's tax deductible. And no one is going to mention to Bobby what it cost, cause I already know where it will end up."

"Where?" Opie asks, leaning forwards and propping his elbows on the edge of the table.

"In the clubhouse. Well the mike at least, probably right over the jukebox. Or somewhere that Bobby can look at it every day. The glasses, well he may end up wearing them." I laugh at the expressions on everyone's faces, till Donna suddenly nods.

"You're right. He'd wear them, it would make his Elvis impersonations that much more authentic. And he'll love them both." She reaches across the table "Now, you know my birthday is in June. I'd really like a spa."

Opie reaches over and slaps his hand across Donna's mouth, shaking his head "Nah, she wants a new engine for my Ram."

I roll my eyes at both of them "Correct me if I'm wrong Mrs Winston, is part of your new bathroom, currently in construction, not a spa bath? And Mr Winston. You're buying a new vehicle tomorrow. When you get back to Charming sell the piece of shit that your wife currently drives and use the money for a new engine." Poking my tongue out at both of them they sit back in their seats and cross their arms as the next lot is brought out, the huge framed painting one of the ugliest things I've ever seen.

The heli-tour that Jax decided he wanted he ends up getting for 4 thousand dollars. I don't bother telling him I could have brought the same tour for almost ΒΌ of that, knowing that the money really is going to a good cause. The auction finishes having raised an additional 150,000 and Derek stands looking pleased with himself as the guests leave heading home for the night.