Chapter 3 of Bidding On You (Updated 2/20/2025)

Claiming My Prize

Tristan’s POV

Owen’s words ring in my ears as Qi gapes at me in confusion. Not gonna lie, I’m still reeling a bit myself. I don’t know what I expected his friends to be up to, but putting him up for auction like he’s a prize winning horse was definitely not what I saw coming. 

When they announced it and Qi reluctantly agreed, a million thoughts ran through my head at once. The first reaction I’m completely ashamed of because it was elation. Excitement coursed through me at the opportunity that was dropped in my lap because there was no way in hell I was going to lose those three dates. 

But then another slew of emotions rushed in. Such as the realization of the danger a stunt like this could have put him in. Anyone here could have bid on him. How could they have possibly thought that was safe? Thank fuck, they at least had the sense to put an age cap on it. Not that it would have been a complete fail safe, but at least it would’ve kept an eighteen-year-old kid from having to date someone older than his parents. 

But age cap or not, it’s still not safe. Even though I knew I had every intention of winning those dates, doesn’t mean they have any idea of who I am. And setting aside the recently discovered creepy, possessive edge to my internal thoughts, I'd never do anything to hurt him. I’d rather cut my heart out before ever causing him any kind of pain. But just because I know I’m safe for him and would never hurt him, doesn’t mean they have any fucking idea who I am or that I’m safe!

And then anger followed because his friends tricked him. Anger that they treated him like an item and this stunt showed they may actually only see him as one. And then there’s the sincere desire to punch his friend in the face because the expression on Qi’s face throughout that entire exchange blatantly showed how uncomfortable he was with the whole thing. And frustration that I didn’t have a single damn right to say a fucking thing against any of it because I don’t know any of these people. 

I had no idea what my intervention could cost this project or how much they’ve put into it. I don’t know what kind of people his friends are and if they’d even bother to listen to me. I don’t even know Qi outside of the six months’ worth of daydreams to argue effectively of what is or is not appropriate for him. 

All I could do was protect him the only way I knew how, and that was by winning the auction. Even if he rejects the dates after everything’s said and done, I’ll let it go. That would really fucking suck, but I’d never force him into something if he’s not comfortable. The important thing is knowing he’ll be safe and not paired off with some random stranger who might hurt him.

My eyes haven’t left Qi’s since I hollered out my bid and his confused eyes met mine. After months of wanting to see him again, I can’t seem to let his gaze go now that his eyes are finally on me. He looks dazed, confused. I have no idea what he’s making of me right now, and I’m not sure if I haven’t just made a complete fool of myself. 

But what’s done is done and I’m not about to take it back now, so I head towards the side of the stage to find Fei giving me a look that’s a mixture of confusion and appraisal, while the other, Paxton I assume, can barely contain his excitement. 

I look at Fei for the first time since everything went down. I’ve been so focused on Qi and the others, I haven’t really paid attention to him yet. Which isn’t really surprising because he doesn’t stand out like the others do. He’s not on stage like Owen was, or striking like Paxton is, or anywhere near as beautiful as Qi is, but that could also be me being very biased. 

He’s the shortest of the four of them, and has an elegant grace to the shape of his lithe body. He holds himself with an aristocratic demeanor that gives him a commanding presence now that I’m paying more attention. Like Qi, he also has Asian features. However, his face is rounder and his features are darker than Qi’s. His hair is closer to black, his eyes are obsidian and his skin is a darker tawny than Qi’s light golden hue. His entire countenance is rigid and severe with a scowl on his face that looks more like a permanent expression as opposed to being angry. 

Paxton interrupts the mutual sizing up Fei and I are doing by enthusiastically waving me over. “I’m Paxton, and this is Fei. I want to be mad that you just circumvented our scheme to get Qi laid, but the lifetime of teasing you just gift-wrapped for us makes forgiving you easy,” Paxton says excitedly.

Fei scowl dips down even further. “What scheme are you talking about, Paxton?” he inquires in a tense tone. 

Paxton shrugs nonchalantly. I’m not sure if he’s oblivious or if he’s purposely ignoring the unhappy tone in Fei’s voice. “Celeste is practically dying to take a bite out of Qi, and he’s too shy with this kind of stuff. So Owen and I figured we’d help them both out by forcing Qi out of his shyness and give Celeste her shot, but the handsome hulk here outbid her,” he says, and Fei’s eyes widen.

“You failed to mention that part when you suggested the whole ‘bid for a date with Qi’ scheme,” he says unhappily.

Paxton gives another careless shrug. “You wouldn’t have gone along with it if you’d known that part. You would have run off and warned Qi before we could pull this off.”

Fei’s jawline tightens, and it looks like he’s chewing on glass. If I had any money left, I’d wager Paxton and Owen are about to get the ass chewing of a lifetime once everything settles down. But evidently now that his friend’s duplicity has made itself known, Fei’s suspicious meter is dialed up to an eleven because his obsidian eyes snap up to mine with suspicion. 

Too late, buddy. Knowing he’s Qi’s friend should have me on pins and needles. But since he went along with the whole ‘bidding for a date with Qi’ scheme in the first place, I couldn’t care less about his suspicion. Just because he didn’t know of the underlying scheme doesn’t absolve him of the part he played. 

“Why did you bid on him?” he asks suspiciously, as if he’s finally realizing how stupid of an idea this was in the first place. 

Before I have a chance to answer, Qi leaves Owen up on stage to close out the event and barrels between Fei and I. “Did they put you up to this?” Qi asks me breathlessly. His face is lined with frustration, confusion, and distrust. 

And just like that, everything else just fades out. He’s so fucking close and so fucking gorgeous. His eyes are staring deeply into mine, holding me captive in his gaze. I couldn’t break free if I wanted to. He’s blinding and my throat goes dry. I shake my head. This isn’t the time to get tongue-tied and I somehow manage to find my voice. “No, of course not.”

His face furrows even further with confusion. “Then why would you bid that much?”

A million excuses jump to the tip of my tongue to give a rational explanation. Everything from chastising his friends for the stupid ploy to dropping the entirety of my feelings at his feet before I’ve even introduced myself. But instead of anything rational, or irrational for that matter, a flirty quip I didn’t even know I had enough natural game to come up with on the fly falls right out of my mouth as soon as I open it. 

“As a queer youth, what better way to donate to the cause than by bidding to take a beautiful guy out on three dates?”

Qi’s facial expression morphs into a cross between flattered and suspicious, but his friend onstage had come down just in time to hear my line. He interrupts whatever Qi was about to say when he throws his arm over Qi’s shoulders playfully. 

“Looks like you hit the jackpot, Qi. He’s handsome and rich. I always knew your pretty face would be good for something,” he teases.

The comment immediately pisses me off and I look hard at his friend. His manner is completely laid back and comfortable. His expression shows no indication that he’s aware of how insulting that was. I’m not sure if he’s treating Qi this way because he’s too stupid to know better, or if he really is an asshole disguising himself as a poor excuse of a friend. Honestly, his expression leads me to believe it’s the former of the two, but dumbassery doesn’t absolve cruelty. 

Qi looks between his so-called friends and me and his brow furrows even deeper. “But…”

Paxton laughs at Qi’s expression. “You can’t back out now! He just dropped over 5K on you!”

Qi looks completely offended at his friend’s summation. “I have no intention of backing out. I’m just trying to catch up. This really isn’t a prank?” he asks, looking towards Fei. 

Fei looks unhappy at the turn of events, but before he can answer, Owen laughs sardonically. “It was never a prank. It was supposed to be a set-up to get you with Celeste, but this guy outbid her by a long shot,” he says with amusement. 

The confusion drops from Qi completely and is replaced with betrayal and anger. He gives Owen a scathing look. “So you literally set me up to force me on a date with someone you know I have no desire to date?” he says coldly, clearly pissed that his friends conspired to set him up with this Celeste girl. 

Paxton shrugs his shoulders again. “It sounds less funny when you put it like that. But at least she’s a girl,” he points out.

My heart deflates a bit at that, because even though this is by no means an ideal situation, this also points to something I was afraid of. Just because he’s an ally doesn’t automatically mean he’s on the queer spectrum. To be fair, I didn’t even realize I was until six months ago. My stomach twists at the thought that I might not have a chance. But I try my best to swallow my doubts because it’s not really fair to assume either.

Qi winces at Paxton’s comment and pinches the bridge of his nose with exasperation. “Even if I were to remind you how we are actively raising money for queer youth, you’d still miss the irony of your last statement,” he tells his friend before looking over at me.

“I apologize for him. He’s never been the sharpest tool in the shed. Don’t really know what that says about me since I choose to be this dumbass’s friend and I just got hoodwinked by him. But, please don’t take his dumbassery to heart. I’m Qi Jiang, which, of course, you obviously already know,” he finishes sheepishly while reaching his hand out tentatively towards me. 

I smile at him and take hold of his hand to shake it. A shudder ripples through me at the feel of his hand encased snugly in mine. His skin is warm and just as smooth as it looks. But more than anything it's the wave of serenity that settles in my stomach at his touch, the way his hand feels so right in mine. Like our hands were made for eachother. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Qi. I’m Tristan Donovan,” I tell him, feeling relief course through me because despite all the confusion, this was the moment of finally getting to introduce myself to the beautiful Qi. 

Qi gives me a genuine smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Tristan,” he says. 

But of course, his dumbass friends ruin the sweetness. “Ooh, you should kiss in front of the audience. You know, give them a final show before everyone leaves. Queer kisses to raise money for queer youth. We should totally monopolize on that,” Owen boastfully lifts his fist up as if he’s just had some sort of genius breakthrough. The only one who seems to think Owen’s on to something is Paxton, who readily bumps Owen’s fist with his own. Fucking buffoons, the both of them. They’re obviously not overly upset that their plan to set Qi up with someone he doesn’t like failed. 

An uncomfortable look crosses Qi’s face at the suggestion before he shakes his head. “Absolutely not. First kisses are meaningful experiences that aren’t meant to be paraded in front of crowds for your entertainment,” he says.

Not exactly sure if the look of discomfort was because of me, but I’m not going to linger on it too much because I feel the same way. As much as I’d love to kiss him, under no circumstances do I want that moment to be something for a crowd of people to ogle at instead of a genuinely heartfelt moment shared between just us. 

Qi catches my eye and smiles again. The upturn of his lips was somehow an unspoken permission for the hoard of butterflies in my stomach to take flight again. “Would you like to go somewhere less pesky and invasive to talk?”

I exhale in relief, because I definitely need to talk to him and it’s obvious there isn’t room for much intelligent conversation around his friends. I flash him a grin. “I’d absolutely love that.”

Paxton gives Qi a smirk. “If you’re seriously gonna date a guy, at least you landed yourself a hot one. You’d better put out and earn that bid.”

The fluttering butterfly wings in my gut turn into flames. And not like turning to ash and burning to a crisp kind of flames, but more like they became fiery little pissed off fireflies, full of fire and venom coiling through my system. How do these fuckers claim to be his friends? First they objectify him, then they want to parade kisses for a show, and now they are implying he has to put out to earn the bid. 

“Did you seriously just imply that he should whore himself to me?” I practically snarl. 

Fei recognizes the anger in my tone and immediately takes a step back. Not sure if he’s just a sell out type of friend, or if he realizes his friend just dug his own grave and deserves what’s coming. Paxton is completely unaware as he shrugs carelessly in response. 

“I mean, what’s the difference between paying to date him and paying to fuck him? You’re still paying for him, right? This was supposed to get him laid anyway, so might as well take advantage.”

I flinch and my hand clenches in a tight fist, but before I can throw the punch that I’m itching to throw, Qi reaches out and puts his hand on my arm. His touch ignites an internal war inside between feeling the calming relief of his skin on mine and wanting to burn the world to ash because his friend insulted him. He purposely catches my eye and slightly shakes his head, silently telling me to stand down. So I swallow it down the best I can, because I don’t know any of them well enough to know their dynamics, or Qi’s reasons, to put up with this kind of slander. I can at least stick up for him with words if I can’t put my fist where it’s itching to land. 

Having finally recognized the line he’s crossed when his eyes meet mine and see the rage in them, Paxton flinches and takes a shaky step away from me. “To date him is a privilege. To assume he owes me more than what was agreed upon is a violation and an insulting one. As his friend, you should be more worried about his safety than his body count,” I point out before narrowing my eyes at him. “Apologize,” I demand.

Owen and Paxton exchange looks that are torn between intimidation and amusement. But they have enough intelligence to nod towards Qi. “Sorry, Qi. You know we don’t mean nothing by it, man.”

Qi sighs and points at his friends with a stern expression. “We will be having a boundaries discussion later,” he says firmly.

Paxton audibly groans. “Ah, man. Can’t you just let the handsome hulk punch me instead?” he whines, as if Qi’s discussions are a form of torture.

Qi shakes his head, but before he can respond or the two dumbasses can open their mouths and make the situation worse than it already is, Fei steps forward and looks at me with an unfathomable expression on his face. It’s somewhere between disdain, contempt, and apologetic. I have no idea what to make of him, but there’s an intensity rolling off of him and I’m not sure if that’s directed at me or the situation. 

“Please ignore their stupid asses. They really don’t know better half the time. But I apologize for them. This was simply supposed to be a fun last auction prize. I didn’t realize they had made arrangements with Celeste, but if I had, I wouldn’t have agreed to what I thought was a little harmless fun. I didn’t tell Qi because I knew he’d be too shy to agree ahead of time, but it was intended to just be three dates. Nothing seedier than that. And just so we’re pointedly clear; if you hurt Qi, I hurt you, exactly the same way as I’ll be hurting these two assholes later,” Fei says with a severity in his eyes that has a ripple of trepidation coiling through me despite our significant size difference. 

Qi rolls his eyes. “It’s fine, just maybe smack them upside the head a few times for me. And maybe wait until after cleaning up so they don’t use it as an excuse to bow out,” he tells his seemingly more reasonable, and rather more intimidating, friend.

Fei turns towards Qi with that severe frown back on his face. “Are you agreeing to the three dates, Qi?”

Qi looks over at me as though he’s giving me a chance to back out, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to. Step one, get him away from his dumbass friends to have a decent conversation. Step two, hopefully arrange future dates. I shoot Qi a hopeful smile and he huffs out an exasperated laugh. 

“Yeah, if you still want to do this, then I’m in,” he says, giving me a smile. It takes every ounce of bravado and willpower to not pump my fist in triumph, but I manage to keep it tapered down long enough to hand Fei my credit card.

An uncomfortable gleam flashes in Fei’s eyes so quickly I’m not even sure I really saw it. He clears his throat before I can think too deeply about it. I’m more interested in finishing this up and having a moment with Qi than worrying about random phantom gleams flashing in his friend’s eyes. “5,634 dollars, correct?” he verifies with a clipped tone. 

Qi frowns at the amount. “That’s really high for three dates with just me,” he points out again.

I immediately shake my head. “It’s already been agreed upon and I think it’s a steal. Besides, it’s for a worthy cause,” I tell him adamantly. Qi’s skin darkens at my words. 

“Oh my, I think he’s blushing,” Owen points out most unhelpfully while Fei passes my credit card back to me. He shoots daggers at his friends while Qi rolls his eyes at them and squeezes my arm. 

“Come on. Let’s go talk with fewer flies buzzing in our ears,” he says, pulling me lightly to separate me from his dumbass friends. Well, maybe not Fei. Fei seems halfway reasonable, but the other two can use a good smack or ten.