The Auction Block (Agents of Interpol 1)

"Let's go to bed, baby," I whisper, pulling him toward the bedroom.

I drag him away, the voices of his parents behind us in a heated argument. I let go of his hand once inside the room, and he slams the door closed with enough force to crack the wood at the top of the frame. I turn around and stare at him, wide-eyed, and somewhat frightened. I don't think being in confinement is good for him.

"Explain," I say forcefully.

He leans his back against the door. "I'd rather not."

"So, it's cool for you to spend the last four months trying to get me to talk about shit, but the first time I pry, you want to clam up. I don't fucking think so, Mason, spill it."

He closes his eyes, chest slowly rising and falling as he opens them again. He pushes off the door and walks toward me, leaning down and kissing me, hard, pulling my body against his. Just as my body starts to get lost in his, he pulls away, taking my hand and dragging me to the bed.

He plops down, pulling me into his lap, and falling back on the bed so I'm curled up on his chest. I roll, straddling him, and he runs his hands up and down my sides.

"I'll make you a deal, I'll tell you something about my past, and you tell me something about yours," he says staring into my eyes with determination.

"Is this your way of trying to avoid talking about yourself," I ask, raising my eyebrows.

"No, it's my way of us getting to know each other better. Four months, and we hardly know anything."

I can't argue that fact. Blake knows more about me than anyone else, but it still isn't much.

"Okay."

"My dad met my biological mother while he was vacationing in Hawaii. They ended up having a fling and I was the result," he says impassively.

I sigh, trying to recall the things about my childhood Jax told me. "My father sold me to the Taurus to pay a debt he owed."

"I thought you didn't remember your childhood?"

"I don't. I only know what Jax told me. I've never looked into it myself."

"How come?"

I think carefully before answering, wanting to be honest with him. He reaches up and trails his fingertips across my collarbones, lingering on the brand.

"I don't want to remember. What good will ever come of that?"

He holds his breath for a moment. "My mother moved to Baltimore with my dad, but he refused to marry her. By the time I was six months old, she wanted to go back to Hawaii, but my dad made her promises about how he loved her and that he'd marry her when the time was right, so she stayed."

"Did your mom tell you all this when you were a kid?"

"Some. Some of it my father told me when I got to my teenage years."

I lean down and press my lips to his. His body is tenser than the string of a drawn longbow, his face etched in pain. He moans and my tongue finds his as he rolls, pinning my body under his. He pulls back staring me in the face.

"Anyway, to make this short because I don't feel like spending the night upset," he says quickly, "My Dad eventually married my mother, but he treated her like shit. She worked three jobs because even with all the money he had, he'd never help her with anything. When I was five, he left her for Carmen, and treated her like gold. Bought her everything— did everything for her he never did for my mother. When I was twelve, my mom killed herself and I had to go live with my father, his new wife, and my baby stepsister. So that's it."

I pull his lips back to mine and kiss him until the tension leaves his body. He stares down at me again, and my stomach tightens.

My turn.

"Lily Williams isn't my real name," I whisper looking at his chest.

He takes a sharp breath, and I wait for the outburst to follow. He's the only person I've ever admitted this too.

"What?" he says, his voice gentle and soothing.

I meet his gaze again. "By the time I was nine, I'd blocked out everything about my past. The owner I had asked my name and I couldn't remember. He thought I was being defiant, refusing to tell him. He tied me up and beat me, saying he wouldn't stop until I answered. After almost two hours, I screamed the name Lily. It's been my name ever since," I said, voice strangled, a single tear rolling down my face.