Chapter Twenty-Two
Candace
Cynthia walks out on stage and people applaud.
She introduces girl number one who floats out in her elegant red gown as if she just stepped out of a dream.
The bids for her start at two hundred thousand and rise to a steady million very quickly.I'm so shocked I keep my eyes peeled to what she’s doing and more importantly to who’s bidding on her.
She’s sold to an elderly man for one point five million five minutes later.That was quick. Really quick.I never expected it to be that quick.
Girl number two goes on and within seconds of her arrival, it’s clear it’s time for the professionals to take over.The bra she took off earlier was just a prop she could use to throw out to the crowd who go wild, and the reason for the hair up in the bun wasn’t so she could show off her ass or copy Gigi.It was because she wanted to whip it out like an actual whip to start her show.
A striptease.
A striptease that involved not only the art of stripping out of the backless dress and down to her glorious birthday suit, which sends all the men into overdrive in their bids.But she brings it home by spreading her legs and touching herself.
I’m not sure how the people who are just here to socialize can stand it.Even Helen looks shocked, but the other women nearby just sit there watching like they see this sort of thing all the time.Some are even watching with their husbands.
I don’t know why I bother to be surprised.I’ve heard of women buying girls like these for their husbands on their birthdays, or a just because gift.It answers the question of what to get the person who has everything.
Two million dollars later and number two is sold to the English man in the front row.
Her show lasted for longer than the first girl by ten minutes.But only because the men kept outbidding each other.
What put me on edge was the way Jacques looked at her.Bastard, he wanted her. That tick in his jaw is a tell he did.
But it looks like he wants me more.As the English man walks up on stage to collect his winnings Jacques looks at me again.Curiosity heightens in his stare, along with a threat I’m wise enough to take heed of.He’s looking at me like I better make sure I was worth the wait.
The look intensifies when Gigi steps out on to the stage like she owns it.
Helen was right. The woman is acting like a queen.
Gigi walks to the center of the stage like she’s on the runway, but instead of modeling clothes, she’s displaying herself and showing off the masterpiece she is.
I envy her confidence. She doesn’t do any of what the first girls did because she knows she doesn’t need to.
The bid for her starts at one million, not the hundred thousands, and all she’s done is stand there.Moments later when she turns around and bends over right in Jacques' line of sight to show him her ass, I nearly,nearly think this plan of mine has gone to hell and I’ll be spending the next thirty days in the bed of one of these other men.
I almost believe it and accept my fate when he shuffles in his seat and gives her a candid smile.
But Jacques doesn’t bid on her.
The bids go up and up and up to three million, and stay there.
Going once, going twice and Gigi is sold to the man in the far corner that looks like a Russian mob boss.
I swear I might die from the anxiety this is causing me.It feels like it could kill me dead far quicker than anything else could right now.But I count my lucky stars Jacques is still sitting there waiting for me.
As Gigi is claimed and taken away, all eyes are still admiring her body.
Now it’s my turn.
I’m next.
I walk out on stage when Cynthia calls my name, my legs shaking, my heart beating so fast I feel it might beat out of my chest and run the mile I should be running away from this event.
Numbing nerves race over my body like fire fueled by gasoline.