The Pawn (Endgame 1)

Letting them see how much it hurts.

“One million dollars.”

The room goes deathly silent. It might have all been a dream, and when I open my eyes, I’ll still be pacing the room upstairs, waiting to be called down. I can’t hear a single dirty suggestion, the clink of ice in a glass.

When I look up, Gabriel stands in front of the platform. Even with an extra foot of platform underneath my feet, he’s taller than me. I look up at him, searching his eyes for some hint of kindness, of mercy. There’s none. I find only fire—and the thought that comes next makes me shudder: this is vengeance. It’s not a feeling he’s had, a fleeting thought for revenge. This is what he’s made of, cell by cell, atom by atom. He’s pure fury, and he’s coming for me.

“Well,” Damon says, sounding quite pleased. Chuffed, that’s how I’d describe him.

Gabriel takes a step onto the platform, and I take a step back.

“Why?” I whisper urgently. I need to know what he wants with me. They’re not just buying my virginity. Even Candy told me that. And it’s doubly true with a man as complex, a man as fierce as him.

A slight shake of his head is his only answer.

Damon watches us with a benevolent half smile. “Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have our winner. Unless anyone would like to—”

Gabriel makes that growling sound again, and Damon laughs softly. “Sold for one million dollars!”Chapter FourteenIn the myth of the Minotaur, Theseus, son of King Aegeus, decides that he will slay the monster. He runs the beast through with a sword and then retraces his steps using the string, thus saving all the sacrifices that year and in the future.

I’ve reached the center of the maze.

I’m facing my very own Minotaur. His eyes glow with fierce possession. His hand captures mine, and then he’s pulling me down from the platform. We walk quickly through the haphazard leather chairs. He ignores the shouts and catcalls to share me. I still don’t have my shift or a bra. I’m naked down to my panties, and the last glimpse they have of me is my backside covered in white. Then we’re alone in a room with dim lamps and a fire in the hearth. Even with the heat, I shiver. Gabriel pulls off his jacket and wraps it around my shoulders.

Candy couldn’t give me a sword, but maybe she left me a ball of string. Hope to find my way back to myself when all of this is over. Maybe someday I’ll return to college. I’ll find love with a regular man and lead a normal life. I have to believe that, because if I have to wander these halls the rest of my life, I’ll go insane.

“Why did you bid on me?” My voice shakes.

Gabriel crosses the room and pours himself a glass of something amber. He takes a deep swallow. “For the same reason the other men did.”

The small hope that I hadn’t even wanted to acknowledge, the wish that someone would save me, dies in that moment. “Of course you did.”

He returns and hands me the glass. I take a sip and cough as it burns down my throat. Then I take another sip. Immediately I feel fortified, and I realize I should have started with this. In only a few pulls the world seems a little warmer, the sharp edges softened. I hand back the glass and pull the lapels of his jacket closed in front of me, hiding my extra-pink nipples.

“My stuff is upstairs,” I whisper, my gaze darting anywhere but at him. Will he take me to that little room and fuck me there? Or will he do it in this room on an old leather armchair?

He gives a rough laugh. One last swallow and the glass is empty. “Already making demands, little virgin?”

I blink because I hadn’t thought I could demand anything. Hadn’t believed I’d have power. I’m already nothing, but inch by inch he reminds me that I’m even less. “It’s just…” My voice breaks. “My purse. My phone. A dress.”

Because I’m naked under his jacket, which barely covers the place between my legs. I can feel cool air from the room slip underneath my panties with no hair to protect me. Everything feels more exposed down there, more vulnerable since Candy pulled the wax away.

And then there are my breasts.

The silk lining his jacket rubs against me. Candy was right about the lights washing me out in that dark room, spotlights aimed at the platform, but here in this room with just him and me, the rouge on my nipples highlights what he’s going to do to me.

He takes a step toward me, and I back up. Another step. Another. My back hits the wall, and I turn away from him. He grips my chin and makes me face him. His gaze burns with lust, with possession. With an intensity that whips straight to my core.