Devil's Bargain

I hang the towel back on its rack and looking at my reflection, tuck the hair that’s fallen out of the clip behind my ear.

Those women that I saw up on that stage, they’re in a league all their own. Me, the makeup I had on earlier today has disappeared, the only evidence of there having been any at all is the smudge of mascara on my temple. I wipe it away.

I look down at my sweater, at my plain skirt and boots, everything second-hand but my bra and underwear. I look around the bathroom and I’ve never been in a world like this before. A world of money where a quarter of a million dollars is something you loan out. Where men like Hawk rule and women are put on auction blocks to be sold to the highest bidder.

Hawk. Is that his first name or his last name? I don’t even know. But I do know that I don’t belong here. I don’t belong in his world.

And I am going to be sick. Because I know myself. Because Liza was a kid when she told that lie and she was scared. As scared as me.

But it’s hard to remember that sometimes.

Hell, I wish I could forget all of it, whole years of my life.

We were supposed to leave together but after her betrayal, I ran. I didn’t care that I left her behind. Not then.

“Melissa,” comes Hawk’s voice from the other side of the door and it’s a godsend, saving me from going back to that terrible time. That terrible place. “Time,” he says.

I grip the lip of the sink, steel my spine, look at myself in the mirror. I just have to block it out when I’m up there. Just block it out when whoever buys me uses me. Just disappear like it’s not me. Not my body.

That’s nothing new. I can do that. Hell, it’s second-nature.

I have no choice. I can’t let him hurt her. Or worse.

I won’t.

“Melissa,” his voice is firmer.

I turn to the door, place my hand on the doorknob, take a deep breath in and wish I’d drunk that whiskey. I could use it now.

I open the door.

Blood flushes my face at the sight of him. He’s good-looking, but rough. Rugged, like he doesn’t quite belong here. Not in an office. Not in a suit.

He watches me, his face impassive, waiting for my decision, I guess.

“Will I be safe?”

He nods once.

“Can I say no? Once I’m…bought.” The word sends a wave of nausea through me.

He shakes his head. “Once you agree, you’re bound.”

“To anyone?”

“To anyone.”

God.

Can I do this? Can I even do it?

“It’s one night of your life.”

One night. One night when I give myself to a stranger.

“Melissa?”

One night where I prostitute myself.

I can say no. It’s my choice. I can walk away.

I had a choice then, too, and I chose. I walked away. I left her behind.

Do I abandon her again?

“Decide.”

I shift my gaze from his, take a deep breath in and nod.

3

Hawk

Yes.

That was her decision.

Melissa is taken backstage to be prepared.

I sit at my table with Axel across from me. He’s back from his errand.

Axel Drake and I have known each other since I was sixteen-years-old. He’s one of the few men I consider a friend.

There were three years when he left Vegas and went east. It’s a time he doesn’t discuss though, not even with me. All I know about it is that he and his brother, Hugo, a man I’ve never met, spent time in prison there and I have a feeling it has something to do with that errand he ran earlier.

I understand revenge and I don’t care what Axel has to do to take care of what he needs to take care of as long as he’s available when I need him. It’s an understanding we have between us.

He drinks the last of his whiskey and I pour him another.

The gong goes off and the auctioneer announces this is the last of tonight’s draw. They’ll be anxious for it. I only have half a dozen girls at each party. Keeps them hungry.

“Want me to keep someone on the sister?” he asks as the curtain goes up. “I have a feeling she’ll disappear as soon as she’s released. If she’s smart, that is.”

We’re both watching the stage as he speaks, as the spotlight begins its ascent up the raised dais where she stands like an offering.

It seems like it’s a slow dragging of the light, like we’re given an inch at a time. Just glimpses as it travels up the draped figure where two women stand on either side.

Finally, the light shines on her face and she squints, turning away momentarily.

I didn’t realize how long her hair was. It falls in waves over her shoulders and thick bangs frame her whiskey eyes. They’ve fixed her makeup, lined her eyes heavily and put a sheen of gloss over those pouty lips.