I know I should be screaming by now, but I can’t bring myself to actually do so. I shiver, feeling the need to wrap my arms around my midsection and cover myself.
“Beautiful,” I hear someone whisper into the hollow of my ear.
There are other women in this same room. My eyes glaze over each of them as they push us all into a single formed line. No one fights or cries. They merely conform just as I am.
“All right, ladies, let’s make some big money tonight,” someone hollers off to the right. I hear loud, booming voices, but I’m not sure what is going on. My knees buckle, and I sway unsteadily on my feet.
I have to lean against the wall behind me to keep myself from falling again. I close my eyes for a moment, trying to clear my head but that just makes it worse. A few moments later, the guy who took my dress off is back. I try and move away from him, but my legs won’t work.
What is wrong with me?
With his hand on my arm, he makes me walk to a curtain. I see lights off in the distance. They’re blinding, and I shake my head, wanting to tell them man no.
“All you’ve got to do is walk out there and stand next to the auctioneer. Got it, sugar?”
Without waiting for my answer, he pulls the curtain to the side and gives me a nudge. My chest heaves, and my body tingles as I barely make it across the stage. I can feel my body swaying like a leaf in the summer breeze.
When I make it to the center of the stage, I peer out onto the crowd. Men. All men. Their eyes took in every single inch of my flesh. The stage light is directly in my eyes, making it hard to see farther than the first row but that is all it takes to make bile rise up in my throat. I squint my eyes, attempting to look farther out onto the crowd. I can feel tears in my eyes.
Xander. His name goes off inside my head like a fire alarm. He’ll save me, right?
“This lady in red is a very special treat. I bet you she tastes as good as she looks.” The man chuckles, his eyes gleaming with lust. “We’ll start the bidding at one hundred thousand.”
“Five hundred thousand,” a man’s voice bellows through the room. A voice that is not Xander’s. Panic fills my belly. Inside, I’m scared to death, but on the outside, I’m numb, completely numb.
“One million.” A deeper, darker voice fills the room. Xander. My knight. My dark as sin hero. I want to run to him but when I take a step forward, the auctioneer grabs onto my arm, keeping me in place.
“One point five million.” The crowd has turned completely silent, all chatter ceases at the bidding war Xander and this other guy have.
“Two million.” I can feel the anger in his words. Is he really going to spend two million dollars for me? The amount seems utterly ridiculous. I couldn’t dream of ever having such a large sum at my disposal.
“Do I have two point five million?” the auctioneer prods.
“Why the hell not? Let’s go with three million.” The unknown man’s laughter fills the room.
“Five million,” Xander counters not even a second later. There is no hesitation to his voice, and though he might be paying for my body, I know it will actually be me paying him later on.
“Six million, anyone?” the auctioneers prods once more, and the entire room remains silent. “Going once…”
My stomach clenches into a tight knot.
“Going twice…”
I can feel Xander’s eyes on me even though I can’t see him.
“Sold. For five million dollars to the man at table six.”
The auctioneer ushers me to the other side of the stage, where yet another man is waiting for me. He grabs me by the elbow and walks me down a single flight of stairs. My legs feel like rubber, and my head is spinning. I feel sick to my stomach, and I wonder what’s going to happen next? I screwed up with my sister, and now Xander’s going to hate me for making a scene, the one thing I wasn’t supposed to do.
“Five million, that’s a pretty penny. We don’t have many girls who bring that kind of money.”
He leads me into another room that holds nothing but a chair. He pushes me down into it, my pantie-covered bottom slamming into the cold metal. The room is mostly dark, minus a small overhead light. I can barely make out the man’s dark features.
“As soon as your buyer pays, he’ll come back here and pick you up.” He turns and heads back out the door, leaving me sitting there as if I’m waiting for the bus or something. The door shuts and the click of the lock being turned fills the room.