The auctioneer doesn't even miss a beat. He gives me a grin, smashing his gavel down as he yells, "Sold."
The woman I just bought is escorted off the stage and sent to a back room to wait for me to make my payment and pick her up. I sit back down at the table. The adrenaline that was coursing through my veins calms as I wait for him to finish the end of thenight speech.
While the man on the stage is blabbering on, I lean over to Henry. "You decided not to get anyone for the night, or are you still hung up on you know who?”
"I didn't see anyone who called to me," he says, shrugging his shoulders and ignoring my comment. He narrows his eyes at me. "I see you found what you were looking for, though."
"For tonight, at least," I say, a grin spreading across my face as I pick up my drink from the table, taking it down in one swallow. Pushing back my chair, I stand up ready to retrieve my prize.
"Now it's time for me to go get my prize," I say, giving him a wink, and leaving him behind.
two
Mia
The spotlight on the stage blinds me as I try to look out into the audience, hoping that at least one person is suitable for me. And when I say suitable, I mean someone who isn't at least thirty years older than me. Since the day I turned eighteen, my mother has been forcing me to do these auctions as a way to uphold our family duty. Meaning, that if I don't do what my mother says, she'll disown me, leaving me destitute.
The auctioneer begins after introducing all of us, and it's our job to stand here and look pretty. He starts off with Missy. She's a regular at these as much as me. "Let's start the bidding off at 5,000."
I tune the rest out, because honestly, I couldn't care less who makes what. The only person I care about is me. Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck rise, and it feels like someone is watching me. Glancing behind me, I check to see where they are, but I see nothing out of the ordinary.
I try to ignore the feeling, tuning back into the auction. Missy has been sold and now we're moving on to the next woman. She must be new because I haven't seen her before, which means that she'll probably go for a high price. In my experience, the longer you come to these things, the lower you go after a while, unless you can do something that will make you more appetizing. Me, I've been experimenting with a bit of pain when I'm hooking up with someone from these auctions—it keeps things it a little more exciting.
The new girl goes for ten grand, good, but not great. I look at them as they walk off the stage, when I get thefeeling of being watched again. This time I look at the audience to see if I can see if anyone is paying more attention than the others. No one seems to jump out, until I reach the shadows in the corner of the room.
I squint, trying to get a better look. I can see dark wavy hair and piercing green eyes that are trained right on me, looking at me like he wants to devour me. It makes a shiver run down my spine, but I can't tell if it’s because I'm turned on by the way he's looking at me, or if I'm scared out of my mind.
Speaking of creepy, I watch as the old auctioneer comes over to me, breaking me from my musings, as he announces, "Now, we have this beautiful angel here."
The creepy auctioneer places his hand out, and I place mine in his as lightly as possible, not wanting to touch him. It takes everything in menotto pull my hand away from him. No matter how many times I encounter this man, something about him feels off. He introduces me,commenting on how I like pain and pleasure, making my eyes roll. But that is how the club makes money.
The bidding starts off at ten thousand dollars, which isn't too unusual, dark and sexy bids first, at fifteen thousand. Someone else in the audience counters with twenty thousand, which makes dark and sexy upset. He glares at the man who bid on me, making the other man gulp. Right then, dark and sexy stands up and announces a bid of one hundred thousand dollars, making my jaw drop.
"Holy shit," I mutter as the auctioneer yells, “Sold” quickly.
The people running the auction hurry everyone off the stage and I come face to face with Guy, one of the security guards. We all break into different rooms, preparing to fulfill our side of the deal. My stomach turns with uncertainty.Why would this guy spend so muchmoney on me?
Guy opens the door to the room that is assigned to me, I walk over the threshold, and my nerves run rampant. He closes the door, leaving me behind. The anticipation of what could happen when that door closes is always the worst part, though. I mean the man is hot, sexy and everything any woman could want, especially in this situation. But from my experience, sometimes the worst things come in pretty packages.
I begin to pace back and forth, waiting for the man who bought me to come, my back facing the door to keep my emotions under control. There is no way I want anyone to see how anxious I'm feeling right now. At least if I have my back to the door, it’ll give me a moment to get myself together. My nerves are so frayed that I’m gnawing my nails. Unfortunately, a bad habit that I've had since I was young, plus my mother hates it. And anything my mother hates, I try to do, just to annoy her. To push what boundaries Ican in my life.
The door behind me opens, and I hold my breath, listening to the footsteps walking up behind me. The need to turn and see runs high, but I refuse to turn around, not yet. In my life, I have so little control that I like to use these small moments to rebel and whoever came in, seems to be playing the same game. Neither of us speak, but the tension in the room rises with every second that passes.
I spin around to see the man who is standing behind me, and the moment I lay eyes on him, my body freezes exactly where I'm at. I'm not even sure I'm breathing.
He is the quintessential picture of tall, dark, and handsome with a dash of danger. We stand in silence, assessing each other. The mystery man before me is dressed in a dark blue button-down, tucked into a pair of black slacks, very much molded to every single muscle on his body.
I suddenly feelas if I'm on fire.
I straighten my spine, trying to gather some confidence, remembering that my mother might control my life, but she didn’t raise me to be weak. Finally, I’m able to squeak out, "Hi."
The moment the words leave my lips, my gaze drops to my feet, feeling slightly embarrassed. He says nothing, but I can feel his gaze on me, accessing me, as if… if he searched hard enough, he would find all my secrets.
The silence between us unnerves me. I keep tight-lipped, but I’m unable to keep my hands still, as I try to force myself not to start chewing on my fingers. There is no way I’m going to embarrass myself once more.
A beat later, the man finally puts me out of my misery. "Hello,Mo bhanphrionsa," he says, putting two of his fingers under my chin, and tilting my head to bring my eyes to his.
I want to ask him what that means, it’s on the tip of my tongue, but I bitemy tongue not allowing it to escape. This is for just one night, it doesn’t matter what it means. Besides, I can’t seem to look away from his eyes, they are such an intense blue, and I can’t help but feel hypnotized by them.
