The double doors to Alex’s secret domicile, it turned out, were still too intimidating. I rotated on my heel, going back the way I came until I reached the door to the sleek, dark-walled office I’d glanced at before.
The inside of the room felt almost foreboding, and maybe that was why it thrilled me to walk fully into it, passing the threshold and stepping on the smooth, dark rug on which a sleek desk sat.
There was a computer that evenlookedlike it was rigged to set off an alarm if I thought about touching it, and a shining silver paperweight in the shape of some kind of obelisk.
A painting on the wall, large and geometric with different shades of gray and dark blue, drew me further into the space.
I was just wondering how heavy the huge painting must be when I spotted a surprise at the edge of the frame. It looked like…a hinge?
My pulse thumped a little quicker as I searched for a potential latch or handle at the other side of the painting, not really expecting to find an easy way to open whatever secret door the artwork was meant to conceal. But without much effort, I accidentally swung the door open to reveal a shining silver safe behind it.
An honest-to-god safe. Like something out of a spy movie, with a huge, intricate dial and something that looked like a fingerprintreader and all of the various bells and whistles that told meyou’ll never, ever, get inside here.
Sure, I knew these guys were wealthy—just their clothes, the swagger they carried would have told me that even if I wasn’t currently being held sort of hostage at a luxe penthouse.
But something about this felt sinister, too. I didn’t get the sense that they’d come by their money in purely honest ways. I wasn’t sure anyone did, really.
Anything could be hidden in that safe. Sure, it was likely piles of cash, or treasured heirlooms worth more than mine and Mom’s little house.
But if these guys were criminals, as their presence at that auction and their tenuous connection to my father suggested, it could be worse. Drugs. Guns. Parts of bodies they’d killed.
No way,I told myself.Don’t be stupid, Frankie.The last option was ridiculous no matter how shady the men who’d bought my virginity at auction seemed.
But the others…they were real possibilities. Why did that proximity to danger feel a little exciting to me, too?
I’d always been satisfied with the lack of excitement in my life. Reading books helped me to escape, to experience adventures that weren’t in reach for me, and to get some respite from the trials of the healthcare system I’d had to endure with Mom.
I’d never seen the adventures in fantasy books or romance novels I read as aspirational, though. I was content with the quiet.
But maybe now I’d uncovered something new about myself. Some deep buried part of me that really craved adventure andrisk and high-stakes feelings. I didn’t want to think getting laid could change me so deeply—no man had the power to alter who I was the way my father had once tried to change my mother.
But it didn’t bother me to think experiencing something new and groundbreaking, the way my first sexual experience had been, could have opened me up to more. More fun, more danger, justmore.
A sound across the penthouse made me jump, banging my shoulder against the still-ajar painting door. I hurried to close it back, then sprinted out of the office into the hallway, where Darla was waiting for me with a suspicious cocked brow.
“Having fun?” she asked me, and my skin flushed red all over.
“Um, I was just?—”
“You don’t have to explain to me,” she said breezily. She was carrying a shopping bag, and she thrust it toward me. “I’m on your side, hon. Just stopping by to let you know the guys are taking care of you, and I’m here for you, too. Which is why I brought you this.”
I looked inside and blushed even redder, which was silly.
“The birth control pills take some time to work,” Darla explained, and I knew not to be offended that she didn’t think I’d already know that. I really did give off an innocent idiot baby vibe. It might be safer to assume I knew nothing. “But I grabbed you some Plan B for today too, just in case. All the instructions are in the packaging, but you just let me know if you have any questions, m’kay?”
“Okay,” I said, feeling instantly overwhelmed. Darla’s face softened, and she gently guided me into a space that was almostcozy—a sitting area near the kitchen with a chair that was deceptively plush for how clean its lines were. She sat across from me in an identical chair, leaning in like we were old friends, her face lighting up with the universal girlhood twinkle of gossip.
“How did it go last night, Frankie? Tell. Me.Everything.”
And for a while, I embraced the freedom of being able to do that. Darla listened to all the delicious details, and I felt a little better about not being able to share this chapter of my life with anyone who knew me before yesterday.
Surprisingly, I lost all semblance of shyness, reliving every sensual moment that was seared in my memory and my skin forever. At least, I hoped it would never fade.
I was feeling a little too amped up when Darla finally left again, having left me other supplies I’d need for an overnight stay, like a few simple items of clothes clearly from her own closet and a blessed phone charger.
She left me with information, too—the guys were arranging a whole wardrobe of clothes tailored to my exact measurements, which made me a little nervous about just how long they thought I’d be staying.
When I got my money, when the guys were back but before I could let them distract me with sex, I should demand they show me the contract I’d been too stunned to read before. Sexually satisfied or not, I needed to know what I’d gotten myself into.
