Pride.
Chapter 23
Vaughn
That moment had beenone of the hardest in my life.
Not the one where Aleks had put that collar around his neck, but that had been pretty bad. No, it’d been when I’d had to help him with the clasp. Logically, I’d known it hadn’t been me putting the hated piece of jewelry on him, but now as I watched him obediently follow Luca into the darkened room, I felt like I’d forced that noose around his neck and I was terrified he wouldn’t figuratively be able to take it back off when he physically took the thing off. He’d made so much progress in the past couple of weeks that I just wanted to take him some place where I could nourish that growth.
Protect it.
Cherish it.
But I didn’t get to decide which choices Aleks made for himself, and he’d made this one and stuck to it. The most I could do was make sure that his stay in this world was as short as possible.
I let my eyes scan the room as we made our way to the lounge area. I felt sick as I watched all the men having a good time as their “pets” obediently stood at their sides or knelt at their feet. Most of the kids were in their teens, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before I saw younger boys and girls too. Some, like Aleks, were wearingcollars, which was a clear signal to the other owners to keep their hands to themselves. But the ones who weren’t had to suffer through being passed around and pawed by other guests. Thankfully, the party wasn’t the kind where the guests would just start fucking their property right there in the open.
There would be private rooms for that.
The party was actually an auction that was scheduled to start within the hour. There was a stage set up on the far side of the room, which was heavily decorated in varying shades of red velvet and gold trim. The furniture looked like what you’d find in any fancy living room and was spread throughout most of the room. Once the auction began, most of the chairs would be moved closer to the stage so the men could get a better view of what they were bidding on. While they waited, they had access to tablets that had information on it about each kid. Luca had handed the tablet he’d been given to me upon entering the party. I already knew it wouldn’t have any kind of cellular or wireless connection, so there’d be no way to link to the outside world. The tablet was solely used to let guests look through the pictures and stats of the kids being sold. And anyone who’d ignored the rules about bringing any kind of phone, laptop, or camera had been turned away at the door. Extensive background checks had been done prior to the party and had included both the kids and any bodyguards the wealthier guests had brought with them. There’d also been a limit of one bodyguard per guest.
Which meant it was just me, Luca, and Aleks.
And we had no way to communicate with Con or King or any of the personal bodyguards Luca employed. They were all outside the building. The only way they’d know we were in trouble was by the one-way communication device Luca had on him. It was a small video camera with a microphone that looked like an ordinary button on his suit jacket. So Con and King could see and hear everything, but we wouldn’t be able to hear them.
But it was the best we could do under the circumstances.
Our only goal was to see if Stylianos made contact. We’d agreed that if the man didn’t reach out within sixty minutes, we’d endthings and blow the whistle on the party. King already had a dozen of his men stationed in cars within blocks of the party. The second the sixty minutes were up, King would call his contact at the police department. Any guests who managed to get past the cops would be followed home by King’s men.
But the snag was that Luca, Aleks, and I would be stuck in the building when King made that call, since guests weren’t allowed to leave the party once they entered it. Everyone was required to wait until it was over so that no one could call the authorities during the party. That meant that Luca, Aleks, and I would have just minutes to find a way out before the cops showed up. In addition to making sure no one tried to get to Aleks during the event, I also had to find a workable escape route for the three of us. We hadn’t received the address for the party until minutes before we’d arrived, so there’d been no time to scope the place out ahead of time.
We were basically flying blind for the next hour.
And it could all be for nothing, because there still hadn’t been any kind of communication indicating Stylianos was attending or still even interested in acquiring Aleks.
I escorted Luca and Aleks to a set of lounge chairs in an area that was relatively empty. Luca looked the part of a ruthless business tycoon who didn’t have a care in the world as he dabbled in a world where selling kids for sex was nothing more than a normal transaction. From his bored expression to the ease with which he sat, he looked like a guy who was being forced to endure an overpriced play or garish opera.
As planned, Luca sat in a chair that was closer to the back wall and had a view of the entire room. There were only a few guests milling nearby, but Luca played the part to the hilt as he said to Aleks, “Sit, my pet.”
Even though I knew it was all an act, I wanted so badly to grab Aleks and get him out of there because he’d too easily fallen into the role. Part of me was afraid he’d escaped into his head but part of me was afraid hehadn’t. Either way, he wasn’t allowed to look at me, so I couldn’t see what was happening in his eyes.
God, this was so fucked up.
Aleks didn’t actually sit because, despite the words Luca had spoken, he hadn’t really invited Aleks to take a seat. With downcast eyes, Aleks obediently dropped to his knees next to Luca’s chair. He’d knelt close enough so that Luca could reach out and touch him if he wanted.
Con was the one who’d picked out the clothes Aleks was wearing, but only because I hadn’t been able to bring myself to buy them. But I’d been the one who’d had to tell him what to get because I’d been to enough of these events to know what the kids were forced to wear. I’d settled on a snug black shirt that was made of fishnet material, since an owner like Luca would have wanted to show off what was his, but not actually share it. I’d told Con to find Aleks some pants that accomplished the same feat… showed off his body but left enough to the imagination. The thin black leather pants Con had selected did the job. But it was the fucking collar that pulled the whole outfit together.
Aleks looked well and truly owned.
And his behavior was proof of that.
God, please let him be acting.
I’d never forgive myself if all of this set him back to where he’d been two years ago… or even just two weeks ago.
After the incident with the collar out in the Hamptons, Aleks had managed to mentally recover from the trauma within a day and we’d made the trip to the city. But I suspected he’d only managed to function as well as he had because he’d put the collar and the upcoming party behind a wall in his mind. We’d spent most of our days cooped up in Luca’s penthouse apartment in Manhattan, but we’d made the most of it by watching movies and playing video games. I’d ended up turning Aleks into somewhat of a video game addict because he’d become fascinated with some of the older-style arcade and strategy games. Not surprisingly, he hated the games with violence and bloodshed. I wasn’t particularly fond of those either – I saw enough of that shit in real life, thank you very much. I’d been more than happy to join Aleks for Minecraft marathons and he’d actually managed to get me to participate in dance-party games.
In those moments as we’d been dancing our asses off or watching or talking smack to each other about who was going to win, we’d been just a normal couple living a normal life. And we’d used the nights and the privacy of our bedroom to explore each other’s bodies and learn all we could about what brought the other the most pleasure. Aleks had made love to me every single night and I’d finally gotten to taste his cock a few nights earlier. He’d been horrified when he’d come inside of my mouth and we’d had a long talk about it being something I wanted. Aleks had admitted that he hated needing so much reassurance from me, but I’d made it clear that I’d gladly spend the rest of my days both telling and showing him that the things we did together were natural and normal and nothing like what he’d known in the past.
