by Stasia Black
Virgins were worth more at auction, you see.
What followed were the most hellish three weeks of her life. The things she saw… Her shudder worked its way down to her bones. She was dragged around with Lorenzo and his crew as they made their way to Nuevo Laredo. That was where the biggest and most lucrative slave market was.
Vanessa managed to escape the night before they arrived at the border.
But Lorenzo Bernal was not a man who forgave or forgot. Especially since she’d killed one of his men and severely wounded another as she escaped. Apparently, he took that sort of thing personally. Or maybe it was just the fact that he’d been bested by a woman.
He’d shot her as she ran away so—frankly—she’d considered them even. Okay…so she stole his truck technically after her shot her, but still. Why couldn’t he just move on and forget about her?
Lorenzo Bernal was why she’d been forced to live off the grid for the last several years.
She found herself a nice cave by the Pecos River. She woke up every morning and did the grueling work of surviving another day. She talked to no one and avoided human interaction at all costs.
But then she got sloppy—ventured into a couple of trading towns to get seeds and to replace her broken and used-up supplies—and he found her again despite her disguise.
God, she was just so damn tired.
Every year she lost more muscle mass. She was getting slower and slower at skinning the rabbits she caught. She was sleeping longer and longer hours. She knew she couldn’t keep up that kind of brutal existence forever.
Jacob’s Well had been an extreme plan B, but as the months passed, it began to look more and more attractive.
Lorenzo’s crew was only at most ten men strong. And he might be vengeful but he wasn’t stupid. He was a vulture, picking at the bones of prey only after it was dead. He didn’t walk into fights he wasn’t positive he could win.
So no way he’d dare enter a well-governed township looking for her. Not to mention, slave trading was illegal now and the President had issued a price on his head.
Even if he was stupid enough to come into town, with five husbands devoted to her protection…
As soon as she’d heard rumors of Jacob’s Well, she’d been fascinated. Traders talked about the town like it was a mythical place. An oasis outside of the rest of the war-torn, ruthless Republic. A place where peace and order ruled and women were treated like queens.
Queens who had to marry five men, sure, but still. Apparently there was a law in Jacob’s Well that if you raised your hand to a woman, they’d cut your hand off.
The first time she’d heard about the township, she’d scoffed. Any time something sounded too good to be true, it usually was.
Even now—after having seen the place, met the Wolfords, and been treated so nicely—she worried she’d got it all wrong. Chances were, it was all a ruse. It would probably turn out to be just like Travisville where they lured women in with lies. Colonel Travis was an evil bastard who trafficked women in his territory right under President Goddard’s nose, and nothing was done about it.
But the traders who talked about Jacob’s Well were the real deal who usually saw beneath bullshit propaganda.
So yeah, she’d definitely been thinking about Jacob’s Well.
When Lorenzo’s two lackeys ambushed her at the river two days ago, well, that just accelerated her decision to make the plunge. She’d escape them, then high-tail it to Jacob’s Well.
Men from Jacob’s Well just happening to stumble on them and providing the perfect distraction so she could take Lorenzo’s men out? What were the odds?
Fate was one tricky bitch, that was for sure.
So now she was here.
Tonight, they would have a lottery to choose her five husbands.
Vanessa felt her mouth go dry even as she lifted a nervous hand to her hair again. She immediately winced and looked away.
Obviously the whole chopping off her hair to disguise herself thing hadn’t worked. And now she was left looking like she’d had a boxing match with a lawn mower and lost.
She hadn’t exactly been thinking about beauty at the time—actually it was better if she was ugly. Her aim had been to come across as an ugly boy so when she went in to trade goods, no one would give her a second glance.
But now…
She’d looked in the mirror for about five seconds earlier today but it was enough to be permanently emblazoned on her brain.
She looked like something out of a horror movie. Her cheeks were gaunt and sunken under high cheekbones—one of which was lacerated, the other bruised to a deep purple. Lorenzo’s bastards had gotten a few good hits in before she’d been able to turn the tables on them. Then there were her eyes, way too big and owlish in her face. She looked like some sort of wild animal, and…
God, was she really obsessing over how she looked? What the hell? She’d done what she’d had to in order to survive.
But there had to be more to life than surviving.
Right?
So yes, she really was going through with this. Normally she’d never be one to simply roll over and trust anyone, much less a man, to take care of her. Yet here she’d be putting herself under the protection of five men. But if she was being honest with herself (and honesty was something new she’d been experimenting with), she didn’t think it sounded all that bad. In fact, it sounded fucking fantastic.
After so long on her own, beyond the safety issue, well, it would be amazing to finally belong to someone (or someones). To actually be loved …? She could hardly imagine what that would feel like, but a family with all the trappings: a roof overhead, dinner on the table at six o’clock, anniversary presents this time next year… That would really be something.
Still… with the lottery she volunteered for now just minutes away, she had yet another flash of worry. She sat with Sophia Woldford in a room off the second-floor balcony of the courthouse, hoping against hope that she hadn’t got it all wrong about this place.
Trust your gut, Vanessa. It’s never let you down before.
Despite her gut telling her to relax, Vanessa glanced toward the exit, then back at Sophia, eyeing her suspiciously, looking for a crack in the pretty brunette’s otherwise peaceful demeanor.
Vanessa sighed. Well…if she was wrong about these people, at least she’d scored a couple good meals out of it. That was something. If this all went to shit, she’d escaped worse jams. She glanced toward the exit again.
“I love that you’re excited about the lottery,” Sophia said.
Vanessa guessed Sophia was her babysitter, of sorts. If so, she wasn’t doing a great job. It had been a piece of cake for Vanessa to convince her they should sneak out of the Commander’s house and into the courthouse to watch the lottery first hand.
“Well, the women did go to the lotteries in the beginning,” Sophia had explained when they were still back in her pink bedroom. “But the crowds got too rowdy, and Dad felt it was safer if the women didn’t go.”
“Safer?”
“Oh no,” Sophia had said, quickly reassuring her. “I didn’t mean it like that. Everyone here is really great. It’s just all the guys in town get really invested in the process, you know? So much testosterone… It sure would be something to see.”
Having sensed her opportunity, Vanessa doubled down on Sophia’s romantic nature. “It would sure put me at ease to see their enthusiasm first hand.”
“Would it?” Sophia had asked, looking uncertain, but also very interested.
“Most definitely.”
“Well…” Sophia bit her lip and looked toward the door. “Maybe we could…”
“What? We could what?”
“Well, if we took the back way past the mercantile—we could sneak into the courthouse through the delivery doors. That’s where Dad usually officiates from—from the courthouse balcony. We’d have to do it before everyone gathers in the square.”
So there they were, upstairs in a la
rge room off the balcony hiding behind a couple of overstuffed couches pushed up near the far wall. The only other thing in the room was a stack of metal folding chairs.
Vanessa had learned a lot about Sophia in the two hours they’d been waiting. She was only a few months away from her own lottery and she was very excited about the prospect. If the lottery was a front for female slavery, the Commander had done a very good job hiding the fact from his daughter.
“I just really want a family of my own, you know?” Sophia said. “I know that’s not really modern to say. But I never really wanted adventure or to go and see the world, not even when I was a little kid and that was still an option. I played with dolls and thought about my wedding and what I’d name my kids. I want a lot of kids. Aren’t you excited at the chance to be a mom now?”
A mom? The idea had never crossed Vanessa’s mind. In fact, babies had been the last thing she was thinking of late at night in the cave when she’d been sharpening her knives. But now…? Did she dare let herself imagine it?
Not that it would be an issue for a while—she hadn’t had a period in years, she’d been so skinny and malnourished.
“Trust me,” Vanessa said, shaking her head, “You’re not missing out. Adventure isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The quiet life sounds really appealing, and a family…” Vanessa trailed off.
Besides her and her mom, she’d never really had one of those. Not really. Five husbands had sounded like family enough, but would they want children, too?
She supposed…if she could put on some weight, maybe she’d start to get her period again… That would be good. It would be hard to have a family if her cycle never kicked back into gear.
She and Sophia stopped talking as soon as it got noisy outside in the square. Only moments later, feet sounded on the stairs and then the Commander was in the room with them, talking to another man, Vanessa had no idea who.
“How the hell does the lottery box go missing?” the Commander asked. “It’s been guarded by men from your Security Squad you swore to me you trusted.”
“I’m sorry, Commander. There was a bit of confusion when the box was brought to the courthouse. Apparently some of the men aren’t happy with the new verification system. They got pissed at the delays and mobbed my guards. In the confusion, the box was lost.”
“You lost the lottery box?” Sophia asked, popping up from her hiding spot behind the couch. “Daddy, what are you going to do?”
“Sophia?” her father sounded exasperated. “What are you doing here? And where’s Vanessa? You didn’t leave her back at the house alone, did you?”
“Of course not.” Sophia sounded insulted. “She’s here, too.”
Sophia waved for Vanessa to stand up and Vanessa shut her eyes, her face scrunching. Wow. So, this was embarrassing.
She stood up slowly and, when she opened her eyes, saw the Commander shaking his head at his daughter. A big man with a scar running down his face stood behind him. He was one of the men who’d found her on the embankment yesterday, along with the handsome one and the young guy.
Vanessa glanced out the window. From the sound of the crowd outside, they were more than restless for the proceedings to begin.
“What are you going to do?” Sophia asked. “Postpone it?”
“No,” the Commander said decisively. “We don’t know who took it and that could be playing right into their hands. We’ll just have to improvise.” He paused a moment, his eyes going up and to the left like he was calculating something. Then he looked at Vanessa. “Pick a number between one and eighty-two.
She opened her mouth, and he held up a hand. “No, don’t say it out loud.” He walked close and leaned down. “Just whisper it in my ear.”
Okaaaaay.
The number came to her quickly, without any thought. “Forty-seven,” she whispered. It was the age her mother celebrated on her last birthday, just months before she died.
The Commander pulled back with a hard nod. “Thank you. Now, you two,” he gestured at Sophia and Vanessa, “stay out of sight. Nix,” he looked to the other man as he picked up a bullhorn from a chair near the door, “you’re with me.”
Sophia took Vanessa’s hand and tugged her back around behind the couches again. They didn’t crouch, but stood there while the Commander pushed open one of the double doors to the balcony. He and Nix slipped through it before shutting them firmly behind them. The doors were glass but had beige linen curtains running the length, held taut to the window by curtain rods on the top and bottom of the door.
Almost as soon as the doors shut, Vanessa was hurrying out from around the couches and toward the doors.
“Wait,” Sophia called. “What are you doing? Dad said to stay—”
Vanessa rolled her eyes, then looked over her shoulder at Sophia. “Do you always do what Daddy says? Come on. It was your idea to come here in the first place.”
Sophia bit her lip as if trying to remember if it had actually been her idea, then she started forward to join Vanessa at the door. “Okay, but don’t move the curtains.”
“I won’t.” Vanessa pushed the curtain the tiniest bit to the side so she could see out, then she grinned at Sophia. “Much.”
Sophia smiled back. Vanessa liked this girl, even more so when Sophia pulled her curtain back, too.
The Commander shouted orders through his bullhorn, and from the tiny bit Vanessa could see, the chaotic mass of men slowly organized themselves. It was messy at first and for several minutes Vanessa thought that, whatever the Commander was trying to get the men to do, it was never going to work.
But a few minutes later, rows began to emerge. Rows of five, five columns across. From her angle, Vanessa couldn’t tell how many rows deep the crowd went, but it sure seemed like a lot. Jesus, how many men were there? And they’d all come hoping to be matched with her? Never before had she been the object of anyone’s desire—well, apart from Lorenzo, but that was more financial and then vengeful.
When the square finally went mostly quiet, the Commander spoke again into the bullhorn. “By random lot, number forty-seven has been chosen. Where is group forty-seven?”
The formerly quiet crowd went wild again, shouting so loud it was deafening. Vanessa almost pulled away from the door, but she was too fascinated. This was the real test of how “civilized” this township really was. Would the men lose their shit and start fighting and rioting?
But to her shock, the rows of men only dissolved back into a formless mass that retreated to the edges of the town square.
This exodus left one group remaining at its center. They walked through the now open space, disappearing from Vanessa’s view as they came closer to the balcony.
The big man with the scar, Nix, suddenly pulled open the balcony door, causing Vanessa and Sophia to jump back. He was smiling, as if the results of the lottery had satisfied him very much, but then he narrowed his eyes on Sophia.
“Oops,” she said.
Nix’s gaze slid to Vanessa, and his self-satisfied smile returned. “Think you can manage to stay put while I bring up the winners?”
Sophia laughed but then hurried back around the couch before her dad returned to the room.
The next couple minutes were a bit of a blur. But before Vanessa was really quite ready for it, the five men who were going to be her husbands had entered the room and stood staring at her.
They couldn’t have been more different, well, except for two of them who looked like identical twins. At one end of the line was the tall, handsome man who’d first confronted her on the embankment. He was even more handsome now that her focus wasn’t skewed by adrenaline. He had a strong jaw and a cleft chin. He was probably in his late-thirties, well-muscled, and tan like he often worked outside. Though he looked a little green at the moment—like he was about to be sick. Okaaaaaaay.
To his left was a slightly younger man, blond, blue-eyed, with classic movie-star good looks. For some reason, Vanessa got the feeling he’d been a frat boy in his form
er life. Right now his full lips were turned up in an amused smile as he looked her up and down. In fact, he actually laughed incredulously at the sight of her.
To his left was a lean black guy, more Vanessa’s age, with curly brown hair, kind eyes, and a shell-shocked expression. He was wearing a silky white tank and matching basketball shorts, and he stood a step back from the other four.
To the left of him were a pair of twins. They looked barely out of high school. One wore his auburn hair parted and neat; the other’s was unruly. They both had stocky, muscled bodies, and Roman noses. The one who was more well-kept looked terrified. The other looked… seriously pissed.
In fact… None of the five men looked excited to be there.
Um. Was this how it usually went? Vanessa’s eyes flicked back and forth across the five. Part of the reason she’d wanted to come to Jacob’s Well was to be part of a family, to be wanted. The way she’d heard it, winning the marriage lottery was a big honor for a man. Like, weren’t they supposed to be celebrating?
Vanessa swallowed, and then she realized what was going on. Of course. What did you expect? she told herself. You’re tiny, insignificant, and on top of that…no great beauty. Not even on your best day, and you haven’t had one of those in a while.
And just like that, she was fifteen years old again. Her mother was sick, and her father—who’d left them when she was three to start a new family with his pregnant mistress—had come to help. Sort of.
From almost the moment he’d stepped in the door, he was busy looking at his phone. And after a few minutes, he said, “It’s Cecily. I have to take this.”
Cecily. His other daughter. The one from his other family. The one he loved.
After he hung up, he’d looked at Vanessa’s mother briefly, just long enough to pull back in disgust at seeing the sores on her body… “I can’t be here. I need to get back to my daughter.”
His daughter. As if Vanessa was something less than that. How did a man reject his own flesh and blood?
“I’ll come back first chance I get, okay?”
Vanessa nodded. She was strong. She had no choice in the matter.