Auctioned

by Lucie Morales

  "You know, that look is sort of creepy."

  "Huh?"

  "Your smile." Her light laugh made me want to smile more, but I turned it down a notch; or two.

  "I'm sorry, I'm just so happy!"

  "I'll bet." She laughed again. Why was she laughing at me? Did I do something?

  "Claudia!" I sang as we entered the kitchen, only to stop dead in my tracks.

  Whoa.

  I'll say.

  Chapter 53

  “So, how’d all of you get in here?”

  “Justan invited us!” Jonathan piped up. Boy was that an awkward situation. All the boys from my childhood were there in the kitchen, though most of them had moved into the dining room; mostly the personally rejected guys anyways.

  “You’re beautiful.” One of the boys sighed, I couldn’t remember his name though.

  “Thanks.” I blushed slightly. My goofy grin was gone now, but I wasn’t paying much attention to that. I wanted to know why there were all .. Uh … 36 boys from my pst in Justan’s house; well, all except for Matty. Even Dustan was there!

  “So, have any of you seen Matthew?” A lot more boys knew him than I would have guessed, but none knew where he was at. Great.

  “Why?” Dustan asked, always the curious one.

  “I need to talk to him.”

  “About?” Wow, talk about nosey boys.

  “I just do.” Then I left, neglecting my pleading stomach.

  Once I entered the “main room” as I once thought it, I saw Justan and Daneese walking through the door that Justan had almost punched a hole through once. Yeah, talk about a mess that is hard to clean. Blood everywhere, door that needed replacing; big mess.

  “Hey!” My grin returned and I sprinted toward him.

  “Oh! What are you doing up?”

  “Am I not allowed to be up?” I laughed nervously.

  “Of course you are but - Have you been in the kitchen?” I nodded and he smacked his forehead. “Look! I can explain, I -”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Huh?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Can I call Matt?” I heard Daneese sigh and leave. Had I done something wrong?

  “For what?”

  “I need to talk to him.”

  “About?” Oh man. Why do guys have to be so freakin’ nosey!

  “Stuff. Me and You. Stuff.” I honestly just wanted to tell him that I’d rather just be friend with him, that I loved Justan. I’d been planning what to say to him for a while… Since I thought of him the night before. I’d even had a dream about what I would say.

  “Oh. How about you make a brunch date with him?”

  “Date? Why?” I heard my stomach grumble, and I blushed. “Oh.”

  “Okay, I’ll call and let him know. Then I’ll drop you off.” He smiled and gave me a small kiss before leaving.

  Oh, this is going to be hard.

  Interesting is more like it.

  Chapter 54

  “Hey!” Matt beamed, standing up from the weird umbrella table thing.

  “Sup.” I couldn’t really get much out besides that one word.

  “Are you okay?” I smiled grimly and nodded slowly.

  “I’m fine. But we need to talk …” I could feel my stomach tightening up seemingly trying to keep my words in.

  “Oh..” He sounded wary; knowing, pulling my chair out for me. I looked around the area before sitting down; I felt like I was being watched. “So..?” Was he that oblivious?

  “Come here,” I opened my arms, in a hugging gesture before standing up to hug him. He sent me a guarded look before getting back up and hugging me; my shortness didn’t help the cause.

  “What are you doing to me?” I heard him breath. I didn’t want to hear that, I really didn’t want to hear that!

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, right before I got an idea. “Kiss me.” I probably should’ve thought over my plans better.

  “What?” He pulled away quickly and looked at me like I was crazy. Oh, now he gets it!

  “Kiss me,” I repeated. He was starting to get on my nerves.

  “But, aren’t you with -”

  “Yes!” I hissed, “Now just kiss me!” I grabbed his chin, and pulled his lips onto mine; it took all of 5 seconds for him to respond.

  Nothing.

  I waited politely until he pulled away, a sad look on my face; a knowing one on his.

  “Nothing, huh?”

  “Sorry.” I hugged him and sighed, “I really hope we can be friends, even though it’ll be awkward for a while.”

  “It won’t be awkward for me.” His smile made me want to smile back, but it felt wrong to smile at the time. “Just as long as you’re happy,” he muttered, looking away from my face.

  I beamed as I squeezed him more.

  But no matter how happy I was as we sat down, or how hungry I was when we ordered our food, I couldn’t get this feeling out of my gut that someone was watching me.

  Chapter 55

  “So, how’d it go?”

  “Great. We decided to be friends.”

  “Oh, that’s good.” I could hear a slight smile in Justan's voice. “So are you ready to come home?” A smile grew on my own face before my eyes landed on a small store across the street.

  “Not quite yet.”

  “Why not? What are you doing?”

  “No worries,” I laughed, “I just don’t want to be home yet.”

  “But -”

  “Alright. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve been in a town or around other people, so I wanted to get used to it.”

  “How are you talking to me? When did you get a phone?” Talk about random.

  “Matt has one,” I laughed.

  “Oh, okay” What’s his issue? Hmm..

  “Why?”

  “Umm… No reason.”

  “Fine, be that way.”

  “Okay, don’t be mad! I’ll tell you.”

  “Alright,” I laughed; I wasn’t mad.

  “I was going to buy you one.”

  “Oh, thank you!” I wanted to hug him so badly.

  “Well, you ruin the surprise.”

  “I’m sorry.” I could just picture his pouting face; it made me want to laugh.

  “It’s fine. You go ahead and do what you were going to do. Make sure to get a hold of me when you’re ready.”

  “Just meet me at the restaurant in an hour.” I smiled over at Matt.

  “Alright, see you later.”

  “Love you.” There was a silence that made me nervous. Too soon to say it?

  “I love you too.” The dial tone on Matt’s cell told me he’d hung up. Things I would’ve screwed up to make him just hang up like that ran through my head, causing panic to rush through my body. I said it too soon.

  “Thank you Matty.” I smiled widely at him and handed the weird, touch-screen phone back to him.

  “No problem sweetheart.” I smiled wider, hoping not to show how upset I was that I messed up.

  “I’m glad that we’ll stay friends.”

  “Of course. I’ve had this girl pinning over me for a while now, so I guess it’s a good thing.”

  “Well, I’ll see you later then.” I got up and hugged him.

  Before he left though, I had a hundred dollar bill slapped in my hand. What? I looked up at Matt with a curious look.

  “I saw you eying that store,” he grinned at me, “knock yourself out.” I gave him a big hug and a grateful smile after pulling away.

  “Thanks.”

  I watched Matt get in his Prius and leave, before heading over toward the store.

  I got the feeling of somebody watching me back right before I walked in.

  What is going on?

  Chapter 56

  I held the engraved necklace box tightly as I sat at the little restaurant and waited for Justan to show up. It still hadn’t been an hour, but it seemed like forever! Jeez, why had I even said an hour? Would he like what I got him? It was sort of
cheesy. “My love”. Oh yeah, guys seem so macho wearing things like that.

  My hand quickly came up and made a slap sound against my forehead. Man, how stupid could I get?

  I heard the chair across from me slid across the concrete ground, and my head snapped up quickly, an expectant smile on my face. He was finally -

  “Can I help you?” The man in front of me wasn’t Justan, but he had an air about him that told me that I’d met him before.

  “Why yes, you can.” His smile was warm, but I still wasn’t sure; there was something about him that told me he couldn’t be trusted. “Would you please come with me?” By then, I was beyond guarded.

  “What for?”

  “I just noticed you in that shop over there, and I was wondering if you could help me pick out something for my little boy.” A smile slid its way onto my face. How sweet.

  “Sure. That’s so sweet of you.” I slowly stood up, gently lying the necklace box on the table. Hopefully I’d be back before Justan got there.

  I sent the waiter looking my way a nod toward my table, hoping to let him know that I wanted him to hold it for me. He gave me a soft smile and nodded.

  “Alright, lets go.”

  “This way.” This is a bad idea, this guy gives me a terrible vibe.

  It’s only to help him find something for his kid.

  As we past the shop I was just in, a groove formed in between my eyebrows.

  “I thought you said -”

  “Oh, not that shop sweetheart, I can’t afford anything out of there.” His laugh was guarded, so I guessed that was a touchy subject.

  “Oh, okay.”

  We continued to walk until we were far from much of any civilization.

  “Where’s that shop you were talking about?”

  Realization hit me once it sank in that I was being held up against the dirty brick wall a few moments later.

  “It’s nice to see you again Lily”

  Told you.

  Chapter 57

  “Umm… I’m not sure I’ve ever met you before.” I kept reminding myself to keep cool and not to panic. It was just like with dad; don’t freak; don’t feed their sick minds with your fear.

  “It was a very long time ago sweetheart, I’m not surprised you don’t remember.” His smile disgusted me to no end, but his breath wasn’t tainted with alcohol; it didn’t smell like he hadn’t brushed his teeth in a year; it actually smelt pretty good.

  “So, what? You’re gonna rape me? Tell me to never breathe a word of you? Fine. Just hurry it up, someone’s meeting me soon.”

  “You cheating on your boyfriend?” What an odd question.

  “No.”

  “Meeting up with a girlfriend?”

  “No.”

  “Who you meeting then?” What a nosey rapist.

  “My boyfriend.” My tongue tingled when I talked about Justan like that. It felt so good. I wasn’t positive that he’d consider me his girlfriend, but I definitely wanted to call him my boyfriend.

  “So you are cheating on your boyfriend.” Huh?

  “No…”

  “Then who’s that guy you were kissing?” I missed his hand moving to put a glove on.

  “A friend.”

  “Why would you kiss a friend?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I bet.” Right after those words hit my eardrums, I felt a stinging pain in my abdomen. “Just about as complicated as this.”

  I dropped to the cold, gritty ground, gasping for air. It wasn’t entering my lungs like it was supposed to though.

  What the hell just happened?

  Chapter 58

  His breath hit my face as he knelt down to my level.

  “Do you remember me now?” I slowly shook my head, and another sharp pain hit me somewhere in my body. It hurt like hell.

  “Well, before this is over, you’ll know me very well.” He didn’t seem happy to be doing this, he wasn’t laughing like a maniac; and he hadn’t touched me one time in a sexual way. What was it that he was after?

  “You know, this whole thing that you think you’re going through is a lie.” My face wouldn’t move enough to portray my confusion so I just concentrated on breathing. Let me tell you, that was a lot harder than it sounds.

  “Nobody gets to pick who you’re with; who gets to be with you. You sure are a pretty little thing.” My lungs felt on fire, and I still couldn’t breathe, but I sure did want to rip this guy’s face off.

  “You’re bought, like an animal at an auction. Although your situation was a lot closer than most ..” He seemed to be talking to himself for a second before continuing. “You women are told what we men want you to be told. You see, parents - mostly fathers are called by a friend when they have a daughter.” This guy was just confusing, but I figured there had to be some point to his rambling, so I tried to listen. “We’ll use you for the example. Once your dad found that you were a girl, he called all of his buddies that had little boys that would be around your age. The men put up money almost immediately for their sons to be with you, and your dad would pick the people he found fit to be in your family, and also who put up the most money - naturally.

  “Once he had found them all, he started to invite them over to see you. This is where your little lie starts to tie into the story. Once the girl is old enough, the boys are introduced properly and they interact with each other.

  “After, he starts to pick off people who you didn’t like all that much, one by one; also the ones with the least amount of money; though he still tried to make sure to keep the people you liked the most. Believe it or not, your father was interested in your happiness. Soon, people would raise their prices, and you’d be worth millions.

  “Your dad is a very greedy man, and picked everyone off but the top two by the time you were nine.” His voice was becoming a little fuzzy, and as his voice got fuzzier, the pain got stronger. As he spoke, I realized that I was exactly nine when it was only Matty and Jeremie that I was allowed to play with.

  “Unfortunately, your mother interfered when she tried to make you spend more time with Matthew because she believed that both of the boys should have a chance to get to know you; and have a chance of being picked. That’s the first mouth function with the lie that we’ve had; and so it might not be used anymore. Justan, however, had the most money, and had paid for you already, so your mother had to be taken out of the equation, just as your friend who made you like that idiot because she liked him the most. Like I said, you were worth a lot; lots of people wanted you and wanted into your family as well.

  “Sadly, when your mom died, tragic hit and your dad when insane; keeping you away from everyone, not letting anyone see you but himself.” He paused for a minute; but I couldn’t really concentrate on that.

  “Stay awake!” Another sharp pain hit my body and I realized that I had been falling into my subconscious, and I was being stabbed.

  “So anyways, once someone finally got through to your dad, he decided to call a few people back up and try to auction you off. Just so happens that when he called Justan, they made a deal that he’d give you over after a certain price, and that nobody was going to bid to that certain price; it was too high. Although he’d already paid for you once, he agreed to this; that boy would’ve given any amount of money just to have you. He’d fallen head over heals for you.

  “Not knowing what he was getting into, he started to bid, although I could tell that he thought nobody in the room was bidding nearly high enough for someone as exquisite as you; but he kept his bids low.” At that point, I realized that I’d seen his guy in the crowd at the auction house. “Then, that annoying twit of a girl burst in trying to buy you off so you didn’t have to be with anyone and could live the normal life that you’d deserved.” I could hear the snide tone in his voice at the word “deserved” as if he thought I didn’t deserve anything close to even the thought. She was right, I did have something to be grateful to her for. Ooops.

  “Well, that worked
well. I said stay awake!” Another painful stab. “So, Justan got you, and somehow, you ran into that baboon, Matthew. Justan thinking it was in your best interest, let you interact with him and then Daneese told him about the tradition; or at least her version of it. So, he let you be around him to choose who you wanted. I guess that was another flaw in the lie.