by Anna Brooks
With a hand on my back, he leads me back to the room with the stage and weaves me between the tables of men. I refuse to look at them. I’m so astounded that this is happening, I almost don’t believe it’s real. It’s like something from a movie or a TV show. The worst part about it all is that I have no clue what’s going on.
A man puts his hand out and slides it up my leg. When I look into his eyes, I wish I hadn’t. I can tell just by looking at him that he’s loaded. His receding hairline is covered by gray hair that’s slicked back, and he wears a watch that shines with diamonds. I glare at him, and he releases a full belly laugh.
I hold my head high and turn around, only to have my gaze collide with Carter’s. He very slowly shakes his head at me and then drops his eyes to my bare feet. I can feel them as they slide up my body, and when he makes his way to my face, the desire I normally see is that of a very, very pissed off man.
My eyes burn, and all I want to do is cry. I want to run to him and have him hold me and get me out of here. I want him to tell me everything will be okay.
Roger ushers me back to the small room and closes the door. That’s it. I try the door, but it’s locked. Sinking to the floor, I wrap my arms around my knees and bury my head, taking deep breaths so I don’t have a panic attack.
I don’t hear the door open again, but Roger is suddenly a foot away. “Ms. Bishop, please come with me.”
I jump up, not hearing him come back. “Where are we going?”
Apparently, I don’t move fast enough because he yanks me up. I feel a pinch in my shoulder and cry out.
I cross my arms and follow him again down a different hallway this time. I swear this place used to be a castle or something.
When the door opens from the other side, I falter in my steps when I see Carter. This room is nothing like the posh area where I was on stage or the one where my bikini was stripped. This is musty and wet… four brick walls and a cement floor.
Again, Carter gives his head a slight jerk, and I look away from him because if I keep staring, I’ll give something away. After I’m led to the middle of a room, Roger steps away, and Carter comes closer. “Hang tight, honey,” he whispers as he circles me.
I stiffen at his tone but don’t acknowledge.
“She’ll do. Count it.” He takes a folded up yellow envelope out of the inside of his jacket pocket and tosses it at Roger.
“You’ll have fun with this one.”
“Did I fuckin’ ask you?” The deadly tone in his voice makes me shiver.
Roger loses the humor and snaps his fingers. Another man comes over and takes the envelope. I can’t see what’s inside, but he looks at it for a second and then nods at Roger and hands the envelope back.
“Get her shit. Why you let these bitches walk around without anything on their feet is beyond me. The last thing I need is her blood all over the place if she steps on something.”
One of the men backs out of the room, and Roger blatantly stares at me.
“Shame I didn’t get to play first.” He runs his hand across my cheekbone as he licks his lips. Carter grabs his wrist and twists it behind his back, shoving him against the wall. Roger’s head hits the brick, but Carter doesn’t let up. “Don’t touch what’s mine.”
The other man who was in the room takes a step at Carter, but Roger holds his hand out to stop him, then nods drastically, and Carter lets up.
A minute later, my things are brought to me, and Carter waits for me to put the boots back on. Before they’re even zipped up all the way, he grabs my arm. “Come on.”
I know he’s playing a part, but all my life, I’ve wanted a man to fight for me. I wanted a guy who would stand up to my father. Who wouldn’t ignore the bruises on my body. Who wouldn’t refuse to take me home because he knew Daddy would be there and he was too afraid to face him. I wanted someone to be strong for me instead of me always having to do it for myself. And Carter has already done that with Paxton. I love him for that, but this… he’s saving me from something awful. Something worse than Paxton and my dad combined.
Even though I have a feeling he’d take one look at my dad and laugh in his face. I imagine him knocking him out. Maybe kicking him while he’s down, too. Giving him a taste of his own medicine.
I take Carter’s outstretched hand, and he clasps his fingers around me, tighter than he ever has before. He leads me out of the small, suffocating room and down the hallway I came in. The three men who were at the entrance are now four. One of them holds an arm up, and Carter stops. I bump into him from behind and grab his suit coat.
“Gentlemen.” He nods.
The guy wiggles his fingers. “Papers.”
Carter’s hand disappears into the front pocket of his jacket again, then he pulls out a sheet of paper. The man’s eyes scan it while two of the other’s roam over my body.
“Eyes off my property,” Carter growls.
I press myself even further into his back, and he squeezes my hand. One of the men clears his throat, but I don’t look to see if they’ve stopped staring because my face is plastered between Carter’s shoulder blades.
“Come on.” He yanks my arm, and I follow behind him. As soon as we step outside, another guard waits at the bottom of the steps. As we pass him, he smacks me on my butt. I jump at the contact, but Carter whips me around and manages to push me away while punching Mr. Handsy right on his jaw.
A different man steps out of a black SUV and walks with purpose toward us. “Get her in the car,” Carter says to him. Then he lifts the other guy up by the lapels of his jacket and punches him in his stomach.
As Carter’s friend gets closer to me, he smiles at me. “Come with me, Billie.”
I hesitate.
“Go with him,” Carter demands and then tosses the man aside.
“Babe, the sooner you get safely inside the vehicle, the sooner I can drag your man away.”
That gets me moving. I scurry over to the SUV and hop in the back. “Be right back. Police are en route. Do not get out of this vehicle.” He slams the door shut and then jogs over to Carter.
The front entrance opens to the building, and Roger walks out. “Oh, my God.” My knees are shaking so badly my feet bounce off the floor.
Carter gets up in his face, and Roger’s mouth tightens. After a couple of tense moments, Carter kicks the handsy guy in his side and then stalks toward the vehicle just as a swarm of police cars surround the building.
There’s nothing but a blur of activity, but it doesn’t take long for Carter and the other guy to head back to me after they talk to the cops. When he gets here, he rips the door practically off the hinges and shuts it just as hard. “Get us the fuck out of here.” Then he reaches for me and pulls me over to him and on his lap. He buries my head against his chest and releases a shuddering breath. “Jesus Christ, Jesus fuck,” he chants, molding me to his body.
“I’m Royce, by the way,” the guy driving says.
A surprise burst of laughter breaks out of me, and Carter’s chest shakes beneath my head. A tear escapes my eye, and I reach up to wipe it only to have another one fall.
Chapter 14
Carter
Her body continues to shake, but not because she’s laughing. Royce glances at me through the rearview mirror, tension around his eyes.
“I’ve got you, honey. It’s okay now.”
Her fingers tighten on my coat, and she pulls her legs up so she’s a little ball on my lap. My arms encircle her, and I rest my chin on the top of her head until Royce stops. He parks and quietly slips out of the vehicle.
Once he’s gone, I lift Billie’s head and wipe beneath her eyes with my thumbs. “You’re okay now.”
Her lip quivers, but she nods as she looks away from me.
I don’t want to be pissed at her for going without me, but I am. I fucking knew something was going to happen. She told me she was home. She told me she was there waiting for me. “What happened to me going with you, Billie? I fucking told you not to go.”<
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“They called last minute. Said they had to change the day, and if I couldn’t make it tonight, I wouldn’t be considered. I knew you had that thing. I called you before I went, I swear.”
“And when I didn’t answer, you just took that as the all clear to put yourself—” I cut myself off and take a breath. “Sorry, I’m not mad at you. I’m fucking furious at the situation.”
“I shouldn’t have gone, I know it. It was too late by the time I figured it out, and I swear, Carter, I listened to you. I know how stupid it was. But the way he made it sound, I just… I don’t even know. It was so stupid, and I’m so sorry.”
I bring my forehead to hers and kiss the tip of her nose. “I’ve never been so fucking scared as I was when you called. I’d go insane if something happened to you.”
“Nothing did, thanks to you.”
“And it never will.”
“Where are we?” She suddenly sits up and looks around the garage half filled with black vehicles.
“Royal Ace Security. Where I work. I just need to get my Jeep.”
“Carter… how did you get to me so fast?”
I want to tell her I wasn’t fast enough. “I was at the event, and it wasn’t far.”
“How did you get in?”
“Don’t worry about that, okay? I got in, I got you, and that’s all there is to it.” And if I wouldn’t have… I can’t even bring myself to think about it.
My phone vibrates, and I pull it out to see a text from Graham telling me the bad guys were arrested, and eleven other girls in a holding room have been released safely. A chill runs through my body, and my arm tightens around Billie. I have to bring her to the police station so she can give her statement. As much as I want to be the one to give her the details of what she was just subjected to, I’d rather be the one to hold her while she listens to someone else give her the horrible news.
“Baby, I need to take you down to the police station so you can give your statement. If you don’t want to, it can wait until tomorrow, but honestly, this is a bigger operation than you know, and any details you can give the detectives will help their case. And possibly help any other girls who might find themselves in the same situation as you.”
“There were more?”
I press my lips together.
“Oh, my God. Did they get out?”
Most of them, but from what I understand from Graham’s message, some went before her, so the real answer to her question is no, but I don’t even have to tell her that. She knows by the completely tormented expression on my face.
“Oh, God.” Then she loses it.
And I can do nothing but hold her while she does.
Billie
“I know this is going to be uncomfortable, so I have Lucinda Reyes coming in to take your statement, okay?”
I nod at the detective I’ve been giving a statement to, and he opens the door while a female detective trades places with him. This is all surreal.
I’ve been sitting here listening to him tell me about this… operation I was unknowingly involved in. I’m kind of numb. It feels like a movie. Like it’s not real life. But when this new detective walks in, waiting for me to give my statement, I know it’s very much real.
She sits in front of me and introduces herself, and although it’s hard, I turn to Carter. He’s been my rock. His arms have been steady around me, and if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to get through this. But he can’t be here for this. “Can you wait in the hallway for me?”
The muscles in his jaw clench, but he gets up and squeezes my arm before he walks out. “If he knows what happened, it’ll make him more upset than he already is.”
“I understand that. I’m sure he’s already mad enough about losing the money.”
“What money?”
“You don’t know?”
I shake my head. “Know what?”
“When he showed up, there was a buy-in of fifty grand just to bid on a girl. He walked right in, offered a hundred and fifty thousand, which is more than double what a girl usually goes for, and left with you. That money is now evidence, and he’ll never get it back.”
“Oh, my God.”
“I realize this is probably inappropriate, but you were very lucky to have a man like that in your life tonight.”
“I know… is he going to get in trouble for buying me?”
She shakes her head. “No. He’s not.”
“Okay, good.”
“Now, tell me what happened. From the beginning.”
So I do. But unlike what I told Carter, I give her all the details.
She hands me a tissue when I describe how he cut the little bit of clothing I had on, and I stood there completely nude. If Carter heard that, I know it’d haunt him. I’ll never tell him. I don’t ever want him to know because then he’ll feel guilty… or even more guilty than he already does even though it’s not his fault at all. It’s not mine either. It’s these sick people who organized this sick auction.
“Thank you, Billie, for your statement. We shouldn’t need any more, but if something changes, I’ll be in touch.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“Remember, you did nothing wrong. These people make a living out of being manipulative. You are not stupid for believing them. You are not wrong for your role in this. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’m going to go find your man, then you’re free to go.”
“Thank you.”
She pauses with her hand on the doorknob. “If you wouldn’t have gotten away and called Carter for him to tell Graham, who then got in touch with his contact to let them know they pulled a fast one, you would have been sold as a sex slave. And the eleven other girls who we got out of there, some half your age, Billie, they wouldn’t have made it out. So when you start to feel all the feelings I know you’re going to, just remember that, okay? You saved twelve lives tonight.”
I don’t even bother drying my tears, and when Carter comes in, he cradles me and immediately carries me to his Jeep without saying a word. He holds my hand on the drive back. He silently washes me. Then safely tucks me into bed.
“It wasn’t as bad as you’re thinking.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“Because I do. I just didn’t want you to hear the details because it’d mess with you.”
He kisses the top of my head. “Get some sleep.”
“Okay.”
“I love you, honey.” His arms are vices around me, and there is no way I could get out of them if I tried.
* * *
I slept through the night and woke up in the same position I fell asleep in. Carter left to go to work a couple of hours ago, but he had Gio come and hang out with me. I told him I was fine, but he insisted.
What happened to me was scary, but I’m choosing to look at the fact that I was lucky. Yes, I felt violated and humiliated, but those men are now going to jail. They didn’t win. And I’m going to continue living my life, the eleven other girls who got out of there are going to live their lives, and even more will get rescued as the days go on and they gather more information, so I remain the victor, and those other girls remain victorious.
Gio didn’t bring anything up from last night, but when he walked into Carter’s apartment, he pulled me in for a hug and said, “I’m glad you’re okay, Cara.”
I appreciate that he’s not talking about it, and I know he’s gotta be bored out of his mind, so I decide to ask him something I’ve wanted to know since I first saw him. “So why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
He looks up from his phone and smiles, then laughs so hard his face reddens. “Holy shit, woman.”
“How is that funny?”
“Listen, I’m glad for Carter, glad for you. Hell, I’m even happy Royce is with Paisley, but what you all have… it’s not for me.”
“Why?”
He sets his phone on the end table and sighs. “You’re nosy.”
“
Curious.”
“Do you want some sob story about how a girl broke my heart, and I’ll never be the same? That I’m just waiting for her to come back into my life and put all the pieces back into place? Or do you want me to say I just haven’t found the right one yet?” He raises a brow, actually wanting an answer.
“I just want to know the truth.”
His biceps bulge when he crosses his arms. “I like sex, Billie. Lots of it with as many women who’ll have me. I don’t like being tied down unless it’s to a bed.” He smirks. “And there isn’t a woman in the world who can change that.”
I bite my lip. He’s so lying. “I bet there is. And I also bet that you know exactly who she is. Maybe she doesn’t know, maybe she does, but you sure as hell do.”
He swallows; the only tell I’m onto him.
“And you’ve gotten yourself so convinced you’re a player you don’t even know the rules of the game anymore.”
“Trust me, it’s not a game. And I won’t be played aga—” He clamps his lips closed, and instead of giving a victorious woot, I offer a sympathetic smile, then change the subject.
“How long have you known Carter?”
The tension in his shoulders unwinds as he relaxes on the couch. “About six, seven years.”
“How did you guys meet?”
“At the gym. I was training, and he needed to work his shit out.”
“What shit?”
He tilts his head, assessing me thoughtfully. “Not my place to say. But I will say this. You’re good for him. He’s changed.”
“I think so too, but… never mind.”
“Don’t do that girly shit. Spit it out.”
“It hasn’t been long, and I know he has this macho protective thing going, and I worry that once that wears off, it’ll be like, I don’t know. Boring or something and he’ll change his mind.”
Gio shakes his head. “If I didn’t think you’d take it personally, I’d laugh right now because there is no way what he feels about you is wearing off. I never thought I’d see the day, to be honest, but if I did, I knew it’d be with his ride or die.”