by MJ Bockarie
I went along it, yeah, I'll admit that, but only be-cause I thought he was drunk and going along with it, too.
I felt so stupid the morning after. Like, what was I thinking? Having sex with someone like Alec. I had no shame that night, but now all of it was weighing down on me at once.
"Come downstairs, Mariana."
The voice startled me and I sat up abruptly, plac-ing my hand over my heart and letting out a huff. Alec was standing at the door, looking at me with a blank expression.
"Come downstairs." He repeated before walking away. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, stretching before I left the room and walk-ing sluggishly down the stairs. Let them get upset, I didn’t care.
Austin was sprawled out on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV. He switched to the news and I saw the headline.
"Police still searching for missing teen, Mariana DeLiza."
"As you can see," Austin sighed as he sat up, "these people aren't giving up easily. They've been reviewing the security footage from that conven-ience store and since this stupid brother of mine didn't black out our license plate, there's a possibil-ity they might find us."
I shrugged. "Bad for you, good for me."
"Bad for all of us." Austin said. "You robbed that bank with us, and they've connected the dots that it was the same car that was in the parking lot the night you were kidnapped that was sitting at the front of the bank."
"This is all good news for me, what the hell?" I raised an eyebrow. "If they find you guys, I go home."
"You'll be long gone by the time we're found." Alec chuckled. I winced at the look on his face. Both he and Austin had this sinister, murderous smile almost and I suddenly became extremely uncom-fortable.
"What do you mean 'long gone'?" I asked.
"Apparently, Nathaniel plans on moving the both of you to Italy or someplace in Europe a month after he wins you from the auction." Alec explained.
I looked at Austin. "Is he serious?"
Austin nodded. "Nathaniel's still thinking about it. He's trying to figure out how to get you out of the country."
"He can't," I said, "someone at that airport is go-ing to recognize me."
"He's probably buying a private jet or some-thing." Alec shrugged. "I don't know. All I do know is that you'll be gone before the end of next month."
I laughed. "It's funny that you think I'm going to move to Italy because you people don't want me found. I know there's more to this than Austin be-ing in love with me and this stupid auction. It has to be something else."
Alec shook his head. "Trust me, Mariana, there's nothing else. I'm sick of you here."
"Yeah, I know." I mumbled. "I overheard you ranting to Austin about how you wouldn't mind kill-ing me."
Austin's eyes widened. "You heard that?"
I nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, and? Why do you care?"
He didn't respond. I glared at Alec. "I never wanted to be here. I wish I had never met you. I re-gret everything."
Alec smirked. "Oh, shit, Mariana. I'm hurt."
"Fuck you." I flipped him off, then spun on my heels and walked back upstairs. I slammed the door on my room and pounded my fists on the wall.
He made me so upset, that boy. Everything he did lately, everything he said. Hell, even the way he looked at me ticked me off so much. I didn't know what on earth he was doing to me, but all I knew was that I didn't like it and he needed to stop.
EIGHteen
The day was finally here. The auction.
I had woken up, and it didn't even take five minutes before I was shaking and in tears. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go live with Nathaniel Woodrow, whoever the hell this man claimed he was. As much as I despised these boys, it would be in my best interest to stay here with them.
Everything seemed to be moving so slowly. The hands on the clock took forever to move. Everything was hazy and distorted. Was my mind playing games or what?
I sat back down on the bed and took a deep breath. It was going to be okay. I would act like I didn't care. Things would be fine.
Ha! You really think things are going to be fine? Something's going to go wrong, Mariana.
"Shut up," I grumbled and got up, walking to the door. I placed my hand on the knob and slowly twisted it, pulling open the door. Alec was standing on the other side, his hand raised, ready to knock.
"Oh, you're awake." He uttered. "Get dressed in something appealing. We have to leave soon."
I nodded. "Okay."
He raised an eyebrow. "Just okay?"
I sighed. "What else do you want me to say, Alec? "Yippee"? "Woohoo"? For Christ's sake, I'm being sold like an item at the store! I've never felt more worthless in my entire life than I do at this mo-ment."
He frowned. "You're not going to make Na-thaniel happy with that attitude."
"You're not even listening to me, are you?" I asked and he didn't answer. I rolled my eyes and turned around, heading to the closet to look at some of the dresses Andy bought me.
"Is Andy going to be there?"
"I don't know. Probably."
"Are you going to be there?"
"Kind of have to be, Princess."
I whipped around. "What did you just say?"
"I called you Princess," Alec shrugged, "so what, you hate that nickname."
I shook my head. "Never mind. It's... it's not im-portant."
"Obviously it is." He pressed. "What's so wrong about me calling you Princess?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. You just haven't called me that in such a long time. I kind of missed it."
Alec's cheek slowly turned pink, and it took eve-rything in me not to smile. "Oh, you did?"
"A bit," I nodded, "but that's not really im-portant."
I searched a bit more before pulling out a tight-looking sleeveless red dress and decided to go with it. I didn't have the patience to continue to look. I closed the closet and stood up, glancing over my shoulder. Alec was still standing at the door, staring at me.
I cleared my throat. "Can I help you?"
Alec shook his head as if he was coming out of a trance. "Uh, no. Be ready in an hour, okay? The place is quite the trip."
"Sure." I nodded and he gave me a wink before leaving the room. I bit back a smile and headed to the bathroom to change and get ready.
I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. My hair had grown at least four inches, my bags were very much evident, and the redness of my eyes made me look like I was stoned.
I sighed. What was happening to me? I looked terrible. I was skinnier than I was before, and I didn't like it. I had started depriving myself of food. Was it me? Maybe my messed up relationship with Alec was taking its toll on me.
After taking a shower and rinsing my face multiple times, I finally felt satisfied with the way I looked. My hair was wavy, my face looked kind of nice, and the dress fit quite well. I had in hand the pair of black pumps I had worn on my birthday. I cringed looking at them, memories flooding back.
I ran my free hand through my hair and sighed. Looking at the clock, I still had an extra twenty minutes to spare.
I walked out of the bathroom and went down-stairs into the kitchen. Alec was sitting at the table, typing away on his phone. He was dressed in a dress shirt and some blue jeans.
His usual mess of dark brown hair was slicked back nicely and he had finally decided to shave. I stood for a bit, admiring his looks. This kid was fucking gorgeous but incredibly fucked up at the same time.
"Done checking me out, Princess?" He smirked, and I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. He looked up from his phone and smiled at me, eyeing me up and down.
"Damn, you look good." He mumbled.
I blushed even more. "Thanks."
We kind of just stood there, glancing up at each other every now and then, only to divert our gazes to the floor or the ceiling. Even the plain beige walls seemed to be interesting. After what seemed like forever, Alec spoke.
"I could tell y
ou that I love you so fucking easily right now."
I lifted my head up slowly and furrowed my eye-brows. "Wait, what did you say?"
"I said, I could tell you that I love you so fucking easily." He repeated. "You should know that by now, Princess."
I chuckled bitterly and stepped away from him. "You don't love me."
"I do," he said, "I actually love you so fucking much and it's only fair that you know before you leave."
I looked down at the floor, not wanting Alec to see me cry, even though he had seen me cry many times before. I shook my head. "Dammit, Alec. You always do this."
"You don't have to say it back." He continued on. "But I love you, Mariana, and please don't start with that "it's too soon" bullshit because I'm never going to see you again so it doesn't matter whether it's too soon or too late."
And Alec continued to fuck with my emotions. I looked up at him and sighed. He gave me a small smile. A tear trickled down my cheek and the smile turned to a frown. "No need to cry, Princess. It's fine."
I sighed. "I thought you were under strict instructions not to hurt me."
"I am." He nodded.
"Well, breaking my heart counts."
Alec gave me a small smile. "I didn't know I had your heart in the first place."
"I don't want to leave." I whispered.
"I know," he replied, "but you have to."
Alec looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "Come on, we have to go."
"Okay," I let out a breath. As I was turning around, Alec grabbed my arm and brought me closer to him, then gave me a kiss before I could protest.
He had no right to be doing this. I could've pushed him away and slapped him. That probably would've started another argument between us, but I didn't care.
He pulled away and sighed. "I'm sorry."
I nodded and didn't say anything. The car was open, thank God. I climbed into the passenger's seat and bounced my leg up and down impatiently. It was going to be a long drive, he said. How long is long? I was going to be stuck in a car with a crazy boy who claimed he loved me.
As much as he hated Austin and would probably kill me if I voiced this, but he and Alec were so much alike.
Alec finally left the house and he stood for a while, fiddling with the lock on the door. When he was done, he came to the car and climbed into the driver's seat. "Ready?"
I shrugged. "As ready as I'll ever be."
NINEteen
We had been driving for an hour, and Alec had said that we weren't even halfway there. Wherever we were going, it must've been hidden or very fucking exclusive or something along those lines because I thought this was simply ridiculous.
"Nervous?"
"What kind of question is that?"
He chuckled. "Touché."
I sighed. "Am I really going to move to Italy?"
"No," he shook his head, "Austin and I made that up to scare you."
I rolled my eyes. "Fucker."
He shrugged. "Oops."
It was silent after that. Alec would occasionally look at me, give me a smile, or put his hand on my thigh. I always smacked it away, but he would give me a wink and mumble something under his breath.
That went on for the whole car ride, and as much as it annoyed the living shit out of me, I couldn't help but enjoy it because these were the last few moments I was going to spend with him.
"How you doing, Princess?" He asked.
I took in a sharp breath. "I'm scared, Alec."
He frowned. "I know."
The building the auction was taking place was relatively large. It was made completely out of brick with a single bright red door. I looked over at Alec. His face was expressionless.
"Ready, Princess?" Alec sighed.
"No," I scoffed.
"I figured." He muttered and got out of the car. I followed shortly after. He was walking fast, and I instantly regretted wearing heels. I wasn't one to run in them. I wasn't one to necessarily wear them at all. It was because of this stupid auction I had decided to wear them, since no one really specified what "look nice" meant. I could've worn jeans and a T-shirt and would've still "looked nice".
I finally caught up with Alec, putting my hand on his shoulder and turning him around to face me. "Okay, what the fuck is your problem? Last time I checked, I was the one getting sold like an inanimate object here, not you. Why are you being so crusty?"
Alec shook his head. He approached the red door and opened it. The foul smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke leaked out. I scrunched up my nose and walked in behind him.
He grabbed my arm as he dragged me through the mess of people. So many men were in suits and ties. They all looked the same with their hair slicked back and cigars hanging out of their mouths. A woman could be seen every now and then.
Alec led me to another door, this one being blue. He opened it, and on the other side was what seemed like hundreds of girls, all in pretty dresses and nice shoes with their make-up done nicely and hair either curled or straightened to perfection.
"Stay here until it's your time, okay?" Alec whispered. He gave my shoulders, a small squeeze before disappearing into the crowds.
A red headed girl with dark brown eyes was the first to notice me standing at the door. She walked over to me, a smug look on her face. "Am I right to assume that this is your first rodeo?"
I nodded. "You're right."
She put her hand on the small of my back and guided me into the room. "This is how this thing works. A man comes in, picks ten of us at a time, and takes us backstage. Each bidding round is no more than five minutes, so you're in and out of here in the blink of an eye. If you've been sold, you go to your master. If you haven't been sold, well, let's just hope you're sold."
"What happens if you're not sold?" I asked.
She sighed. "I've never experienced this myself, but I heard that the guy who organizes this thing takes the "Uglies" and uses them for his own pleasure."
"Oh, okay." I shuddered.
The girl stood back and examined me. "What's your name, newbie? I'm Maggie Carrousel."
"Mariana DeLiza." I replied.
Her eyes widened. "You're the chick who's been missing for like, ever!"
"A month and a bit," I corrected her.
"Right," she said, "do you have any clue who's going to buy you? Most girls here do, and then there's me, hoping I get someone who doesn't treat me like a slave."
"Nathaniel Woodrow." I recited his name and the image of the cocky, blond haired man appeared in my mind again. Maggie looked baffled.
"Nathaniel Woodrow?" She scoffed. "He's horrible. I'm sorry in advance for you, Mariana."
"He seemed okay." I rubbed my arm slowly.
"That's how they all seem." Maggie muttered. We stood in silence now.
I examined some of the other girls. Some were crying, some were fixing their makeup, and others sat emotionless in the corners of the room. I recognized some of these girls from the news, remembering hearing their stories when they had first gone missing.
Most of their families had given up, assumed dead by them and the police. Yet, here they were, waiting to be sold into a life they didn't ask for.
After a while, the door swung open and a man in an all-black suit stepped in. All the chatter between the girls died down as he slowly began walking through the room, picking and choosing which ten he would bring out first.
He stopped when he had picked his ninth victim, scrunching his face up and pondering for a moment. He looked torn. His eyes flashed between me and another brunette girl sitting not too far away from me.
Finally, he lifted up his hand and to my dismay, his extended finger was pointed right at me. Maggie squeezed my arm and gave me a sympathetic look. I returned it and stood, walking over and standing behind a pretty blonde girl in a midnight blue dress.
We all filed out one by one in the area where all the buyers were mingling before. It was now empty, the smell of smoke and different types of alcohol lingering in the air.
Now we were all side-by-side as the man paced, eyeing us closely.
"Ladies," he said. His voice certainly didn't match his appearance. I expected it to be husky and deep, but instead, his voice resembled that of a teenage boy who hadn't quite hit puberty yet. Judging by the looks on the faces of the other girls, I'm assuming they weren't expecting that either.