by Evie Harper
More tears fall from my baby sister's eyes, and I feel some of my own as she nods.
She puts her arms back around me again with so much strength I can’t breathe properly, but I don’t care. I never want to let go of her again.
“I love you, Lily. Please, always remember that,” Sasha fiercely whispers to me. A sob rips from my chest, and I nod into her hair, praying to God too. Please get us out of here.
Jake’s warm hand tugs on my shoulder. My first instinct is to push away from him, but now more than ever, I understand I need to behave.
I kiss Sash’s forehead, stand and leave with Jake. Walking away, I keep my eyes on Sash. She watches me until I see Mick say something to her, and she cowers and starts working on the garden again.
I stop dead on the spot and throw as many spears from my eyes at Mick as I can.
“Lily,” Jake warns, “you will only cause more trouble for her. Leave it alone.”
I remember her beaten face. “He hurt her,” I whisper.
“Be thankful that’s all that happened to her.” Jake’s tone is gentle.
I reluctantly let Jake pull me toward the cottage. “You knew she was going up for auction soon, and you didn’t tell me,” I say furious.
“Yes, I knew you would go ballistic. I didn’t know how to tell you and then have to try to contain you.” His eyes tell me he is telling the truth.
Jake stops us near the entrance of the cottage and turns me purposely toward him. “You need to think about the possibility that Sasha could go somewhere better than here. There are people who go to these auctions to save those who are trapped.”
Hope blooms in my chest. “Do you honestly think that could happen?”
Jake looks back to the house and then back to me. “Yes, I do think that is possible. Plus a lot of places would be better than here.”
“And what if someone like Marco buys her? What if someone like—” I can’t finish my sentence remembering the party. “I can’t take that chance, Jake. What if some sick asshole gets to her, and I have no idea where he takes her. It could take me years if ever to find her. And that is when or if I ever get away from here.” Frustration coats my words.
“Sometimes you just have to have faith, Lily. Plus there is nothing you can do right now.”
“Ha! Really? If you had a sister or brother, could you do the same? Just hope that everything turns out okay?” I growl.
“Yes, Lily, that is exactly what I would have to do since there is no way to escape. Now, come on. The doctor’s waiting.”
Jake cuts off our conversation and begins walking into the cottage as I whisper, “I said could you, not would have to.”
***
Jake shows me which room I need to go into. I enter and leave him behind. I fumble with the back pockets of my shorts as my nerves play havoc with my mind.
The room is straight out of a hospital. White walls, long bed, machines, and blue curtains going around the bed.
A tall, gorgeous woman with shiny black hair steps out from behind the curtain, wearing a doctor’s white jacket over a black dress with black high heels. She smiles and extends her hand to me.
“Hello, I’m Dr Alexa Kingsley,” she states in a friendly and sweet voice.
I just stand there motionless and stare. She actually expects me to shake her hand? I don’t return her smile either. As far as I’m concerned, she is betraying the whole female race and should hand in her female card and get a sick and twisted bitch one back. Yeah, I’m angry. Angry there are people all around me, and no one is willing to help me.
Her smile dies when she notices my scowl. She hurriedly gets to work, not looking me in the face again, only giving instructions on what to do. Her voice is emotionless now, but I can still hear the soft, friendly tone she has. She sounds just as unhappy to be here as I am. She takes my blood, checks my weight, height, and does an internal exam, which is uncomfortable, but at least a woman is doing it.
As she sits me up and starts writing in her folder, Marco’s son, Joseph, enters the room. He steps to the back of the room, leans against the wall and crosses his legs. He’s wearing another expensive suit. If he weren't the devil’s son, I would admit to myself that he is gorgeous.
My attention is pulled away when Dr Alexa drops her folder and pen to the ground. She attempts to pick it up but fumbles. She seems nervous all of sudden. I look back at Joseph and see him smiling down at her. Hmm, what do we have here? She manages to gather the folder up and hastily fills her bag with all of her instruments and my blood, and then she leaves the room without a word. I watch as Joseph follows behind her.
Watching them leave, I see Jake walk into the room. I cross my arms over my chest and zero in on him with a sneer. He laughs at me, and I am most definitely not in the mood for laughing. I narrow my eyes to show him I am not mucking around, and he holds his hands up in surrender, motioning for me to stand and come with him. Having spent the past five days with Jake, we have formed a sort of friendship. The friendship has boundaries, but he is the only person in my world right now, and when I look hard, I find he’s someone I do want to be around. Until we crash into our boundaries, and then I hate him again. He’s standing there waiting for me to get up, I want to be a pain and stay here, make him ask me to get up, but realising I may pass Sash again has me jumping off the bed and out of the cottage fast.
Outside in the distance, I can see Alexa and Joseph in a heated discussion. I peer at them. It seems Joseph is trying to talk to her; however, her body language and expression would suggest she is telling him to get lost. Hmm, maybe she isn’t so bad after all.
“Was she gentle?” I’m stunned at Jake’s question. I also notice he isn’t holding my arm. We’re just walking next to each other, like two normal people would. I shrug as my answer. I’m not sure why he would even ask. Would he really care if she hurt me?
Jake blows out a breath and shakes his head frustrated. His frustration irks me. What does he have to be frustrated about? He didn’t just give blood to God knows who for God knows what.
We’re passing the gardens, and all my focus is on seeing Sasha, but no one is there, not a single person.
Seeing my disappointment, Jake informs me, “She’s in the laundry room now.”
“Are you telling me my sister is the one who has been washing my clothes?” I ask, astonished.
“Yes, the slave girls do everything around here; cook, clean, work the vegetable gardens, pick the fruit and feed the animals.”
Jake and I make our way into the house, toward my room. “So that’s all they do here? That’s why they were kidnapped, to cook, clean, and work?”
“No, first and foremost, they are here for the men. Marco rewards us with a lot of money, and women whenever we want them.”
I inhale harshly, “Sasha.”
“No,” he says quickly. “Marco wants to sell her, so that means she is off limits to the guards, unless she’s in trouble and then she will be punished. Most buyers want women who have hardly been used, so Marco makes sure to sell them without being touched by his guards. The other girls you see in the house are Marco’s. Sasha is the only one here at the moment who goes to auction.”
I look to the floor and shake my head, trying to understand this world and all the vile people in it. My stomach hurts at the thought of Jake touching or hurting one of the slave girls. Have I been wrong about him? Is he truly as horrible as the other men here?
We arrive back at my room. Jake shuts the door behind him, and I spin around and ask what has been going through my mind, “So you sleep with those girls? You, you rape them?” My voice comes out strangled as I pass the ugly words across my lips.
Jake flinches at my words and he answers quickly, “Never. And I never will. I’ve done many things in my life I can never take back, but I do have boundaries that I will never cross.”
My body surprises me by relaxing immediately at his words, making me aware of just how much his answer mattered to me. Imagining Jake hu
rting a woman churns my stomach. It would mean he really is the bad guy. But imaging Jake with another woman, willingly, sends a stab of jealousy to my stomach. Whoa, no, no way am I jealous. I shake my head at the ridiculous thoughts.
Jake gets comfortable in his normal chair in the corner and looks up at me, his eyes always assessing, staring. I sense he can see right through me, and worse of all, I like it.
A thought comes to my mind. I start pacing the room as the idea starts coming to life. “Could I bargain with Marco? Get Sasha clean clothes, medical help for her face? Not money this time. I know now he has more than enough, but something else. Something else he would want from me?” I stop and stare at Jake as I end on a whisper, fidgeting with my fingers.
Understanding flashes across Jake’s face, and he sits forward in his chair, elbows on his thighs, hands clasped out front, “No. Forget it. Not ever going to happen,” he says sternly.
“Can’t you just ask, Jake? I need to try something, and that seems like the only thing I can actually bargain with here,” I plead and swing my arms out to elaborate my meaning.
He stands and hisses at me, “Are you crazy, Lily. You’re willing to be with him, fuck him, for some material things for your sister?” His reaction both surprises and pisses me off.
“I’m willing to do anything for her,” I declare. When will he get it through his head that I won’t stop until she is safe and away from here.
I pace around the room more, tapping my hands on my legs, and thinking of all the things I could do to help Sasha.
“I could also request to get her away from Mick,” I say, uncaring that Jake is fuming in the corner.
Jake laughs. The tone is condescending and a sliver of his anger creeps in. “Lily, you can request those things from Marco, and if he does take your body, he will never give you anything in return. You have no power here. If Marco wanted you that way, he would have already had you. The collection pieces are off limits to everyone. Even Marco doesn’t touch them. He is only in it for the money and the power,” Jake states.
An invisible hand wraps around my throat and squeezes tighter and tighter the more Jake explains just how powerless I am. I’m frustrated and angry at his words. This feeling of being defenceless is emotionally and physically painful.
My face heats as the anger grows within me. Uncontainable, I blow and Jake is in my firing line. “The collection pieces?” I repeat deceptively soft, contempt dripping from my words. “We have names,” I snap. “You’re just like them,” I yell. I want to hit him, scratch him, and make him bleed. Something to show me he is human.
Jake blinks, stunned at my outburst. He walks to the door, and I start to grow angrier that he can just leave this room whenever he pleases. Something else I can’t do, something else that makes me weak.
“Go on, leave, you coward. You can’t handle the truth!” I shout to his back.
He turns and charges at me so rapidly that I stumble over my feet walking backwards, hitting the wall. Jake grabs hold of my shoulders, his brown eyes piercing into my wide ones. “I’m nothing like them,” he roars at me.
I’m shaking and my heart is racing. I’m scared. I have no idea how far I have just pushed him.
He lets me go and steps back. His hand rubs his chest over his heart, like he is in pain, and then he speaks softly, “You just keep pushing and pushing, Lily. There is only so much I can take.”
I open my mouth to say something, and then close it quickly when I realise I have no idea what he means.
Jake looks to the ceiling and growls, “Fuccckkkk.” His eyes shoot straight back to mine. They show the storm of emotions he’s fighting inside.
Desire, need, and resentment. A shiver races through me. My body wants him.
A pained moan escapes Jake, and he grabs my face roughly and kisses me. I tense up at his touch. His hold becomes gentle. His warm, soft lips start to graze mine. Within seconds, my body relaxes, and I start kissing him back. His tongue slides across my lips begging for entry. I open slowly, making him work for it.
His hands grasp my arse and he picks me up. My arms go around his neck and my legs wrap around his waist. He pushes our bodies together against the wall. With one hand on my arse, he brings the other around and up my shirt. Speedily, he pushes my bra up and my breasts fall out of the cups. He scoops up my right breast and gently squeezes, and then does the same to the other, showing both the same amount of attention. His rough, calloused hands feel like heaven on my sensitive nipples.
Our kiss is interrupted by Jake groaning. He kisses me along my jaw and neck. “You have no idea how much I have wanted to do this, Lil. Fuck, your skin feels like silk and your tits are so heavy in my hand. I could blow just from touching you.”
Hot sensations run through my body, and I moan as his cock begins rubbing up and down on my clit.
Jake lifts me higher up the wall and starts lifting my shirt up. God, yes, the thought of his soft warm lips on my breasts is intoxicating.
His eyes peer up at me. His focus clears, and he suddenly stops. Seconds pass with his eyes boring into mine, our heavy breathing in sync, and it’s a tune I never want to forget. Jake swiftly places me on the ground and steps back.
“Shit,” he says breathlessly.
My chest is rising and falling fast. I lean on the wall for balance. We just stare into each other’s eyes for a moment, need screaming from both of us. I’m sure if I made the slightest move toward him, he would pin me to the wall in a heartbeat. But before I can make that move, Jake turns and swiftly walks out of the room.
I hear the lock. My body sags against the wall and I sink to my arse with my hands holding my head, thinking I must be crazy. Yep, I’m losing it. I am falling for Jake. The man who keeps me trapped, who plans to keep me caged forever.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Possibilities
The morning after my kiss with Jake, I’m sitting on the bed reading. I hear the door handle being unlocked. Jake opens the door wide, and he stands with the handle still in his grip.
A slave girl walks past him with a table cart and a tray on the top, my breakfast. The girl leaves the cart at the end of my bed with a small smile.
Jake follows her out, not one glance my way. Jake hasn’t returned since our kiss. Avoiding me seems to be his way of dealing with what happened between us. The locks click into place yet again. I’m sure that sound will follow me forever in my nightmares.
I look under the tray seeing a ham salad sandwich, an apple, and ice tea. I look over the table cart and see an apron on the second level. I pick it up to check it out. It has food on it and smells like what you would think a big restaurant kitchen would smell like. I feel something in the front pocket of the apron, so I pull it out and find a lead pencil. I wonder why the slave girls have them. Could they use them to communicate with each other when they are around Marco, the guards or the collection? I search the apron for a note-pad or anything they may write on, but I find nothing.
An idea comes to me. I place the pencil under my pillow and put the apron back in the cart. I sit down and start eating my lunch, eating half of the ham sandwich, a few bites of the apple, and some sips of the ice tea. I then go to the door and knock. “Yes,” Jake talks through the door.
My God, he isn’t even opening it to talk to me anymore!
I compose my growing anger and answer, “I’ve finished my lunch,”
The door opens, and Jake walks past me to the tray. “That was quick, Lily,” Jake says as he reaches the cart.
What is he doing?
“You didn’t eat it all. Are you sure you don’t want to leave it a bit, in case you want more?” His voice is soft and husky. My mind instantly jumps back to yesterday up against the wall, remembering his expert hands and dick. Focus, Lil! I shake off the thoughts, wanting to get on with my plan.
“No, I’m sure. I’m stuffed,” I say, walking over to the table cart.
I grab hold of it as Jake starts pulling it. “What are you doing? The
slave girls usually come and get it.”
Jake looks down to my hands holding the cart then his eyes find mine. “I can get it out of here for you and leave it in the hallway for them.”
He begins pulling it again, and I hang on with a death grip for a second, and then let go when I notice Jake’s eyes assessing the way I’m acting. Damn.
“Well, can you please send a girl in for me soon? I need something done,” I say while walking back to my book, trying to remain calm.
“What do you need done?” Crap, think, Lily, think. “Umm, just some girly stuff,” I say, waving my hands around in the air. Oh, God, lucky Jake doesn’t know me, because if he did, he would know that I’m lying, as my hands tend to get very vocal. It’s my tell.
I cross my fingers to stop my hands from talking with me and to hope Jake believes my fake calm appearance. Jake narrows his eyes at me for a moment, and I panic he is about to call me out and search my room. He’s become very good at finding my hiding places, but then again in a room, it’s easy to run out of hiding places.
Jake nods and leaves. Phew! I quickly walk to my bedside table and pickup one of the books I have already read. I rip a page right out of the back of the book, silently saying sorry to the book gods. I place the paper under my pillow with the pencil and wait for the girl to arrive, wondering which one it will be.
A few minutes later, I hear the door unlock, and Jake pops his head in again and spots me on the bed. I smile at him, which is probably the wrong thing to do as he narrows his eyes and then starts looking around the room. I wipe the smile away and scowl at him. He narrows his eyes further. Then after a moment, he motions with his arm and the girl walks in. It’s the same girl who showed me her scars. Jake takes another look around the room, then back at me. This time, I look exasperated by his presence. That seems to do it, and he finally shuts the door. I let out a big breath.
The girl begins to walk over to me, and I quickly get the paper and pencil from under my pillow. I motion for her to take them, she gasps and shakes her head at me. Her arms fly out crossing each other in a no gesture. Her eyes wide with fear, she refuses to touch the paper and pencil. “Please, please, you won’t be talking to me. You will be writing to me. I just have some quick questions,” I beg.