by Naomi West
Saxton hated guys like that, who thought they had to show off their toughness with metal and weapons. And the guy really was a pussy. One of the Jagged Souls had thrown fists with him a while back. But he’d also been accused of rape on a few occasions. Who knew if it was true? Wasn’t really his business what Darien did in the bedroom. Until now. Because Cinnamon was his, and he wasn’t about to let Darien have her.
“Eight,” he said firmly, turning to pin a glare on Darien.
Darien looked over and smirked. “Nine.”
“Ten.” No way was he letting this go now. Everyone was watching. He wouldn’t be made to look like the weak one. He wouldn’t lose this.
Darien looked back at Cinnamon, letting his eyes trace around the outside of her body. Imagining who knew what with her. He crossed his arms and turned his face to disgust, as if he’d suddenly decided that she wasn’t good enough for him. He kept his eyes facing front.
“Going once,” the guy on stage said. “Going twice.”
He left a long pause, and looked at Darien to see if he was going to change his mind.
“Sold for ten thousand to the man in the back!”
Cinnamon sagged with relief on the stage. Her eyes seemed to be thanking him. He hoped she’d still be thanking him later when they were in bed together.
Saxton walked over to the guy taking the money and gave him the required 20% cut. Good thing Darien had backed down. Saxton didn’t have much more than two grand on him. He’d have to pull a few thousand out of his stashes at home to give the remaining eight thousand to Cinnamon directly.
She walked over to the table to meet him, keeping her eyes down as she moved through the crowd. When she reached him, she met his gaze for a moment, then looked at the man counting money.
“All set,” the man said to Saxton. “Congrats.”
Cinnamon looked at Saxton again and took in a deep breath. She looked less terrified than she had on stage, but still scared of what would happen next. He reached out his hand and she took it. Then he led her back to his table.
Chapter Three
When Sara entered the warehouse, she looked around nervously, feeling like she had a flashing beacon over her head stating she did not belong. Everywhere she looked, there were men in leather, covered in tattoos. What was this place, and what had she gotten herself into?
A waitress must’ve seen her, because she came over and said quietly, “Are you here to be auctioned?”
For a second, Sara considered saying no and just having a drink instead. But she nodded.
The waitress pointed to a metal door. “In there.”
Sara went to the door and pushed it open. A dim, narrow hall stretched down the length of the warehouse. A pool of light poured out of an open doorway and she heard a clatter of female voices coming from inside. She walked to the door and peaked in.
The women were in the process of getting dressed, walking around in their underwear, doing touch ups on their hair and makeup, and chatting. The room was thick with cigarette smoke and they were all drinking, it looked like. One of the woman glanced toward the door and saw her.
“You here for the auction, too?” she asked.
The woman wore only a bra and panties, both lacy and bright red. Her hair was piled on top of her head in curls and one of her eyes had a long, thick lash. The other lash was stuck to her finger, ready to be glued in place.
Sara nodded.
“You better get in here and get ready, then.” The woman turned back to a dusty mirror and attached her eyelash.
Sara scooted around the corner to enter the room. She found a chair off to the side that was empty, and she put her purse down, then took off her coat. Why were none of them dressed yet? She’d wanted to get an idea of what everyone was wearing. Hopefully, she’d chosen an appropriate dress for the occasion.
She watched the woman who had spoken to her finish applying eye makeup and asked quietly, “What are you wearing? I wasn’t sure how to dress for this.”
The woman gestured to her body. “This is it.”
Sara swallowed hard and glanced around again. All the other women wore some form of lingerie. A teddy, several bra and panty sets, one with garters and thigh highs.
“You’re going out there in your underwear?”
“Gotta show them what they’re getting.” The woman took a long swig of an amber colored liquid and returned to her eyeshadow.
Sara sat down and stared blankly across the room. The underwear she had on was her nicest pair. She figured that was important since this guy would be paying to see it and to see her take it off. But it wasn’t as fancy as most of what these women wore. It was a smooth satin bra and matching panties.
For a moment, she considered taking off her dress and going out there like that. But there was no way she could do that. This whole thing had been a terrible mistake. She stood to leave and reached for her purse. On her keys was a photo keychain of Ian. It was his school photo from this year. He looked so happy in the photo. She looked into his little face and relented again.
She set her purse back down. Tonight could solve her money problems. Though, maybe she wouldn’t be dressed scantily enough to bring in top dollars, she would get a lot more than what she could make waitressing. One night with a strange man that hopefully wouldn’t last too long or be too awful, in exchange for keeping her son in his school. It was worth it. She had to make sure Ian would be successful in life and not end up like she had—a single parent working two jobs just to pay the bills. He deserved better than this difficult life.
A man stepped into the room, dressed in a button-down shirt and tie. “We’re gettin’ started ladies!”
A flurry of commotion broke out among the women as they scrambled for final makeup and hair additions.
“Line up!” the man said.
The girls gathered in front of him, looking like a line of strippers ready to go out and do their thing. Sara made her way over and stood at the end of the line. The woman in front of her turned and looked at her clothes.
“What are you trying to pull wearing that?” she asked.
“Pull? I just can’t…”
The woman raised her eyebrows. “Can’t what, dress like a slut? That what you think? We’re all sluts?”
Sara’s face went hot and she shook her head. “I’ve never done this before.”
The woman patted her shoulder. “It gets easier. Try to enjoy it and pray he finishes quick.”
She turned back around and Sara’s breathing sped. How was she going to do this?
The man led the women out of the room and to a backstage area, where they were able to peak out at the crowd a bit.
“Ooo, some hot ones tonight!” the girl at the front of the line said.
The woman in front of her said, “Like that matters. I just want someone who doesn’t smell.”
The first woman went out on stage. The man introduced her as Trixie. He talked about how hot and sexy she was with her full figure. Then the bidding started. Sara watched in awe as the men raised their hands and shouted numbers. By the time the emcee said, “Sold!” the price had gone up to $4,200.
Sara leaned forward to the woman in front of her. “How do we get paid?”
“Club keeps 20, the rest he’ll give you after.”
“20%?”
The woman nodded. Sara did some quick math. If the club took 20%, then that meant the woman leaving the stage would get $3,360. Her heart raced at that. If she could get close to that, she’d be set. Was there any way she would get what Trixie had gotten?
Now the whole process became much more interesting. Each time a new woman went out on the stage, Sara calculated how much she would walk away with and tried to decide if she was as hot as the woman and could possibly get a similar amount. She again considered her outfit. If she took off the dress, she might get a lot more money.
She reached down to pull up her hem, but stopped. It was bad enough that she would be going out there to have a bunch of men
bid on the chance to have sex with her. She couldn’t possibly stand out there in her underwear and let them gawk at her. Even if it meant a little less money, she’d have to deal with it. Some of these women were getting bids as high as six thousand. If she got even half that, she’d be happy.
The woman in front of her went out and ended at $5,500. Then it was Sara’s turn. The anxiety in her stomach had built with each woman, as it came closer and closer to being her turn. Now her stomach leapt and she almost threw up. She swallowed hard and looked at the man on the stage. He motioned for her to come out and stand by him.
She took a few breaths and he had to motion to her a second time before she took the first step, then another, until she faced the crowd. She felt both naked and too heavily dressed at the same time. They had to all be imagining her naked. What if they tried to make her take off her dress? Well, she’d leave if that happened.
The man held out his arm to gesture to her. “Meet Cinnamon. She’s just as sweet as can be.”
Cinnamon? Where in the world had he gotten that? She was a little relieved he hadn’t used her real name. As she thought about it, she figured that probably Trixie and Crystal weren’t real names either.
“Take her home and lick her all over.”
A few men in the crowd hooted at that and the thought made her blush again. She dared a glance out at the men. Several were making leering faces at her, licking their lips suggestively. One grabbed his crotch and winked at her.
This must be some sort of biker club. There had been a ton of bikes outside and it seemed like all these guys wore leather of some kind. Jackets, pants, boots. Did that mean they were all rough and hard? She’d never known a biker, but the impression she had of them from TV was that they weren’t the nicest people. They were mean and violent. And this was the type of man she would be sleeping with tonight. For a lot of money, she reminded herself.
“Who will start the bidding for this piece of sweetness?”
Well, no turning back now. Please bid high, she begged.
A man right at the front, the one who had grabbed himself at her, put up his hand and said, “A thousand bucks!”
Wow, that was a nice start. Some of the other women had only started at a few hundred. But a thousand right at the first bid was a good sign. That man, though. She looked at him and gulped. He seemed vulgar, the way he’d grabbed himself.
In her mind, she was thinking, $800. Enough for a decent payment. Maybe the school would accept it as a delay to kicking Ian out. That was why she was here. She could have sex with that man for $800.
But then another man shouted, “A thousand five!”
Okay, that was $1,200 in her pocket so far. And this guy didn’t look as bad as the first guy. At least he scared her less. She might be making snap judgments based on their appearance, but what else did she have to go on?
Another man called out, “Two thousand!”
$1,600. Getting there. That was most of what she owed the school right now. She looked out at the man who had bid. At first, he was standing in darkness and she couldn’t see him. Then they shined a low light on him, and she could make him out. It was the man she’d seen outside. The one who looked like a decent guy. The one who was smoking hot. Though, outside he’d had his sleeves down and now they were rolled up, showing two armsful of tattoos. Well, okay. Lots of people had tattoos these days. He was still good looking and seemed decent. So far, he was the one she felt most comfortable with. “Please win,” she begged in her mind.
But then the crotch grabber raised his bid to 2,500. No, please not him. After that, several bids were called out so fast, she didn’t have time to calculate what she would walk away with, or to really worry over who was winning at the moment. The bidding hit $5,000 and she almost gasped. That would cover what she owed the school now, what she would owe in January, and it would still give her a few hundred leftover. Would this guy really pay that much just to sleep with her? She wasn’t that great in bed by any means.
She’d lost track of who was winning. She started to feel panicky as she looked around, waiting. Who had bid $5,000? Just when she thought that was it, the man in the back, the hot one, said, “Six thousand!”
She tried not to look visibly relieved or too excited. This was a lot of money. No matter when the bidding ended, she was covered. She wanted to cry in relief. Ian would be set at least for the next few months. She just had to get through the rest of the school year, and all summer she’d save up so that she’d be ahead for next school year. Maybe in the meantime, she could find a better job.
Her thoughts had started to wander off, but when the emcee said, “Going once,” she was brought back. Yes, yes, she thought. The hottie was going to win!
But before he could say “Going twice,” another bid came in.
“Seven,” the man said in a cold, flat tone. She looked over at him, and her apprehension flooded over her. He was dirty. Greasy hair, mud-covered jacket, yellowed teeth. He sneered at her and pulled back his jacket to show her the row of knives tucked inside his pants. Even his jacket had spikes at the top.
Did that mean he wanted to use the knives on her? Was it too late to run? There was no way she could go anywhere with that man.
But then the hottie in the back said, “Eight.”
Oh God, she couldn’t take this. She desperately needed the hottie to win. This was hard enough, but having to leave with that man would be impossible. Let the bidding end now.
The knife guy gave the hottie a challenging look and said, “Nine.”
No, no, no, please no. Save me, hot man. Please. She sucked in a breath, waiting.
The hottie said, “Ten,” and she breathed again.
The greasy man looked at her, raking his eyes over her body. She felt violated just from his stare. No way was he going to touch her.
His face changed to disgust, as if he’d suddenly decided he would have nothing to do with her, just as much as she wanted nothing to do with him. Maybe he didn’t think she was worth more than ten grand. That was just fine with her.
“Going once,” the emcee said. “Going twice.”
She glanced at the man who grabbed himself, back at the greasy knife man, and one glance across the crowd to see if anyone was going to bid.
“Sold for ten thousand to the man in the back!”
She couldn’t help it. She let out a long breath of relief and wanted to cry at the thought that she got to go home with the hottie instead of the guy with the knives. Wait a second. And he was paying ten thousand for her? That was far higher than any other woman had gotten that night. And that meant she would end up with eight thousand dollars. No, that couldn’t be right. Eight thousand?! That put her only a few hundred bucks away from paying for the entire rest of the school year.
She couldn’t take her eyes off her savior. Did he have any idea what he’d just done for her? And she wouldn’t mind seeing him naked at all. Though she still didn’t like the idea of sleeping with a stranger. Or knowing that she was being paid for sex. It felt so cheap and so wrong.
The emcee motioned to her, and she made her way over to the table where a guy was taking the club’s cut. The hottie was there already and whipped out two thousand dollars to hand to the guy. Geez, did he carry that much in cash on him? She looked up at him, and he was looking at her.
His gaze felt too powerful, too heavy. Too lustful maybe. It made her uncomfortable. They both knew what would happen later, but she didn’t want to think of that right now. She watched the man count the money.
He closed the money into a metal box and said, “All set. Congrats.”
So this was really it, then. She was officially sold to this man for the night. She met his eyes again and took in a long, slow breath. He put his hand out and she gave hers. It was just the warmup for what was to come. She’d be giving him a lot more later.
He led her to a small table in the back and sat down.
Chapter Four
“I’m Saxton,” he said.
He nodded. “Didn’t think Cinnamon was your real name.”
Oh right. Should she have kept that to herself? How much did he need to know about her? How much should he know? And how much should she know about him? Maybe it was better to keep it a mystery. If she knew too much, maybe that would make it worse. Knowing nothing about him meant she could imagine anything. She could picture him as the sweetest, most gentle man on the planet.
“Have you done this before?” he asked.
She looked down at the table, studying the cracks and gashes in the wood top. This whole place was disgusting, especially the business they conducted here. She shook her head.