Beyond Ruin (Book Four of the Bidden Series)

by Cierlak, Crystal

  "This is where the Candidates line up and are brought in before the Gentlemen for the very first time," James explained as they walked through the room. The single chandelier suspended above their heads provided a wash of illumination on the room. Natalie remembered it being a lot darker. Or maybe that was just her nerves and the blindfold? There was a line of twelve chairs opposite the staging area, empty and waiting.

  'Gentleman we have a fine assortment to offer you this evening,' an old but familiar voice echoed in her memories.

  "We call this the viewing session," Audra intervened. "Natalie, would you mind?"

  Natalie's nose and cheeks prickled. She needn't ask the meaning of the request, but cast a side-long glance at Audra before standing in the very spot that once belonged to her. Joe followed James' lead as he took a seat in the twelfth chair, and Audra produced two tablets from some unseen place in the room.

  "This is our proprietary auction system," she explained. "During the viewing session each Gentleman can make requests of the Candidates. For example..." she turned and looked at Natalie. "Candidate Number Four, please turn around."

  Natalie drew in a small breath as she looked between the three sets of eyes staring back at her, James' own blue-green eyes dark and hooded. She swallowed and turned until her back was to them, thankful they couldn't see or hear how fast her heart was beating in her chest.

  "Candidate Number Four, please put your arms up above your head."

  Natalie glanced down at the hem of her dress before expelling an expletive through a breath of laughter. She knew all too well what Audra was doing. If it was a show she wanted, Natalie would give her one. Fueled by the warmth pooling in her center Natalie brought her arms up above her head, feeling the hemline of her dress climb with them, skimming over the bare skin of her thighs. There was nothing but silence and breath coming from behind her.

  A full minute passed before Audra spoke again. "The requests are limited to just the viewing. Once those have all been made the first round of bidding begins."

  "What happens once a winning bid has been made?" Joe asked.

  Natalie lowered her arms and turned around, finding all three sets of eyes still on her. If they wanted her to play the part of Candidate again, she would go all out.

  "The Gentleman collects his prize," she answered. Her gaze shifted from Joe to James, who was watching her with his own personal brand of intensity, as though he were reliving their first moments together just the same as she was. She cut across the room until she was standing in front of both men. "James, would you mind?"

  He obliged. He set the tablet down on his seat as he stood and, with one hand on the small of Natalie's back, led them both out of the room, down the hallway, and into the grand foyer. She had to part her lips just to breathe in enough oxygen without anyone noticing. Audra and Joe followed several feet behind. Natalie could just make out what sounded like Audra explaining about the different rooms and the rules about paying each Candidate by noon the next day.

  "Since we're putting on a show we might as well give them something to watch, right?" Natalie whispered low enough for only James to hear.

  Several muscles in his jaw spasmed as James stabbed the call button on the elevator.

  "How are the rooms assigned to each bidder?" Joe asked as he and Audra caught up to Natalie and James at the elevator.

  "They aren't," Audra answered. "Only the highest bidder gets his choice of room, and that choice is typically the penthouse. The others go wherever they like."

  Natalie could feel Joe's eyes digging a hole into her back where James' hand was still resting. Or maybe the digging was James.

  "What's the highest bid anyone has ever made?"

  Natalie gritted her teeth and bit the insides of her mouth to keep from saying anything.

  "That's between us and our accountant," Audra replied just as the elevator doors opened, beckoning the four of them inside.

  They disembarked on the second floor from the top, into a room with just three doors directly in front of them. James led Natalie straight to the door in the middle. The space inside was almost too dark to see the deep blue walls and ash wood floors. Before she knew what was happening Natalie was being whisked through a second door which latched shut behind them. Lights dimmed to life in their presence, casting a glow on the enormous bed that dominated the room. Natalie recognized it immediately and looked for the glass wall she knew was a partition between rooms. Audra and Joe must have still been on the other side. All she saw, however, was a wall covered in thick curtains like at an old fashion movie theater. She searched the wall looking for some kind of control panel or mechanical device.

  "I'm sorry, she shouldn't have put you on the spot like that."

  "Are you sorry?" She found what she was looking for embedded on the far left of the wall by the entrance. She pushed a single flat button and the curtains began to part. "How else are you meant to demonstrate what goes on between a Gentleman and a Candidate if you have no Candidate on display?"

  Joe and Audra were unveiled on the other side of the wall talking amongst themselves. When they noticed the curtains being pulled back they turned their attention to the bed, then on Natalie and James. She saw Joe's mouth moving, asking some new question no doubt, but there was no sound to be heard. Audra's mouth responded to whatever it was he said, never once taking her eyes off of Natalie.

  "Well then," Natalie whispered to herself and to James. "The four of us are in a sex club together. Why bother with modesty anymore?" She turned from the glass wall and walked half the distance to the bed before stopping. "What was it you told me to do that night, James?" Oh yes, of course. She remembered it now. "Unzip my dress?"

  Her hands didn't make it as far as the zipper on the back of her dress before James captured them in his own. His breath was hot against her ear and cheek, heating her skin to a sensitive state. He wrapped one arm around her waist and with the other lowered her hands back down in front of her, the weight of his body pushing up against her from behind.

  "Don't," he commanded.

  Natalie closed her eyes and relished the unexpected sensation of his hands on her, the heat they generated against her skin.

  "Why not?" she breathed.

  "Look at their faces," he whispered in her ear. "See how much they want you?" Natalie opened her eyes and turned her head towards the glass, to Audra and Joe standing on the other side, watching them intently. "Every thing that matters to me in life I share with them. My daughter. My business. My wealth. Even you."

  James pushed her hip until she was turning in his arms, and stopped her once she faced him completely, their bodies still pressed closely against each other. He held her still with his hands on her waist.

  "I don't want to share you with them any more than I have to."

  "Oh, James," Natalie sighed. She put her hands on his face and pushed back the honey colored locks of hair that had fallen out of place and tumbled down to his forehead. "I'm not anyone's to share. Not yours, not theirs. I choose who I give myself to."

  She dropped her hands from his face and stalked to the control panel on the wall, stabbing a second button with her index finger before returning to the middle of the room to face the glass partition.

  "Is this what you want?" This time she knew Audra and Joe could hear her from the other side. She reached around to the back of her dress and pulled the zipper down from neck to shoulders before shimmying the heavily beaded garment off her body. It fell into a thick pool of glittering mess at her feet. She felt a surge of power standing before her three lovers in nothing but the scant bra and panties that barely provided any semblance of coverage over her most intimate parts.

  "Joe you wanted to know how much the highest bid was? What did this man-" she pointed her finger across the room to James, "bid to win me for the night?"

  "Natalie-" James called from her side. She ignored him.

  "One hundred twelve thousand five hundred dollars after this place took its cut." There w
as silence from both sides of the glass partition. "We started there," she pointed this time behind them, "on that couch while another couple fucked on this bed." Her face burned with the fire that had suddenly lit from inside her. She couldn't stop now even if she wanted to. "And then we went upstairs and made love again. And again. And again."

  "Natalie!"

  "All night and morning long we had sex in that penthouse suite!" She had to raise her voice to be heard over James' protests. "But what neither of you knows is that none of that happened until after he gave me my payment envelope. So you can parade me around as Candidate Four here or inside of your fantasies all you want, but know this: You don't share me. You don't own me. You don't get to have me. I pick you. All his money paid for was a glass of champagne and a little bit of a strip show, which I've now given to all of you for free."

  Natalie quickly slipped the beaded dress back on and over her body, not bothering to secure it all the way at her neck. She was breathing heavily, drunk on the power of telling her three lovers off for putting her in an objectifying position. The smile that came to her face felt better in that moment anything else could.

  "You're welcome."

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  By Thursday the office was in total chaos. Applicants were in and out of the condo in droves, filing in to be interviewed for various positions. Twice Natalie's phone died in the middle of conversation. There wasn't a quiet moment to be had apart from the few minutes it took to go to the bathroom every couple hours, and even then she was still on her phone, answering emails and responding to text messages.

  Joe had tried in earnest to apologize to Natalie when they returned home from The Golden Palm, and again the next day and that morning, but as far as Natalie was concerned it was over and done with. She said what she needed to say and that was that. Besides, she liked him too much to let one incident alter their entire relationship. They had a brand new business to run, and that business was exploding into something larger than they ever could have hoped for.

  By noon Natalie was running on pure adrenaline and vast amounts of caffeine. Shane waved her down from across the room as she filled up her coffee cup for the nth time in a 36-hour period. He held up his cell phone in the air and then pointed at her for the briefest of seconds before he was back on the line with whomever he was speaking to. Natalie picked up her phone from its place on the kitchen counter and swiped through the screen until she found his message.

  'Shane: Downstairs called. Delivery coming up!'

  She could barely hear the doorbell ringing over the sound of the office chaos. After snaking her way through the waiting interviewees that had piled up by the kitchen and foyer Natalie threw open the door and did a double take. Alice and Frankie?!

  "Hi Natalie!" Frankie greeted her with an enormous grin.

  "Mister Fitzgerald sent us. We're here to help," Alice explained.

  Natalie barely had a chance to respond when the two diametrically different ladies barged past her into the office/condo.

  "We brought lunch!" Frankie announced sweetly, holding up a bag in each hand. Alice had another four bags in her hands.

  Natalie was still trying to catch up. "James sent you here to help out with lunch?"

  "To help with anything," Alice said as she set hers and Frankie's bags down on the kitchen island. "I called earlier this morning to follow-up on a few items for your offices at Fitson, and some young man named Shane...?" it was more a question than a confirmation. Natalie nodded and the woman continued. "He seemed like he was rather inundated with something. I asked around and found out you were going through interviews and hirings today and he sent us over to help out."

  "Kiddo!" Joe screeched excitedly scaring Natalie half to death.

  "Hi Joe!"

  "What are you doing here?" he asked before kissing the top of her head.

  "We're here to help!"

  "Fantastic! See that group of eager looking young people right there?" He pointed in the direction of several of the waiting interviewees.

  "Yes?"

  "Those are all recent college grads applying to be personal assistants to me, Natalie and Quinn. Talk to them. The ones you like best can stay. Send the others home."

  "Really?" she asked, her brown eyes positively radiant with excitement.

  "Really. And if anyone gives you trouble just kick them out. Got it?"

  "Got it!" She leaped rather than jumped off her barstool in the direction of her task.

  Joe turned to Alice next and offered her what Natalie knew was his most charming smile. "Good afternoon, Alice. How are you?"

  Alice consulted Joe with the blank face stare of a women who gave zero shits about anyone. "I'm doing well, Mister Gallo."

  Natalie bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. Alice was notorious for not liking anyone, which made the fact that she liked her all the more fascinating. Joe returned to whatever he was doing before, leaving the two women alone in the kitchen.

  "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming over, Alice. I don't know how James is managing to function without you today but I'm grateful for his loss."

  "It's my pleasure, Natalie. You just tell me what you need done and I'll make sure it's done properly. But first, sit down and have some lunch. I can practically see you getting skinnier with each sip of that coffee."

  She knew better than to argue, so Natalie hauled herself on top of a barstool and prepared herself a plate of food while Alice busied herself with bringing food to Joe, Shane, Quinn and Lorelai. They'd brought takeout from her favorite restaurant, and plenty of it. By the time she got the first bit of pink taco in her mouth she was feeling much more relaxed. She managed to scarf down one and a half tacos before Frankie came back her way, dragging behind her one of the recent college grads.

  "I found you an assistant!" Frankie announced proudly. "This is Amelia. You'll like her. Take a seat," she instructed the girl, who couldn't have been but a couple years younger than Natalie.

  "Hi Amelia, I'm Natalie." She shook the girl's hand and was pleasantly surprised to find that she had quite the firm handshake. She liked that in a woman. "Thank you, Frankie!" she called out as the little girl went back into the pool of candidates again.

  "She's quite tenacious for someone so young. Is she your daughter?" Amelia asked, looking as amused and smitten with Frankie as everyone else was. Natalie's heart warmed considerably.

  "My business partner's daughter," Natalie smiled. "And our unofficial mascot. So, Amelia, tell me about yourself."

  It took less than five minutes to realize that Frankie was right: Amelia would be perfect as her assistant. Recently graduated with a Bachelor's degree in communication. She was articulate, intelligent, and a slice on the naive side, but Natalie liked her almost instantly. If she reminded her of anyone, it was herself.

  "There may be quite a bit of travel involved. Are you okay with that?"

  "Absolutely!"

  "Is fifteen an hour with benefits fine?"

  "It's perfect!"

  "When can you start?"

  "Right now," Amelia answered without hesitation.

  Natalie smiled and felt at least one weight lifting from her shoulders. "Fantastic. Grab a plate of food if you're hungry and then go find Shane in the living room. He'll have you fill out some paperwork and catch you up on everything. I'll come find you in a few minutes and we'll go from there." She paused just long enough to savor the look of thrilled excitement on Amelia's face. Yes, she definitely reminded her of herself. "Welcome to Gallo Harlow."

  With the help of Alice and Frankie they were able to hire two of the three needed assistants and a handful of interns. By the end of the business day Natalie was ready to make Alice an offer for the position of office manager. The woman, however, was loyal to James Fitzgerald, and Natalie couldn't hold it against her.

  "Do you mind if I take Frankie home? I have to run some errands anyway and I'd like to thank James in person for lending you both to us for the day."

&n
bsp; "Not at all," Alice smiled. "I'll see you later, Natalie. Goodbye Miss Frankie."

  "Goodbye Miss Alice!" Frankie called out as the woman left.

  Traffic was surprisingly light for a Thursday night, or perhaps it was Frankie's youthful company that made the time pass by like it was nothing. She continued talking a mile a minute as they valet parked at The Jacqueline and made their way through the lobby to the elevator. To Natalie's great surprise several familiar faces greeted her as though no time had passed at all since she last worked for Fitson. She'd have to get used to it again, she supposed. When they reached the top floor the door to the penthouse suite was already open and waiting for them.

  "Dad!" Frankie called out as she burst through the door.

  "Just a second." James put his hand over his phone and smiled. "Hey Buddy! Give me a few minutes and I'll be off the phone, okay?" When he glanced up and saw Natalie he did a double-take of his own.

  "Come on! I'll show you my room!" Frankie grabbed Natalie by the hand and practically dragged her through the penthouse suite to her room. "Dad just got me a handheld digital microscope. It's got a high magnification image sensor so you can see things in precise detail!"

  "Wow!"

  "I know! Come here. I use my computer to take pictures of everything. Check this out." She navigated to a folder on her computer and double-clicked on an image file until it was blown-up to fullscreen. "Can you guess what it is?"

  "Hmm. This looks like a strand of hair."

  "It's actually a fiber of carpet from the living room," she laughed. "But I can see how you would mistake one for the other."

  "That's a nice gift your father bought for you. I'm sure you'll put it to good use somehow."

  Frankie turned in her computer chair and looked up at Natalie thoughtfully. "Can I ask you a question?"

  "Of course you can!" She quickly looked around for something to sit on and finally settled on a child-size ottoman, dragging it close to Frankie's chair and sitting down expectantly. "What's up?"