by Emma York
BID ON ME
EMMA YORK
COPYRIGHT
This book is entirely the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
All Rights Reserved
© 2017 Emma York
No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the author excepting brief passages quoted in the context of a review. Any trademarked products or locations referenced in this story have been used without permission. The use of such trademarks does not represent authorisation or approval of this book by the respective trademark owners.
CONTENTS
ONE - ALICE
TWO - ETHAN
THREE - ALICE
FOUR - ETHAN
FIVE - ALICE
SIX - ETHAN
SEVEN - ALICE
EIGHT - ETHAN
NINE - ALICE
TEN - ETHAN
ELEVEN - ALICE
TWELVE - ETHAN
THIRTEEN - ALICE
FOURTEEN - ETHAN
FIFTEEN - ALICE
SIXTEEN - ETHAN
SEVENTEEN - THE RED TOKEN
EIGHTEEN - ALICE
NINETEEN - ETHAN
TWENTY - ALICE
TWENTY-ONE - ETHAN
TWENTY-TWO - ALICE
TWENTY-THREE - ETHAN
TWENTY-FOUR - ALICE
TWENTY-FIVE - ETHAN
TWENTY-SIX - ALICE
TWENTY-SEVEN - ETHAN
TWENTY-EIGHT - ALICE
TWENTY-NINE - ETHAN
THIRTY - THE WHITE TOKEN
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY THE SAME AUTHOR
The British Billionaire Series
1 - Bid on Me
2 - Discipline
3 - Business Secrets
4 - One Night
ONE - ALICE
"So, have you met someone yet?"
I cringed at the question. My mother was obsessed with helping me get a boyfriend. "I've only just started there. Give me a chance."
"You're twenty-four, Alice. By your age, me and your father were getting married."
"I'm working on it."
"Any crushes? You must have someone you like. Just ask them. What's the worst that could happen?"
I did have a crush on someone but I wasn't going to tell her who it was. She'd kill me if she found out the only person I wanted was my dad's best friend.
I was on the way to work when she rang. I had pulled off the side of the road so I could answer and I immediately regretted it.
"Any nice men working there?"
"Not really, Mom."
"And how's it going?"
"It's going well." Carefully worded, not a single lie involved. I couldn't lie to her, not to my mother. However, I could choose my words with caution.
"So, what kind of job is it?"
How did I answer that? Technically, my new job was in an exclusive member's only club, one that provided certain types of adult entertainment. I had quite the awakening when I turned up for the interview. I was greeted by the sight of a naked woman dancing in a cage surrounded by men in suits and that was just in the lobby.
I almost turned and ran before I got any further. I had no idea it was that kind of place. But I was desperate for a job, already a month behind on the rent and the other bills were piling up too. It was the first place to even offer me an interview after more than a hundred applications all over the country and it was right on my doorstep, in south London same as me.
The interviewer asked me how much I knew about BDSM.
"Plenty," I replied, knowing that to say, "I don't even know what the letters stand for," wouldn't help my chances. I did add, "But I thought this was just bar work."
She was sitting behind her desk, writing notes as I talked. "It is. I only ask because you're likely to see some things here that might make you feel uncomfortable if you're not into this lifestyle."
"I'm not easily shocked, don't worry," I said, pretending not to be the kind of woman who blushed when a sex scene happened during a movie.
"Then you won't mind me asking if you're a virgin."
"Sorry, what?"
"Are you a virgin?"
Shit, I thought. I'd just said I wasn't easily shocked. I couldn't exactly refuse to answer. "Yes," I said quietly, sharing something I kept from everyone but my parents. "I am. Is that bad?"
"Not at all. You're hired."
"I am? Just like that?"
"Just like that." She smiled, putting her pen down. "A word of advice though. We get a lot of rich people in here, billionaires for the most part. They might offer you money to do things for them but we're not that sort of club."
"I get it."
"Don't get me wrong, you want in on the fun, you can put yourself in for the auction, but that's the only time, understand?"
"The auction? What kind of auction?"
"The virginity auction. The clients bid on who gets to be your first. Sound like your kind of thing?"
"I don't think so," I replied. "Sorry."
"No need to be sorry. You can always change your mind. Now, when can you start?"
I wasn't sure what to expect on my first shift but it began by seeing a woman on all fours being walked on a lead. The lead was attached to a diamond collar around her neck. There was also a fluffy tail sticking out of her ass. It swayed as she moved. Let's just say I did my best not to look shocked. Like I said, I needed the job. Then I saw something that shocked me far more.
I'd been there a week before telling my mother. I was careful to word it the right way. I said I had a job, not where it was. If she was ringing me back it meant their vacation was over and she was back in the country.
"Well?" Mom asked, sounding worried. "What kind of job is it?"
"It's bar work, serving drinks, that kind of thing."
"I hope it's not anywhere dangerous, Alice. Are you sure it's safe? Do you have to deal with drunk people?"
"It's perfectly safe." The sound of last night's whip cracking chorus to audience applause echoed around my head. The woman tied down naked on stage, blindfold over her eyes, red welts appearing across her ass. The man standing over her, me watching from behind the bar with my breath held. He was a man whose name I knew only too well. "Safe for me anyway," I added.
"Oh, good. You know I worry."
I did know she worried. It was what she'd done my entire life. If I told her what I'd seen in the club, she'd be down here in minutes dragging me home and locking the door behind us, wrapping me back up in the cotton wool I'd only recently been able to remove.
"Your father's here. He says to stay safe."
"I know, Mom. Look, I need to get going. I don't want to be late."
"All right. Oh, I haven't told you about the vacation yet. Can we ring you tonight?"
"I won't be finishing until late."
"That's all right. I'm still on Fiji time anyway."
"Ring me tomorrow."
"Why? Why can't I ring tonight?"
"Because I'll be working, then I'll be sleeping."
"Are you sure that's all you'll be doing? I've heard about this new drug that's going around. You're not on it are you? Is that why you don't want to speak to me?"
"Bye, Mom."
"I love you, Sweetie."
"I love you too."
I hung up before signalling to rejoin the traffic. I sighed as I set off. I'd done it. I'd told her about the job. I hadn't lied. I only had to endure one question about men too.
She knew I worked behind a bar which was the truth. I had promised myself before I started my first shift that I would never get involved in the other side of things. I was a good girl and good girls do not let men in suits take them into the private room
s. They do not allow themselves to be led around the room like pets begging to be allowed to orgasm. Nor do they strap things on to themselves on stage and call for volunteers to ride them like it's the Grand National.
I blushed just thinking about that one.
I was a country girl at heart. The city life had come as quite a shock. But I'd rolled with it and I'd been there a full week without anything bad happening beyond a few spilled drinks and a couple of drunken propositions that I'd easily batted away.
I pulled into the parking lot twenty minutes later. There were only a couple of other cars there. The guests didn't usually start arriving until after nine.
Stepping out into the cold, my breath caught in my throat. The temperature was dropping. Christmas was coming and it was bringing icy winds with it that blew around the building.
The place itself used to be a mansion, owned by some steel magnate who died without heirs. Over the years it had been a school, a hospital, then derelict for a decade or so.
It had come back to life as a club about five years ago, not that you'd know from looking at it. Other than the parking lot, it gave no sign from the outside that it was anything but an ordinary city mansion. The members liked it that way. Anonymity was something they all desired. There were some very rich and very famous people who frequented Club Darkness and they preferred to do it without paparazzi photographers snapping them going in or out.
Occasionally photographers roamed the car park on the off chance. They'd take one look at me, realise I was no one important, then fade away again. Today, I was alone.
I swiped my card to get in, the staff door clicking open while I stamped my feet to try and stop the cold from numbing my toes.
I was glad to get inside into the warm. Music was playing in the kitchen as I passed by. Anton was already there, getting started on the cooking with his army of staff putting up with his tuneless renditions. Tonight's choice was Bohemian Rhapsody in falsetto. Headbanging optional.
I continued on until I reached Rowena's office. I knocked and waited. "Come in," she shouted through the door.
Heading inside, I found her buried in paperwork as always, the smell of incense sticks wafting towards me. "Ah, Alice," she said. "You ready for a hectic one?"
"Aren't they all?" I replied, sitting in the chair she pointed at while she shuffled her papers together.
"Tonight's a special one. It's auction night and we've got two off sick, great timing, right? I'll be out to help behind the bar in a bit."
"Auction night, sounds fun. Looking forward to it."
She nodded. "You've no idea what auction night is, have you?"
It came back to me. "Auction night. As in the virginity auction?"
"It's great fun. I've done it myself, a long time ago now. The auction master takes the names of any virgin who wants to be auctioned off for the night. He chooses three or four, lines them up and then they're auctioned off to whoever has a bid token which looks like this." She held up a black disc of solid metal, about two inches across. It was marked C.D on the front. Club Darkness. "One bid token, one bid."
"The bidding? On women? Is that legal?"
"In here, I'm the law. Whoever bids highest for each woman gets to spend the night in their company. Anything else is between consenting adults and Sub Rosa rules. Fancy giving it a go?"
"What me?"
"You'd make me a fortune."
"No I wouldn't."
"Course you would, you're hot, Alice."
"That's sweet of you to say but I'm happy just serving the drinks."
"You're sure?"
I nodded. There was no way in hell I'd take part in an auction like that. If I took part, there was a chance he would bid on me.
Him.
There was one man who frequented the club who had caught my eye. He wasn't like the others. For one thing he was hot as hell, always immaculately dressed. Dropped off in a limo most nights. The only problem was he was my father's best friend. They'd known each other for years. He'd watched me grow up.
Although he'd only smiled at me once, it had been enough to send me swooning backwards like a black and white film heroine about to pass out. Just looking at him made me tremble. He had the chiselled jaw of a superhero and just enough stubble to make me want to feel it, see whether it felt rough or smooth. That wasn't all I wanted to feel either. He did things to me no man had ever done but no doubt he still saw me as a child. Something passed between us when he smiled, a shared secret. He wouldn't tell Mom and Dad I was working here, I wouldn't tell anyone this was where he liked to spend his time.
What if he bid on the auction? What if he won someone? I'd be so jealous, I couldn't bear it. But what if I was up there and he bid on me? There'd be no way I'd be able to stay a good girl if that happened. Better to not risk it. Even if meant seeing him go off with someone else. It wouldn't be the first time, he often had women at his table, women far more glamorous than me.
"Well you better get out the back," Rowena said, bringing my attention back from thoughts of him winning the auction, taking his prize into one of the private rooms. "The delivery will be here any minute."
I headed to the goods entrance, glad to get away. The thought of being in an auction like that was exciting but I'd promised to keep myself this side of the bar, not to give in to the intoxicating temptations out on the floor. This was my world, handling drinks, not hanging onto the arm of a billionaire.
Him and my Dad had left college at the same time. But Dad had thrown himself into academia where Ethan Powers had started his own business. It had gone stratospheric a few years ago and he'd made his first billion before I turned eighteen. I asked Dad if he was jealous but he just shook his head and said, "Money doesn't buy happiness. I've got your mother and you, what's Ethan got?"
"Cars, mansions, a jet," I replied.
"And an empty house. I'm happy for him, Alice. I just can't imagine working fifteen hour days for years on end.
I had such a crush on him growing up but he barely looked at me, just sat talking to Dad while I peeked in from the hall. At first, it was the thought of holding hands with him but as I got older my daydreams changed. For the last couple of years I'd been imagining being on my knees in front of him, being told I had to submit, that I had no choice but to obey. Or spanked until my ass was red and he couldn't resist doing much more than just disciplining me.
But dreams and reality were different. The reality was a man like that could have any woman he wanted and probably did. I was his best friend's daughter, just a kid. He'd never be interested in a a woman who'd had sex a grand total of never. He had glamour and excitement surrounding him. I had pallets of beer and dusty bottles of wine.
Better not have my dreams crushed by reality. If I went up into the auction, he wouldn't even bid on me. By saying no, I got to forever imagine what it would be like, not face the truth that he would ring my parents and tell them exactly what I was up to.
I hit the button to roll up the shutters across the goods door. The drinks truck was outside, waiting to unload. This was me, shifting cases of drinks and getting chatted up by a delivery driver who looked too young to drive.
Once the truck was unloaded, I helped shift things to the store room and then started filling up the coolers out at the bar. It was five to nine by the time I was done. The members would be arriving soon. Time for another ordinary night's work, daydreaming about Ethan while he bid on one of the glamorous stick thin hotties who appeared every night at his table.
I got a job, Mom, I thought as I wiped the counter top clean. A job where a world of excitement was at my fingertips but I dared not go anywhere near it. I dropped the cloth and leaned down to pick it up.
"Can I get a drink?"
"One second," I said, standing back up." My voice died away into a choking cough as I saw who it was on the other side of the bar. It was him. The man who had seen me grow up. The man with eyes I could dive into. The man who was smiling at me from inside a suit that cost more t
han I could earn in a year.
"Good evening, Alice," he said. "How are you?"
TWO - ETHAN
I slipped the heavy bid token into my jacket pocket. It was the only essential thing to take. Without a wallet, I could still buy drinks. They knew I was good for it. Without my member's card, I could still get in. They knew who I was. Richest man there.
But without the bid token I could not take part in the auction. Those rules were set in stone. The laws of the club were rigid. No touching without consent. Sub Rosa. No sharing outside what happened within, you did not bid without a token, you did not ignore the club manager. Remember those rules and you could have the time of your life and people did. Forget them and you'd be out the door. No amount of bribing or blackmailing would get you back in.
As for me, I was starting to get bored. I was hoping the auction would bring the excitement back. It had been a while since they'd held one. Last time had led to Elora, the only woman to have ever stayed in my house more than one night. But that was long ago.
I chose the Ferrari. I couldn't find the key for the Bentley.
Driving there took half an hour, the roads twinkling with ice starting to slowly form on the tarmac. I knew the route well. The club was like a second home for me, filled with laughter and conversation where home was empty of both. It was all right having money and I'd spent years getting it but having no one to share it with was a grind.
I thought about Alice as I drove, about that warm smile on her lips when she talked to people, the way she looked as if she really cared what people were saying. I was jealous of Bill, happily married with a grown up daughter. I thought about mentioning the club to him once but I realised he wouldn't understand. He had a full life, he didn't need distracting like I did.
What would he think if he knew my thoughts about Alice had changed?
Alice. From Wonderland itself. That first shift she had behind the bar. I only caught sight of her by accident but I was transfixed from that moment. She had changed since I'd last seen her. It had been a couple of years. She'd been away studying and then travelling and I had the business to run.
