by Mia Carson
Sam’s mouth worked hard to form words, but the echoes of groaning distracted him. He cleared his throat several times before he managed to rasp, “We’re here to bid on virgins? How do you even know about this place?”
“A friend of a friend knows the owner,” Marcus explained with a shrug. “I’ve been here a few times, but never did the auction part before. It should be fun.”
“It should be fun,” Sam repeated slowly. “That’s just…they’re here willingly, right?” he whispered, glancing around.
“Yeah, man. All the men and women here work for the owner or are participating in the auction of their own free will. Don’t freak out. There’s no sex trafficking going on here—just, you know, live porn.”
“I’m not sure if that makes me feel less of a creeper or more of a creeper.”
“We’ll get some drinks and head to the auction. We have about twenty minutes before it starts.” Marcus pointed towards the bar and hurried over to it, his head tilting back to admire the naked women shaking their voluptuous breasts behind the bartender.
Sam checked over his shoulder to be sure the exit was still there and that no cops were busting through the door to arrest everyone present. It’s one night. Live a little for the sake of your friend¸ he told himself as he walked to the bar. What’s the worst that could happen? You might actually have some fun tonight.
He doubted it. The only thing he would get out of this night was a painfully uncomfortable erection and end up no closer to figuring out what he wanted out of his life.
***
“Almost finished, darling,” the woman said as she applied Harley’s makeup.
“Right, sure,” she muttered and planted her hands on her hips. “Do I really have to wear this?”
“It’s the outfit Ricky set aside for you. You don’t like it? I think it really brings out your hair and shows off that sexy body.” The woman winked, giggling as she leaned in to apply Harley’s eyeshadow. “There we are. Damn, I’d be surprised if you made less than a couple hundred-thousand tonight.”
Harley turned around to face the wall of mirrors behind her, ready to tell the woman she was crazy to think any man would pay that much. She saw herself in the glass and sucked in a shocked breath. “Holy shit,” she whispered. “This is me?”
“All you, darling.”
Harley ran her black-gloved hands over her body as her eyes absorbed every detail from her curled and pinned up blue-black hair to her face done up like a movie star. Despite the horrible situation she’d landed in, she’d never seen herself look so confident and so damn sexy. The outfit was like nothing she’d ever worn before. The tight corset top pushed up her breasts and provided an eyeful of cleavage. She even wore thigh-high pantyhose, garters, and strappy black heels, everything in shades of blue and accented in black. She turned slowly, cringing because her ass was hanging out, but when she tried to cover herself, someone clucked his tongue. She glared openly as Ricky stepped into view behind her.
“You are truly a vision,” he whispered in awe and reached for her elbow.
Harley drew her arm out of his reach. “Yeah, but thankfully, not for you.”
“Yet I could grow on you if you stuck around long enough.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
His eyes narrowed, but he held up his hands and backed up a step. “Remember the deal, Harley. Go out there and make the men weep to be with you. By the end of the night, you deliver me proof of the deed being completed, and all that’s left is convincing Devois you are worth his time.”
“Wait, proof?” she shouted. “You’re kidding, right? How the hell am I supposed to get that?”
“You’ll think of something. Take pictures, record it—for all I care, you can show me you bled on the sheets,” he muttered with a sneer as his eyes raked over her body. “I can’t lie, I’m jealous of whatever bastard gets to spread your thighs for the first time.”
Harley glowered at him and crossed her arms firmly over her chest. “Fine, you’ll get your proof.”
“Where’s your sister?”
“Safe at home and away from you,” Harley snapped. “You’re not going to see her again.”
Ricky’s eyes darkened and he moved in closer, but an older woman clapped her hands loudly. Ricky nodded his head, backing away into the shadows.
“Gather around ladies!” the woman called. “Many of you are new to how this process works and others are returning to auction off what they’ve learned in bed.”
Several women licked their lips and giggled in anticipation. Harley thought she would be one of few women present there, but she was thankfully mistaken. Nearly thirty young women were clustered backstage, and from what she’d heard while getting ready, many of them were virgins looking to make a quick buck and weasel their way into some rich man’s life. A few of them whispered fears of being chosen by some old man, and Harley’s mind instantly pictured some old, wrinkled man tackling her to a bed to have sex with her. Shuddering from the images, she squared her shoulders and focused on why she was here.
Brianna’s freedom and her own. After tonight, there would be one final hurdle, and then they would leave Vegas for good.
“When you are announced, you will walk onto the stage, walk from one end to the other, turn, giving the bidders a good long look at you, and then you will return. The bidders are behind one-way glass. You can’t see them, but I promise they will see you, ladies.” A few more giggles followed her words, and Harley’s heart pounded so hard she expected it to burst right out of her chest and sprint off the stage. “If you would please line up! We begin in sixty seconds!”
Harley slipped towards the back of the line where she was directed and wished she wasn’t wearing gloves. She’d be picking the crap out of her freshly manicured nails. Through the curtain, she heard the woman in charge announce the auction about to begin and sultry music played over the speakers. At least Harley wouldn’t be able to see the men leering at her.
Yeah, you just get to see the guy who buys your virginity right before you have to give it up.
Inwardly, she cringed and shrank in on herself. When she was younger and the days were hard, she would disappear into her own mind and tune out her parents’ yelling voices. Tune the whole world out. She hoped she hadn’t lost the ability as she moved closer to the open curtain. With a thong riding further up her ass with every step, she straightened her shoulders and prepared to do something she prayed she wouldn’t regret.
***
The first woman strutted out on stage and numbered signs shot up into the air. The price started at fifty-thousand, but by the time she walked back to the curtain, it was up to three-hundred-thousand and a man near the front rang a bell.
“Sold to the lovely gentleman in the back row,” the man announced.
The next woman was called out, and Sam’s eyes raked over her sexy lingerie and nearly perfect shape, but he couldn’t bring himself to bid. Marcus did a few times, but he was beaten by another guy. The next woman was purchased for the evening by a young woman and a man sitting beside her. The entire situation was surreal, but the women on stage looked anything but uncomfortable. Their smiles were real, lighting their eyes and crinkling their faces.
“They actually enjoy this,” he muttered to Marcus as another hot number strolled across the stage. “Look at them. They can’t even hear the bidding going on, but it’s a like a high to them anyway.”
“You have to admit, having people fight over the chance to spend an evening in your company is quite a turn-on,” a woman beside Sam chimed in with a deep purr of a voice. “I would know.”
“You’ve auctioned yourself off?” Sam asked surprised.
“In my younger days,” the woman explained with a sigh. “It is a high, an experience I’ll never forget. It empowers you, gives you a strength you never thought you could have. And,” she said as she leaned in closer, “it’s how I met my husband.”
Sam glanced at the man sitting to her right in surprise. “You’re ser
ious?”
The man laughed and leaned over as he held out his hand. “We’ve been married ten years, man. One night led to so much more. Everything here can lead to so much more.”
Sam shook the man’s hand, then paused and glanced around the audience. “Wait, I get it. You guys are plants, right? To get reluctant men to bid?”
The couple shook their heads. “Not even close,” the woman assured him and rested her hand warmly on the man’s leg. He covered it with his and kissed her cheek. “This is the real deal, though I will admit, Ricky is not above planting people in his clubs. Those three women towards the front? I guarantee they’re offering to have threesomes with those men close by if they buy a few women for the night.”
Sam narrowed his eyes at the woman, but when she looked at the man she claimed was her husband, her eyes glimmered with something he could only call love, and she smiled with such passion, he started to believe them.
Finding love in a club centered around lust seemed too good to be true, but Sam relaxed into his seat and watched each woman with a new perspective. Even if they were plants, the notion of finding the woman he’d been missing all his life sparked a new desire in him to explore every avenue possible until he found this woman and claimed her as his own.
The next few women to traipse across the stage were gorgeous, but the look in their eyes was greed mixed with nerves. That was not the woman he wanted to spend an evening with. Another woman was announced, and Sam perked up at her name.
“Harley is our next lady available this evening, and she is a black-haired beauty, ladies and gentlemen,” the woman announced.
Sam stared at the gap in the curtain, expectant, and the second she stepped out, his gut twisted in knots and his chest tightened. He gripped the arm of his cushioned chair and the other hand with his bid number shot up immediately.
“And we have our opening bid of one-hundred-thousand! Do I hear two?”
Another number shot up and another, but Sam wouldn’t let this woman slip away. She paused at the edge of the stage and stared uncertainly at the glass. The look in those dark grey eyes sucked him in, a familiar look he’d seen so many times before in his reflection in the mirror. She wasn’t here just for the money. There was more to this woman, much more, and he wanted to know all about her. He raised his number again, competing with several other bidders in the room. She walked to the other end of the stage and turned. His leather pants grew tight around his swelling shaft as he admired her curved ass. She swayed her hips as she walked, but her hands shook at her sides, and the need to comfort this woman was so strong, Sam swore he had to know her from somewhere to feel such a connection to a complete stranger through a damn glass wall. The numbers went up more as she walked back towards the curtain.
“Five-hundred-thousand,” Sam said firmly as he stood.
The room erupted in hushed whispers and clapping. Marcus whistled as the man at the front of the room rang a bell. “Five-hundred-thousand, sold to the anxious man in the black leather.”
“Holy shit, man,” Marcus said in awe as Sam reclaimed his seat. “You spent the most here.”
“Yeah, well, I want her,” he said stiffly, though he wasn’t going to tell Marcus the real reason he bid on a woman, a real live human. Excitement coursed through his body, but it wasn’t only to have sex with her. He wanted to get to know the woman with the sad grey eyes and trembling hands.
The rest of the auction dragged by as he waited anxiously for the chance to meet Harley.
“That ends the auction for this evening,” the woman said through the speaker. “Those of you with winning numbers will please make your payments to the man in front of you and then come to the stage to collect your winnings.”
“Well, that means you. I guess I’ll go check out the rest of the club,” Marcus said as he stood.
“You’re not going to stay with me?”
“Nope. You have an escort for the rest of the evening. Let me know how it goes.” He winked and sauntered out the door with the rest of the bidders who had lost.
Sam followed the line of men and women to the man at the podium. As each bidder paid, they were motioned through a door by a middle-aged woman wearing a silk gown that clung to her curves and barely covered her breasts.
“Ah, my high-roller for the evening,” the man said and gave Sam a brief round of applause as he approached the podium. “A fine specimen you’ve chosen for your entertainment this evening.”
Sam stiffened at the use of the man’s words and worry gnawed at him. “Right. Money transfer?”
“That is the preferred method, and do not worry, all transactions are private.”
Once the five-hundred-thousand was transferred to the club, Sam stepped aside and braced himself for whatever came next. What if this woman hated him for buying her? She put herself in this situation, remember? She wanted to be auctioned off.
He argued with himself quietly as he walked along the stage to the end where the woman in the blue-and-black lingerie stood. Her gloves were gone and she picked at her nails, muttering under her breath. Sam caught several curses and considered simply walking away, not caring if he’d wasted the half a million, but she lifted her head and their gazes locked.
“Hi,” she said brusquely.
“Hi,” he replied. “I…uh, I’m your…” He trailed off lamely. He watched her eyes darken, and to his surprise, she grinned and lowered herself to the edge of the stage, sitting so she was eye level with him.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered, her voice shaking, “this is my first time with this shit, too. Harley,” she said and held out her hand.
Sam took it and enjoyed the warmth radiating from her body. “Sam. Pleasure to meet you.”
“Sam… I always liked that name,” she murmured. “Do you mind helping a girl off the stage? I’m not exactly used to heels.”
He laughed quietly with her as he took her hands and steadied her as she hopped down. Her foot slipped and he caught her quickly around the waist to keep her from falling. “So, your first time doing an auction and my first time here. What do you say we walk around for a bit and look around?”
“Are there drinks involved in this walking around?” she asked as he held out his arm. She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, and her nervous energy flowed into him. He rested his hand gently over hers and leaned down.
“I’m nervous, too, if that makes you feel any better,” he whispered.
“But you bid on me.”
“Let’s just say a friend dragged me here, and when you stepped out on that stage…I’m not exactly sure what was going through my head,” he confessed as they walked towards the door.
“Huh, funny. Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for the pleasure of a nervous woman for the night?” she asked teasingly. Sam cleared his throat and muttered the number. She stiffened beside him and her mouth fell open. “Beg your pardon?”
“I’m not lying, so tonight’s on me. How about those drinks?” Sam guided them into the corridor and followed the stream of other bidders with their winning ladies on their arms. Many of them went straight towards a hall with a sign over it that read ‘Lovers’ Lane.’ He assumed that was where the rooms were Marcus had told him about. Bar…bar first. He needed to get a drink in him, and from the way she had a death grip on his arm, she needed one even more.
As they sidled up to the bar, Sam debated if he would thank Marcus for this night or strangle him on the way home.
Chapter 4
The champagne tickled Harley’s nose, but it helped take the edge off. Sam was an attractive man, and the more champagne she drank, the more details she picked up about the way he walked, his strong stance, and his long, black hair she wanted to run her fingers through. His hazel eyes said he was not just some rich guy here for a night of fun. There were stories in those eyes, a life of loss in those depths, and she wished they’d met under different circumstances. One where they weren’t going to have to have sex by the end of the night bec
ause he’d bought her virginity on a whim.
She couldn’t get over how much he’d spent on her. Somewhere inside her mind, a little voice cheered that someone thought she was worth half a million bucks, but it was quickly overshadowed by the fact that he bought her to have sex with her. They left the bar after her third glass of champagne and wandered down a hall. A group of men passed them, whispering quietly to each other, and Harley paused to watch. Unlike the rest of the patrons in the bar, these men were not there to admire the naked men and women. Their eyes darted around wildly and one carried a small briefcase in his hand. When he turned, she swore she caught the outline of a gun under his shirt before he moved to a door farther down the hall. A large man stood near it and he opened it wide enough for the men to slip inside. Harley squinted and spotted Ricky in the room, standing near a table with bricks of something white before the door closed sharply. Drugs. She knew it. Ricky was running drugs out of this club and had gotten her sister involved in his shit.
“Harley? You okay?” Sam asked beside her.
She shook her head and placed a grin on her face. “Yeah, I’m great,” she lied. From the look on Sam’s nervous face, he didn’t realize what else was going on in this club either. She hoped he didn’t. He was growing on her. They walked aimlessly down another hall. She prayed they weren’t walking into the open-spaced area she had seen the night before. Watching someone be touched by so many people did something to her insides she wasn’t ready for.
“Oh, dear Lord,” she gasped when they saw something else entirely.
It wasn’t the open room, but this was just as bad—in a good way. The hall they entered was lined with windows peering into candlelit rooms littered with silks and a bed or couches for the occupants to rest on. Not that any of them were resting. Moans and sharp cries of pleasure echoed around them, and Harley’s thighs clamped tightly together as they paused near the first window. She tried to look away because she had been a good kid growing up. She’d never watched porn or read those cheesy articles for women in Cosmo. The moving bodies on the other side of the glass enthralled her until it was all she saw and looking away was no longer an option.
