by Nicole Fox
The guests were, of course, mostly men. Among the twenty or so men, expensive stage quality costumes were the rule. In just five minutes, I counted a cinema-quality Batman costume, a Roman centurion in actual metal armor, a Lex Luthor who looked like he’d bought a tailored suit for the part, and more, many more, that were equally over the top. Hell, some of them looked like they’d been in a special effects makeup chair all afternoon before showing up.
The entertainment staff were, of course, all women. Cheaper costumes, of course, because Daddy had never met a penny he couldn’t pinch till it cried uncle, but showing so much skin you’d wonder why they couldn’t have charged less for the outfits. One girl, a tall, beautiful blonde, might as well have just been wearing her underwear, since the red silk scarves they had her draped in covered less than the lingerie would have. Another, a beautiful black girl who’d eagerly draped herself over one client, was wearing even less. Just little pasties that just barely covered her dark nipples. All of Daddy’s girls wore masques, of course, the kind that covered just the eyes and the nose. Not that they’d do much to hide their identities. You could tell pretty quickly, though, that hiding them wasn’t the real intention.
As I made my way around the edges of the throng, my eyes searched almost unconsciously for Micah. I glanced over the flesh of every ivory-skinned girl, immediately disappointed when I found their head of blonde or brown hair.
I was beginning to think Daddy Williams hadn’t let her out of the dungeon after all, that he’d kept her squirreled away. Maybe he hadn’t believed the authenticity of our little performance?
What did I care anyways? Now that the afterglow of our little session had faded, I’d begun to think that’s what all my feelings were to begin with. Afterglow. The fuzzy headed feeling you got from getting your rocks off in a beautiful woman. The sweet intoxication the feel of their skin produced as your hand ran over it, their smell, their taste.
That’s all it was. Afterglow.
But then what was I even doing here, circling this place like a vulture? I had my mother’s ring back. My finder’s fee was coming. By the end of the night, Williams would have more than enough to be worth knocking over. Why was I looking for her? I didn’t need her to pull off the job. All I had to do that to get into Daddy’s office, and when he went to pay me from the safe, I took the rest.
If anything, her being part of the job was just going to make things more complicated. Infinitely more complicated. I couldn’t believe I was being so stupid to go looking for more trouble, to keep trying to add on more problems to my life.
And then I saw Micah. Damn, she looked sexy. Sexier even than the first night I’d seen her, or any of the moments in between. Lust seemed to ooze off every man in the room as she walked by, and you could almost hear as the party got a collective, giant erection at the sight.
She wore all black, and it was offset perfectly against her creamy white skin. Black high-heeled boots, black leather skirt, slit all the way up to the top of her hips on both sides. A black crop-top that was really little more than a leather bikini. And, to top it all off, a simple black domino mask, and her perfect red curls spilling down to her shoulders.
She flitted through the crowd like a fallen, dark angel gliding through the clouds. The guests and the girls both seemed to part before her, closing in her wake as the men all craned their heads after her perfect form. God, she was hot. Just watching the way her hips swayed from side to side with each step gave me a moment of phantom pleasure as I remembered how she’d felt beneath my hands, how her lips had felt so eagerly pressed against mine.
She must have felt a burning sensation on her back, or an itch she couldn’t reach, because she glanced back over her shoulder at me. She locked those haughty, defiant eyes of her on mine, gave me a perfect, pearly-white smile, and a little shake of her head as she bit her lower lip.
Suddenly, I realized I was in the wrong place. I should have just taken my finder’s fee from Don Williams and gone. The longer I stayed here, the more likely I was to get into trouble, and I knew it. Especially with the way all the party attendees were looking at her. I could already feel the anger building inside me, and there wasn’t any way this would come to any good.
I was fucked. Properly, solidly fucked.
Chapter Nineteen
Micah
Just a couple hours left till the auction, and I was dressed to the nines and ready to go. I barely even had a half-formed plan on how I was going to get Kessa out all on my own. Hell, I didn’t even know how I was going to get myself out of here, let alone her. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. The moment you start to lose is the moment you start to believe it’s not possible to win. That’s what my momma always said, at least.
Admittedly, she’d never really won in her life either. The advice sounded good, though, even as I stood in the middle of the ballroom, surrounded by a crowd of disgusting millionaires and billionaires, a bunch of pervs looking for their own personal sex slaves to while away the hours.
This place disgusted me on every level I could imagine. All the attendees knew what it was going to be. Daddy didn’t accept credit, debit, or personal checks for his girls, even the broken ones like Kessa who were going to be up for sale. Cash only, all purchases final. You could tell by the briefcase cuffed to their hand if one of the clients was going to be part of the bidding going on later.
I didn’t know which was worse, though. The men who came from all over the country to participate in the auction, orDaddy’s girls, like me, who were part of the entertainment for the evening. Here we were, knowing full well what was going on, and just turning a blind eye to it in exchange for a fat payout and maybe some brownie points with the fat bastard running everything.
Were we the monsters here? The ones who knew these girls and had spent long evenings with them on our nights off? Were we as responsible for all this as anyone else? What could he have done, after all, if we’d all stood up at the same time andrefused to be any party to this? But that was silly. And we all knew it. After all, look at what had happened to Kessa when she refused to let a client hurt her. There was no reasoning with men like this.
Sure, we’d made a choice to come here, to allow ourselves to be conned into this lifestyle. But we hadn’t known the pitfalls before we started. All we’d heard were sickly sweet lies from Daddy’s thick lips. Promises, promises, and more promises. And all about money, and how we’d be treated right. Now, though, we were all stuck, all victims of our own greed and naïveté.
I could say one thing, though. Coming to this party and getting to see the look on Ford’s face while he was stuck working security was priceless. The need, the hunger, in his eyes, that was just perfect. I knew he wanted me still, and I could practically see him throbbing through the front of his slacks as I sashayed away from him, through the assembled crowd. Hell, I could see the same thing happening to most of the men.
But, know what would make it better? Putting on a real show for him, getting him jealous and all worked up. That’d make the prick see what he missed out on when he went to work for Daddy Williams, instead of helping me. This way he could see what he could have had if he hadn’t missed his shot with the most beautiful woman in the room. Because he had had a shot, and I knew it. Even as pissed as I was, I still cared for him.
And then I saw him. My man of the hour. The sleaziest slime ball in the room. But, at least he wasn’t a buyer. I could tell that because his wrist was as empty of a briefcase as my ring finger was of an engagement band.
Frosted tips, flashy suit, Italian shoes, and a hundred dollar tie. The exact polar opposite of Ford. This man right here, he was mine.
He looked me up and down as I came up to him, his eyes taking in all of me like a ravenous dog. “Well, look at you, baby. You look like a million bucks, you know that?”
“Thank you,” I purred, and took a sip of champagne. “Not so bad yourself, handsome.”
He beamed like I’d just bought him a new car.
“Tanner Wilde,” he said, offering me his hand.
I clasped it lightly. “Micah Davies. Charmed.”
“You ever thought of being in the movies?” Tanner asked with a sly smile.
“I have, actually. Don’t tell me you’re an agent or something.”
“Am I that transparent, baby?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. So you really are an agent, Mr. Wilde?”
“Tanner, baby, all the girls call me Tanner. I take it since you’re down here on the floor, mingling with us guests, you ain’t one of the girls going up on the stage later?”
“You’d be correct, Tanner.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “That’s a crying shame, Micah, ’cause I got a feeling you’d break the Mansion record for bids. Wouldn’t you?”
I smiled with my eyes over the top of my champagne flute. “Oh, I don’t know about all that,” I admitted. “But do you really think so?”
“Oh, baby, I know so. You got a certain class about you, ain’t none of these girls got. It’s in those hips, and the way you look hotter than sin, but ain’t trashy about it, either.”
I laughed, touched his arm. “Well, I think I just found my favorite man of the evening.”
He grinned and raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, baby? Sweetest thing any of you girls have said to me all night. And I’m paying to be here.”
I glanced back and saw Ford just staring at me through the crowd. I turned my attention back to Tanner. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m getting paid to be here. But with you around, this sure doesn’t feel like work.”
“You’re right. That does make me feel better.” He downed the rest of his champagne, handed the empty glass off to one of the circulating waiters, and took another, raising it to me. “To opportunities, Ms. Davies.”
I lifted my glass and returned the gesture. “Absolutely, Mr. Wilde. Absolutely.”
Chapter Twenty
Ford
I practiced some breathing techniques. In, out, in, out. In with the good energy, out with the bad. Paying attention to my breath sometimes helped with my anger. Right now, though, as Micah pranced through the party like the belle of the ball, all eyes on her? Especially mine?
No fucking way. I just stood there, hands balled into fists at my side, imagining what this douche bag’s face would look like with my fist in it. He’d probably end up spending about the same on the nose job he was going to need as he spent on that whole outfit.
She probably had to do this. I got that. She had to put on a show for Williams, to make it look like she was a good girl again, willing to play their game. But just because I rationally understood it, that didn’t mean I emotionally could. My knuckles popped as I watched them, my nails digging into my palm so deep I almost drew blood.
No, her being at the party, that was no big deal. But the way she was acting with this guy? Something about it just set me off.
Maybe it was that she was talking and laughing with some sleazebag, her hand on his arm. Or maybe it was her smile, so wide and genuine-seeming. Or it could have been her laugh, like the most beautiful chimes I’d ever heard. No. It was all three. She was really getting into it with him, too. A few more minutes like they were going, and he’d be pulling her off to one of the side rooms for a proper getting-to-know-you. Or maybe she’d be the one doing the grabbing. Who knew?
What did she owe me, though? I was ready to sell her out just a few hours earlier. All we had was sex. Great sex, mind you. But still just sex. I’d be damned, though, if seeing her working this guy over didn’t fucking do it to me. It was like having an ice cold knife shoved into my chest, then feeling it twist and twist like a corkscrew, pulling and tugging at the center of me till it ripped right out the back my chest, my heart stuck right to the end, skewered like a kebab.
I bared my teeth at the two of them, nearly growling, just before she looked back at me and caught the look in my eyes. “So you’re an agent for actors, Mr. Wilde?” she asked as she looked me right in the eye and smiled knowingly.
“Agent to the stars, baby,” Wilde said, his hand going down to her perfectly formed, leather-clad ass. “You do any acting, baby? Cause I got a casting couch you’d look beautiful on.”
Still looking right at me, she laughed, pushed her ass back into his hand, and leaned into him. “A casting couch?” she asked, giggling, touching the tip of a finger to her slightly parted, ruby red lips. “What do you mean, Mr. Wilde?”
“Oh, baby, I think you know exactly what I mean. You got the kinda style we’re looking for, kid. We get some collagen in those lips, maybe a job on your upper assets, if you know what I mean. You ever done any acting?”
“Well,” she said with another winning smile, “I was the lead in the school play. I played Juliet.”
“Perfect! We’ll get you to some classes as soon as you hit LA, baby, and you’ll be money. What do you think of the soaps, huh?”
I just rolled my eyes as I watched his gaze tracking up and down her perfect body. I couldn’t blame the guy; I’d have been doing the same thing in his shoes. Hell, I had. Of course, just because you can’t blame a guy for doing something, that doesn’t mean you can’t wanna rip his lungs out at the same time.
I watched, my eyes the slits of a hunting predator, as he leaned in close to her, whispered something in her ear, his hand still tightly gripping that perfect ass of hers. “Mr. Wilde,” she said, giggling and slapping his arm, “I don’t know if that’s appropriate.”
“Don’t worry, baby,” he said, pulling her into him. “We’ll make sure Daddy gets his cut. Don’t you worry your head about that.”
That was it. I’d had enough. I pushed through the crowd, headed right for them. “Gets your hands off her you piece of shit,” I barked as I shoved aside a waiter, sending a tray of champagne flutes flying into the crowd.
The group around me erupted, a scream going up from the women as the bubbly went flying, soaking all the girls. The guys didn’t care about the girls’ outfits, though. Why would they? All it did was turn the place into a wet costume contest.
Micah stepped away as Wilde released her from his greasy hands. He turned around, hands in the air. “Look here, buddy, I’m just—”
He didn’t finish, though. A left jab, followed by a right cross, dropped him like a sack of flour to the ballroom floor.
“Ford!” Micah squealed. “What the fuck did you just do?”
I went to her and tried to reach for her, but she stepped back just out of my reach as a horrified look came over her face. “Micah? I—”
“That’s enough Ford!” Daddy Williams bellowed from behind me.
I spun around to face him and the two broad security guys flanking his massive frame. “Daddy Williams,” I said. “Fuck this shit, I quit. Keep your goddamn money. I can’t be party to this anymore!”
Daddy shook his head, clucked his tongue. “Boy, you don’t fucking get it, do you? No one just quits Daddy.”
I brought my fists back up as one of the security guys slipped a hand inside his jacket. He didn’t come back out empty-handed, either. The crackle of blue light appeared as I realized what he had. A Taser.
“Now, come on, boy. You wanna do this easy? Or you wanna make a scene?”
I clenched my jaw, ground my teeth.
I felt the presence of two other men as they sidled up behind me, discreetly displacing Micah from beside me. Now I was surrounded. I might be able to take the two in front of me, or the two behind me. But all four, with Tasers to incapacitate me? I didn’t stand a chance, and I knew it.
A voice called out from the crowd. “Oh, Daddy Williams! A word, please?”
Daddy turned to the source of the voice, genuine surprise painted all over his broad face. “Yes, Mr. Chambers? How can I be of assistance?”
One of the guests I’d seen earlier, the one dressed like Lex Luthor, came out of the crowd. “I have a proposition, Mr. Williams. You see, I run a certain kind of club in various parts of the country
and different areas of the world. We have several chapters, and we’ve been looking for men of this . . .what did you say his name was? Ford? We’ve been looking for men of this Ford’s caliber. Good in a fight, and able to go as many rounds as possible.”
“What’re you saying, Mr. Chambers? That you’d like to buy Ford, here?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Lex Luthor Chambers said, looking me up and down with a ravishing eye. “Quite the stunning form on this one, wouldn’t you agree?”
I paid attention to my breath. Behind me, I heard the two security guards look from me to each other and back again.
“Don’t sell to him!” another voice called out. “I wanna chance to bid on him as well. Look at those fists of his!”
