Prelude
I’m going to peel your clothes away, piece by piece, slowly and completely, and then I’m going to take you hard and fast, leaving you begging me to please you over and over again.”
“Why are you doing this to me? Why here?”
“Because I can.”
The air weighed down on her lungs, and her entire body pulsed with need. The power, the loss of control, the pure lust shining from his eyes should disgust her, should fill her with fear. But, no matter what she tried, she couldn’t resist this man.
When he pinned her against the solid mahogany shelves filled with ancient texts, all she could do was reach for him, desire him, crave him.
Chapter One
It’s time, Jewell.”
Slowly turning her head, no color left in her face, Jewell stood with as much grace as possible. The joke of a dress barely covered any of her skin, and it was so tight that what it did hide was hardly hidden at all. But that didn’t even matter, did it? All the men sitting out there, waiting, lusting, wanting, preferred it that way.
She was for sale to the highest bidder. And they would do whatever they chose with her. But so what? She was now just an empty shell; all real emotion had been sucked from her. Or at least she hoped it had been.
“You look good. I have no doubt you’ll bring in the highest price of the night,” Ms. Beaumont told her.
Jewell ignored the woman and stepped in front of the mirror to look at her own image. What she saw was a stranger looking back at her. Her long dark hair had been stripped of its natural color; shimmering platinum tresses now cascaded down her back. Expertly applied makeup concealed the circles beneath her eyes, and bright red lipstick matched her low-cut dress to perfection.
Her legs were on full display. Ms. Beaumont said they were most definitely her best feature — okay, her legs and her back, which was also exposed in all its glory. Jewell refused to meet her employer’s gaze in the mirror. If she made eye contact with a single person, she was afraid she would melt down.
Three months she’d been back at Relinquish Control. Three long months. She had lost the case for her brother, and now she was fighting just to get back visitation rights. Even if it wasn’t her fault, she’d broken a promise she’d made to her brother. She’d told him she’d be there every weekend, and it had been months since she’d been able to talk to him. He had to believe that she’d abandoned him.
Never.
She was doing all of this for him. If she could save enough money, she’d be able to get him somehow, and the two of them would run away together. The only thing in her life that mattered was little Justin.
“Jewell, it’s still not too late to back out of this,” Ms. Beaumont said, and her words nearly made Jewell fall apart.
“You know this has to be done,” Jewell told her, still refusing to meet her eyes.
“There are other ways,” Ms. Beaumont reminded her.
“None of those ways have worked.”
McKenzie turned away. It was strange, the friendship the two of them had begun to share.
But Jewell couldn’t focus on any of that right now. If she focused on anything other than what was in store for her, then she would never get through this auction. She hadn’t been with any other men since Blake Knight had dumped her back on the doorsteps of Relinquish Control. She hadn’t wanted to be with any other men.
She’d tried to block Blake from her mind, but that was an impossibility. Though she’d been with him for only six days, and she hadn’t seen him in three months, their relationship had been a perfect storm, constantly leaving her thrashing around in the wind. The fatal moment for her came when he had dropped her back off at the doors to Relinquish Control without even a thought of looking backward.
As soon as she’d decided to work for an escort company, Jewell had known that her world would never be the same again, but she had suppressed her feelings. Someone mattered more than she did. She would still do anything and everything to get to be with her little brother. The poor boy had to be so frightened right now.
And this was the reason she was now up for auction. Relinquish Control did this once a year, took the girls who were either ready for one last gig or who were up for something a bit more exciting, and paraded them in front of a room full of men, hungry men who were told there were no rules. The clients got to do whatever they wanted with the women they bid the highest price on. Instead of paying for a night or a week, their bid gave them a woman for a full thirty days.
Ms. Beaumont was giving Jewell half of the proceeds from this night. Half! And from what the other women had said, the dollar amounts sometimes shot into the tens of thousands. Surely, if she had at least ten thousand dollars in her bank account, she’d have the power to get her brother back, no matter where he’d been placed.
The money she had made from her first encounter with Blake Knight had all gone to an attorney who had done nothing for her and Justin. She knew better now, though, knew she couldn’t trust anyone.
“If you won’t change your mind, then it’s time,” Ms. Beaumont said quietly.
“Let’s go.” Jewell didn’t even recognize her own voice, it was so listless, so monotonic.
Jewell turned from the mirror and followed Ms. Beaumont to the room they’d set up a theater for the event. The audience section was dimly lit, making it difficult for the escorts to see the faces of the men bidding on them, but the lights on the stage shone brightly, ensuring that the bidders didn’t miss a single inch of skin. After all, they were there to secure themselves a high-priced whore.
A whore is what they would get.
“Good evening, gentlemen. I am so pleased you have made your way here this evening. All of you have used our services before and know that we guarantee your satisfaction. These women are here for you, and they will love every minute of the time they spend in your…arms.” If McKenzie winced slightly when she said that, no one in the audience noticed. “Our…training program is intensive, as you know, and quite costly, and this evening’s proceedings allow us to give you only the best. For those who haven’t attended one of our auctions before, let me explain how tonight will work.”
Ms. Beaumont paused and looked out across the room. The pause intensified the men’s anticipation, and they sat there like panting dogs. Jewell took in a deep breath. Some of the girls were actually excited, almost giggly about this event, though they had been trained to hide most of what they felt. Each woman was counting the big bucks she would earn. What did they have to lose? This one job could set them up for an entire year if they were careful with their money. Jewell only hoped the man who picked her wasn’t too sadistic.