Nearly Broken (35 page)

He stopped there,
tossing the stack into the air, letting them float randomly down
around me. Crouching down, he looked me dead in the eye, but I was
too numb emotionally to feel the need to shrink back. As coolly as he
could, he said, “This may not be your ideal situation, but it
is your reality. These men will treat you no better than my brother,
some worse. Very few owners will allow you to live freely within the
house like I do. Granted, you won’t earn that kind of freedom
right away, but it is there for the taking, should you be willing to
abide to my rules.

“Veronica can
give me sex. But I want more. I want something only a non-broken can
give me. Sensuous sex. Lust. And it’s something I’m
willing to give in return.” His hand swept the floor, sending a
few of the papers sliding. “None of these men will give a shit
about how they treat you. You’re disposable to them and will be
treated as such. You want to go and be raped by one of them? Fine. Go
to auction. If not, you can stay here, but I demand the sex between
us be consensual.

“Now what’s
your decision?” he beckoned firmly, his jaw twitching from the
tension.

I really wanted to
tell him to go get a fucking girlfriend if he wanted intimacy. Being
the fucking rat, neither of his choices seemed a viable option. I
swallowed the lump in my throat and weakly said, “I need some
time to think it over.”

“You have four
hours before I come to get you,” he deadpanned. “Think
hard and fast.” He reached to remove my bindings, tucking the
key back into his pocket. “Veronica will be taking you to the
shower soon. Stay here until she comes for you.” Getting up to
leave, he reminded me not to do anything stupid. “I can still
throw you to auction whether you want it or not.”

After showering and
drying my hair, Veronica led me back to his room and sat me on the
rug. She lay her head down in my lap and stayed for ten minutes, but
I was in no mood to pet her. So I lay there, my back up against the
wall, completely jealous that she lacked the mental capacity to deal
with this type of dilemma. She just did what she was told. I’m
not sure what she could’ve had to do, but she up and left me,
leaving me unbound on the rug.

Part of me wanted to
get up and make another attempt at escape. But the other part of me
knew what a stupid idea that was. This house was exactly like his
brother’s place. Same electronic keypads, same bars behind
glass panels that were apparently unbreakable now. Same steel doors
that weren’t going to unlock without help from the people
monitoring the security system. And if he truly had learned from his
brother’s mistake, they’d probably been instructed never
to unlock the system unless he called in for it personally.

There was no way out
of this fortress.

I began to wonder if
he left me unbound on purpose, to see if I’d learned my lesson
from the first time, to see if I’d behave and stay where I was
told to stay without snooping or trying to flee.

Great. Now
I
had
become the fucking dog.

And as much as that
pissed me off, there was nowhere to go, no way to leave. So I did the
only thing I could think to do: weigh my options. Stay here or be
sold. Let him rape me or let some out of shape, middle-aged,
three-hundred-pound lardass rape me. Neither was acceptable, but I’d
be lying if I said there wasn’t a difference in the level of
disgust between the two. But then there was the fact that he shot the
only guy I ever loved and left him for dead. I knew what he was
capable of the moment I defied him. I imagined the others were
probably guilty of similar crimes too, particularly the mafia ones.
And torture porn guy? Shit. It was like he intentionally invited the
worst of the worst to this auction.

My head dropped back.
Always two options
.
The one he wanted me to choose, and the
one so cruel he knew I’d never choose it.
He was playing me
all over again. Was there even an auction, or was he just trying to
rush my decision? And if I chose against him, would he quickly turn
around and create an auction? Just to punish me for denying him?

Diabolical.

After about two hours,
no one had come back. My legs were cramping, my bottom bruising from
doing nothing but sitting for days. I saw no reason why I couldn’t
stand on my feet. Had I still been chained, it was something I’d
have more than enough slack to do. So I stood and began pacing
circles on my rug, my arms wrapping around myself for extra warmth.
Looking to my burns, the redness was fading fast. The areas still
felt numb but visually they were smoother and less pink. All except
the spot on my right arm; it was still pretty red.

Luckily, I was able to
go through Veronica’s drawers on my own this time, so I avoided
wearing another see-through slip. I also dodged the more scanty
lingerie I found in there. It sickened me, especially after that
speech of his. He wanted lust from me, which basically meant hot and
heavy sex normally reserved for your significant other. And he was
most definitely
not
my significant other. But I knew the
moment I opened that drawer, that if I chose to stay here, I’d
be expected to wear things far more skimpy then the slips I was
currently getting.

I needed to pee, but I
didn’t dare go into his bathroom without permission. I didn’t
dare go anywhere. I’d seen the way he beat me and Veronica, and
felt the terror shivering all the way to my bones when he choked and
threaten to beat me senseless when he thought I had simply lied. I
didn’t want to do anything that was going to leave another
painful welt across my face or leave me unconscious and at his mercy.

I slowly, fearfully,
walked to the door, stopping before I could enter the hallway. I
peeked my head out, looking both ways and finding nothing. I didn’t
want to delay, in risk that he knew I was moving. Certainly he was
able to watch his hidden cameras on his cell phone too. “Hello?”
I called.

About thirty seconds
later, he climbed the stairs and came to me, the slightest smile on
his face. He was probably commending himself for training me so well.
“I need to go to the restroom.”

It wasn’t what
he wanted to hear, but he acknowledged me with a nod anyways. “You
can use Veronica’s. Go back to your spot when you’re
done.”

I nodded and passed
him in the hall. I hated doing my business when I didn’t know
where the hidden camera was. Not daring to linger, I left Veronica’s
room. He wasn’t in the hallway or his bedroom, so I was left
unchained again.

Nothing left to do but
lie down and wait.

It was funny, but once
unchained, my body relaxed enough to finally sleep. The next thing I
knew, he was stroking my arm to wake me up, calling out
Natalie
repeatedly.

I groggily sat up and
rubbed the sleep from my eyes as he went to grab something off his
bed. He held up a red dress by his index fingers, swaying it back and
forth before me.

“What is that?”

He knew I was stalling
and ignored my question altogether. “In my experience, red
always seems to entice the men more. Maybe it’ll help fetch a
higher price.”

Was he seriously
continuing with this messed up game? I wasn’t some dumb zombie
girl. I had the brains to figure out what was going on around me.

But the seriousness of
his face scared me, and made me think otherwise. Was he seriously
selling me? He freaking tracked me down, shot my boyfriend to avenge
his ass of a brother who totally deserved to die, then began the
process to wipe my skin clear of scars and burns, just to turn around
and sell me to make a little money? What the hell?

He waved that silky,
slutty dress in front of me with a low cut top and slits all the way
up both thighs and I was freaking screaming inside!

“Don’t
make this difficult, love. I can see your face flushing so I know
you’re thinking things you shouldn’t be.”

Oh, I had every
intention of making this difficult. When I didn’t budge, he
calmly laid the dress on the bed, but his demeanor changed for the
worst when he stalked me, backing me up against the wall. Panicking,
I began to realize the stupidity behind my resistance. There was
nowhere to run and he had a heavy fist.

I gasped when he
snatched my jaw, squeezing down to the bone with such force that I
cried out in pain. My hands went to his chest in defense, but I
didn’t dare put any real force behind my push.

“You have two
options right now,” he threatened, yanking my jaw until I
looked him square in the eyes. “Either put the dress on
yourself or I’m taking you downstairs to meet your suitors
naked.” He threw me back against the wall, releasing me, and
then, like nothing had happened at all, turned and walked out. “I’ll
give you two minutes to decide.”

My jaw shuddered,
aching where he had held me so roughly. I could already feel the
bruises starting to form. I rushed to throw on the dress. I didn’t
have a lot of options, and naked wasn’t going to be the one to
win out.

I was still shaking
when he returned, clearly pleased with what he saw. His fingers
traced down my bare arms, assessing me, a sense of longing in his
eyes that disturbed me so much I had to look away. Next, he played
with my hair, fixing my part and combing his fingers through my messy
hair.

A single tear fled
down my cheek. Nick had always done the same. He loved how wild my
hair looked when I woke up each morning.

“There,”
he said softly, wiping my tear away, “now you’re ready to
make me some money.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into
motion. “Come. Our guests will be arriving any minute.”

Oh, my God. He
wasn’t screwing with me. He was actually going to do it. He was
going to sell me to some dirty, fucking sleazeball.

And I thought I was
shaking before! It started off as a shiver, quickly progressing to
something more intense. I did
not
want to go back to that
life. Locked away with no hope in sight, possibly no drugs to dull
the pain or cloud my mind. As much as it disgusted me to think it,
the man holding my hand was by far the better deal. I’d seen
firsthand how Veronica got to live.

“Wait!” I
shouted, pulling him to a stop. “Please,” I begged.
“Don’t sell me.”

Amused, he smiled and
pulled me along again, his grip slipping to my wrist and tightening
fast. “You had your chance, Natalie. Time’s up.”

“No! Don’t!
I’ll do anything you want!”

My insides twisted
into knots when I said those words, bile burning the bottom of my
throat, threatening to rise as my anxiety level jumped off the chart.
I’d just sealed my fate.

“Prove it,”
he said darkly. “And I won’t sell you.”

Backtracking to the
bedroom, I flat-out panicked like never before, my lungs just shy of
hyperventilating. The words taking a few seconds to come together, I
finally blurted, “But you said they were almost here.”

A smirk overtook his
face. “I lied. We still have an hour.” He released me and
disappeared inside the room. “Come along, love.”

He fastened the chains
to my wrists. I couldn’t look at him, couldn’t bear to
acknowledge what I’d done, what I’d done
willingly
.
His words haunted my thoughts.
In just three days, you’ll be
begging me to fuck you.

It sickened me. I
sickened me, and I lay down on the fur rug, curling myself into the
fetal position. I was dressed in my slip again, but I still felt
naked, could still smell the scent of his skin on mine.

He kissed on my neck
and shoulders, probably thinking he could comfort me, but mentally,
his touch had the opposite effect. Unfortunately, he hadn’t
ignored me the way he did Veronica. My defiance, my snippy retorts,
the fact that my body could react when he touched me – it
turned him on, and he eagerly used his hands and mouth all over my
body to make me squirm within his grasp even more.