The only girls?
Young. Barely legal, clearly being preyed upon for their youth alone. All of them are in dresses that barely go past their thighs. More importantly, all of them look absolutely terrified, some of them with tears rolling down their cheeks. I don’t think their consent is being considered in whatever this is.
Interspersed with the scumbag guys are guys who are packing, in varying degrees of openness. Some just have pieces on their legs, others are carrying rifles. “Security,” as they probably claim to be.
My damsel in distress is pulled out of the back of the sedan by the same scumbag from before. She’s yelled at by another man, who shoves a dress into her chest — skimpy and similar to what the other girls are wearing. He pulls at her shirt, and I piece together that he wants her to change out here and right now, with the eyes of a dozen horny men looking her up and down.
I watch from a distance, itching to act. She turns as they bear down on her, a futile attempt at modesty. She sees me in the distance, the only one who’s spotted me, her doe-like eyes meeting mine as she deals with the shoves and handsiness of the men around her. She mouths a word toward me, and my heart breaks.
Help. She’s asking for help.
I feel powerless. I want to charge in, draw my own gun, and start firing wildly at each and every one of those sad excuses for manhood.
But I know better. All that would happen is I’d gain a few dozen new holes and she’d still be in whatever predicament that is about to befall her.
She’s not the only one who needs help, but at least I know that help will be coming up right behind me. All it takes is one phone call. “Echo? Yeah, I'm going to need you and everyone else the club can spare.”
4
BAYLEE
I’d heard Uncle Jericho and my dad talking about things like this, as crassly as they always did.
A ‘virgin auction.’
I shuddered at the thought of it. It’s such a disgusting idea, and I worried that they would try to make me go to one. I thought that maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t be that horrible to their own blood. Or maybe they thought I was already a whore, sleeping around with any guy who would have me. But they know nothing about me. I am a virgin, and I don’t want to give anything to a man who would think I have a price.tag
“You don’t even know if I’m still a virgin, Uncle Jericho.”
“You are,” he snaps back as he continues to pressure me to put on that sad excuse for a dress.
“What, are you going to take me to the doctor’s to verify this?” Sheltered as I am, I know there’s no actual way to determine if someone is a virgin, but an asshole like my uncle probably still believes there is.
“We got ways of knowing, girl. Your buyer will know for sure. They’re very experienced with girls’ first times,” he cackles, slapping my father on the shoulder when we get to him, and he laughs too.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this, Dad,” I say, shaking my head.
“I need money, baby. And you’re not exactly helping with the bills very much.”
I grind my teeth. I’m his daughter. He’s supposed to protect me. He’s supposed to care for me. More than anything else right now, I feel terribly alone.
Uncle Jericho continues, “This is really the best you can hope for, Baylee. We’re doing you a favor.”
A favor? I can’t even begin to understand my uncle's twisted logic.
I turned down some boys in high school. My self-esteem was never great – with relatives like these two, was it any mystery why? Anyway, I thought any interest guys showed was part of some cruel joke. I have learned a little better in the years since, I know my worth, and I never wanted to give myself to just any man. I wanted my first time to be with someone special — I want it to count somehow.
Now? It looks like I’m going to end up being given to the highest bidder. Me and a bunch of other girls are about to be paraded out on stage like we are pieces of meat instead of living, breathing human beings. All of us eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old, that fact being fetishized by all these creeps here. It’s enough to make a girl lose faith in all men forever.
Everything has been going so wrong in the past few years. My mother passed, and then my grandmother not too long after that. That’s what sent my father down this dark path. It’s what led him to fall into Uncle Jericho’s bad influence. At least, that’s what I told himself.