“Nope,” he says flatly. The sound of his zipper cuts between us. “But you can give me something to think about tonight.”
I shove him. “In your dreams.”
Bad move.
Even though Lorenzo isn’t holding a gun on me, he’s quick and sharp, grabbing me by the scruff like I’m a kitten who just misbehaved. He huffs while dragging me to the door, where he shoves my face into the wood until my ear flattens against the door.
“You hear that?” he rasps behind me. “It’s quiet, isn’t it?”
A small voice reverberates through the wood, but I can’t grab any specifics. Other than that, it’s quiet. Just like he says.
He shakes me. “Girls like you sell quick, Ms. Austin. You’ll be bought in five minutes. I’d bet you a blowjob if I could manage to keep you.”
I sneer while his fingers slide under my thong. He gropes both my holes as much as he can, petting me so heavily that it makes my legs wobble.
“This is all I get,” he says while snapping his hand back. “It’s an unfair world.”
The light above the door blinks red. Before I can even think about it, Lorenzo opens the door and nudges me into a dim hallway. Warm light flushes the end of the hallway. It’s maybe ten steps, if that.
The door slams behind me.
I’m alone.
The confident, snappy bitch from minutes ago cowers. That’s me—and I can’t control the way I feel as I shakily walk forward. What’s waiting for me at the end of the hallway? A room full of perverts? Or just a glass cage?
I’m trying to think back to all those thrillers I watched with Liya. Those movies are where women get snatched from foreign countries and get tossed into cages.
But this is real life. And it’s nothing like that. It’s so much worse.
Because it’s happening to me right in the middle of New York.
The sound of heels hitting the tile cuts through my thoughts. Ahead of me, a dour-faced woman in black-rimmed glasses wearing a headset appears. She gives me a quick up-and-down, and then waves me over.
I gulp while crossing my arms over my chest.What’s happening now?
I approach the end of the hallway, where a small stage lit up with soft lamps illuminates a series of black mirrors. Next to each mirror is a door.
“Our next lot,” the woman announces. “Arrived just this afternoon. A late addition, but one worthy of celebrating. A donation from Don Felix Cardona for all your purchase pleasure.”
Speakers go off over each mirror. It’s a horrible sound that makes me flinch. I spin around while searching the black mirrors for any hint of life. Nothing but the crackling speakers erupt with male voices saying the things that Lorenzo said to me in the other room.
Nasty things.
Horrifying things.
“Miss Feisty has a petite body. She’s bold and fierce. She’s the perfect woman for anyone who likes projects,” the woman explains. It almost sounds like she’s describing a house for sale. “Bidding begins at one million dollars.”
She steps back, and the speakers crackle to life.
“One and a half!”
“Two million!”
The woman replies, “I hear two million. Can I get two and a half?”
I struggle to retain my strength, huddling into my arms. When I spin all the way back toward the hallway, the woman pierces me with a furious glare.
She frowns at me while covering the microphone of her headset. “Take the bra off.”