Mason
One week. I’d spent an entire week watching her. I’d been unable to take my eyes off her from the moment she’d moved in.
I picked her because she’d come to Eden alone and had no one around her. No one to miss her or know she was missing. And, being as gorgeous and innocent as she was, this made the taking of her so much easier. And more fun.
It had been a stroke of good luck that her car broke down the way it did. It had been the perfectly opportune moment. It really couldn’t have been any more perfect, actually.
I stood in the room with the other bidders. It was busy this week, with a few more buyers than usual. I caught a familiar face looking at me.
Khloe.
I nodded to her as she walked over.
“Evening,” she greeted.
“Evening,” I replied.
I had a feeling that when she saw Cassie she’d vow to have her as one of her girls. We’d known each other for a long time, too many years to count, and she was one of the only women I didn’t completely hate. In any case, we both ran similar businesses, so it was both wise and useful to be on friendly terms.
“What do you know about the plan to consolidate the crime families?” she whispered in my ear.
I shook my head. I didn’t know much at all, and that was exactly what I told her.
“What’s your opinion on it though?” she asked.
I shrugged.
“Don’t know, Khloe,” I replied. “See you later.”
I walked away before she could say or ask anything more, and made my way to the front to where Diesel sat. Diesel was an ex-Navy SEAL and my right-hand man. I pulled up the chair next to him and raised my brows, waiting for the smirk I knew was going to come.
“Wow!” Must be good if you’re taking a front row seat.”
I feigned cluelessness.
“What?” I scoffed.
“The auction tonight,” Diesel nodded to the stage. “There’s talk about it being good. Better quality than usual.”
“Explains why there's more faces here than usual,” I remarked.
“Yeah. And it explains why you have a front row seat,” Diesel laughed.
“Uh-huh?”
I ignored him. The need to buy a whore wasn’t strong in me at all, primarily because I was in the business of selling them.
“I think you could find the love of your life tonight,” Diesel joked.
I turned to give him a skeptical look.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Diesel shifted uncomfortably. “If the tail is as good as it’s rumored to be, anything is possible.”
“That might be true if I believed in love.”
“Don’t be like that! Give it a chance.”
“How could you possibly think I would ever fall in love after the all the women I’ve sold?”
Diesel shrugs, “It’s possible.”
“It isn’t,” I told him straight, “I’ll fuck them, but I won’t ever love them.”
Diesel was about to say something more when Ruiz, the Cartel’s leader, walked in. I didn’t have to nod or say anything for Diesel to follow the direction of my eyes.
“Shit,” Diesel muttered.
“Yep,” I replied, turning back to look at the stage.
The room hadn’t quite fallen silent, but you could have cut the tension in the air with a blunt knife and made it clean through. Ruiz walked in, flanked by the other heads of the crime families. It was a direct show of power to let everyone know that the consolidation plans were going through whether anyone wanted them to or not.
Ruiz Fernandez was heavyset and rough looking. But he was a decent head shorter than me, with a nose so crooked from having been broken so many times that plastic surgery probably couldn’t fix it. To say the rumors about him were true was a complete joke. He was much worse than the talk made him out to be. ‘Cruel and sadistic’ would have been putting it lightly. I’m no good guy, but I don’t torture victims until they’re taking their last breath and then still keep going some.
There weren’t the words to describe how sick he was.
The bidding started, and the quality was indeed the best it had been in roughly two months. Every girl out of the twenty-one being sold went for over $1000, with the highest bid – for one of the girls I’d bought in – coming in at $1300.
I was happy. But it was Cassie I was waiting for. She’d be dolled up to the nines and fetch a very fucking generous price.
The best is always saved until last.
“The next lot for sale is a young 20-something-year-old brunette. She is tiny, curvy, and petite, standing at just over 5-foot, with a gorgeous face.”
Cassie. I knew it was her straight away.
“And, as you all know, the best is always saved until last.”
The spotlight came on and the glass she stood behind couldn’t have been more transparent. I got my first good look at the treasure I'd brought in.
They’d put her in white, making her look even more gorgeous and sweetly innocent than she already was. The heels made her already perfect ass look even better, and the makeup and curled hair were flawless.
She was a complete show stopper. I knew because I wasn’t the only one who was unable to take my eyes off her. I saw Ruiz, his eyes pinned to her, not wavering or blinking once.
Fuck! The slime wouldn’t bid on her. He couldn’t. He’d kill her.
I felt annoyed and started to boil at the thought of him winning the bid on her.
But Cassie was the last girl tonight, and he had already won the bidding on two out of the twenty-one girls that had gone before her. He never took more than two.
“Bidding will start at $200.”
“Oh my,” Khloe came up behind me. “She is an absolute gem.”
Just as I’d predicted, Khloe had her eyes on Cassie too. Her life would be better in Khloe’s hands than in those of the Cartel’s head. Or, for that matter, in those of the head of the Ghost Riders MC – namely, mine!
I smirked. With Khloe’s interest piqued, Ruiz definitely wasn’t going to take more than two girls that night
“One of yours?” Khloe asked.
I nodded, “Yeah, brought her in a few hours ago.”
“That would explain why you were late,” she smiled coyly.
I grunted.
“Had to help a poor little lady with a broken-down car on the side of a back road.”
“Lucky night,” Khloe nodded.
“I stand by what I said before,” Diesel interjected. He couldn’t pull his eyes from Cassie either.
“Shut up,” I told him.
“What did you say, Diesel?” Khloe asked curiously.
“I was just…”
“Not another word,” I interrupted him before looking at Khloe. “He said nothing.”
Khloe held her hands up in mock defeat and smiled.
“If you say so.”
She knew I wasn’t angry with her or Diesel, but understood I wanted my business to stay my business.
“There is going to be a war for her,” Diesel muttered.
“She’s mine, boys. So, keep it in your pants, unless you plan on paying.”
Khloe sashayed away.
Diesel looked at me and raised his brows.
“Hers,” he remarked. “And just about every other buyer in the room, from the way they’re looking at her.”
“She’s a good piece.”
“Good?” Diesel snorted. “She's better than good! I’d eat a mile of her shit just to see where it came from. Now fucking bid on her!”
“No,” I told him straight out.
“Why not?”
“No,” I told him again.
“For fuck's sake,” he shook his head. “You’re insane.”
“Probably.”
I looked back at Cassie and saw how scared and confused she was. She was trembling all over. I’d known she’d be absolutely terrified when she saw where she was. But, I wondered, would she realize what was going on before the bidding was over?
I watched as Cassie’s eyes adjusted to the blinding light and she finally took in what was happening. Her whole body shook with fear now, and I could have sworn her heart was thumping so fast I could see it trying to beat its way through her chest.
She spotted me almost instantly, and I could read her face like a picture book as it wavered in devastation.
“$500.”
The bidding started with Khloe’s bid.
“$600.”
Cassie didn’t take her eyes from me, and I couldn’t tear mine from hers.
“$700.”
She looked defeated as she stared at me. Her eyes held a certain sweet innocence that wouldn’t let me blink or turn away.
“$800.”
Her eyes held mine the way my eyes had held hers earlier.
“$900.”
There was something in her gaze. It was so full of life, but so empty at the same time. Haunted? Maybe.
“$1000.”
The price kept going up, all the bids coming from different people, until Ruiz finally put his in.
“$1500.”
Fuck!
"$1600." Khloe offered.
“$2000." Ruiz said.
“$2500.”
“$3000!” Ruiz snarled.
I waited, but Khloe wasn't increasing her bid. No one was.
“$4000,” I heard myself say quietly as I looked at the scotch glass in my hand.
Diesel covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. I glared at him.
The room fell silent after my bid. I didn’t raise my eyes to look at anyone, especially not Cassie.
“$4000,” the announcer said. “This delicious beauty is going for $4000 right now.”
Silence.
“$4000, going once!”
“$5000.”
I almost shattered the scotch glass when I heard Ruiz’s growl.
I didn’t hesitate. “$7000.”
The silence in the room was complete.
“Whoa! $7000! A new record!” the auctioneer boomed. “$7000, going once.”
Silence.
“$7000, going twice.”
Silence.
“SOLD!” I drank the rest of my scotch in one gulp. “Sold, for 7000 pretty USD.”
The room exploded into applause, but I didn’t feel the least bit happy about my win.
“What was that?” Diesel asked.
Before I could answer, or say anything, the stage lights went down and I knew Cassie was being led to where I’d be collecting her from after I’d paid my seven-fucking-thousand dollars.
A woman dressed in a suit came up and whispered in my ear, telling me where I could collect my ‘prize.’ She walked away without my thanking her.
I could feel my anger reach boiling point. I didn't buy women. I sold them.
“Pay the money,” I told Diesel. “I’ll call you.”
I stood and walked away from him.
“Hold up!” the announcer said, “I’ve just been told there is one last girl to come in. She isn’t the best, but she needs to go tonight.”
I shrugged off his words, strode out of the auction room and headed for the lavish staircase that would take me up to where Cassie waited.
I turned the corner at the top of the stairs and had just reached her door when I looked up and saw the final auction number being led downstairs to the block.
I knew her.
Liz.
My best friend’s former old lady.
When she saw me, her eyes went wider than I’d ever seen eyes go.
There was no time for any exchange before she was taken into the auction room.
I sighed before opening the door wide.
Cassie stood before me with her arms folded over her chest, sobbing and sniffling, still shaking and terrified out of her mind. When her eyes met mine, I thought she’d pass out.
Downstairs, the announcer banged his gavel. “Bidding starts at $100!”
I closed the door behind me.