Chapter 16

Aurora

I shield my eyes from the sun.

My body’s sore, and my mind’s swirling in a million different directions.

I’m fucking exhausted in the back of the limousine the Graysons called for me. I’m lying across the long row of seats lining the left of the vehicle, staring up into the mirror, and fighting sleep.

I know myself, and if I sleep here, I’m down for the count. I decide to sit up, and as I peer out of the tinted window, I see that we’re just a couple of minutes away.

I take a deep breath, and as I exhale, I still tingle with the sensation of their cocks fucking me hard and their hands and mouths all over me. It sends a shiver down my spine and forces goosebumps to the surface of my skin just thinking about it.

The craziest part is that I don’t even connect all of what happened as the result of me auctioning off my virginity. Not a moment of it felt like it was monetarily motivated.

And because of that, I can’t say I’m remotely regretful or upset about how everything went down. In fact…if I could do this all over again, I’d do it all exactly the same way.

The car stops in front of my address, and the driver walks around the side of the limo to let me out. He extends an arm into the back, taking my hand and guiding me out and onto the pavement.

“Thank you so much,” I say to him. “I hope you have a lovely day.”

“And same to you, miss. It’s been my pleasure,” he replies, closing the door and returning to the driver’s seat and pulling away.

I sigh and make my way to the door.

I fish through my purse for my house key. I know it’s in here somewhere. I fumble past loose change and three tubes of chapstick before finally pulling out my small ring of keys.

“Aha!” I say out loud to myself.

God. I haven’t been this animated in ages. From all the stress of Mom and Dad’s business and Anders’s antics, it’s been hard to remember how to care for myself and decompress.

For once, I’m relieved for Anders to not be home when I walk through the door. Even while the auction went well and put money into our pockets, just knowing he didn’t give me a choice leaves me just slightly unsure of my feelings about his hand in it.

And I couldn’t imagine what I’d even say if he asked how my night went. It’s just not something I want to talk about with him.

I sigh and slide the key into the lock and turn it to unlock the door. I turn the door handle and step through the doorway to see Anders lying in the middle of the entryway floor.

My heart drops instantly, and tears rush to the surface of my eyes and involuntarily start flowing down my cheeks. Countless thoughts run through my head as I grab my phone and dial our doctor’s personal phone, Mr. Pembroke.

How long has he been like this? What time might he have passed out? What the fuck did he even take?

It sickens me that this is such a regular occurrence with Anders that I don’t bother with calling an ambulance anymore. It’s always some stupid fucking cocktail of scripts, and Dr. Pembroke is always able to do a flush on him at home, discreetly.

I sit on the floor, Anders’s head resting in my lap. I stroke his hair and just study his quiet face until Dr. Pembroke arrives.

We go through our usual screening process.

“Any needles?” he asks.

“Nope.”

“Injection sites?”

“No.”

“Opiate bottles anywhere?”

Shit. I forgot to check. I stand and walk over to the kitchen table and see a prescription for Michael Suddeth.

“Oxycodone,” I announce from the other room.

“Oh, good. I’m well-equipped then,” he explains.

I take a deep breath, followed by a sigh of relief. I always have this lingering fear that Dr. Pembroke can’t fix him. But his words and his tone have my nerves at ease.

Now that Anders is getting attended to, I shake my head and shift my focus to what I wanted to do when I got home. Settling the business accounts.

His treatment usually takes about an hour, and I might as well be productive. If anything happens, I’m literally a room away from Anders and Dr. Pembroke.

Besides, I need to take a step back from him and the situation. I trust my brother’s and my own life with Dr. Pembroke, and I know he’ll do right by us.

I pop open my laptop and sign on to our various past due accounts and do some bank transfers from my now fat personal checking account, getting us in good standing and current. I take a gigantic sigh of relief as I grab the top of my laptop and close it.

Just after, Dr. Pembroke peeks his head into the kitchen.

“He needs help, Aurora,” he says to me, trying to deliver the reality of it all in a gentle but serious way.

“I know that, Doc. He knows it, too. But I can’t force him to go if he doesn’t want the help. He’ll just check himself out again,” I explain.

“Well, promise me you’ll have the conversation with him again. I’ve treated your family’s ailments for years, and he’s worse off than ever. I don’t want him to break my heart, too, you know. I love you both dearly,” he pleads.

“I promise. Thank you so much for getting here so quickly and getting him stable,” I reply.

“I’ll always come to you as quickly as you holler,” he says. “Now, he needs to get in his bed if we want him to rest properly. Can you assist me, Ms. Aurora?”

“Absolutely,” I answer.

I walk with Dr. Pembroke out to the hallway, and we lift him as best we can and bring him to his room, laying him on his bed.

I grab a pillow, fluff it, and place it behind his head. I push his bangs out of his face and kiss his forehead before turning and departing the room.

“About how long before he wakes up?” I ask.

“Oh, an hour or so. If it’s longer than two hours, smack his face a bit to jostle him. And if he still doesn’t respond, call me again. I’ll be around the area for the afternoon to be sure I can help. As a matter of fact, send me a quick text message when he wakes so I know not to worry about him,” he instructs.

“Will do, Doc. Thank you again,” I say.

I give him a good thank you hug and see him out the door.

As I close the door behind him, I turn my back against it and sigh deeply.

Today has already become a roller coaster. Every day with Anders seems to be an unexpected battle, and I just never know when he’s going to pull something like this.

It takes a big toll on me, whether he even cares or not. At least this time, I was able to get the business off my mind, getting it squared away and being able to focus on him once Doc got him going.

I walk over to the couch, grabbing my phone from the kitchen along the way and a box of chocolates from the factory to get myself relaxed. I plop down onto the cushion, remembering briefly what happened on the last couch I sat on, sending a shiver down my spine.

Even with Anders pushing me to participate in the auction, and knowing that I had to do it because of what he got us into, I’m happy I did.

The outcome was much too rewarding to have even a shadow of a doubt that it was the right thing for me. It’s dumb for me to even admit, but I feel like such a changed woman.

I’m staring at the world through new eyes. And I love it.

As I sit, enjoying the silenc, my social media feed, and a dark chocolate truffle, I get a text from an unfamiliar number. I open my messages.

It’s from Finn.

My heart starts pounding in my chest as I read it.

He wants me to attend the opera with him in a couple of days. I accept the offer with trembling hands.

I get to see him again.

We’re seeing the famous “Carmen.”

I’m so fucking excited.