“All I want to do is protect you.”

These were the words that Reed had been telling me over and over again. Coming from a man who bought me at an auction, those words were hard to swallow and impossible to accept.

As reluctant as I was, I was starting to believe the things he was telling me. I’d been in the house for a week, and not once had he tried anything with me. He hadn’t tried to make any moves on me and he certainly hadn’t attempted to sell my services to anyone.

What he did do, however, was talk to me on a daily basis. He asked me if there was anything I needed from the grocery store of if there were any DVD’s I wanted him to pick up for me to watch while he was gone. He wanted to know about my likes and dislikes. He complimented me every day. If we would have met under different circumstances, the two of us probably would have hit it off very well.

The thing was, I knew very little about him. I wasn’t sure whether that was because he was interested in learning about me or if there were things about himself that he didn’t want me to find out about. I had a feeling it was a little of both.

I tried not to give too much info about myself. I wanted to remain a mystery to him in the event that everything he’d been telling me was a line of bullshit, but that was hard to do. When you’re used to having nobody listen to you at all, it’s nice when someone wants to hear what you have to say.

“Now this isn’t on the record or anything like that because I obviously can’t tell anyone you’re with me, but I’ve been wondering how you came to be sold at the auction,” Reed inquired. “I’m curious because you are obviously very different from the other girls being sold there.”

“Honestly?”

“Of course.”

“Well, it’s a really fucked up story. My dad is a pretty well-known doctor and apparently he’s got a huge gambling addiction that he’s kept hidden. Come to find out, he owes a lot of money to someone and some thugs were sent to collect the money. The guys gave him two choices. They could either kill him or I could be taken instead and sold at the auction.”

“And he chose to allow you to be sold?”

“No, that decision wasn’t up to him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that when I heard those two choices, I immediately spoke up and volunteered to be auctioned off. I couldn’t let them kill my father.”

“Wow, that’s very admirable of you.”

“I feel like I owe it to him. It’s just been the two of us for most of my life and he’s always taken such good care of me. I couldn’t turn my back on him.”

“Just the two of you? What happened to your mom?”

“She died when I was five. She’d been drinking and fell down our staircase. Daddy found her lying at the bottom of the stairs in the middle of the night.”

“I’m so sorry. That must have been traumatic for you.”

“I don’t actually remember much from that time in my life. I vaguely remember that night, but I think that’s mostly from my dad telling me about things. I don’t think the memories I have of that night are real.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing that you don’t remember.”

“I don’t know. I wish I could remember more about my mom, but the memories just aren’t there. What I wouldn’t give to trade good memories of her for the bad memories I have as I got older.”

“Bad memories?”

“Yeah, my life has basically been one giant shit show. I thought things were finally turning around for me before all this happened. I just graduated college and was all set to start a new job in a few weeks. Instead, I was sold at an auction and I’m stuck in a house I’m not allowed to leave. This might be the icing on the cake.”

The look in Reed’s eyes told the story so words didn’t have to. My comment cut through him like a knife and he was obviously pained by what I said. I believed that he wasn’t just holding me captive because he wanted to. He really didn’t have a choice.

“Again, I’m really sorry. I don’t plan on having you here forever. I just want to make sure you’re safe until the men who run the auction are brought to justice.”

Again, the look in his eyes said it all. He was being genuine in what he was telling me.

“You know, this is going to sound crazy, and I hope this isn’t some Stockholm Syndrome thing, but you’re the first man I’ve felt safe around in a long time.”

“You can feel safe with me. You should feel safe with me. I am not going to let anything happen to you.”

“I hope that’s true. Other than my father, every man who’s ever entered my life has hurt me.”

“Every man? That has to be an exaggeration, right?”

“No, other than my dad, every single man who has entered my life has hurt me pretty badly.”

Memories started flashing through my brain. I tried to fight back the feelings, but I failed miserably. Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my cheeks.