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And while I appreciated that at least she wasn’t calling us sex slaves, that’s what we were, being sold into slavery. Any way you diced it, this woman was sick.
The woman pointed at me. “You’ll be the first, darling. What is your name?”
I stared at her, unsure of what to say.
She humphed under her breath. “Well, I don’t have all day.”
“Ariella,” I whispered, afraid Diamond might zap me with her twitchy fingers.
Her eyes squinted as she stared at me. Her hand jerked out to grab my jaw as she examined my face from side to side. “That’s no good. From this night forward, you are Jade. Now, hurry and get washed up. You need to be presentable for this evening’s auction.”
I didn’t move. My feet were frozen in place.
“Quickly, we haven’t got all day,” Diamond said.
She snapped her fingers. Thank heavens she didn’t press the damned buzzer again.
I hurried across the room to where a guard stood and pointed at the open door.
It led to a connected bathroom with several individual shower stalls. I felt like I was back in college again a lifetime ago.
Hazel was right behind me a few feet. “Apparently, I look like Violet. Why she couldn’t let me be Hazel is beyond me,” she muttered.
I quirked a grin at her. “She loves purple.”
Now wasn’t the time to let our guard down. We needed to bide our time, but be careful. I needed to strip down, but I wasn’t looking forward to bathing around these monsters.
A guard stood at the entrance to the bathroom. There were partitions for each stall, but no curtain and certainly no privacy.
“Do we have to leave this on when we shower?” I asked pointing at the collar. “I don’t want to get zapped from the water.”
“The only one zapping you is Madam Diamond herself or one of the ranking guards,” the uniformed guard said.
I exhaled a heavy breath but didn’t budge from my position in the stall. I’d yet to disrobe.
“Clock’s ticking. You have five minutes in here. If you’re not sparkly clean at that point, you can bet that necklace will light up like Christmas.”
Wonderful.
Slowly I disrobed, leaving my phone buried inside my boot. What other choice did I have?
It wasn’t just a threat. I’d felt the sting of electricity and sure as hell didn’t want to feel it again. I’d follow their orders to survive. I just needed to give Jaxson and the Eagle Tactical team a little more time.
They were coming for us, and even if there was a cell phone jammer like the last place, they had to have caught the signal when we were outside or in the van.
I held on to that bit of hope while I stepped forward and turned on the shower spray.
While I couldn’t see Hazel because of the frosted tinted partition between us, I could hear her shuffle around as she undressed.
The shower spray warmed, and I stepped under. It was like a rainstorm, pouring down and soaking me from head to toe.
I let the water envelop me as I became one with the shower. I wanted to wash away the filth, the trauma that I’d already endured, but I knew that was foolish.
How could I relax when I was further from being safe?
“Two-minute warning, Jade,” the guard said.
Against the wall was a dispenser for soap and shampoo.