Page 20 of King of Desire (Kings of Las Vegas #2)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Honeyeh

I wake up to a slap in the face.

My eyes burst open as I attempt to remember where I am and where the strange women around me have come from.

“Wake up, girl. It’s your big moment.” The thick accent of the woman to my right has my brow furrowing.

“Where am I?”

“You think you’re the first to feign amnesia? It won’t change the contract you signed.”

“Contract?” My brain swims through the fog as I attempt to piece together what’s happening.

I look down at myself, wearing nothing but glorified underwear and the situation comes rushing back, a cry falling from my lips.

“She’s good,” another says, grabbing my arm to haul me up.

I stumble, trying to get my feet under me, and another grabs my other arm.

My head swims and my knees threaten to give out again as they tighten their grip on my arms.

On the other side of the curtain, I can hear the jostling of the crowd, male voices that sound rough and angry.

“Gentlemen,” a male voice calls over the noise. “There is room for all.”

“Bring her out,” one calls.

“I want to see her!” another yells.

More yells fill the space as panic rises in my chest.

Whatever man takes me will have fought to be in this moment. He’ll be heated and… “I can’t do this,” I whisper, a cry breaking from my lips. “I can’t…”

“You can.” A third woman is at my back, her hands on my shoulder blades as the other two hold tight.

“Take yourself elsewhere when he’s on top of you,” another advises. “Focusing on the pain won’t help.”

What have I done? Another cry falls from my lips, but it’s cut off as I’m thrust through the curtain and onto the stage.

My eyes struggle to adjust to the bright light as I throw a hand up to block it.

But that only seems to make the crowd more riled, the noise growing deafening as I stand on a narrow stage that’s only a few feet above the regular floor.

A man wraps a beefy hand around my upper arm, to hold me in place.

He’s got a microphone in the other, but I can’t attend what he’s saying because several men have reached out and are running their hands over my legs.

I cry out, trying to back up but the man holding me barely allows me to move an inch.

“Certified pure, auction floor price for this lovely young thing begins at fifty thousand. This auction will be done via our app, silent only.”

The room goes dead quiet. It’s the only sound that frightens me more than all the frantic noise.

I sweep my gaze across them, wondering which man will be the one who….

But my gaze stops as a door in the back of the room bangs open.

I jump, all heads turning as a man steps into the room. His dark penetrating eyes meet mine and a sob breaks from my lips.

“Triston,” I whisper, broken, as I go limp next to my jailer.

Two more men move into position next to him, I know they are his brothers, but their names escape me as his eyes hold mine.

I feel myself leaning toward him, my entire body begging him to come closer.

He storms toward the front and that’s when I realize even more men are filing in behind him, including the man who made me sign the contract.

I gasp, my knees buckling as I start to fall again.

The guy holding the mic lets out a string of words I don’t understand, but I can only assume are curses as he drops the mic, the sound deafening, to grab me with a second hand.

Triston pushes his way to the front of the crowd, a snarl pulling at his lips as he vaults up onto the stage. “Take your hands off of her.”

“You’re here,” I stutter out, my breath erratic as I reach out my free hand to clutch his jacket.

“Who are you?—”

“Do as he says,” Dimitri barks out from the center aisle.

There is a pause that lasts for a second before the auctioneer lets me go and Triston bends down, lifting me on my feet before his shoulder lands in my stomach. Suddenly I’m up in the air, my head down his back as my legs dangle over his front. He’s got one arm wrapped around my legs.

“Are you saving me?” I gasp, lifting my head to see what’s happening.

“No, Honeyeh,” he grits out even as the crowd rises to its feet, the noise going from silent to deafening. “I bought you.”

And then his free hand comes down in a hard smack on my upturned behind.

I gasp, going rigid, but I don’t struggle. Not even when he steps down off the stage, his shoulder biting into my soft middle.

Men surround us, some of them grabbing me and pulling. But Triston spins with a snarl. “Touch her again and I’ll rip your fucking head off. The girl is mine.”

I look around his side just in time to see him jab his fingers into the throat of a man, who gags and then falls into the crowd.

I clutch at his waist, as the crowd surges.

“The auction has been closed. This man is the winner,” Dimitri’s voice booms over the assembled crowd. “The whorehouse is opening in ten minutes for any man who might need to partake.”

There is a pause in the chaos and Triston doesn’t hesitate. With me still over his shoulder, he strides for the door.

I have no idea what happens next, but whatever it is, I’ll take whatever Triston hands out. I wilt against his back even as his hand comes down hard on my backside again. It stings but I don’t even jump.

Instead, I sink deeper into him, my eyes closing as I reach my arms around his waist.

“What the fuck were you thinking?”