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Jade

Stripped.

I’m trembling as a massive man pushes me into a room and locks the door behind me. I don’t bother screaming and kicking anymore. I’d been doing that all night until Buck threatened to shoot me if I made another sound.

As I walk away from the door to the furthest corner of the small room, I feel stripped bare. Of my dignity and faith in humanity. The sound of their laughter still echoes in my head, and it’s driving me to insanity. The way those men looked at me like I wasn’t a person, but commodity for them to fight over and play with.

Buck was right.

Putting up a fight only seemed to excite those monsters. The price shot higher every time I showed visible signs of distress, and now someone just won me for one million dollars. God, I shudder to think what will happen to me at the hands of a man willing to toss away that much money for a single night.

I need to get out of this place. Because it isn’t just one night. For this auction, I’ll have to spend one night with the highest bidder, but that won’t be the end of it for me. Buck said I’m club property now. My life as I knew it is over if I don’t figure out a way out of here now.

Looking around the small room, there is only a queen bed and a bare nightstand. It’s clear what the room is set up for, and there’s no means of escaping. The only window in the room is small and close to the ceiling, but maybe if I climb up on the nightstand, I can reach it and possibly squeeze my way out. There’s no telling how far I’ll fall if I even manage it, but I bet a few broken bones is better than what’s waiting for me.

Before I can try my luck with the window, the door suddenly opens, and I half expect Buck to walk in, but instead, someone else does—my buyer. I back up to the wall with a whimper when I recognize the man. He’s the one who won the bid, and now he’s here to claim his prize.

Is this it?

My chest rises and falls with heavy breaths as he enters the room, kicking the door shut behind him. He’s tall—I observed this about him earlier as he stood apart from the crowd. His black suit stretches across his broad shoulders, and his blond hair shines like gold. It’s one of the things that caught my notice, and now up close, I can see the color of his eyes. They’re blue, like the calm of the ocean or the skies on a cloudless day.

But despite they’re beautiful color, there is something about his eyes. He’s dangerous.

Perhaps more so than those loud men who were seated closest to the stage, sending lustful looks and nauseating jeers my way. Something about this man with his cool demeanor and a poise like a lion waiting to attack its prey screams danger.

I feel every bit like prey.

“Are you cold?” he asks, shrugging off his jacket before I can respond. A whimper slips out when I spot the gun tucked at his side, and I question if he brought that in to scare me. My body is trembling as he approaches me, and I shut my eyes tightly when he reaches out, anticipating the worst. I catch a whiff of his scent when he stops in front of me. It’s a blend of musk with warm woodsy notes. There is also a hint of refreshing citrus that offers a reprieve from the strong nicotine smell I’ve had to deal with for the last few of hours. The man’s scent is like a comforting embrace, one that I long to fall into, but I hold back, afraid to fall into yet another trap.

But…he doesn’t touch me.

Instead he drapes his jacket over me, covering my shoulders and arms and pulling it closed over my front before moving away. I immediately miss his nearness, and when I finally open my eyes, he’s on the other side of the room unbuttoning his cufflinks. He pockets them before rolling the sleeves up his muscular forearms to reveal a series of tattoos that disappear under his shirt.

“What’s your name?” he asks as he yanks off his tie and tosses it away before tugging at the first few buttons of his shirt, and I catch yet another peek of tattoos that disappear into his chest. I find myself gawking at the man, seemingly lost in the sea of muscles bulging with every move, and it’s not until he looks up that I am reminded that he asked me a question.

Shit, he wants my name!

Do I tell him? What happens if I lie and he finds out? Maybe this is a test to see if I’ll be honest. Will he hurt me, use the gun on me if I fail or…do something worse?

“J-Jade Purdy,” I whisper shakily, my knees nearly bucking with fear.

“It suits you, Jade. Like the color of your eyes. I’m Saint,” he says, finally pulling out his gun and turning toward the door. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

I blink at him, and for a solid couple of seconds, I’m convinced I heard the man wrong. There is no way he is rescuing me, right? Unless…

Oh God, is he trying to break me out of this place so he can take me somewhere worse? I don’t believe anywhere is worse than here, but God, the thought of leaving one prison for another sends fear rocking through my system.

“I…I can’t,” I whisper, shaking my head fiercely, fighting tears, but I can feel whatever is left of my resolve slowly crumble to debris. “W–whatever you want to do. d-do it here.”

Saint turns, releasing the doorknob as he does so. “You want to stay here?”

Well, I would love to get on the first bus out of this city and board a flight out of the country entirely, but that isn’t exactly the option he’s giving me, now is it? No, instead, he wants me to follow him—the giant of a man with the gun. The same man who just spent one million dollars to have me for a night. Has he decided his money is worth more than a single night? Excuse me if I am not jumping with joy at the idea of following him blindly into whatever he has planned for me.

“Do it here,” I whisper, slowly tugging the jacket off my shoulders. My hands are trembling as I slowly place them on the bed, careful not to wrinkle it in case that sets him off.

Saint raises an eyebrow. “Do what?”

“What you paid for. I don’t know what those men will do to me, but I know better than to let you take me to a second location,” I blurt out before I can stop myself, but Saint’s eyes unexpectedly soften and his lips curl in a hint of smile, and my eyes immediately drop to those firm lips and that chiseled jaw.

“It seems that I am doing a piss poor job of assuring you that I will not hurt you,” he says, sliding the gun back into the holster attached to waistband of his pants. “I’m not taking you to a second location to hurt you, Jade. I’m getting you out of here, taking you somewhere safe.”

“Why? You don’t know me.”

“Because it’s clear that you’ve been forced into this against your will and no one deserves that.”

“You bid on me,” I whisper, finding a hole in his logic. If he truly wanted to help me, then he should have called the cops. Is he really expecting me to believe that he wasted one million dollars just to rescue me?

I’ve been fooled twice already tonight—once by someone I thought I knew and trusted—and I am unwilling to make that mistake again. I don’t care that the man before me is the hottest I’ve ever seen, I’m still not going to drop my guard around him.

“I’m not leaving,” I insist, shaking my head for good measure.

Saint takes a step forward, those blues locked on mine as he moves. “You do realize that I am supposed to have sex with you in this disgusting place, right? That they expect me to force you.” I suck in a shallow breath when he stops only a foot away from me, and there’s that scent again. Stronger on him than on the jacket I’d had draped over me. It takes everything in me not to lean forward and bury my face against his chest just to breathe him in.

Snap out of it, Jade!

What the hell am I even thinking? Why am I dropping my guard like this? Haven’t I learned anything from this horrible experience?

“W-what are you doing?” I breathe when he takes yet another step forward and raises his hand.

“Don’t you want to leave this fucking place?” he asks, bringing his hand to my cheek, and unlike the case with Buck, I let this man touch me, which proves to be a terrible mistake. A shudder rolls through my body when his finger grazes my skin and my lips part on a gasp. “I know it’s hard to trust me, sweetheart, but you need to let me help you,” he rasps, those eyes burning into mine with their intensity. “Don’t you understand what they’ll do once I leave?”

“T-they’ll let me go. Buck promised they’d let me go.”

“Surely you don’t believe that.”

I want to .

“Can’t you just call the police?”

He chuckles without mirth. “The same police that work for a man who bid fifty thousand dollars for you?”

“You are lying.”

“Bald man, gray beard, seated on the left side of the stage. Jacob Howard, the superintendent of the police.”

“I…I don’t…”

“Two seats behind the superintendent was the deputy mayor, Austin Beard. Cropped white hair and a scar on his forehead.”

“Y-you’re trying to scare me.” He laughs sardonically before turning serious again.

“You’re not the one who should fear me, precious. I’m not trying to scare you. I want you to trust me.” Those blue eyes lock on mine, and for a moment, I find myself hypnotized. “Right now, I’m the only one you can trust.”

“How can I be certain I can trust you?” You were at the auction!

“You can’t. But of all the men you’ve met tonight, I’m willing to bet I’m the only one who’s even offered to help you.”

Is it worth the risk? What happens when I find myself in an even worse situation because I decided to trust the wrong person again? Before I say anything else, it sounds like fireworks shatter the silence. My eyes widen in alarm, and a chill rolls down my spine when I realize the sound is actually gunshots.

“Time’s up, sweetheart. Let’s go,” Saint says, grabbing his jacket and draping it over my shoulders again before pulling me close. I can feel the heat radiating from his body, but we don’t linger as he guides me to the door.

Gunshots ring out in the distance, sending adrenaline coursing through my veins. The sounds are sporadic and interspersed with shouts from angry men. I am terrified to go out there, but it doesn’t seem like I have much choice. Saint reaches for the doorknob before stopping and turning to me, his expression serious when he speaks. “Stay with me, okay? I will protect you.”

Don’t trust him , a part of me that’s been betrayed over and over again yells, but my gaze drops to the gun Saint pulls from his holster and I realize he’s my only choice. My only chance of getting out of this hell I stumbled into.

“Okay,” I whisper, and he searches my eyes before responding with a nod and turning back to the door.

As he pulls the door open, we are met with the sight of the guard from earlier. The same one that’s been shadowing me all evening, making sure I don’t go anywhere. Time seems to slow as he lunges forward, and I can’t help but scream, even though Saint was clearly prepared for the attack and responds in kind. The men are similar in size, but Saint is obviously the stronger and more experienced fighter. I watch with both horror and fascination as the two fight.

Saint throws a powerful punch that connects with the guard’s jaw, sending the mountain of a man stumbling back. The guard recovers quickly, swinging a fist of his own, but Saint ducks just in time, countering with a kick to the guard’s knee, and I wince at the sound of impact. The man yells and stumbles, giving Saint the opportunity he needed to lock his arm around his neck and squeeze.

I have to look away as the guard struggles, tossing weak punches in an attempt to dislodge Saint, but his hold is strong, and when he finally goes slack, Saint moves aside to let him drop. I wince at the loud thud, convinced the man will wake up with a concussion if he ever wakes up at all.

When Saint turns to me, his expression is fierce as he extends his hand for me to take, and I don’t hesitate, sliding my fingers against his. “Stay close,” he urges, and I nod, my heart pounding in my chest. We dart out into the hall, and I flinch at the sound of relentless gunfire coming from somewhere deeper in the club, but Saint keeps me shielded between his body and the wall as we move quickly down the hall.

Finally, we burst through the same exterior door that I’d used earlier today. God, was that just today? It feels like ages ago since I arrived for that ill-fated interview. I’d been so optimistic when I’d arrived, never once considering that I might be in danger.

I welcome the cool air that slaps my face when we step outside, but Saint doesn’t allow me a moment to pause as he hustles me fast to the parking lot. I spot a motorcycle parked among a sea of cars, and he guides me toward it. He doesn’t bother with a helmet as he hops on, then he helps me to climb on behind him and pulls my arms to wrap tightly around his waist, and the bike roars to life.

I can hear the sound of sirens in the distance as we leave the parking lot, and Saint turns in the opposite direction, one that leads away from the sounds of chaos. Despite my reservations about going anywhere with this stranger, I find myself leaning against his broad back, and then I let the tears fall freely.

I’ve been holding them in for hours, unwilling to let a single tear spill in the presence of Buck and his goons. Even when he threatened to kill me if I dared cause a scene, I held it all in. I refused to let the men back at the club see my tears despite how piercing their words were.

I bite hard on my lip, sniffing as hot drops spill down my cheeks, and my body heaves with a silent sob that I am helpless to stop. I tighten my hold around Saint, this stranger I have foolishly allowed myself to trust, burying my face in his back and soaking his shirt with my tears.

Something tells me that tonight could have gone very differently if someone else had won the auction for me. But I’m not out of danger yet.

Despite my desperation to leave that prison, I realize that I have nowhere to go. I can’t go back to my apartment, that’s for sure. I imagine Natalie is there, her lips full of apologies and more lies. Undoubtedly, she’d sell me out to the same people again, given the chance.

My heart sinks when I realize that I have nothing and no one in this city, and now my fate lies in the hands of this mysterious biker.