I can feel Jacques stare on me like he’s already claimed me and has me in his bed.
I expected the bid to fall back to the hundred thousands, but when someone calls out from the far corner and bids a million dollars I realize I’m not unknown anymore.I’m not the Candace Ricci of the past who walked in the shadows.These men know who I am, and who I work for.As the bids go up, it doesn't escape me that they’d love to use me to get closer to the boss.
Or... maybe it's not that. Maybe it's because they really are bidding on me because they actually want me, and I'm worth it.
When the bid goes up to two million, I'm stunned, but panic stabs at me again because Jacques hasn’t raised his paddle.The knot in my stomach tightens, twisting tighter than a macramé.
Fuck… why isn’t he bidding on me?
What is he doing?
He stares at me with razor sharp eyes and I can almost see the workings of his mind.I can read him and the expression on his face is just like a few moments earlier.
He wants to make sure I’m worth it.
He already told me he wants me, so if I want him I have to play his game.
There isn’t a lot of things left for me to do.I’m wearing a barely there dress with nothing underneath but my panties.
There’s only one thing this man could want me to do, and if I want him to bid on me I have to do it.At lunch days ago, he wanted me to strip.It's clear from the lascivious look in his eyes that's what he wants me to do now.Asshole.
When the bids get to two point five million I look away from Jacques.My gaze hits the back of the wall and suddenly I don’t see anybody in the room anymore.Not Helen who was gazing at me with that adept curiosity watching how far I’ll go, and not Jacques who looks like that well-dressed predator again.
What I see is the thing I never want to see.The memory of my parents' deaths is never far from my mind.It’s always there lingering, waiting for me.All I need to do is press play and I see it all.
I see Papa begging for my mother's life as the flames licked over her body.I see Mom screaming, crying for him in pain.I see the man with the tattoo of the dagger on his arm cut off my father’s head in one swift motion.I see both my parents... dead.
The word on his tattooed dagger was Eternal.Yes, it was fitting because that memory will be eternal in my mind.Forever...
A tear escapes and slides down my cheek.Willing the other tears away, I slip the dress from my body.A gasp ripples over the crowd in the room as the fabric floats down my legs.Everyone shocked by what I did.
“Four million dollars,” Jacques says when the dress hits the floor, pooling at my feet.
That’s when I look at him but I can’t return the smile he gives me.That I-own-you smile is supposed to tone me down a peg or two.It’s supposed to cut me down like grass and show me who’s boss as his eyes peruse my naked body.Naked but for the thing layer of fabric that covers my pussy.
Four million is the highest anyone has bid tonight, and no one else is challenging him.
“Wow wonderful,” Cynthia beams into her microphone.“Going once, going twice--”
“Eight million,” calls out a voice from the back of the room and my gaze snaps wide first before I turn to see the owner of the voice.
When I do my mouth drops and nearly hits the floor.All the blood freezes in my body when Dominic walks out of the shadows.I'm so shocked to see him I’ve forgotten I’m standing here on stage topless for the world to see.
Dominic walks down the path dividing the rows and stops at the center of the room.Unlike everyone else, he’s not dressed up.He’s just wearing his black biker jacket that gives off that bad-ass attitude, a pair of Levi’s hung low on his hips, and a black t-shirt that shows off the wealth of muscles lining his abs.
He makes a point of giving me a long, hard look that captures and holds my attention.
I've known this man all my life.A two-year absence isn't going to dull my ability to guess what he's thinking and planning.After all, God knows I've spent enough time watching him.So I know from that look he's casting me that he's just found the way he vowed to find to win me back.The shock of the realization makes me gather my dress from the floor and cover my breasts.
“Eight point five million,” Jacques calls back, enraged.
“Ten million,” Dominic replies and walks closer to Jacques who now stands.
Dominic has his game face on.The face he shows those who cross him.Jacques regards him with the same expression.
If it wasn’t clear before that these two men do not like each other, it is now asthey look like they're readying for war.
“Eleven,” Jacques smirks and Dominic laughs.I know when I hear that it’s game over for me.