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She plasters on a smile. "That's me. Wish me luck."
I watch as she struts onto the stage and the other woman comes off. I wonder how much she made. More than that, I wonder if Nadine is right and that I can get fifteen thousand dollars? And is prostituting myself worth it? What if I don’t make enough to leave?
For long moments, I stand paralyzed at the edge of the stage. Kate is right. This is a crazy idea. I’m aware of the concept of sex. A man sticks his penis into a woman. But I have no clue beyond the logistics. Why did Nadine say it would hurt? Does it normally hurt, or are the men here rough?
I take a step back as Nadine comes off the stage with a big smile and a swagger.
"Ten K and the dude’s not half bad, even if he is old enough to be my father. Men like that, you know. That’s why I bet you’ll do well. Men like to imagine fucking little girls."
God, that’s disturbing.
"Alice!" the voice calls from the curtain.
I glance down at my dress and remember how I looked younger than my twenty-three years in the mirror. What am I doing?
"Alice, you're on,” the voice calls again.
Nadine nudges me. "That’s you, Alice."
Oh, yeah. I gave a fake name so nobody would know who I was.
Tentatively, I put one foot in front of the other. As I come from behind the curtain and stand on the stage, a bright light nearly blinds me.
"That looks like some true-blue pussy virgin.”
I flinch, but I keep moving toward the center of the stage.
"Don't be scared, honey. I'll take real good care of you."
I come to the center of the stage and stand, closing my eyes, wishing I were anywhere but here. This was a mistake.
"Three grand."
“Five."
“Six."
The voices of the men ricochet off the walls around me. The price slowly rises. When it hits $10,000, I remind myself that this is why I'm here. Ten thousand dollars will go a long way toward helping me escape not only Romeo, but my father as well.
The bidding continues upward. Fifteen, twenty, thirty… and suddenly, freedom feels closer. The sacrifice I’m making feels worth it.
"$100,000."
A gasp echoes through the room. My head jerks toward the voice, but the light is so bright I can't see who made the bid.
For a moment, I stand as a murmur floats through the audience. I can't hear specifically what people are saying, but it's clear the bidding has gone up too high. It hits me, a hundred thousand dollars.
I can't help but smile. One hundred thousand dollars is definitely freedom.
“Don't smile too much, girly. Knowing Niko, he's going to get all hundred thousand dollars’ worth of pussy out of you."
The words bring me back to reality. I've just sold my virginity. A man I don't know is going to touch me, do nasty things to me.
I swallow the bile that threatens to rise. I don’t have a crush to think about, like Nadine suggested. I’ve thought men were handsome, but I’d never felt a desire to touch them or be touched. Instead, while he does whatever he’s going to do to me, I’ll think about leaving my cage, my prison. About making my own choices. Making my own way in the world. With a hundred thousand dollars, I can free Lucia too.
I'm escorted off the stage and up a long hallway. I'm guided through a door and then up some steps.
"You lucked out," the large, gruff man says as we reach the second-floor landing. "The Boss never joins in on the auction."
