five
Piper
It’s been two dayssince I’ve seen Jax. Even Deadeye hasn’t been around, leaving my mother both angry and anxious. A sadness fills me because Jax actually took my advice and stopped meeting me.
“Piper.” Phoebe grabs my hand, leading me to the back of the diner. “Some guy left this at one of my tables.” She unfolds what appears to be an advertisement for some kind of auction and holds it up. The closer I look, the more I notice it’s an advertisement to auction off women.
“Phoebe. You can’t be serious. You can’t auction yourself off.”
The desperation in her eyes tells me that’s exactly what she’s going to do. “Look, it says virgins go for a higher rate. If I can make that in one night and you can get Mom to sign over her rights to the littles, we can finally move out of the trailer park and into our own house.”
As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right. We’re going nowhere as things stand—barely surviving. “I’m the oldest—I should be the one to do it.” I swallow my pride and my dream of experiencing my first time with the man I love. A vision of Jax pops into my head. After this, I definitely won’t be good enough for him.
“No, Piper, you need to stay home tonight and convince Mom to sign over her rights. You’re the only one she’ll even half listen to.”
Phoebe’s right, but I don’t have to agree. “I don’t like it, Phoebe. It’s too dangerous.”
“Piper, it’s our only chance. One of these days, one of Deadeye’s men is going to force himself on one of us. This way, at least I’ll have a say in who takes my virginity—either way, I’ll lose it to a man I don’t love.”
“Let me think about it. We can talk about it on the way home.” I say, trying to buy a little more time before another one of my sisters sacrifices herself for our family.
***
The rest of our shift flies by. We sit in silence on the way home, neither of us wanting to tackle the elephant in the room. I know nothing I say to Phoebe will change her mind. Just as she knows nothing will change mine.
I pull into the driveway of the trailer park, noticing a lot more motorcycles lining the area than normal. My heart skips a beat—could this be the night our lives change for the worse?
“What’s going on?” Phoebe peers out the window, noticing all the bikers standing outside our trailer, drinking beer.
“I’m not sure, but stay here and don’t let any of them in.”
She nods, locking the door behind me. I rush into the trailer, hoping none of the bikers see me, but that's wishful thinking as they start whistling and catcalling at me. Once inside, I notice Deadeye and Jax sitting at the kitchen table, talking to my mother in hushed tones.
Jax looks up at me, and I want to run into his arms and have him tell me everything is all right. But something in his eyes makes me stop dead in my tracks, and I retreat to my shared bedroom, where I find Prue, Jovi, Jonah, and Paige.
“What are all these guys doing here?” I ask Prue.
“According to Deadeye, Mom is hosting a party.” Prue rolls her eyes, knowing damn well it wasn’t Mom’s idea. She doesn’t like anyone competing for her boyfriend’s attention, even his club members.
I pull Prue away from where Jovi and Jonah are playing UNO, whisper Phoebe’s plan for the auction to her, and explain how I’m going to convince Mom to sign over her rights to Jonah, Jovi, and Paige to me.
“Hopefully, by the time you get home from work, we’ll be packed up and ready to leave this place.” Not that any of us have that much to pack anyway.
“Okay.” She gives me a quick hug silently agreeing that we have no other choice. “I’ll take Phoebe to the strip club and help her get ready for the auction. I’m sure they’ll have something sexier for her to wear than what we have here.” Prue isn’t wrong. We have absolutely nothing sexy. We actually have only one decent dress that the three of us share.
“Wish me luck.” I lean out of her embrace, walk to the dresser, and pull out the legal papers granting me custody of Jovi, Jonah, and Paige. It was the last big purchase we scraped our money together for—the only thing missing is Mom’s signature.
“Good luck. I know you’ll succeed.” Prue follows me out of the bedroom, but instead of sticking around, she leaves the trailer park with Phoebe.
“Mom, I need to talk to you alone.”
“If you have anything to say, you can say it in front of Deadeye—you know he’s going to be your new dad soon. He just proposed to me.” She holds up her left hand, revealing a large diamond that costs as much as feeding our family for months. As excited as Mom looks, Deadeye looks equally bored.
“Congratulations, Mom.” I keep my tone even, not wanting to piss her off. “Given your new engagement status, I think it’s time we revisit your signing over your parental rights to me for Jonah, Jovi, and Paige.”
“Why would I do that? I’d never give up my babies.” The fake sweetness in her voice makes me want to scream. She has never cared about any of us. But I bite my tongue and continue, refusing to look at Jax and see the pity in his eyes as I beg my mother to sign the paperwork. If Prue can take her clothes off for money and Phoebe can sell her virginity for this family, the least I can do is beg.
“Please, Mom. I’ll do anything if you just sign over your rights.”
