AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Bailey.” The whisper was followed by a small shake of my shoulder that had me recoiling away from the touch. “Bailey, you need to get up.”
I squeezed my eyes tighter, not wanting to open them. Here, in my own world, I was safe, but out there? I shivered at the thought. I’d been lying here for fourteen hours straight, trying to process what had happened to me in the middle of the brightly lit room. But it didn’t matter how many times I tried to work through it all in my brain, it just…shut down, like an old computer that refused to reboot, no matter how many times you clicked therestartbutton.
My body was trying to protect me, but my brain…my brain was out to destroy me. Everything was against me—everyonewas against me.
I hiccupped a sob, hating how Seven was right next to me. She was too close for me to divulge how I was feeling right then. I had to put on a front. I couldn’t let anyone see how broken I was.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, her words coming out rushed. “I know you’re upset but youhaveto get up.”
I shook my head. I refused to lift my face off of the rolled-up towel that I used as my makeshift pillow. There was no way I was going to look at the marks that were marring my skin. Mr. Pozzi had left me hanging there for over twenty hours according to Seven, but since then, nobody had disturbed me…until now.
“Bailey.” She shook me again, this time a lot harder. “It’s auction day. You have to get up.”
I frowned, trying to process what she was saying, but it didn’t make sense. “What?” I croaked out, turning my head just enough to catch her gaze. “What is auction day?”
Her expression was shuttered, not showing a single emotion. She was good at being able to do that. Me, not so much. “I told you that first day. He does it once every month. It’s what you’ve been here for.” I blinked, still not getting it but remembering her telling me the day I’d try to escape and she’d stopped me. “He brings people here from the cages to train, then once he’s had enough of them, he sells them to the highest bidder.”
My breath stalled in my chest, oxygen burning in my lungs as I finally understood what was being said. “I…I’m being sold?”
She nodded. “And me.”
“You too?” I asked, surprised. Seven had been here longer than anyone else. She’d helped “train” everyone, so why was he selling her?
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I think it’s because we room together, and he wants you gone so now he wants me gone too.” She shrugged, acting like it didn’t bother her, but I was sure deep down that it did.
Instead of saying any of that, I instead asked, “We’re gonna get out of here?”
She tried to smile, but her lips didn’t quite make it. “Yeah, but…” Her chest heaved as she shuffled closer to me. “It’s not always a good thing. At least here we can get a break sometimes. But when you’re someone’s personal sex slave, it’s never ending.”
My stomach rolled and twirled. I didn’t know whether to be happy that I would be away from Mr. Pozzi, or scared that at least here I knew what to expect, out there was a different story, and if the men who had touched me and taunted me were anything to go by…
“What do we do?” I asked, my voice so small only she would hear me.
Her features dropped, her shoulders sagging as she gave way to defeat. “There’s nothing we can do.”
Loud footsteps echoed down the hallway, then a booming voice called, “Be ready in ten!”
Seven jumped up off the bed, and it was only then that I noticed her makeup was done to perfection and her hair was curled in soft waves.
“We have to get you ready.” She whizzed around our small room, gathering things. “Quick, go wash your face and brush your teeth.”
I didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to make myself presentable. I wanted to go out there and stink, look the worst, do anything not to be sold to a stranger. But the thought of Mr. Pozzi seeing me like that and thinking I was defying him—and the inevitable punishment that would follow—was too much to bear, so I stood slowly and gathered my things.
Within five minutes I was sitting back on the mattress, trying to ignore all of the cuts and bruises covering my body. I didn’t have time to think about them. I didn’t have time to analyze each one and make sure they were super clean.
I was scared…scared that if I acknowledged them too much, I would break even more than I already was—not that I was sure that was even possible.
“Three minutes!” the voice boomed again.
“Shit,” Seven cursed, her shaking hand reaching for the brush. “You’ll have to forgo the makeup and we’ll just do something with your hair.
“Sure,” I whispered, not caring a bit. Seven would make sure I was presentable. She’d become my rock in this place, even though she’d knocked me out on that first day. She was trying to protect me even though she didn’t know me. I just hoped that wherever she ended up, she’d be safe.
She pulled and twisted at my hair, working so quick that it was as if I’d blinked and she was finished. “There.” She patted my shoulder, then stood up. “It’s only two half braids, but it looks nice.”
I nodded, standing with her, not bothering to look in the small mirror that she held up. I refused to look at myself and see the damage that had been caused by the men in this place, not only to my body, but also shining in my eyes.
They’d broken me down. They’d taken away the essence at my core. They’d destroyed me and there was nothing I could do to find the broken pieces. They’d scattered all over the place, never to be found again.
