Highest Bidder Collection - Lauren Landish Page 0,283

my friends company while I take notes about the perversions of the other men in the room. Always watching.

I’ve never shown my cards. I’ve never given them an ounce of useful information to use against me if they so choose.

“I can’t believe a place like this exists,” Charles mutters under his breath. I turn to him, ignoring Madam Lynn, the owner of Club X, as she starts the show. I’ve seen these auctions a million times. I’ve never given a fuck about them. It’s mostly a charade, no surprise at all who will end up with who.

My shoulders rise in a shrug. It’s a fantasy really. Decorated and maintained to provide a false sense of a world that’s temporary. Darkened rooms for men to spend their money and sate themselves, safety for women who want to give in to their dark desires. It’s all an illusion, nothing more than that.

But as the first woman is sold as the hammer is dropped, I find my heart beating faster. The auction has never felt more real than in this moment.

The men are talking quietly to themselves. Arianna is next, according to the pamphlet. None of their eyes are on me. Instead they’re focused on Brooks, who’s seated on the far side of the room, at the table farthest away from me. His foot is tapping nervously on the floor as he leans back in his seat with a cigar, putting on a casual air. As if his very life doesn’t depend on Arianna being sold to pay his debt.

I imagine most of the men here expect him to bid on her. Like it’s a game between them. It wouldn’t be the first time a Dominant or Master has sent his partner to the auction, some for play, others for punishment. But when he doesn’t bid on her, the mood in the room will change. Each second that passes, taking me closer and closer to that moment, heightens my anxiety.

I can already feel the tense air growing as the men each decide for themselves if they’re willing to take her.

She’s the epitome of what a Submissive should be. Or Slave, rather. Since that’s the preference she’s taken at the club. She’s only ever been with him, but he’s put on quite a show with her before.

“How many have you come to?” Charles asks me, his voice low. So low that the clinking of the ice in his short glass of bourbon nearly drowns out his words as he brings the glass to his lips.

Again I shrug, lifting my beer bottle to my lips and taking a sip. I answer him with a low voice, “Too many.”

“How many have you won?” he asks.

“None,” I answer him with clarity, setting my glass on the white tablecloth and looking straight ahead. The thick red curtains are pulled back and the lights focused on the stage, just how it always is.

Charles laughs a deep rough sound, and my eyes are pulled to his.

“How can you resist?” he asks with a warmth in his voice I’ve never heard before.

“Easy,” I answer and take a quick look around the darkened room. “They’re all watching.”

“Let them see. Isn’t that what this place is for?” He swirls the ice in his glass and drains the remainder of the bourbon as a waitress passes us. I eye him as he leans in her direction, ordering another. He seems more comfortable behind the mask than I’ve ever seen him before. As if it grants him a freedom he’s never had. And I suppose it does. For him and many of the other men in here.

But I know all of the men in this room, and I’m not foolish enough to think that an NDA is enough to keep loose lips from using information within the walls of Club X as blackmail. As much as I’m fond of Madam Lynn, many things are beyond her control.

The first woman is sold to her own Dominant and the second is a new girl, unclaimed and looking a bit shy. She goes for a higher sum, having multiple bidders as the waitress comes back with another drink for Charles. No surprise there, and nothing out of place. Madam Lynn’s expression reflects exactly what I’m feeling as Arianna walks out onto the stage.

The lights are focused on her, making her sun-kissed skin seem to glow. She takes in a shaky breath as she stands there, and her ankles cross and uncross as she clasps her hands in front