and heavy with drink.
It happens slowly, smoothly; one by one, they all get up. They all move as a group to my side of the room, taking seats nearer the door, lounging against a floor-to-ceiling bookcase. As if anyone reads here.
They keep circling.
Testing.
Sharks in water.
If the women were wolves, the men—they’re more dangerous by far. But none of them are as dangerous as Zeus. He’s completely at ease, standing nearby, not seeming to care if they get close. My breath gets shallow. There are no good choices. I can’t twist my hands into my gown. I can’t edge into his side and hope he puts his arm around me. That would mark me as the fool I am.
Or maybe they can already tell.
“How is she at sucking cock? Or do you not know?”
“I bet she chokes,” one answers.
I can only see white shirts out of the corners of my vision—white, ironed shirts and dark jackets. The scent of cologne wraps around me. It’s the last warning. They’re close enough to touch. A white sleeve flashes, a hand comes close, and then an arm cuts across. A fist tightens on the sleeve and pushes it back. Zeus laughs, and for the first time, I register he doesn’t laugh because something funny has happened. He laughs when something threatening has happened. Nothing could possibly threaten him, so….
The man who reached for me, his hand angling for the dip between my legs, stands back, hands up. “I only wanted a sample.”
“I’m still training her.” There’s no room for argument in Zeus’s tone, light as it is.
“Then I want first dibs,” the man counters.
“Second,” shouts another.
“Third.” That call comes from a man in the back, and the energy in the room sharpens.
“Reya.” Zeus doesn’t raise his voice at all, but then she’s there, her ledger in hand.
“Repeat your claims.” Reya raises an eyebrow, her lips curving up in a smile that reels me in too. For a single heartbeat.
“What are they claiming?” I should know this, but I need to hear him say it.
“The order that they’ll fuck you once you’ve passed your inspection.” Zeus puts his hands in his pockets and keeps watch as the men line themselves up, calling out to Reya to write their names down. First. Second. Third. Sixth. Tenth. Twelfth.
Why did I ever think I could do this? Why did I ever think my heart would stand up to this? I pictured one man. Enough money to get out of the city. A high price. But the things Reya writes down are binding. Every swoop and fall of her pen is another promise to them.
And not just any promise.
A promise of me. My body. As naked as I was in that spa, but worse. They’ll be inside me. And Zeus doesn’t care. I didn’t come here for him to care. Of course I didn’t.
The flush starts at my chest and rises to my hairline, and then it burns its way down the back of my neck and over my shoulder blades.
“When, Zeus?”
“The party,” he answers. “She’ll be ready at the party.”
“Don’t fuck with us,” the man says. He has slate-colored eyes and a grin that doesn’t reach those eyes. “Will we be disappointed at the party?”
“Are you ever disappointed at my events?” Zeus winks, and anticipation breathes itself into the room. The party, the party. What party is he talking about? They’re not arguing with him, which means that it must be soon.
Which means I don’t have much time.
I want to sink into the floor and cover my head, but I lift my chin instead, turning this way and that so they can see me. They’re looking, they’re looking, and it’s like they know what they’ll find under my dress. Of course they do. They’re buyers at a whorehouse, and I’m new. That’s my only value to them, and it kills me; it kills me to show myself off like this. Humiliation is as sharp as the pull of wax on my skin.
Reya closes her ledger, and it must be some sort of signal, because the big door opens, and the other girls pour into the room.
All the men stand up straight, drinks headed for side tables and the bookshelves so they have their hands free, and it’s like watching a cloud of glitter descend on the room. Bright dresses. Bright smiles. Perfect makeup.
And hands, reaching. Savannah runs headlong into a man with his suit jacket unbuttoned and strokes the side of his face. He reaches around to her