Free Bought and Bound by Lyla Sinclair Page B

enough money to make the back payments by the deadline.
    I dropped my shoulders, feeling defeated. This seemed like my only option. “Fuck,” I said.
    “You’re sure about your friend?”
    “Yeah, he was really excited about your picture.”
    “What do I have to do?”
    “Follow me, and follow instructions.”

    *****
The gray-haired auctioneer—who reminded me of a butler from the movies—led me into a
    large white room. It was shaped like a hexagon, with strange metal sheets on five of the walls.
    The sixth wall held the door I’d come in through. When it slammed shut, the echo reverberated in my ears.
    Since I was wearing only my bra and panties, I was glad I’d thought tonight had been a booty call. At least I had on the nice underwear—pink bra and matching pink lace bikinis.
    The concrete was cold under my bare feet, though. The master of auction wouldn’t let me keep my heels on, which I though was ridiculous, since I was so short without them. Who would want to pay this kind of money for only five feet worth of “slave”?
    I glanced around the blank room, not nearly as nervous as I should have been. But maybe that was because of the champagne Eric had given me in the holding room. How many glasses had I drunk for courage? The auctioneer’s hand skimmed my back as he led me to the center of the room. It tickled. I giggled.
    Obviously, too many.
    He pointed to an “X” on the floor and told me to stand there. Then he walked away and stood in front of the door. He pushed a button on a wall control panel and all five of the metal sheets slid up simultaneously, exposing what appeared to be two-way mirrors.
    “Gentlemen, we are ready to begin, he said into his headset. As you can see, we have a lovely specimen here—medium brown hair, brown eyes, measuring only five feet, one-half inch tall in her bare feet.”
    I heard several dings and the rectangular yellow lights below each window came on, almost in unison. Eric had told me the lights meant a bidder was interested and planning to bid. The auctioneer would hear the various bids through his earpiece and, when a bidder was finished, his light would go off.
    The lights had come on when they heard my height. Did that mean being small was a plus with these guys?
    The better to control you, my dear.
    I shook the thought away and focused on the fact that Eric’s weird non-touching friend had promised to buy me.
    The bidding started at seventy thousand. Fifty for me. Twenty for Eric. Anything more, the auction house kept. My head spun as the auctioneer called out bid after bid. Eighty thousand.
    Ninety. One hundred thousand.
    I couldn’t imagine having that much money to blow on a few days’ worth of entertainment.
    Then I remembered I was the entertainment. The thought passed through my mind that I should try to get out of this now, but the champagne had me too lethargic to really do anything about it.
    As the price went higher, bidders started dropping out, one-by-one. It was a relief to think this was almost over. When the auction was down to two bidders, the auctioneer pressed several buttons on the wall panel and the metal shades came down to cover all the windows, except for the two belonging to the remaining bidders. The price was up to one hundred forty thousand. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would pay that kind of money for me.
    “All right, gentlemen. Time for a better look.” The auctioneer took something out of his pocket and quickly made three snips. My ruined bra fell to the floor.
    “What are you—?”
    He snipped the sides of my panties and they fell away. I stood naked, frozen in shock. This couldn’t be me—shy good-girl, Tanya Marin, standing naked in front of strange men I couldn’t even see. Maybe I was still asleep in Eric’s car and this was all a weird dream.
    “As you can see, she has perfect, petite breasts and an exquisite derriere.” He motioned toward me with the flair of a Price is Right model, never actually