Free Number Thirteen by Jewel Bella Page A

Eight?”
    She doesn’t say anything.
    “Number Eight,” George says again.
    “I have no questions,” she mutters.
    “Are you sure about that?” I say, curious.
    “Yes,” she bites out. “I’m sure.”
    “Very well,” I say. “You won’t get your chance again.”
    “Number Nine?”
    “Why aren’t we allowed to see you?”
    I flinch. It takes me a moment to be able to answer her as truthfully as I can.
    “You need to earn the right to communicate with me, Number Nine.”
    “Number Ten?” George continues, cutting off her small protest.
    “Can they find us?”
    “Define they?” I urge.
    “Our old masters.”
    I understand her fear. She came from a man who was rather brutal and cruel. She was sold to him a little more than four years ago, but that was long enough for him to change everything about her.
    “No, they cannot find you here.”
    She seems to lose some of the tension in her body.
    “Number Eleven, you’re last,” George says.
    “I have nothing to say to you, you fucking pig.”
    I straighten. Number Eleven is one of the more brutal of the group, but she’s also had quite a hard past.
    “I’ll give you only one chance, Number Eleven. Ask a question, or stay quiet. If you wish to run your mouth off, then you will be punished for it.”
    “So punish me, you sick fuck,” she growls.
    I sigh, rubbing my temples. “George, escort Number Eleven to the main living room. Have her sit with a gag in her mouth, chained to a chair. She will sit and watch as all the other girls walk past her, staring at her, and she will learn and understand that it is rude and disrespectful to bite the hand that feeds you. She will learn that if she wishes to embarrass me in front of a group, I will return the favor. If she does not learn, then she will remain there until she does.”
    “You piece of...”
    She doesn’t get to finish before George hauls her up and drags her out of the room.
    There’s always one.

CHAPTER TEN
     

NUMBER THIRTEEN
     
    We’ve been here ten days now. Nothing has changed.
    We get up, we do our chores, we go to see the Master, and then we go to sleep, only to start it all over again. To say I’m confused would be putting it mildly. I don’t know why we’re here, or what purpose he has for us. He’s clearly not intent on hurting us, at least, not if we’re behaving, and he’s certainly not going to rape or torture us. So why does he have us? What could he possibly need all these girls for?
    A finger trails over my thigh, and I shiver. It’s not a bad shiver, but a curious shiver. I’m with Master William again tonight, and as always, he’s got me on his lap. He rarely speaks, and if he does, it’s usually in a different language. He murmurs words I don’t understand into my ear while he holds me. The first few times he did this it scared me. Now I seem to find a strange comfort in the words I don’t understand.
    I still fear him though, because there’s something about this situation that warrants a good amount of fear. It’s really the only emotion we understand right now, and so we hang onto it, like it’s the only thing we have control over. He’s unpredictable, and none of us are sure that this isn’t just an act to gain our trust before something worse comes along.
    I don’t remember anything. It doesn’t matter how hard I try, there’s nothing but a fuzzy mess. My memories have been stolen from me, and it’s not likely they’re going to be handed back anytime soon. The fact that they have been so cleverly taken tells me that they’re worth protecting. He doesn’t want me to have them for a reason, and it doesn’t matter how many times I ask him, he refuses to give them back.
    He’s keeping a piece of me from myself, and that’s not somethi ss nI dng I’m okay with.
    “You’re behaving well tonight,” he murmurs, shocking me out of my thoughts with his smooth, deep voice. “I’m rewarding your group with a notepad and a pen each. You can write