Page 135 of Auctioned

The last place I try is one of the couches.

Bingo.

I blink a couple of times at the sight of the black bobby pin lying beneath it.

Waiting for me to come get it.

A sense of victory washes over me. I couldn’t care less about breaking free.

It’s the winning that matters. That’s how I’ll impress him.

By unlocking the cuff before he gets here. Before he has a chance to stop me.

Even if he’s watching, it’s a long drive from the city back here.

I have at least an hour to bathe in my victory and collect information by snooping around here.

Twisting the bobby pin is the easy part. Fitting into the lock is where it gets tricky. One of the kids in my last foster home taught me how to do that. He had awful foster parents years before we met. They’d lock him up. He had to find ways to break free.

And I was lucky enough to meet him.

Click,click,click. My tongue darts out, caught between my teeth. It helps me focus on my task. I swear it does.

The feel of the lock giving in has my pulse spiking. James could punish me for this. He could bend me over and belt me again.

Is it sick that I wish he would?

It is.

Yet here I am, praying for the belt.

I don’t care about anything now after that finalclick.

“Ha!” Another scream to the void. It’s been a whole day of those.

First thing I do is rub my ankle. I’m fine; James wouldn’t harm me, but after hours of being shackled by it and dragging the chain around, my poor ankle could definitely use some love.

Ten seconds of it. Then I’m up and out of the living room.

This sense of accomplishment, of victory, of imagining James’s lips quirk up when he sees me like this…

That part gives me a rush that could only compare to actually being fucked by him.

The need to run around just to feel how free I am is intense.

So I do.

“Ahhhh!” My arms flail in the air as I run across the mansion, my feet hitting the floor. “Ahhhh!”

Screaming is so underrated. I’m going to make a habit out of it.

“Ahhhh!” The skies are dark, no light coming in from the windows. I must’ve been searching for the bobby pin longer than I thought.

That’s fine. I’m free. Running with my head tipped to the high ceiling. Laughing like a crazy lady.

Thunder rolls somewhere in the distance.

I run and scream and run some more until I get there.

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