Page 16 of Proposition 1

10. Cadence

Ididn’t know how it was already my turn. It had seemed like there was a swarm of other girls ahead of me in line when I arrived with Leo, and it felt like only a couple minutes had passed, yet Leo was gone, and so were all of the other girls. I was standing in front of the woman I had heard the others call Madame as she brushed my hair behind my shoulders and lifted my head with a finger under my chin.

“You’re a brave girl. You can look at this as a trial to endure, or an experience to remember. The choice is yours.”

I thought about what she said. I’d already accepted what I was doing, and her words made sense. Why suffer through what was going to happen when I could embrace it instead. It was only one night.

“Do you trust me?”

The question caught me off guard, and my brows pinched together. I gave a slow nod as I looked into her eyes. She hadn’t given me any reason not to, and the woman gave off a motherly vibe.

“Turn around.”

I hesitated for a moment before doing as she directed. I felt her hands on the inside of my elbows, pulling my arms behind my back before something wound around them.

She started just below the bend of my arms, working down to my wrists at a surprising speed. It seemed to only take seconds before I was bound, and she turned me to face her again.

“Too tight? Any pain or tingling.”

I shook my head. Though my arms were immobile, the bindings didn’t pinch, and I wasn’t losing feeling in my hands.

Madame gave me a brief smile.

“How you feel is the only thing that matters. Don’t let the concept of right and wrong make you suffer.”

With that last drop of wisdom, she pulled back the curtain and gave me a push. The stage lights were blinding after the darkness backstage, and I blinked to relieve the burn as I made my way to the center.

There was a woman standing at the front corner of the stage wearing a gorgeous dress and holding a hand aimed in my direction like a gameshow host showing off the next prize. I almost laughed at the accuracy of that thought as I took my place and faced the audience.

I hadn’t heard a word she said before I walked out, but it was hard to ignore what she was saying now. Her flagrant description of me left my face burning with embarrassment as she paused before delivering the final detail.

“And sweet Blossom here is a virgin! To be the first to have her, bidding will start at thirty thousand.”

I felt my eyes widen as I tried to look into the audience. I could make out the closer couches and chairs, the dark shapes of people on them, but the bright lights shining on me made it impossible to see any details.

I wasn’t sure what I expected once I came onstage, but it wasn’t like the auctions I had seen on TV. The woman wasn’t going so fast I couldn’t understand her, but she still seemed to be calling out numbers at a shocking speed.

“I have thirty, do I have thirty-five? Thank you! Thirty-five, is there a forty? Forty, now forty-five, can I get fifty?”

My head began to spin trying to keep up. I heard fifty-two before my brain refused to keep doing the math to figure my cut minus the twenty-two my brother owed. All I knew was that his debt was covered, and I would be going home with extra money in my pocket.

The sudden, “Sold!” jerked my attention to the auctioneer.

“For fifty-six thousand dollars.”

I stopped breathing. My eyes bulged as I worked to swallow the lump in my throat before sucking in a lungful of air.

I hadn’t moved once I took my spot centerstage. Hadn’t posed or flirted with the crowd the way I’d seen a couple of the other girls do. Yet I’d sold for quite a bit more than any of the others.

Fifty-six thousand dollars.

The woman was smiling at me and waving her hand like she wanted me to move closer. It wasn’t until then that I realized none of the other girls had come backstage after being sold.

Shuffling my feet forward, I ducked my head and tried to look through the glare of the lights. Once they weren’t shining directly in my face, I could see the other girls in the audience. Some were kneeling next to stern-faced men, while others were sitting in laps. One was even bent over the back of a couch, her arms pinned behind her and her bottom directed at the stage.

My thighs trembled as my knees threatened to give out. I could feel a drop of sweat trickling down my spine as I stared into the audience, searching the faces for any indication of the man that had bought me.

For I second, I wished that man was Leo, but even after searching the room twice, I couldn’t find him. It didn’t make sense for him to talk me into being part of the auction, then buying me himself. I’m sure the reason the girls only got to keep half their price was because he collected the rest, so he wouldn’t want to lose out on the money from my sale.

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