Page 49 of Paved in Venom

I’m not sure what exactly I’m expecting, but when we come to the end of the hall and see the large room in front of us filled with naked or half-naked women, this isn’t it. I was thinking it would be similar to the Viper, sleazy men and half-naked women, but some pretense of civility, even if it was flimsy at best. This is like some drunken college party, except it’s being thrown by a man old enough to be my fucking grandpa.

The room itself is massive, and the entire wall of windows is one big sliding door that’s been opened up so guests can easily go from inside to outside. There’s a large pool that several people are currently skinny-dipping in, and when I hear a moan and look towards the corner of the room it’s coming from, I see a naked woman on her knees, giving some guy in a suit a blowjob, and if I thought I could get away with it, my ass would be running right back out the front door.

Danil mutters something in Russian and pulls me closer. Switching to English, he whispers close to my ear, “I can’t believe I fucking brought you into this place. I’m so sorry, sladkaya.”

“There you are!”

We all turn at the loud greeting to see Tom striding towards us with a naked woman trailing a few steps behind. I recognize her. She’d been standing next to me before we had to put the hoods over our heads. I’m pretty sure she’s the woman whose hand I clutched on the way to the auction. Her eyes briefly meet mine before she puts them back on the floor. She looks broken, completely defeated and terrified and a stab of guilt hits me hard. She’s been suffering this whole time while I’ve been laughing and living it up with Danil. I feel sick to my stomach when I look around the room, forcing myself to take in every fucking detail of it, all the women being used, the scared faces, the bruised bodies, and the way they’re being passed around like they’re worthless—this could’ve so easily been my fate. Why wasn’t it? What makes me so fucking special? Not a goddamn thing, that’s what.

I feel Danil’s eyes on me. I know he senses something is wrong, but he has no idea what, and Tom is still talking like a jackass, oblivious to everything except himself.

“Not willing to share your pet, I see,” he says, gesturing to my wrist and the lack of a silver bracelet.

“No, I’m not,” Danil says.

I notice he has a bracelet on the woman he bought, and it doesn’t take him long at all to say, “Well, I’m feeling generous tonight, so, Danil, if you or one of your brothers wants to sample my pet, she’s yours for the taking.” He lets out a drunken laugh, and says, “Tightest fucking pussy I’ve ever had.”

I’ve never wanted to kill someone so badly in my life. I can’t believe this fucker has a wife and grandkids. Their smiling fucking faces are plastered all over the photos on the walls around us. He didn’t even bother to take them down.

“No, thanks,” Danil says.

“Maybe later,” Vitaly says.

“Yeah, I’d like to walk around and see everything first,” Lev adds.

I know they’re both stalling and hoping that Tom is drunk enough to not offer her again. Tom shrugs and grabs the young woman by the arm, pulling her back towards the pool.

“You know where to find us,” he says with a laugh.

I meet her eyes for just a second, and the pain in them is like a slap to my face. Feeling like absolute shit, I let Danil lead me over to the bar that’s been set up in the corner. There’s a topless woman who’s apparently on bartending duty. Her viper tattoo is red, so she must be on loan from the Red Viper.

Danil brings his mouth close to my ear. “Do you want a drink, baby?”

“God yes,” I tell him.

He rubs his hand along my back and asks the woman for four vodkas. She gives him a big, flirty smile that he ignores, but I see Vitaly discreetly slip her a tip so the men around us won’t see. Hopefully, she’ll get to keep it instead of having to hand it all over at the end of the night.

With drinks in hand, we walk over to a vacant couch in the corner. Danil pulls me onto his lap, keeping me pressed tightly against him.

“Anyone look familiar?” he asks, making sure to keep his voice low.

I take a drink and scan the crowded room. Most everyone is caught up in their own thing and not paying attention to us, but as I look around, I notice that more and more men are glancing my way.

“Word’s spreading,” Lev mutters from beside us. “They all want to catch a glimpse of the woman who went for such a high bid and the man who was willing to pay it.”

“No one looks familiar,” I whisper by Danil’s ear. “This isn’t going to cut it. We can’t just stay in this room, and I swear to god we’re not leaving this fucked-up party until we find something. If we can find his computer, will that help?”

“Yeah, but that’s not going to be easy. I’m guessing his staff is on the lookout for anyone who tries to leave this room. They want everything done in the open.”

My brain is racing, trying to come up with some reason for us to leave this room. There’s a bathroom right off this room that people are using, so going in search of one isn’t a good enough reason, and when I see Tom walk back in and turn his eyes on us, I make the decision to do something truly insane.

“Remember you like things private,” I hurry up and whisper. “Just follow my lead.”

“What are you—” he starts to say, but I cut him off when I scramble to my feet like my ass is on fire.

Turning to him, I have just enough time to shoot him an I really hope this doesn’t backfire and please don’t be mad at me look before I scream, “No! I don’t want to suck your cock again, and you can’t fucking make me!”

I see the shock in his eyes before he quickly recovers. His face goes hard, and the room around us goes deathly still. I made sure to scream it loud enough so everyone would hear, and it looks like I’ve succeeded. Without taking his eyes off mine, he says something in Russian to his brothers. I don’t dare look at them. I’m having a hard enough time going through with this as is.

---