Page 4 of Auctioned to the Lumberjacks (Auctioned)

Finn smiles, but it feels more like nerves than happiness.

I’ve done what I need to do. The money is within my grasp. All I have to do is get through the next three-hundred-and-sixty-five days, and then I’ll be free.

Home.

As West and Jack disappear into the darkness, and Finn urges me out of the car, I wonder if I’ll ever find a place I can truly call home again.

2

WEST

BOUGHT AND PAID FOR

My legs have seized on the journey, but the distance from the truck to the front door of the lodge loosens them. I clutch the bag of items I bought for the woman who’s trailing behind with Finn, feeling uncertain about what I picked out for her. It was the first time I ever had to choose underwear and sleepwear for a woman. The clothing selection wasn’t huge, but I got a few vests, sweaters, leggings, jeans, and woolly socks. Finn told me her shoe size, and I found a pair of warm boots that should fit. Maybe she’ll like everything. Maybe she won’t. She’ll have to wear it all, regardless.

I throw open the rustic wooden door, and the smell of home hits me in the face: pine, burning wood, and dust. We’ve done our best to keep it habitable, but none of us are winning any housekeeping awards. The sound of three sets of feet crunching over leaves and stumbling over roots disturbs the silence of the forest, but no one talks. The atmosphere is thick with anticipation, and everything that remains unsaid between me and my two friends, and the stranger who has come to join us in our home.

This is no small thing that we’ve done, and it wasn’t an overnight decision. We all acknowledged that we could do with a woman around the place to make this house a home, buthow to achieve it was a hot topic of discussion. Finn misses the affection of a woman the most. Jack was opposed from the start. Women are trouble in his eyes. They can’t be trusted. He didn’t want to bring complications into our simple life, but it was two against one, and he’s fed up with dealing with all his pent-up frustrations himself.

Now, I feel as though I have something to prove to dismiss his reservations. The auction was the only way I saw we could achieve our goal. It’s not like three men can wander into a bar and proposition one woman. The sight of us with our big beards and giant hands would likely scare off even the most eager of women. Putting our attractiveness aside, there’s no refinement in this house. No romance, that’s for sure.

And what we need from this woman isn’t hearts and flowers. Paying for it makes everything clear-cut. She’s signed on the dotted line. She’ll have to get used to giving us what we need, and if she resists, we’ll bend her to our will or send her back with nothing.

Jack lumbers behind me, and his vibes are as menacing as ever.

Finn ushers the woman inside, and she glances around like a frightened rabbit, watching him close the door behind her with wide eyes and parted lips. Then, as if conscious of being watched and appearing scared, she straightens her shoulders and lifts her chin.

Her rigid spine and a hint of defiance make my cock thicken.

“What’s your name?” It’s a question I should have asked back at the auction, but I wasn’t thinking straight. She’s sopretty; just looking at her glitches my mind into dark places that, if she knew, would probably set goosebumps across her skin.

“Skye.” Her sweet, feminine voice sounds strangely beautiful within the confines of our rustic home. I’m used to Jack’s growl and Finn’s deeply smooth tones.

“Pretty,” Finn says. Jack scowls in response.

I watch Skye slowly scan the interior, taking in the hand-built kitchen and large table that still looks very much like the tree it was sliced from, the worn couch, and the wide beams that span the ceiling overhead. In the corner, a woodburning stove glows with lingering cinders. She seems to be holding her breath but making a good show of confidence. I see the cabin from her eyes and feel renewed pride in the cozy home we’ve managed to build from the ground up. Admittedly, it’s sparse and without the benefit of a woman’s touch, something I’m hoping Skye will rectify over her time here.

She’s yours for a year. You can do anything to her, and she has to submit if she wants the money.The whisper in my mind sends a thrill down my spine, making my balls tighten.

I wonder how she’ll feel about dropping to her knees and taking my cock deep into her throat. Will she cry out when I slap her ass until it’s as red as the sunset? Will she cry when Jack ties her up and does unspeakable things to her in the hope that she’ll beg him for mercy?

If there’s one thing I learned from being in the military, it is that setting boundaries and expectations has to be done immediately. There’s no settling-in period. No chance to go easyon Skye if we expect her to know her place in this cabin going forward.

“You know why you’re here,” I say, stepping closer to her. Skye’s green eyes flash with uncertainty, but she grits her teeth before speaking.

“I know.”

Finn clears his throat, but I shoot him a warning look over Skye’s head. I know him. He wants to backtrack. He doesn’t understand the risk. We take her and break her in tonight, or we risk this whole thing falling apart.

“Take your things. Get ready. You have ten minutes.” I hold out the bag, and she reaches out for it, her hand shaking just a little before she steels herself. “Your room is the second door on the right. The bathroom is across the hall.”

Part of me expects her to object or at least ask for time to settle in first. She’s barely exchanged two words with us. But it turns out Skye has more backbone than I thought. Either that, or this situation she finds herself in isn’t new.

The thought of her being touched by the hands of another man fills me with instant rage. It’s fucked up that I already think of her as mine, but I do.

When she leaves the den, and I hear a door click shut, I turn to Finn. “Just remember what we spoke about.”

“I warned him,” Jack says. “Now it’s real, he’s already going soft.”

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