Page 3 of Auctioned to the Lumberjacks (Auctioned)

“They’ll swamp her.” West makes a gravelly sound in his throat. “Have you seen how small she is?”

“Small enough to break.”

Finn stiffens next to me at Jack’s comment. “She’s brave, Jack. So damned brave to do what she did. The rest of those girls didn’t have a choice but Skye…she chose to be there.”

“Brave?” It’s a word accompanied by a scoff. “Stupid, more like.”

“Yeah, well. We don’t know her story.”

“And we don’t need to know. This whole thing…I told you it wouldn’t end well. It hasn’t even begun well. But you need to make sure you keep boundaries in place. She’s not your girlfriend. She’s not a friend. She’s an employee at best, andshe’s going to work for her money. Don’t go thinking you can treat her kindly because that’s fucked up…giving the poor girl false hope and expectations you’re never going to fulfill.”

West must signal because the truck makes a ticking sound and then slows to a stop.

“Is she awake?” he asks Finn.

“She’s sleeping.”

West mutters something and then throws the door open, closing it as quietly as he can. Finn exits the vehicle as well, leaving me trapped in a truck with a man as angry as Carter was when I told him I was leaving. The look in his eyes was as dark as the depths of the underworld.

I lay totally still, keeping my breathing even, praying Jack doesn’t realize I’m awake. Minutes that feel like hours stretch tight around me. My legs ache from being cramped, and my face itches, but I fight the urge to do anything about either.

After what I think must be fifteen minutes, a rumble of motorbike engines surrounds us, vibrating the truck and the air around me. Pretending to sleep amid such overwhelming noise would be stupid and potentially make Jack doubt my honesty in the future. I open my eyes and uncurl so I can see what’s happening. Jack lowers his window.

The motorcycle engines cut, and five leather-clad men remain seated on their vehicles as they remove their helmets and rest them on the handlebars of their bikes.

Their ragged beards and hair are more unruly than the lumberjacks, and a couple of them sport large bellies which hang over their belted leather pants. The others look as toned and muscular as the lumberjacks, covered with ink and wearing leather cuts that read Shadow Outlaws around a sinister-looking insignia.

Finn approaches confidently and embraces one of the biker men warmly. They clearly know each other and there is no threat that I can sense. “Hey, cuz,” he says, clapping the man on the shoulder. The resemblance between them becomes clear.

Their conversation fades as a huge biker, who’s taller and more powerfully built than even Finn, approaches the window.

“Hey, Jack. We missed you last week at Reggie’s!”

“Yeah, sorry about that, Bones. Work is taking over. What are you lot here for?”

“You know, a few bottles and some tobacco. Nathan’s missus is out of town so we’re playing poker. Join us if you like.”

“We’ve got some stuff going on tonight.”

Jack jerks his head and Bones narrows his eyes, focused on where I’m huddling in the back seat, shadowed but still visible in the low light from the shop sign. His eyebrows shoot up.

“Pretty little thing,” he says.

Jack shrugs like my attractiveness is neither here nor there.

“We’ll catch up soon.”

“No problem, man!” Bones grapples in one of his pockets and pulls out a bundle of bills, handing some over to another one of the group who ambles into the store, stopping to talk to West as he emerges from the entrance.

I lower myself back down, trying to be as silent as I can and moments later, Finn and West are back in the truck, bringing a blast of icy night air with them.

I shudder and curl into a ball again, fearing and dreading a cold hand on my neck.

West stuffs the rustling bags at Jack’s feet.

I must’ve fallen asleep again because I’m disturbed as a rough hand, like sandpaper delivering the lightest touch, grazes my forehead. I blink in the darkness, forgetting where I am for a moment, and then jump when I wake fully. Finn is braced with his hands up, palms facing me. “We’re home.”

I look around, finding only inky blackness around us. I can barely see anything outside the glass.

---