The Auction (Club Indulgence Duet, #1)(20)

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"He drove you away. I'm sorry you got a bum deal in the father department."

I shrug, then yawn again.

Riggs kisses me on the forehead, then says, "Get some sleep, pet."

I reach up and touch the collar. "Can I take this off to sleep?"

"Is it too tight?" he asks.

"No."

"Then why do you want it off?"

I shake my head. "I don't know. Why do I need it on?"

He slides his hand under it and curls his fingers around the gold.

My pulse quickens. I squeeze my thighs together.

His lips curl, and a sinister expression fills his face. "Because of that, right there."

"What?"

He slides his hands between my legs and slowly circles my clit with his middle finger. His other hand pulls on the collar, adding more tension to it.

I shift my hips, and my breath shortens.

"You like it, pet. You enjoy knowing who you belong to. And when this collar is on, you're mine. So your collars will stay on at all times until our year is up, understand?" he states.

More surprise fills me. "Collars?"

His lips twist, and butterflies ignite in my belly. In a low voice, he adds, "You'll soon understand. Go to sleep, pet." He releases my collar and removes his hand from my thighs, then comes toward my face. I hold my breath, thinking he's going to really kiss me this time, but he gets an inch from my lips, stares at them, then turns away from me.

Suddenly, I'm no longer tired. All I can think about is what it'll be like to kiss Riggs. And my mind is racing with too many questions that only Riggs or time can answer.





6





Riggs





It's still dark when I wake up. I've barely slept, but I never require a lot of sleep. I blame it on my childhood. I always had to be aware of what was happening in my household.

My mother had me when she was fifteen. Prostitution was how she put food on the table. When she brought her johns home, I was supposed to stay in my room. Many of them were violent, and I'd often hear and see them beating my mother. So I never really slept well. When I got old enough to jump in and fight them off, it only pissed my mother off. She didn't like me defending her. She saw it as losing clients, which would only anger me further. It still haunts me when I think about it.

Today's no different. I had maybe an hour of sleep. I lay next to Blakely, turned away from her, listening to her breathe. It took her longer to fall asleep than I anticipated. When the pattern of her breaths changed, I slowly turned over and stared at her.

It's about a half hour before sunrise. The sky is changing into a brilliant shade of pink. I grab my phone and rearrange the sheet to showcase Blakely's creamy shoulders. It's clear she's naked, so I snap a few photos.

Daddy's going to love these.

I quietly get up, go into my closet, and pull a burner phone from its box. I always have at least a dozen on hand. You never know when one might come in handy. It's like the collar, numerous toys, and birth control shots. While I always take those things to one of my L.A. apartments where I house my auctioned subs, for some reason, I keep my stash here.

When Blakely came on stage last night, the thought of bringing her to Malibu consumed me, just like it did on her twenty-first birthday. There was no way I could convince myself to keep her in L.A., hidden away, while I was back in Malibu. Unlike my previous subs, I want her at my beck and call all the time.

I take the phone out of the box and set up the network. It's a secure one that Jones created for me years ago. I've used it a dozen times over the past few years.

I text the picture from my cell to the burner and send it to her father with a caption.

Me: What should I do with your princess first?





Satisfaction fills me. I turn off the phone and hide it in my closet drawer, knowing he doesn't get up early like I do. It'll be hours before he reads the message.

As quietly as possible, I go out of the house, naked, and grab a wetsuit in the closet near the shower. I put it on, grab my board, and go down to the water. The cool water feels refreshing as I paddle far enough out and wait for the right waves.

My adrenaline won't stop pumping harder than normal. Since I saw Blakely on stage, it's like it's on overdrive. Buying her was the biggest break I could have gotten. I can destroy Hugh without her, but it'll make the process so much sweeter.

And Blakely... Jesus, I'll have more fun breaking her and turning her into my pet than I ever anticipated. All the years of waiting for her and imagining her under my control were grossly underestimated. She'll please me more than I could have ever thought possible.

A swell of waves rolls in, and I ride several of them, but I never take my mind off Blakely. Everything about her is mysterious. It shouldn't be, I've watched her grow up, but there's so much that's happened over the last few years, and I don't know any of it.

Also, I know she wasn't telling the full truth last night. I plan on getting it out of her. Whatever happened, she needs to divulge it.

Several hours pass, and I ride until I'm exhausted, catching one final wave and riding it to shore, surprised and pleased when I see Blakely sitting on the sand.

She hugs her knees to her chest, wearing one of my white button-down shirts. Her dark hair blows wild in the morning breeze, and a couple of the purple highlights glow in the morning light. None of the makeup she wore the night before can be seen, which makes me happy. She's too beautiful to have that crap on her face. Her barely visible freckles dot her cheeks, which are normally covered by her foundation. The gold collar gleams around her neck.