The Auction (Club Indulgence Duet, #1)(53)

She chokes and splutters.

He releases her, spins, and reaches for me, easily picking me up off the ground.

My airway closes. My limbs flail in the air, trying to hurt him, but it's pointless. He's too strong.

He laughs, then tosses me across the room.

"Riggs!" my mother screams.

I hit the ground hard, skidding across the cheap laminate floor and hitting the dirty couch.

He pulls out a knife and holds it to my mother's throat.

"Mom!" I scream.

"Riggs," a voice calls out.

"Mom!" I cry out again.

"Riggs, wake up," a soft voice orders.

He takes the knife and pushes it against her throat. Blood oozes out of her skin.

"Mom!" I yell, tears blurring my vision.



"Riggs! Wake up," Blakely demands, shaking me.

I open my eyes and sit up. My skin's coated with sweat, and my insides rage with hatred. And everything feels out of control.

Blakely's blue eyes are wide. She strokes my cheek and asks, "You okay?"

I snap out of it, realizing where I am, and cringing that she witnessed me having a nightmare.

I thought they had stopped. I hadn't had one in over a year, yet this is the third in the last ten days.

The first nightmare occurred the night I caught Blakely drunk on the deck. The second, a few nights after. Now this one.

I've kept all this away from her. It was easy since I've not allowed her to sleep with me since we returned from Apartment Thirteen.

I snap, "Why are you in here?"

She pulls her hand away and lifts her chin. "I heard you crying."

"I wasn't crying," I claim, then push past her and slide out of bed. I go into the bathroom and turn on the shower.

She follows me. "Riggs, do you always have nightmares? The other night, I thought I heard—"

"Not sure what you thought you heard or saw, but I can assure you it was nothing," I state, stepping under cold water.

She watches me shower, and I ignore her, my irritation increasing since it's pouring down rain. That means surfing's out, which is normally the only way I can work through the aftermath of my past.

Well, that or sex after breaking down a sub for a few hours, but I can't attend the club until tonight. Another rule is that Doms can't play in the club until they've proven they've mastered the sub they bought at the auction.

Not that I would find another sub when I'm in a contract. It goes against my code, no matter what my needs are.

So, until tonight, when I take Blakely to the club, I'm screwed.

Even then, I'm in trouble. I've not touched her since the night at Apartment Thirteen. No matter how much she's tried to make things right between us, I've given her the cold shoulder. After a forty-eight-hour detox, which was extreme even for my standards, I let her out of the guest room, warning her that if she touched any more alcohol, she'd be locked in for a week.

We fell into a pattern. I'd go to work, leave her at the beach house, and come home late at night, well after dark. She tried to make amends the first few days, but I wasn't interested.

She broke rule thirteen. It may be a mandatory club rule, but it would have been in my contract whether they wanted it or not. There's no tolerance on my part for drunks or druggies.

After the fourth night, she didn't try anymore. A few times, I got home and she was already in bed. I hated it, as much as I hated seeing her slurring her speech and barely able to stand.

And now it's time to prove I have control over her and she's able to fully submit to me.

I've never been so unprepared.

The nightmares only add to the unhinged, unstable chaos I can't eliminate inside me. The longer I go without touching my pet, the crazier I feel. The only thing keeping me partially sane is knowing I'm taking Hugh down, but even that has challenges.

Jones hacked into two of Hugh's offshore accounts, but it's like he had a sensor on it. As soon as Jones got in, the money moved. It's a more sophisticated system than Jones has ever seen. While he's confident he'll break the code, it's wearing on my patience.

And Chainsaw hasn't found Snake yet. It seems the thug wised up and fled town. It's another thing bugging me. A good night at the warehouse, dragging the last breath out of Snake would have let me release some energy, but that hasn't happened.

The only saving grace I have in all of this is sneaking pictures of Blakely and sending them to her father.

And I know I'm getting under his skin. It took a while, but I finally got the text messages I'd been waiting for, which means he's starting to crack.

Hugh: Whoever this is, I'll find you. And once I do, you'll wish you never laid eyes on my daughter or me.





I sent a picture of Blakely in the shower with soap falling down her breasts and a message.

Me: I'm going to fuck her against the wall now.





Hugh: You have until midnight to turn her over to me. Otherwise, I'm coming after you.





Me: I'll keep that in mind when I come in her.





But no matter how much satisfaction I get from sticking it to Hugh, it's only short-lived. The moment I think about Blakely and how long it's been since I touched her, the more unsettled I feel.