4. Chapter 4
Chapter four
Raina
The next day, a woman I’ve never seen before steps into my bedroom, Father behind her. She wheels in a large case, and Father hangs a garment bag in my closet.
The woman is beautiful, with straight brown hair and lips painted a deep red. A tight dress shows off her curves, and there’s something about the way she stands that draws my attention to her. Confidence, maybe? Or is it because of the way her gaze lingers on me, causing butterflies to take flight in my belly?
“What’s going on?” I ask. It’s sometime in the early evening, but no one got me for meals, and my stomach aches with hunger. “I’m sorry about last night.”
It’s the closest to asking for food that I’ll dare get to. Father’s anger from the garage still hasn’t faded. I can see it written all over his face and in the way he won’t even look at me.
“This is Amelia,” Father explains. “She’ll help prepare you for tonight.”
Father leaves without another word, shutting the door firmly behind him. He doesn’t lock it—not for me, though. For Amelia.
“Take off your clothes,” Amelia says boredly as she opens up her case.
Inside is an array of beauty products. Soaps, makeup, lotions. I’ve seen some of them in Marissa’s room before. I’m given the bare minimum to keep myself clean since Father never saw the point in giving me access to anything else.
“Did you hear me?” Amelia asks when I don’t move. “Clothes. Off. I need to know what I’m working with here.”
“In front of you?” That feels strange. Father told me never to undress for anyone, not that I ever interact with that many people.
“Yes, in front of me.” She snaps her fingers. “ Quickly . We only have a few hours.”
Before I’m auctioned off.
Slowly, I pull my T-shirt over my head. Discomfort makes my stomach cramp, but I learned years ago that disobeying Father only ends in pain and withheld meals.
“Underwear and bra, too,” Amelia tells me, her voice thin with impatience. She’s laying things out on my desk. It feels so unlikely that they’re all for me.
I hesitate, but ultimately, I know I’ve got no choice.
Once I’m fully naked, Amelia glances at my body and sighs. “He should’ve called me days ago, that damn bastard. Well, I suppose you’re in luck. I can’t wax you if you’re going to have sex tonight. Can’t risk an infection.”
“W-what?” I squeak out, backing away. “Sex?”
I don’t know much about it, other than what Marissa has told me. When we were teens, she gave me the rundown of what she called “basic anatomy” and explained how sex is supposed to work. She said it was supposed to feel good, but when she was seventeen, I found her sobbing in her room after her first time. She said it hurt, and that there was blood. After that, fear mixed with my curiosity, and I didn’t know what to think about sex.
Amelia makes an exasperated noise. “You really don’t know what’s going on, do you?”
I shake my head.
She sighs. “All right. I’ll do my best to explain.” She has me sit on my desk chair and pulls up a stool she brought with her. “Men love virgins. Even more, they love sweet, innocent virgins. And you?” Her eyes travel up and down my body, making my blood heat in a way I know is forbidden. “Well, you fit the bill almost too well.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. Last night, when Father was explaining everything to Marissa, I felt like I was missing a piece of information. This must be it.
“Here, lean forward for me a bit, will you?” Amelia asks.
I do, watching as she picks up a pair of tweezers. When she gets them too close to my face, I jerk back.
“Hold still, Raina. I told you, I don’t have a lot of time.”
My body goes stiff, but I try to do as she says. I feel the cool metal against my eyebrow a second later, and then a sharp, stinging pain. “Ow!”
“Sorry, hon, but these eyebrows of yours need plucked.”
She keeps going, plucking one little hair out at a time. I try to hold back my winces, but the longer she goes, the more sensitive my skin gets.
“Will I be naked during the auction, too?” I ask.
“I doubt it. These types of men get particularly possessive of their women. They’d rather purchase you without seeing your body than let anyone else see what’s theirs.”
“Will I be leaving?”
“Leaving here? Sure. But you’ll be going from one cage to another. Possibly in a more literal sense.”
I’m not quite sure what she means, and I’m too nervous to ask. My hands are shaking, and it’s taking almost all my energy to hold back tears.
“These men are selfish,” Amelia says. “Whoever ends up taking you home likely won’t care enough to warm you up or be gentle. God, or get you off. It’ll hurt, but try not to cry. Unless you end up with a sadist, that is.”
“A sadist?”
“Someone who’ll take pleasure in hurting you, dear.”
“Hurting me?” I exclaim. There’s no hiding the terror in my voice.
“Mmhmm. For your sake, I hope that won’t be the case, but these men are…” Amelia shakes her head, seeming to dismiss whatever she was about to say. “There’s no need to get worked up about it. Time will tell.”
Would some of these men do other things? My stomach turns at the thought, both with dread and excitement.
Years ago, my mind dreamed up an odd scenario that I’ve never known what to do with. The setting changed every time I thought about it—the woods, a house, a field—but it was always him. Always Erik chasing me, not to hunt me down and hurt me, but to catch me. To keep me.
I’ve always blamed it on never getting to play tag with Erik when we were younger, but maybe there’s something more to it. Something darker that’s not necessarily about playing a silly game.
Even though I know I shouldn’t ask—Father would be angry if he found out—I can’t help the question that bubbles up in me. “Would a sadist… chase me?”
“Not necessarily, but I suppose it’s not out of the question. Why, you want that?”
I look away. “No.”
“Mmhmm.” The way she smiles makes my heart skip a beat.
“I don’t want it to hurt,” I say.
“Not much I can do about that.”
My heart sinks.
Once she’s finished with my eyebrows, she moves to my breasts. There are a few hairs around my areolas, and she plucks them all, seemingly unbothered by the fact that she’s touching my breasts, or that my nipples are hard.
“For the rest, you’ll need to shave. Have you ever done that before?”
I shake my head.
“All right. Come with me.” After gathering up a few things, she leads me into my bathroom. “Most people normally do this in the shower, but I need to make sure you don’t cut yourself, so hop up onto the counter and put your arms up.”
I do, angling myself toward the sink. She wets a washcloth with warm water before dabbing it against my armpit and then applying a cream that feels silky-smooth against my skin.
“The key with shaving is to not rush it,” she tells me, dragging the razor down my armpit and then rinsing it in the sink. “If you get too confident and go too fast, you’ll end up cutting yourself.”
I watch her, staying perfectly still. As she goes, water drips down my side, but she wipes it up gently. Soon, my armpits are both completely hairless.
“Legs next,” she tells me.
Doing my calves is much messier than my underarms, with water and cream dripping onto the counter. When she does my thighs, I have to part my legs, and I find myself blushing at the exposure.
Amelia doesn’t seem to care. In fact, once she’s finished with my thighs, she places the wash cloth between my legs. I yelp, trying to squirm back but slipping on the counter.
“Stop,” Amelia says, and I’m surprised by the gentleness in her voice. “Just lean back and let me. I have to do this.”
Closing my eyes in shame, I do as she says. I can’t see her, but I feel her repeating the same process she did to my legs. She gets everywhere, even around my asshole.
“Am I not supposed to have hair there?” I ask, voice wobbling.
“You are, hon. It’s just that not everyone likes it.”
Once she’s finished, I breathe a sigh of relief. She turns on the shower for me, and I wash everything from my head to my toes, wondering if I can find a way to escape.
Father told me there are wild bears and wolves prowling around that would gobble me up in an instant, but now I wonder if it was a lie. A way to keep me mentally chained here so he wouldn’t have to have someone watching me every second of every day.
Either way, I think it’s best to wait until after the auction. If I’m being taken away, maybe it’ll be to an area that’s more populated. Father warned me about murderers, too—and thieves. He said the streets are full of people who’d take advantage of a girl like me without a second thought. Maybe I could disguise myself as a man. I read about a girl doing that in a book once.
“I’ll figure it out,” I whisper to myself as water runs down my body, washing the suds away.
I finish up in the shower and dry off slowly, as if I can delay my fate. Even if it’s only by a few minutes, I’ll take it.
What if I end up with a man who wants to hurt me, and I can’t find a way to escape? What will I do?
Amelia left a new lotion on the counter for me, and I rub it into my skin. It smells like Christmas spices, and it makes my heart ache when I realize I won’t be here on Christmas day. Watching everyone open presents, giggling over hot chocolate with my sister, cuddling up with her to watch a holiday movie…
Will I even be able to see Marissa again?
“Raina?” There’s a knock on the bathroom door. “Are you done?”
I step into the bedroom with my towel re-wrapped around me. “Do bears eat people?”
She gives me a surprised look, probably wondering why that’s what I want to know right now. “Sometimes, but not as often as people would have you think. Wild animals tend to be more scared of you than you are of them. Still a good idea to avoid them, though. Never know when one is rabid or something.”
Rabid. I haven’t heard that word since one of the maids found a sick raccoon out by the trash cans when I was younger.
“Come here,” she tells me. “We’re running out of time.”
I do as she says, slipping into the robe she holds out for me. While she blow dries and curls my hair, I sit silently. The only thing holding me together is the hope that I might be able to escape. Once I do, I’ll find a way to get in contact with Marissa. She said she’d help me. Maybe I can secretly live with her.
Maybe she can help me find Erik.
Once Amelia has finished my hair, she applies makeup to my face. I’ve never worn any, and my eyelashes feel heavy from the mascara. When I look in the mirror, though, I gasp. I look so much prettier than usual.
“I kept it natural,” she says. “Just enough to accentuate your features. Now it’s time for your dress, and then we’ll have to get you downstairs.”
She retrieves the garment bag, pulling out a rosy pink dress made from soft, shiny fabric. It looks incredibly short, like it’ll barely cover me.
“Is part of it missing?” I ask.
“No, hon. It’s meant to show off as much of you as possible without getting in the way of these men’s stupid egos. Put it on.”
I’m reluctant to step out from the modesty of my robe. There’s something about Amelia that makes me feel things I know I shouldn’t. To my relief, she must notice my hesitation because she turns around with an exasperated sigh, laying the dress on the bed. Quickly, I snatch it up and slip it over my head.
My fears were true. The dress hugs my body, hinting at my breasts and giving a tease of my upper thighs. It feels like I’m wearing nothing at all.
“I can’t,” I whisper.
“You don’t have a choice.”
My stomach sinks as Amelia begins packing up her things. All those men are going to see me like this. And what happens after? I think it’ll be much worse.
And I’m helpless to stop it.