Twisted Perception (Flawed #2) (6 page)

Carol spotted me and walked over smiling brightly.

“How are you my dear?” she asked very proper.

I smiled back at her. “Good, thank you,” was all I said in reply while scanning the ladies filling the house.

“Which one is yours?” she questioned, looking at the large pictures blown up on the stage showcasing each man. My Thrall was shirtless, wearing only white pants and his blond hair was styled giving him more appeal. Sarena’s man looked angry, which he probably was, but the sour look in the photo would put people off. His hair was dark and he was tanned with a medium build and intense eyes.

“Sandy,” I said, referring to his hair.

“He looks like a good catch,” she complimented. “Come, I’ve brought new ladies.” She indicated for me to follow. She walked to where a group of ladies stood and read the details about the men. They gave a polite smile when they saw me, assessing my clothes. I wasn’t dressed like them. They wore gowns and suits. I’m the opposite wearing shorts or leather pants.

“The bidding’s about to begin,” an announcer said into the microphone as both men were brought onto the stage. Nothing was shackling them down. We needed to prove they were tamed and ready for delivery.

“I’m so excited,” a lady around Carol’s age said—mid-forties perhaps.

“Your first Thrall?” I asked her. She turned to look at me and nodded, excitement pooling in her eyes.

“Starting bid begins at five hundred thousand,” the auctioneer said. My Thrall stepped forward. The ladies started immediately, the bid rose higher and higher and the new lady bid the most. My mouth dropped when she offered her final amount. I get half of the total amount. Now I was aware why they could part with half, since they were actually making millions of dollars. I congratulated her and walked up on stage. The Thrall looked at me, shocked by the amount and what was to come.

“You will meet her now,” I said when I reached him, then indicated for him to follow me. I went to the back room, the one Sarena had explained was used for a trial run to ensure the clients were happy with their purchase.

“Master, may I ask a question?” he asked, shaking slightly.

“Yes.” I closed the door behind me. He looked around, investigating the room. There wasn’t much, just a bed and a single chair. “Will they hurt me?” he asked, finally looking back at me.

“Depends on your behavior, but they shouldn’t if you behave. I will be back to check on you.” I stepped closer, so I was in his face. “But remember, whatever they do to you, if you’re bad, it will be worse from me.” There was a knock on the door, and I answered it to see the lady who’d won him. She walked in and looked him up and down, excited that she would be getting fucked tonight.

“He’s all yours. You know the rule?” I asked her. The rule was simple. No harming unless necessary. That was my job. She nodded excitedly and I left. What she didn’t know, none of the women did, was that we recorded each purchase. It was basically leverage for us. If they told, or threatened, we had a backup.

Sarena’s sale was happening when I re-entered the auction room. He went for half the price my man did, but the lady who won wanted him very much. She clapped enthusiastically and kept her eyes on him. Sarena walked on stage and he looked around frantically, then he ran toward her and knocked her on her high heeled ass. He bolted from the stage, bypassed all the ladies in the front, and knocked them over as he went. Dominic pursued him, but he wasn’t fast enough. The man was on a mission and that mission was to get out of there.

I was right near the door when he reached it. Earlier, I’d placed my bow at the front door when I entered. I side stepped and opened the door for him. He didn’t think twice as he ran. Dominic started yelling at me, as did the guards. They weren’t as close as I was. I picked up an arrow and all the noise dispersed as I blocked out everything around me. With my eyes narrowed on him, nothing else mattered. I aimed, shot off an arrow, and hit him directly where I intended, the arrow shooting straight through his thigh to the other side. He dropped to the ground screaming. The guards and Dominic ran past me and they didn’t stop until they reached him. I placed my bow back where it was and smiled as Dominic and the guards came back with a screaming Thrall. Dominic looked at me and shook his head with a smile.

“Nice shot,” Zeke said next to me. I shrugged my shoulders and he looked back outside.

“You need to get laid or something?” I asked him, referring to his gloomy attitude.

“You need to find a filter or something?” he quipped back.

“Touché, boss,” I said and walked back inside. He stood there and watched as the man screamed in agony and I was pretty sure he enjoyed it.

“Why didn’t you stop him at the door?” Sarena demanded and stopped me from walking any further.

“Why did he run in the first place, Sarena?” I shot back. She looked back to where her Thrall was being held. “I apparently haven’t trained him hard enough.” She smiled again. Just then Dominic came over, the look on his face told me everything. His face was blood red, he was wide-eyed and glaring, and his hands were firmly clenched at his sides. He narrowed his glare on Sarena.

“You didn’t do your job successfully. He was already sold, Sarena.” He kept his voice calm, but you could tell he was beyond angry at what had transpired.

“I’ll fix this,” she pleaded with him. He shook his head, his eyebrows pulled down until they were almost together.

“NO! Aria will finish him and get him ready for your client,” he said. Sarena’s face paled, staring directly at me as she raised her hand over her heart in astonishment, then she looked back to Dominic.

“I know more than she does. I’m better than she is,” she cried out in frustration. I didn’t argue. Instead, I just stood and watched as her perfect smile disappeared for the night.

“You may know more, but Aria didn’t hesitate. Don’t argue, Sarena,” he said and stormed off to where her Thrall was now located. She looked back at me and I tried to keep my face straight. It was hard, my first Thrall was a success and I knew that my next would be just as good.

“You happy?” she asked, trying to hide her emotions.

“Yes.” I beamed. She huffed, turned and walked away.

Chapter 10

“You will bleed more,” I told him and he laughed dryly at me.

“You made me bleed, bitch.” He spat onto the floor directly in front of my feet. What was it with men and saliva? It was disgusting.

“That’s not how you address me,” I said to him. I walked over slowly with a corkscrew in my hand. He noticed the silver object in my hand and flinched.

“Let’s try this again. You will address me by my name, or…or well, you know what? Fuck it!” I grinned and walked to his naked body. He wasn’t as packed as my Thrall, but he had more style and stood out from the crowd. Sarena had had him for weeks and hadn’t fully broken him. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she was just fucking him the whole time.

He screamed loudly when I dug the end of the corkscrew into his upper thigh, and he tried hard to wiggle away from it. It did him no good, as it slid and ultimately cut him more. He attempted to sit perfectly still as the tip punctured his leg, but it was hard to do when you were in such pain.

My body was over him. I was sitting on his lower legs to keep him from kicking me while I made him bleed.

“I’m sorry, Master,” he cried. I’d been in his room with him all night. Since his attempted escape, he hadn’t rested, and neither had I. Both of his legs were bleeding, the arrow that I embedded in his leg still remained in place, luckily missing any major arteries.

“Can’t hear you,” I taunted, leaning closer to him. I’d been torturing him for hours. I had no idea what time it was, but I was sure the sun had risen.

“Master, please forgive me?” he cried this time, finally broken. I climbed off of him and smiled down.

“Next time that happens, or you think of running from your new master’s house, be prepared for me. I have great aim and would hate for an arrow to land somewhere else,” I said as I put pressure on his exposed cock.

“Yes, Master,” he cried. I bent down and kissed his tear soaked cheek, then pulled the arrow out as I stood up. He screamed again, but then looked at me and muffled his cries.

As I left, the cleanup crew arrived and entered after me. They stitched him up and sponge bathed him. He would still go to his new master’s house, but not until he was at least partially healed.

“Should I be worried?” Sarena asked, laying back on a sofa in the room. Cameras were rolling and she’d been watching what I was doing.

“About what?” I asked while cleaning my hands at the sink.

“Are you going to put me out of work?” I turned around and saw the concerned look on her face.

“That’s certainly not the plan, Sarena,” I told her, watching as she picked at her nails in nervousness.

“Will you have lunch with me? I’d like to talk, possibly be friends,” she said half smiling. I desperately wanted to say no. I was tired and I wanted to sleep for the full day straight. But I didn’t, she’d shown me what to do, taught me, the least I could do was listen to her.

“Yes.”

We arrived at a local café. It was quiet, with only one person there and they were behind the counter reading a magazine. We waited for our meals to arrive and made small talk before she started talking deeper.

“I was a Thrall,” she said while she picked at her salad. She had a blank look in her eyes. “Not exactly the same, but my ex, who used to beat me daily, sold me to his drug dealer,” she explained.

“He used to beat me so badly, I had one eye swollen shut, most of the time it was two. But he tried not to, as he wanted me to watch when he raped and tortured me. Then, after beating me for a year, he got into trouble. Drugs. I knew he was a heavy user, but never questioned where he got the money from to pay for such things, even though he didn’t work. But one day, three men came barging in. He owed them thousands of dollars. He didn’t have the money, so I was his payment.”

“Is he dead?” I asked her and her eyes lit up a little.

“They all are,” she said. “Dominic helped with that. So did Zeke. Zeke was in all kinds of business and they saw me one night. Saw me broken and on the floor wearing nothing. They shot the men that held me, then took me and cleaned me up, trained me how to fight and built me back up. Then Zeke found the address of Robert, my ex, and I kidnaped him, torturing him for weeks. Then when I was finished, I shot him between the eyes.” She smiles. “Best day of my life. He didn’t recognize me when he first saw me. I was different, my hair was done, I was dressed nicely. He didn’t realize it was me till I spoke, then he tried to belittle me. What a fool.” She waved her hand in front of her face.

“How long did they have you”?

“Two years,” she said and pushed the food around on her plate. “I don’t want this job Aria, I need it,” she emphasized.

“Then keep it.”

“You don’t understand. They picked you, they want you. I hear them talking. You’re the best they’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure you’re getting paid more than me.”

“Does that matter, Sarena? As long as you can do your job, does that really matter?”

“I hope not!”

“I don’t like women, most of the time I don’t even like men. I like you, I do. So just do your job. Stop over-thinking, just do it.”

“It’s funny. You’re giving me advice and I’ve been here longer.”

“Yeah, but I’m better.” I winked at her and she laughed.

When I returned home, Jagger was there, which was unexpected. He should have been at work. He usually worked during the day.

“I had a mess to clean up today,” he said, sitting lazily in the seat as I stood in the entryway.

“You’re telling me this, why?” I asked him. He knew I didn’t care for his work. It bored me.

“It had to do with you…from what I hear.”

“Me?” I walked in and sat opposite him.

“Yes, something to do with your bow,” he said and shook his head. “You know not to use that in public. What were you even doing at one of those parties?”

“How do you know about the parties?”

“Who do you think wrote up your contract, Aria? I know what you do.”

“Why haven’t you said anything?”

“Because you’d have told me when you were ready. Please leave it home from now on,” he said. I had actually shot him before, by accident, of course.

“You know it goes where I go.”

“Not to an event, Aria. You’re too trigger happy.”

“Am not,” I argued. He was right, though, I did pull it out anytime I could.

“You’re going to Los Angeles soon. I want to come with you,” he said, surprising me with the news.

“How did you know I was going? I don’t even know if I’m going.”

“Zeke had the receptionist get your travel plans ready. You leave in a few months.”

“What for?” Maybe I shouldn’t have asked him that. I wasn’t sure exactly what he knew.

“I don’t know. You’re all going. Now go to bed, you look like shit.”

“Fuck you,” I swore at him and flipped him off as I stood. He chuckled and I threw the remote at him before running to my room. Cleaning myself up, I got changed then called Dominic before I passed out. I needed more information more about the trip.

“Why am I going to Los Angeles?” I questioned him.

“Hello to you too, Aria. Zeke has clients out that way. You’re to do the same work and get them their Thralls.”

“Couldn’t he have someone else do that? Possibly Sarena?”

“She’s going, but you are too. Don’t argue, you’ll have your own house. And it’s only for a few months.” I hung up on him, being too tired to argue the fact that I didn’t want to go.