Bought (The Owned Series Book 1) Read online

  “Well, if there’s anything you’d like to know, you’re more than welcome to ask.”

  “Okay, great! You keep saying over and over that you’re not this bad guy I think you are. What does that mean? I mean, you bought me at an auction. I’d never even heard of such a thing. How does someone other than a bad person even know about such a thing?”

  “The auctions are run by a group called Black Death. You express interest via the dark web and then they send you a text message with a secure link when there’s an auction to be announced.”

  I looked at him, my eyes wide, surprised that not only had he answered my question directly, he did so in great detail.

  “And you said this was your first auction?”

  “No, I said you were the first girl I ever purchased at an auction.”

  “Okay, this doesn’t make any sense. If you’re not a bad guy, why are you searching these auctions in the first place.”

  “Listen, I have to be very careful about how much information I share, but I’m just going to come right out and be honest with you. I work as a contractor for a major government agency. My job is to seek out these auctions so we can attempt to bring those behind them to justice.”

  “Wait a minute, so you’re a cop?”

  “No, I’m not a cop. I don’t work in law enforcement in any way, shape, or form. I’m former military who wanted to feel like I was making a difference in some way, so I contract with the government.”

  I couldn’t tell whether or not he was feeding me a load of crap. My bullshit detector should have been going off, but he seemed genuine. Still, there were way too many unanswered questions.

  “Okay, so you basically look for these auctions on the internet. Then what?”

  “Then I collect as much information as I can and pass it along to my contacts that are actually employed by the government.”

  “Are you telling me the truth?”

  “Yes, I am telling you the truth.”

  “So you’re really not a sex trafficker? You’re really not going to pimp me out? You’re not going to hurt me?”

  “Hannah, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry that we had to meet this way, but if it weren’t for me, you would probably be in the middle of something very, very bad right now.”

  “Why me, though? Why didn’t you buy the other girls as well?”

  “I couldn’t.”

  “What do you mean you couldn’t?”

  “I wasn’t even supposed to buy you, Hannah.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s against the rules. We are only supposed to collect information.”

  “So you just let the girls get sold?”

  “Pretty much, although the people I contract for assure me that all the girls are tracked and will be rescued once the people behind the auctions are taken down, but I’m not sure I believe that.”

  “Why me, then?”

  “There are a few reasons. One, you’re an American citizen. I know that sounds shitty, but since I served in the military, it was the whole you never leave anyone behind. Two, you were in the most danger out of any of the girls. Besides those things, I really wanted to get to know you.”

  I was beginning to get flustered.

  “So can you explain how this happened? Did you just go to the people you worked with and they gave you the money to buy me?”

  “No, like I said, that isn’t allowed. I used my own money to buy you.”

  “Really? How much did I cost?”

  “A little over $2 million.”

  I spit out the orange juice that I was in the middle of drinking.

  “You bought me for over $2 million of your own money? Where the hell did you get that kind of cash?”

  “I’ve been doing high-level jobs since I left the service. There was always money being thrown at me, most of which I saved.”

  “Will the people you work for eventually reimburse you?”

  “I don’t think you understand what I’ve been saying. The fact that I bid on, and won you at the auction is a big time strike against me. As far as anyone knows, the auction went off without a hitch and I’ll be filing my report with them tomorrow morning. If anyone were to find out about this, I would be arrested and would probably spend the rest of my life in prison.”

  “Is that why I can’t leave?”

  “That’s why you can’t leave. At least not yet. Once we find out who is behind the auction, we’ll find out if any of the girls are actually going to be rescued. Once that happens, we can figure out the next steps for you.”

  “So, eventually, you will let me go.”

  “Perhaps, but that all depends on how cooperative you are. Who knows, maybe you won’t want to leave when all is said and done.”

  I appreciated the things he was telling me, but there was still something off about the whole thing. Although I believed he was telling me the truth, I still had the feeling that there was a different side to him that he was trying to keep hidden. A side that even he didn’t want to see the light of day.

  13

  Reed

  Hannah and I talked through breakfast and for the remainder of the day. I told her as much as I could about my work with the FBI without actually mentioning which agency I contracted for.

  Even with all the talking, I still felt like I didn’t know much about her. Of course, that was likely because the majority of the conversation was spent with her asking me questions about the trafficking and the girls.

  I didn’t like to speak about myself too much, but I really needed to get her to trust me and if talking about myself accomplished that, then it was all worth it.

  Of course, there was still another side of me that she didn’t know a thing about. A side that I’d kept in the very back of my thoughts for years. A side of me that I almost allowed to destroy me.

  That night, when I was sleeping, that side of me came back to visit me in my dreams. The dream was so vivid and seemed so real, it almost felt like I was living it all over again.

  There’s a BDSM club that I hadn’t been to for quite some time. I used to frequent the club, but the fun had grown stale because it was filled with the same people every weekend.

  Hoping that things have changed since the owner had been getting the word out about the club, I decide to stop in and see what the Saturday crowd looked like.

  I’m not in the club more than five minutes when I look up and spot her looking at me from across the room. She’s beautiful with long, dark hair and striking blue eyes. It’s obvious she’s interested in the lifestyle, but not at all experienced, so she definitely seems a little out of place when compared to the other patrons.

  Not wanting to seem eager, I order a drink from the bar and speak with a couple that I frequently see at the club. Once I feel like she’s waited long enough, I make my way over to her.

  “Hello, I don’t believe I’ve seen you in here before,” I say, extending my hand to her.

  “No, it’s my first time. I just kind of want to see what this place is all about,” she replies, reaching out and shaking my hand. “My name’s Nikki.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Nikki. I’m Reed.”

  “Hi Reed, it’s nice to meet you too. Are you a dom?”

  “I’m a dom, I’m a sadist. I’m a lot of things. Are you looking for a dom or do you have one already?”

  “Well, I don’t have one, but I’m not really sure if I’m looking for one either. I’ve always been intrigued by this lifestyle and since I’ve always been a bit of a pain slut, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to check this place out and maybe experiment a little.”

  “Would you like to experiment with me?”

  “Maybe. Can we talk for a bit first?”

  “Of course, there’s no rush at all. I just know when I see something I want and I’m definitely looking at something I want right now.”

  She blushes and we make small talk for close to an hour. Not only is she beautiful, but she’s extremely intelligent,
which is a huge turn on for me. She’s an attorney who is breaking off from the firm she works with to start her own. She’s ambitious and sexy as hell. I take a liking to her quickly.

  “So, I wanted to talk to you to make sure you weren’t some skeezeball and I’m impressed. Is your offer for experimentation still good?”

  “Absolutely. Let’s go over some ground rules and I’ll take it from there. First off, any hard limits?”

  “Not really. Like I said, I’m a bit of a pain slut.”

  “I like the sound of that. What about your safe word?”

  “I don’t have one. This will literally be my first time doing anything like this.”

  “If you’re going to be with me, you have to have a safe word because I can get pretty intense. How about we go with red light since that means stop?”

  “That sounds good to me.”

  “Follow me.”

  I take one last swig of my beer and lead her across the public area and into the back of the club. She’s looking around as she hears the sounds of belts slapping across skin and combinations of pleasure and pain echoing off the walls behind the closed doors.

  We get to the last door on the right and I lead her into the room.

  “Take off your clothes and leave them in the corner,” I demand.

  Without saying a word, she slips off her dress, exposing her perfectly round, perky breasts. She slides her panties off, allowing me to see her smooth, shaved pussy, which is already glistening with excitement.

  “So, you want to experiment?” I ask. She replies with a nod of her head. “I’m going to throw you right into the fire. What you see in front of you is known as the St. Andrews Cross. Go ahead and step up to it now.”

  I have her face the cross and use the attached restraints to secure her wrists and ankles before walking over to the punishment devices that are hanging on the wall.

  Since she’s inexperienced, I decide to start with the flogger, rubbing it up and down her back and ass before pulling my wrist back and allowing it to slap against her skin. She lets out a small yelp as her skin begins to turn pink.

  Now that she’s nice and warmed up, I put the flogger back and grab the cane. I start light to make sure she can take it before I really begin working her over with it. As I hit her harder, she seems to be enjoying it more and more, so I decide to let my sadistic side out to play.

  Harder and harder, I swing the cane. Her skin is becoming covered with red and pink slashes. The welts are forming instantly and I can already picture how bruised she’s going to be by the time the night is over.

  With each hit, her moaning gets louder and louder. I’ve been with pain sluts before, but never one like this. I can tell the pain was pleasurable for her and that she is getting close to the point of no return. I’m about to let that happen.

  “All of your pleasure is to come from me,” I whisper into her ear. “Don’t you dare think about getting off until I’m inside of you.”

  I grab a condom, unzip my pants, and pull my cock out.

  “I want you to count down these last five strikes with me,” I demand as I unroll the condom over my cock.

  She does as I saY, starting with five and counting backwards each time I bring the cane in contact with her skin, each whack harder than the last. After the final strike, I throw the cane down, grab her by her hips, and slam into her.

  I fuck her hard and rough, her moans and screams sounding like music to my ears. Her pussy grips onto my dick as I move myself in and out of her.

  “I want you to come for me. Come for me right now,” I growl into her ear, pushing her right over the edge.

  Her entire body convulses as she orgasms for what seems like minutes. The feeling of her clamping down on me is more than I can take, causing me to unload as well. If I wasn’t wearing a condom, I was certain I’d be leaking out of her for weeks.

  She orgasms so hard that she passes out, her body sagging into her bonds. If not for being cuffed to the cross, she would fall to the floor.

  Now that I have given my sick, twisted, sadistic side a chance to come out and play, it’s time to bring out the nurturing side. I always provide plenty of aftercare to subs I play with, but I want to take extra good care of Nikki.

  I grab a blanket, release her from her restraints, and carry her to a couch up against the wall. I lay her head in my lap and stroke her hair while she sleeps.

  Several hours later, she’s still in my lap when she begins to wake up. At first, she seems alarmed, but quickly figures out where she is.

  “Hi,” she says with a smile. “That was amazing.”

  “Amazing isn’t the right word for it,” I reply, noticing that she is beaming. She is radiating beauty.

  I offer her some water, which she graciously accepts before sitting up and moving in for a kiss.

  I sat up in my bed, my body broken out in a cold sweat. It had been a long time since I’d dreamt about Nikki. I wiped my forehead before realizing that my cock was rock hard under the blankets.

  Looking forward to seeing Hannah, I knew I couldn’t let her see me like that. I got in the shower and decided to take care of business first, alternating between thoughts of Hannah and Nikki.

  14

  Hannah

  “All I want to do is protect you.”

  These were the words that Reed had been telling me over and over again. Coming from a man who bought me at an auction, those words were hard to swallow and impossible to accept.

  As reluctant as I was, I was starting to believe the things he was telling me. I’d been in the house for a week, and not once had he tried anything with me. He hadn’t tried to make any moves on me and he certainly hadn’t attempted to sell my services to anyone.

  What he did do, however, was talk to me on a daily basis. He asked me if there was anything I needed from the grocery store of if there were any DVD’s I wanted him to pick up for me to watch while he was gone. He wanted to know about my likes and dislikes. He complimented me every day. If we would have met under different circumstances, the two of us probably would have hit it off very well.

  The thing was, I knew very little about him. I wasn’t sure whether that was because he was interested in learning about me or if there were things about himself that he didn’t want me to find out about. I had a feeling it was a little of both.

  I tried not to give too much info about myself. I wanted to remain a mystery to him in the event that everything he’d been telling me was a line of bullshit, but that was hard to do. When you’re used to having nobody listen to you at all, it’s nice when someone wants to hear what you have to say.

  “Now this isn’t on the record or anything like that because I obviously can’t tell anyone you’re with me, but I’ve been wondering how you came to be sold at the auction,” Reed inquired. “I’m curious because you are obviously very different from the other girls being sold there.”

  “Honestly?”

  “Of course.”

  “Well, it’s a really fucked up story. My dad is a pretty well-known doctor and apparently he’s got a huge gambling addiction that he’s kept hidden. Come to find out, he owes a lot of money to someone and some thugs were sent to collect the money. The guys gave him two choices. They could either kill him or I could be taken instead and sold at the auction.”

  “And he chose to allow you to be sold?”

  “No, that decision wasn’t up to him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that when I heard those two choices, I immediately spoke up and volunteered to be auctioned off. I couldn’t let them kill my father.”

  “Wow, that’s very admirable of you.”

  “I feel like I owe it to him. It’s just been the two of us for most of my life and he’s always taken such good care of me. I couldn’t turn my back on him.”

  “Just the two of you? What happened to your mom?”

  “She died when I was five. She’d been drinking and fell down our staircase. Daddy found her lying
at the bottom of the stairs in the middle of the night.”

  “I’m so sorry. That must have been traumatic for you.”

  “I don’t actually remember much from that time in my life. I vaguely remember that night, but I think that’s mostly from my dad telling me about things. I don’t think the memories I have of that night are real.”

  “Maybe it’s a good thing that you don’t remember.”

  “I don’t know. I wish I could remember more about my mom, but the memories just aren’t there. What I wouldn’t give to trade good memories of her for the bad memories I have as I got older.”

  “Bad memories?”

  “Yeah, my life has basically been one giant shit show. I thought things were finally turning around for me before all this happened. I just graduated college and was all set to start a new job in a few weeks. Instead, I was sold at an auction and I’m stuck in a house I’m not allowed to leave. This might be the icing on the cake.”

  The look in Reed’s eyes told the story so words didn’t have to. My comment cut through him like a knife and he was obviously pained by what I said. I believed that he wasn’t just holding me captive because he wanted to. He really didn’t have a choice.

  “Again, I’m really sorry. I don’t plan on having you here forever. I just want to make sure you’re safe until the men who run the auction are brought to justice.”

  Again, the look in his eyes said it all. He was being genuine in what he was telling me.

  “You know, this is going to sound crazy, and I hope this isn’t some Stockholm Syndrome thing, but you’re the first man I’ve felt safe around in a long time.”

  “You can feel safe with me. You should feel safe with me. I am not going to let anything happen to you.”

  “I hope that’s true. Other than my father, every man who’s ever entered my life has hurt me.”

  “Every man? That has to be an exaggeration, right?”

  “No, other than my dad, every single man who has entered my life has hurt me pretty badly.”