Page 4 of Protected By Saint

A loud creaking noise fills the room as a door is pushed open, followed by the sound of heels that echo through the now silent room. There is some kind of tension as everyone waits for the “jewel” they were promised, and when she steps onto the stage next to the man, I damn near lose my breath.

From where I stand, she’s a vision. One that captivates the very air around her. Her long, wavy chestnut hair falls like silk curtains around her face, framing bright eyes that sparkle in the light, though I’m too far away to tell their color. She is nothing short of enchanting, and I imagine every single man in this room is bound by her spell.

She’s wearing a revealing black dress, one that clings to her figure with a neckline that dips to hint at her ample cleavage just enough to have these men panting for more. My cock stiffens painfully behind my zipper as I take her in, but I am not alone. The room is quiet for several moments as they all breathe her in before someone in the crowd breaks the silence.

“Thirty thousand dollars!”

“You are kidding, right?” The man on the stage chuckles, waving his hands over the girl, whose gaze has now dropped to the floor, robbing us of the view of her gorgeous face. “This girl is nothing like the others; she’s entirely untouched. She hasn’t even had her first kiss yet, and you want a night with her for chump change?”

“A virgin?” Someone gasps, and a murmur breaks through the crowd. “We’ve never had a virgin before!”

“Fifty thousand dollars!” yells another man, before someone else cuts in with, “Sixty thousand!” And then the battle begins as people shout out different sums, the number going up with each person, but I don’t pay attention to them.

My eyes stay on her.

The girl who flinches with every bid that is called out. She’s trembling, so visibly that it would be impossible for any of the men in the crowd to miss, but no one seems to bat an eye at her obvious distress.

“What the fuck is happening here?” Knox hisses, and I can feel rage vibrating through his system. “Are these fuckers actually bidding on a person?”

The situation is not lost on me. In this crowd, there are many powerful people. Some of them have been publicly vocal about the rampant crime in the city, rebuking my motorcycle club for some of it, and yet, here they are, bidding on a frightened girl.

A girl who clearly does not want to be here.

“Two hundred-fifty thousand dollars!” calls out a familiar voice.

Lieutenant Derrick Halpin. The man whose took money from us to look the other way during a weapons deal, only to sell us out to our rival MC for a cut of the profits. Millions of dollars were lost in the shipment, and the man walked away with both the bribe money and his cut of sale.

The same man who just offered a quarter of a million dollars for a single night with a girl trembling so hard, she’s seconds away from passing out.

“Three hundred thousand!”

“Three-fifty!”

“Four hundred!”

“Five hundred thousand dollars!”

The girl looks up in shock, her teary eyes staring into the crowd, but barely anyone notices her distress, and if they do, it’s clear they don’t give a fuck.

“This is sick!” Knox growls from beside me, and he’s about to step forward, but I slap a hand on his chest, stopping him. “What the fuck, Saint? Are you just going to watch these sick bastards bid on someone like she’s a toy?”

As though sensing the anger from the barely contained animal standing next to me, the girl looks in our direction at Knox before her eyes cross to me…and stay.

She’s terrified. I’ve seen that look on so many people before, but it’s never moved me. Most of them were from people whose lives were at my mercy. People who thought it wise to fuck with me and were paying for it.

I’ve seen it in the eyes of many whenever they spotted my tattoos or club patches.

Now, my tattoos are covered, and I don’t have the club patch on my suit. But there’s that same look. It’s fear and fading hope of making it through the night.

And then her gaze moves from mine and drop back to the floor.

“Call for backup,” I tell Knox, sliding my hands back into my pockets before leaning in so my voice doesn’t carry. Despite our experience with fighting or how skilled we both are with using our guns, there is no fucking way we can take all these men and their bodyguards. Not to mention the risk we’d be putting the girl in, and anyone else who doesn’t deserve to rot in hell. “Figure out a distraction so I can get the girl out of here. Just make sure that fucker Derrick Halpin doesn’t escape.”

The anger in my best friend dissipates, and in its place is feral kind of excitement. Knox and I have known each other for most our lives, and it’s always been this way—him unleashing chaos and me having to rein him in. Not tonight, though. For once, I plan to set my wild friend free. There won’t be a club left standing when he’s through.

Knox excuses himself to make the call, leaving me alone with the wolves bidding on my little lamb. It seems the sum is now at six hundred thousand, and the men grapple among themselves, all desperate for a chance to be with this jewel but unwilling to go any further. Some even try to negotiate pooling funds and sharing the girl for the night, their voice carrying and fueling the crowd’s excitement.

All still oblivious to…her.

---