Page 11 of The Auction
Herb was about to shake me off when the stranger started toward the door. “That’s right. We should speak. Privately.”
He opened the front door to step out onto the porch. I moved to follow him when Herb grabbed me around my upper arm.
“Don’t you ruin this, girl,” he hissed into my ear.
There was no point in trying to pull away from him. Even with the cancer, he was still stronger than I was. It wasn’t lost on me, though, that the stranger’s eyes were pinned to Herb’s grip through the open doorway.
After a moment, Herb dropped his hold and I followed the man out onto the porch, shutting the front door behind me.
By some mutual consent, we moved as far away as the porch would allow us and leaned on the railing.
“You think it’s a sign from God that you might have an opportunity to buy a woman?” I asked him.
He chuckled. “No. I think it’s a goddamn piece of good luck. And that’s something I don’t ever have a lot of.”
“Why did you leave the Navy?”
He turned to face me. “They kicked me out for killing too many people.”
I snorted. “You ever spent a day in church in your life?”
“No, ma’am,” he smiled. “Always afraid lightening would strike.”
“You make this deal with my father and I will make your life a living hell,” I told him.
“Living hell? Hmmm,” he mused. “Been there. Done that. Doesn’t scare me too much.”
“You’re stealing my legacy,” I snapped. A sense ofpowerlessness flooding me. This was going to happen and I couldn’t stop it.
“Your father is doing that, darling. Not me. Dying man wants to make sure his farm and his daughter are in good hands. I can be that man.”
“A good man wouldn’t do what you’re doing.”
That had him laughing, but there was no humor in the sound. “No, ma’am. He would not.”
“Are you going to rape me?” I asked him, then swallowed.
That was the elephant in my particular room.
I could participate in this sham of a marriage. Bury my father. Figure out how to get out of this sham marriage and reclaim my legacy, but more importantly, my freedom.
I could do all of that, but I needed to know what that was going to cost me.
I wasn’t worried about pregnancy. I’d had an IUD put in at the women’s free clinic in Jefferson the day after I turned eighteen.
But, if he was going to sexually assault me? For months? Because he was stronger than me and he could? I needed to know that now. I needed to mentally prepare myself for how much of my soul it was going to cost me.
He looked at me then and something inside him deflated. His shoulders slumped a bit and it looked like he’d just taken on the weight of the world.
“No,” he said, quietly. “No, I’m not going to rape you. But you need to wrap your head around the idea that, eventually, we will have sex. I’m not lying about my intentions. Knew when I left active duty, I couldn’t handle coming home to crowds of people. Was thinking about a horse ranch, but a farm works for me, too. Good wife. Solid partner. We’ll raise some kids and call it a life.”
“You call that a life? What about love and happiness?”
“Doesn’t exist. Fucking, orgasms, and babies do.”
“That’s never going to happen,” I told him. “If you’re not going to force me, you can sure as hell bet I’m not willingly going to have sex with you.”
His eyes narrowed. “You a virgin?”
