Page 28 of Auctioned Surrender

I pull the sweater on over the luxurious push-up bra he’s purchased for me and glance in the mirror, running my hands over the cashmere. Never in my life have I owned something as nice as this. All the money usually goes to school loans, rent, and splurging a little bit for the kids. I slide into the jeans and turn to admire the perfect fit in the mirror.

I twirl one more time and suddenly stop on my toes, remembering my aunt’s rent. I count on my fingers, adding up the days in total. I think it’s been three weeks since I was taken, but I can’t be sure how long I was unconscious when they first grabbed me. Aunt Jenny is such a sweetheart, and I know she won’t be concerned about late rent, but I make a mental note to get even with her, although it will probably take a while. She has always been so generous, sending tons of money home to Momto take care of all of us, and I know she’s the only reason that Damian was sent for me too.

It’s his job. He was hired to find me, to take care of me, and bring me home. A job that he’s probably being paid an astronomical amount of money to do, and for all I know, the clothes I’m wearing are probably courtesy of Brian too. I face the mirror and put my hands on my hips. “Remember that, Bryanna Foster!”

Damian can have any woman he wants. Worldly women who know what men like, who have made something of themselves professionally, who are polished and well dressed and don’t come with all this baggage. Why would he want to get involved, even peripherally, with an inexperienced college student like me? I slip into the loafers at the bottom of the box, grab the toiletry case, and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth again and fix my face. No more feeling sappy, and absolutely no more crushing on the hunky bodyguard!

I head down the hall and find him scowling as he types onto his cell before glancing up at me as I approach. He barely acknowledges me as his phone beeps, and he begins furiously typing again. I watch him, and when he stops, he looks up again. “Take a seat; we need to talk, Bryanna.”

That commanding tone sends a shot right through my core, but the look on his face is serious and anything but warm and friendly. The fierce, demanding Damian is even hotter than the D/s videos I’ve watched. Sexy and demanding. Holy hell. I control my desire to just sink to the floor like the submissives do in the videos I watch.

He clears his throat.

I nod; if I even open my mouth, some foolhardy thing like sir is going to pop right the hell out, and I don’t want to embarrass myself even further. I take a seat on the couch, and he slides intothe recliner across from me, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, all the while still glancing at his phone.

“I thought we could wait until after we talked to your mom, but it looks like we’re going to need to do this now. I’m going to ask you very personal questions, and you might want to forget it ever happened, but one or more of your memories may be critical in finding out who orchestrated the effort to abduct you, so don’t leave anything out.”

I’ll tell him whatever he wants to know as long he protects my family. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m tougher than I look. You ask the questions, and I’ll answer. I don’t have anything to hide, and you have a job to do. The sooner we get this all done and over with, the sooner we can both return to our lives.”

His eyebrows raise, and the stern look he gives me sends a jolt through my center. “I’ll give the direction, you follow my lead, and we’ll talk about the rest in time.”

“Okay.” I don’t know what’s so important all of a sudden, but it’s clearly top of mind to him.

“You moved into your Aunt Jenny’s house after she moved in with Brian. You had a boyfriend at that time. We ran a check on him, and he transferred to Southern California before the beginning of the semester. What happened?”

It’s my turn to narrow my eyes at him. He’s seriously going to ask me about my previous relationships too? “I don’t really think that my ex-?boyfriend and our relationship has anything to do with this,” I hedge.

“You let me be the judge of that. I need to know the facts and every detail you can remember about the breakup, and anything else that happened during that time will help. It wasn’t long after you went separate ways that you were taken. In my book, that makes him a prime suspect, and I’m sure the police would feel the same.”

“Whoa! No, you’ve got it all wrong, Damian. Chad is not and would never be a part of something so vile. He cared about me.”

“Tell me what happened,” Damian instructs, not budging an inch, his eyes laser focused, almost challenging me not to respond.

“Fine!” I huff.

“If you don’t want your ass flipped over my knee, you’ll watch your attitude, Doll. For now, I want the truth, and for the record, the word fine should be removed from your vocabulary going forward.”

“Fi—”

He narrows his eyes at me and doesn’t need to say another word.

“Okay, I’ll tell you. We had been dating for a few months before Aunt Jenny decided to rent out her old home. She went through a rough time in that house and wanted to get away from the memories. It was close to college, and she told me I could live there rent-free. Chad and I were both looking at different living options at the time, and as you can imagine, rent is exceptionally high around that area. It just seemed logical to move in together and each put a bit toward rent. She didn’t really want the money, but it made both of us feel better to at least contribute, and it was way cheaper than each of us going it alone or paying for on-?campus residency.”

“So it was for convenience and not the relationship,” Damian asks, his eyes intently focused on me.

“You should be working for the FBI as an interrogator. You’re making me nervous, questioning me like that.”

“Answer the question, Bryanna, and be mindful of your response.”

Holy hell, he’s bossy! I lick the dryness from my lips, and his eyes track my movement.

“I need to know details in order to put everything together, and we don’t have the luxury of time.”

Clearly I’m going to have to tell him everything if he’s going to clear my ex-boyfriend from his list of suspects. I shrug. “Okay, you want the long and sordid details?”

His raised eyebrows tell me he didn’t like that answer any better than the word fine, so I try not to push my luck any further than I have. “We were actually friends for quite awhile before we started to date.” I don’t even know how to explain this. The recollection alone is enough to bring back all the embarrassment of the night. I’m lost in my thoughts when I hear his voice.

“Bryanna, keep going. I need to know everything, Doll.”

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