Page 15 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Bodyguard

“Bullshit.” Dad’s expression was unreadable as usual, but his tone was not. “You’re in love with the Salazar girl, and she doesn’t want to settle down. Ever.”

He wasn’t wrong. I sighed and put down my fork. “I mean… yeah. That’s it in a nutshell.” There was no reason to deny it. Both of my parents had known for years that I had a thing for Carmen. Dad was close enough friends with Carlos that the two of them talked about it. I knew they’d both love a match between our families.

But it didn’t seem likely to happen.

Carmen was like no other woman I’d ever met. She knew what she wanted and went after it. Then she got it. Every. Single. Time. What did shenotwant? A husband. Kids. A house with a white picket fence and a couple of dogs running around.

When she’d seen the success of Nico’s nightclub Bailar, she’d started researching the club scene. Then she’d gone to him with the proposition for Salazar Nights. They’d become business partners, made her plan a reality, and had turned that club into the premier society hotspot to host events and parties in West Bay. Together, she and Nico had planned out the group of clubs that comprised their exclusive gentleman’s club. Now, club membership meant you had access to Saffron, a spa and gym; Sugar, a very upscale strip club with VIP rooms; Cayenne, West Bay’s infamous and popular sex club; and Cinnamon, a traditional gentleman’s club where men, and women, met to talk, discuss business deals, and unwind. Well, Cinnamon was traditional downstairs. Upstairs was an auction room where women, called Cinnamon Girls, were auctioned off to the highest bidder in a ‘sugar baby’ style auction. It had become insanely popular with the very wealthiest men in West Bay. It was held once a month.

It was almost a status symbol now for an uber wealthy West Bay man to have a Cinnamon Girl as either a girlfriend or a mistress. The girls? Like all of the women who worked in Salazar establishments, they were gorgeous, handpicked by Carmen, and stood to profit a great deal by signing an auction contract. It was a mutually beneficial situation. The men got a gorgeous woman to fuck and have on their arm at events for a certain number of months, and the women got money, houses, cars, jewelry, and their student loans paid off.

It was how Reynolds had met and married Nadine. Another hostess from Sugar named Daisy had met tech and gamingbillionaire Jack through the auction. They, too, had gotten married. Paolo had lusted after Jelly, who’d also been a hostess at Sugar, for months before winning her in the auction. They would be getting married soon, too. Carmen was starting to complain that she didn’t start the auction as a marriage market. She didn’t want the women to see it as a chance to marry a rich guy.

But the bottom line was that I was in love with a woman who would rather run a sex club than get married and have kids. And I was a traditional kind of guy in many ways. I didn’t want to sleep around, and I’d been ready to settle down and get married for years now. My parents knew. I was pretty sure almost everyone I was friends with knew.

My mom gave me a sympathetic look. “Baby, maybe it’s time to put away your feelings for Carmen as best you can and move on.”

“You make that sound easy.” We were sitting around a huge dining table in an exquisite, and huge, room. There were just the three of us, and it felt ridiculous. It also felt like I was in a British period drama. I knew my mom was a huge fan of theBridgertonbook and television series, but I was starting to wonder if she was taking her feelings a bit far.

“It’s necessary, son. It’s not like you’re going to get Carmen Salazar to move to Virginia, anyway. And I need you here.”

I sighed. This was a bone of contention. I was happy in West Bay. My best friends were there. I’d grown up spending as much or more time at the Salazar’s home during school breaks than my own. It just felt like… home. I was putting off talking to my dad about moving. I was his only child, and he logically assumed I’d take over as director of the security firm soon.

“I’m still watching Reynolds and overseeing the agents at the Salazar properties.” Those were big accounts. The Salazar account itself was huge. And Reynolds was a billionaire mayor ofone of the biggest cities in Georgia. But even if you considered the two accounts together, they weren’t big enough to justify me staying in West Bay.

Dad and Mom knew it and so did I.

“Look, can we just talk about normal things at dinner for once?”

My dad looked like he wanted to say more, but Mom gave him a look.

“Of course. I saw Stephanie the other day. She’s divorced now, you know? You could ask her out while you’re home.”

Jesus. It was going to be a long weekend.

CHAPTER FOUR

Before the Rescue

Jess

Something was going down.

The activity around the clubhouse had changed, and I wasn’t sure what was happening. There are usually drug and alcohol fueled parties going on into the wee hours of the morning at the MC clubhouse. I didn’t want to attend, but I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I worked every night in the strip club on the compound. Skeeter often came towards the end of the night to watch me for a while and then walk me directly to his room.

If he didn’t come, then he sent someone to do it for him. Someone he trusted not to try anything with me. That’s when I knew he was either on a ride doing some sort of club business, or he’d chosen to attend the party and fuck some sweetbutts. He didn’t care if I saw, either.

It was such a weird dynamic. I didn’t love, or even like, Skeeter. But I still didn’t like watching him fuck other women and then come to the bed I shared with him. It was gross. And he always tried to lock eyes with me when I walked through the door, and he was partying with a couple of women. I hated it.

Sometimes he’d still expect sex, and I’d make him take a shower. Other times it was a night off for me. At least a night offfrom Skeeter. I had to suck off guys each night. It was part of my job. As I did it, I just kept thinking that Mom was being taken care of. That’s what kept me sane. At least I didn’t have to fuck anyone. Most of the girls who worked the VIP room with me did. A couple of the MC guys who ran the strip club would make sure they’d taken some shots and some meth at the start of the night, so they’d get really horny and be into it.

They got to keep some of the money, though. I didn’t. Skeeter wanted me dependent on him.

Still, the night before had been different at the clubhouse. Skeeter sent someone else to walk me back, some prospect who didn’t even tell me his name. When we got inside, the guys were in the middle of an intense conversation. There were no sweetbutts around, no partying, no drugs, no music—nothing. Some guys had beer or whiskey in their hands, but that was it.

I took my shower and made sure I stayed awake for when Skeeter came in.

“So, what’s going on?” I asked him.