Parson Upton
Year 2023, Month July
North Dakota
~~

I was yanked awake and I began to panic from the jolt of anxiety that shot through me when I was thrown over a shoulder. I then rolled my eyes when I noticed that my hands and ankles had been tied again, and there was another bag on my head. At least this time, the binding’s were tied in front of me instead of behind me. I didn’t have a gag on my mouth, so I thanked God for that. I lunged my knees forward until I hit a body part and the person grunted, tightening their grip around me.

“Dammit,” I knew by the voice that it was Niall and I felt a little at ease.

“Where are we?” I asked him quietly and he stiffened his shoulders, shaking his head, making me know that he wasn’t going to tell me, “Fine.”

“I have been so nice to you these past few days, but I’m done. I’m not fucking up. Nelson is already dead, and I am probably going to be next in line. No more mister fucking nice guy,” he grumbled out all of his words and I tensed.

“Nelson is dead?” so does that mean we’re already at Jared’s? My body hit the floor and it shot a huge pain up my spine, making me have to sit there for a few seconds to regain the feeling in my back.

“Niall, that is no way to treat a new edition,” I heard a man’s voice that I had never heard before and a large, callused hand filled my hand and pulled me to my feet. “Goodness gracious,” the bag on my head was pulled off and I came face to face with a large man. The first thing that I noticed was his French accent; it honestly caught me off guard because I wouldn’t know why in the world a French man would be in America. Another thing I noticed was that his hair was black and white and pressed firmly back atop of his head, and he was wearing a white suit. He was very tan, and his jaw was freshly shaven. Was this Jared? “You look terrible, my dear. Niall,” his voice turned from angelic when he was talking to me to demonic when he started talking to Niall, “lead this beautiful woman to her room after I am finished with her.”

“Yes, sir,” Niall said before placing his hands behind his back and nodding his head. The man in front of me looked back at me and put his hand on my shoulder. I wanted to pull away from him, but I was afraid it was Jared and I didn’t want to make the wrong move.

“What is your name, dear?” the man asked me and I looked at Niall, and he nodded his head dramatically, making me look back at the man in front of me. “My name is Jared.”

“Oh… um… Parson,” I told him, terror filling me immediately.

“Well, Miss Parson, you’re going to be cleaned up when you get to your room, and you are to be brought down to the kitchen to have dinner with me. Then we will send you off to the auction,” Jared told me and I swallowed hard, not wanting him to see my obvious fear of him.

“But, Jared, I thought that you didn’t want her near you―”

“Did I ask you to speak, Niall?!” Jared screamed and my eyes went wide at his sudden mood change, and he made Niall stand up straight and look to the ceiling. “Pardon me for speaking outwards, but sometimes,” Jared cleared his throat and pressed his hair back, “I need to let out a few feelings… it’s nothing personal dear.” I cleared my throat and nodded my head. “Niall, take her to her room now,” Jared demanded to the blonde man across the room and Jared grabbed my tied hands, startling me. “I expect to see you in an hour,” he said before walking off in another direction.

I took a moment to look around the house―let me rephrase; I took a moment to look around the gigantic mansion I was standing in. Niall grabbed my binds and took them off of my feet and my hands. Then he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me, but I looked at him.

“How big is this house?” I asked him and he cleared his throat.

“Five stories,” he said and my mouth dropped, “Don’t be oh-so-surprised because wait until you see the other slave owners’ houses. They’re fucking huge. Especially Harry’s; his is eight stories tall with one hundred and fifty rooms, and half of them aren’t even used.”

“How many rooms does this one have?” I asked and he started to pull me down a large hallway, and up a staircase.

“Well, this house has forty rooms because the rooms are huge. The rooms take up a lot of room, so in a five story house, there are only forty rooms in it,” he explained and I looked forward.

“Do I get a real room or a dungeon room?” I asked and he chuckled, shaking his head.

“Jared wants you to be comfortable, so he gives all of his special editions a real room,” he told me and I arched a brow.

“Special editions?” I questioned and he sighed as if he was annoyed by my questions. Well, fucking tough. I’m going to ask all of the questions I can get answers to.

“His women that he doesn’t consider as slaves. He has twelve special editions, including you, and they all live on the third floor. No one is allowed to touch them unless granted permission,” he said before moving his hand from my arm to the small of my back, “Special editions get treated like they’re fucking special, and they get everything they want. That is up until it’s their turn to be sold at an auction. I told you, only one girl gets sold at an auction, and there’s an auction held every month. Special editions and slaves are both put up to be sold in an auction, but only one is sold. You will know when it’s your turn to be sold because Jared will get you cleaned up almost four times a day and you will be locked in a room where you can’t be touched at all so that you’ll be perfect for the viewers at the auction. I thought that you and Jared weren’t going to get that serious tonight, so maybe you’ll be put up for auction sooner than I thought,” he ranted and stopped talking when we stepped in front of large double doors.

“So… this is my stop?” I asked and he nodded his head.

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said before opening the door and shoving me inside, leaving me alone. Leaving me finally alone.

I pressed my ear up against the door and when I didn’t hear footsteps, I pushed open the door, took a deep breath, and made a run for it. My eyes were set right to the staircase in front of me and I began to laugh hysterically… I was really going for it. Fuck. I screamed when I was tackled to the ground and looked up to see Niall hovering over me, glaring at me angrily.

“What the fuck? I leave to get you some helpers and you’re making a run for it?” he grated as I breathed heavily. “I don’t trust you anymore.”

“I’m going to run every chance I get,” I barked and he nodded his head knowingly before pulling me from the ground and walking me back into my bedroom. “You don’t have to watch me like some guard dog, I can take care of myself.”

Niall cackled loudly. “Are you serious right now? You just tried to escape and you think you don’t need someone to watch you?” he threw me onto my bed and laughed again. “As if, I will never stop watching you until I am told to stop by higher authorities.” Then he slammed my door shut and I heard him lock about seven locks on the door and I buried my face in the pillow on the full king sized bed and dreamed of sleep, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to because I have to get ready for dinner.

Real food.

I sat up straight when someone opened the door and I saw that it was three brunettes carrying supplies as if to clean my bathroom.

“Um… hello?” I said, standing up.

One of them walked up to me and smiled, taking me by the hand. “My name is Elizabeth and I will be helping you get ready for dinner. Only one of us is allowed to talk to you so if you need anything, talk to me. Paula will be helping you with your body, and Janine will be helping you with you hair and and makeup. I’ll be picking out your clothes,” she explained and I nodded my head.

As the women in my bedroom moved around it like mice, I noticed slashes on their legs and on their backs, making my fear come again for the thousandth time in the past few days; hell, the past thirty minutes. Jared made them wear very provocative clothing, and you could see every one of their curves. They were wearing lace black dresses that you could see through, and black undergarments. Since they are slaves, I wondered if he made them wear that while working, because that would be very uncomfortable.

After I was dirt free, waxed, and dolled up, Niall walked into my bedroom just as soon as Elizabeth helped me zip up my dress. It had been forever since I put a dress on, and this one was barely even a dress. It was golden, and the bottom of it pooled to my ankles. It was so thin that it felt like I wasn’t wearing anything at all. I also felt a little uncomfortable because Niall demanded that I take my underwear off because he wanted me to look good for Jared and because they made a line in my dress―it looked terrible, he told me.

“Do I look better now?” I asked, turning to him after Janine finished with my hair. She had put it in a fancy updo and Paula put dark makeup on me, making me look even more pale than I already was.

Niall looked at me, his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed. He walked over to the dresser against the wall and opened a drawer, pulling out a diamond necklace. My mouth dropped at the sight of it and he laid it across my chest, clipping it in the back.

He grabbed my hand and led me out of my room. “Jared wants his special jewels to be wearing the most expensive jewels. He says it only brings out the light in their eyes.”

“That’s an understatement…” I muttered. If a man back home brought a woman these kinds of jewels, she would be bringing out more than just her eyes.

Niall led me through a series of hallways and when we finally reached the main hallway, he gave me a look that I couldn’t read and opened the double doors in front of me. I swallowed hard when I saw two large tables in the middle of the dining room in front of me. One of the tables held eleven girls, all of them dressed in different dresses and all of them eating a certain portion size of food. Were those the other special editions? The other table was rectangular and there were about sixteen chairs but only one of them was being used.

Jared sat at the end of the rectangle table and there was a placemat in the chair across from him; candles lit and two silver domes holding delicious food. There were two wine glasses in front of each dome, one for white wine and the other for red wine. Being in Jared’s house and looking at all of the clothes and jewelry he has set up for all of his special edition’s makes my bones rattle―it reminds me how poor my family really was.

“Ah, Parson,” Jared stood up and the seven guards behind him stood up straight, “So nice for you to finally join me.”

I hesitated to walk towards him and Niall whispered to me, “Your choices determine your fate. Keep close watch to what you say and do.”

Then I walked over to the chair that Jared pulled out for me and he gestured for me to sit down, making me do so. I gently placed my hands in my lap and he leaned over and kissed my cheek, making my whole body go tense. “Don’t worry dear, it’s just a kind gesture,” he told me and I glanced up at him, afraid to look at him all of the way. “In France, everyone kisses each other on the cheek. It’s a very nice way of saying hello,” he paused, “So, hello.”

“Hi,” I whispered, closing my eyes in fear that I said the wrong thing, even though I said an overused greeting.

“Please look at me when I am speaking to you,” he said, his tone too kind. I looked up at him and the smile on his lips grew wider. “You are very beautiful, Parson. A very pretty blonde. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a pretty blonde with such a spirit like you do,” he said and I furrowed my brows, “Ed and Niall have told me how you constantly bickered at them and tried to get away,” he laughed and took a bite of his food after the tops of the domes were taken off, “I admire you very much, Miss Parson.”

“Thank you,” I said, but my voice still came out in a very low whisper. I stared at the food in front of me and grabbed the fork beside the plate, remembering the table manners I had learned in the private high school I had attended to a couple years ago. I never wanted to use them in my life, but I was scared not to use them at the moment. As soon as I took a bite of the seared lamb in front of me, my mouth began to water and I wanted to eat it all in one bite, but I suffered and decided to eat like a woman.

“But I will say one thing,” Jared snapped at me and I set my fork down, losing part of my appetite, “If you ever try to run away from me, dear Parson, so help me God, I will have you out on your ass so fast that you won’t know what hit you. I will make sure that you never see the light of day again. You will be boarded in a room and I will not feed you, not even once. I will let you rot, only because you tried to run away from me. Do I make myself clear, Miss Parson?”

“Y-Yes sir,” I stuttered out, trying not to make complete eye contact with him.

“Good,” he said before pouring me a glass of red wine, “Drink some wine. But not too much, because I still want you to be presentable for the men who are viewing you tonight.”

I finished off the lamb and ate a few bites of salad, but then I drank what was in the wine glass and I was done. I couldn’t eat or drink anymore because I didn’t want to throw up all over Jared. If I did that, I probably would get killed and get seared with the lamb.

I cleared my throat and Jared startled me by saying, “I’m really sorry about your little brother, Miss Parson.” my eyes involuntarily filled with tears and I cleared my throat again, “I know that he didn’t deserve any of what happened to him, and I am completely sorry. Here, drink some more wine.” As he refilled my glass, I didn’t hesitate this time to tip the whole thing up. I didn’t want to be reminded about Jate anymore, not even a single time. Because if I did, I wouldn’t be reluctant to start crying; no matter who I cried in front of. “Miss Parson, are you finished?” Jared asked me and I slowly nodded my head, regaining that fear of saying the wrong thing and closing my eyes. “Good, now, how about we get you ready for the auction?”

“What? No…” I muttered a little too loud and his eyes narrowed.

“Did you just say… no to me?” he asked, placing his hands on the table and leaning over it, making me cover my mouth and nod my head. I didn’t want to say that I didn’t, because that would’ve been considered as lying, and I surely didn’t want him yelling at me for lying to him. “You may smart off to Niall and Ed, and my other men, but you will most definitely compose yourself around me. Is that understood, Miss Parson?!”

“Yes sir,” I cried and he pressed his hair back before sitting back down in his chair.

“Good, now leave me be and get ready for the auction that is going to be held in two hours,” he demanded before I excused myself from the table and tried hard not to practically run out of that dining room.

Notes

I think I might double update today...


Kal xx