Parson Upton
Year 2023, Month July
North Dakota
~~

“What did you say?” Niall yelled at me and I sobbed into my hands, scared to say anything else to Jared. “What the fuck did you say?!”

“I-I… said no. I said no to him,” I spat out and his eyes widened. He leaned against the wall and ran his hand down his mouth, shaking his head multiple times.

“Wrong,” he boomed, and I flinched at the sudden outburst. “Fucking wrong! Do you know how wrong that is?! Now he’s going to take it out on all of his slaves and maybe on us, just because one of his special editions fucked up…” he growled and refrained from walking up to me, and I sat down on the edge of my bed. “You’re crazy, Parson. You really are. You don’t think about your fucking actions, and that’s not a good thing.” I walked over to the body mirror against the wall and saw that my makeup had run down my face and my dress was wrinkled. “I’ll send someone up here to help you get ready. I hope you get out of here, Parson, because you’ll get away with a warning.”

Then he left the room and I hugged myself. As I just stood there with my eyes closed, I thought about how bad that situation with Jared could’ve been… I jumped out of my skin when I saw a woman walk into my bedroom. It wasn’t Elizabeth, or any of the other two that helped me earlier. The woman had red hair, and she was very pale; although her eyes were very big and green, and she was beautiful.

“Hi,” she chirped, but she was silent, “my name is Grace. Um.. I was sent up here to help you get ready for the auction. I’m going to help you each time you’re in an auction, so prepare to see me every month.” I nodded my head and she furrowed her eyebrows. “It’s okay to be scared, and it’s okay to cry. Everything is going to be fine, I promise,” she said to me and I quickly wiped at the tears on my cheeks, but more tears took their place. “Hey,” she rubbed my shoulder and I winced at the comfort, “It’s okay. Here, let’s get you ready.”

The whole time Grace got me ready, I was crying. I couldn’t compose myself, whatsoever. I was so scared for this auction, and believe it or not, I wanted to go home. I wanted to go back to my home in Minnesota, and I wanted to help my parents get over their love for drugs and help them get healthy again. Because I had no one left, I wanted my parents back.

Grace pulled down my long and blonde, curly hair from it’s updo and slowly brushed it out. It took her about five minutes to brush it out fully and spray it down to get rid of all of the humidity in it without making it look greasy. After I had slowed down and stopped crying, she put eyeliner on me and black eyeshadow, along with some mascara. What I didn’t like though was the lipstick; it was dark red and both it and the eye makeup still made me look as pale as a ghost. I had to change my dress to a dark blue one, but the fabric was just like the one I was wearing for dinner―silk and barely there. I didn’t want anymore problems with what I was wearing, so I didn’t put any underwear on so it wouldn’t make another line in my dress. I didn’t feel very comfortable not wearing any, but it’s better than not looking suitable for Jared. I don’t know what would happen if I didn’t look suitable for Jared, so I’d rather choose the easy way out and look like a perfect, overdressed woman.

“Come on,” Niall appeared in the doorway of my bedroom when he opened the door and I felt my bottom lip quivering. Don’t you fucking cry again. You’re strong on the outside, “It’s time to go… Parson,” he said before I walked up beside him. “When you get to the auction, there will be twelve places to stand, and you will stand on the second one closest to the front, because I found out that you’re being sold at the next auction… men can look at you at this one, but they can’t buy you. They can reach forward and try to touch you, but there will be guards there to stop them and put them under control.”

“What do you mean, under control?” I asked and he sighed.

“Whoever tries to touch you… is taken out in the back, shot, and killed,” he told me and my eyes widened, making me feel a little safer at the auction. “The only people who can touch you are the guards and the slave owners,” he said. Scratch the feeling of being safe. “I’m not going to be there, but Louis and Ed will be the ones at your feet so you will be safe. Louis is the best man Jared has, so you’re extremely lucky tonight.” I shook my head, because I know that I’m not lucky at all. Not even a little.

~~

The special editions were carried in a long, black limo, and the other slaves that were being shown at the auction were carried in separate cars. The auction building was two stories tall, but it was very wide. When we arrived, there were two different parking lots―one for the viewers, and one for the owners and the women being viewed.

My hands were tied behind my back, and the bindings would stay there until we got into the building. I was led towards the back of the building by Ed and who I suspected was Louis. Ed was dressed in a black tux and so was Louis, and I couldn’t help but study Louis’ features. His hair was pushed up and stacked on top of his head like Niall’s, but Louis’ hair was brown. Louis was very large, and he had muscles, and he had a lot more tattoos than the rest of the men that I’ve seen so far. From what they both looked like, I trusted Ed and Louis to keep me protected, but I didn’t trust who they were as people.

I mentally decided while I was riding in the limo that I would own this auction. Since the men around me can’t touch me, I can smile and smirk all that I want without it being a problem. These men have no power over me, so I can ogle and glare all that I want. I am going to do whatever I want, and there won’t be a single problem with me doing it.

The binds rubbing my wrists were quickly taken off when we walked into the back of the building, making me rub where they used to be. The back of the building was fairly big, filled with body mirrors and dressers, along with makeup suitcases and shoe cases. It smelled like expensive perfume and drugs; the lingering smell of wrist cologne burning my nose. I had begun to get a headache, and the smells kept on getting worse as I descended farther into the building.

Ed and a man exchanged a few words and I was taken by the man in front of me as Ed disappeared somewhere else, making my heart skip a few beats. Where was he going? All of a sudden, Louis told the other man to help the women in the back and Louis tightened his grip on my arm. “Don’t trust him,” he muttered bitterly in my ear, “don’t ever trust him.”

“Don’t worry,” I chuckled sarcastically and he glanced at me, shocked that I replied, “I don’t trust any of you pricks. All of you, disgusting. Stealing women from the fucking street. I won’t ever trust any of you,” I barked at him and a grin spread across his face.

“Ed was right about you, love,” he snickered and I narrowed my eyes at his use of the word love. I also noticed that he was British and so is Ed, and Niall is Irish… is there a certain policy where the men have to have a foreign accent in order to work for Jared or something? “You are a smartass and you are very brave, but I can tell that you’re the type who always wants to run away. Try anything funny tonight, and I won’t hesitate to bring you back. All hell will break loose when I bring you back.”

“Like I said, disgusting.” I rolled my eyes and he chuckled in my ear before walking me over to the back of a stage. “Alright, princess,” he said when we stepped in front of a black curtain, and I knew what was happening, and I began to mentally panic, “You know what to do, and I will be standing below you the entire time. Don’t be afraid of me, or the men below us,” he paused and peeked through the curtain, coming back with a face full of discomfort, “It’s the owners you have to be afraid of.” That’s the last time I’m going to hear anything about those damned slave owner’s. If I hear anything else bad about them, I’m going to go insane, and I’m bringing everyone down with me.

“You look very pretty, love,” Louis said to me and I narrowed my eyes again when he fixed the shoulders on my long dress, “Make sure you show that face off.” he tipped my chin and I found myself ridiculously blushing and I scowled at myself. He pointed towards the black curtain and ushered me to go through it, whispering, “Good luck,” as I walked out.

I stood up straight and my eyes widened at the variety of men scattered throughout the floor. There were only three girls on the stage at the moment, but all of the men were cooing and making groans at the women standing there. The lights were dimmed just enough to make the atmosphere romantic and subtle, and there were red candles lit on each of the tables. There were at least one hundred or more tables, and it looked like all of the tables seated six each, so there were a lot of men sitting here in this building that paid over two hundred dollars each just to sit down in a chair at a table and to look at twelve random women standing on a stage.

When I walked up to the spot where I was supposed to be standing, there was a latino man with light blonde hair and a few other younger men that looked like they all came together sitting on the table in front of my section. The table next to it held four men that looked like they had a bunch of money; they had guns on their pockets from what I could see, and they were wearing their own diamonds and watches. Every single table held different types of men, and all of them looked like they were smart, but I knew that us women could easily walk all over them.

By the time I was done scanning all of the men at the tables, all of the editions were standing in their assigned spots. They were all beautiful, and they were all wearing dresses that I could never pull off. I felt extremely sorry for the woman who was standing in the first place on the stage because she would be the one to be sold tonight.

“Comfortable?” I jumped when Louis said something below me. I shook my head and he shrugged, “Too bad.”

“Tell me how all of this works,” I whispered and he scowled at me.

“You are not supposed to be talking, princess,” he said, placing his hands in front of him and looking forward, “All of the men in here bid on a woman, but only the woman on the first block will be sold tonight. For example, if you got a bid tonight for, let’s say, two million dollars and Sofia up there got a bid for three hundred thousand dollars, she would get sold. No matter how much you and the other girls are bidded for, Sofia will be the one sold. Whoever bids the highest on Sofia, will get to fuck her tonight.”

“Wait, what? You said she would get sold,” I whisper-yelled, tensing as the men in front of me pointed at me and licked their lips. I closed my eyes, oh God.

Louis chuckled. “Oh, no, no. If a bidder on the floor gets the highest bid on Sofia, then he gets to take her to a bedroom and fuck her and do whatever he wants to her,” he started, and he pointed to the balcony on the wall, “If a bidder on the balcony gets the highest bid, then you go home with him or her and stay there. You don’t get returned whatsoever. Because once you’re theirs, you’re theirs. You don’t have a return policy.”

“So… who are the people on the balcony?” I asked, and I could’ve guessed who it was, but I wanted to be sure who it was exactly.

Louis glanced at me and chuckled again. “The slave owners. They have more money on their own then the people on the floor combined. Actually, they have double the money than the people on the floor have combined. If they bid on you, then you’re pretty fucking special, but it’s rare for an owner to bid on a woman. If they want one of the women that aren’t standing on the first block, then they have to give Jared an outrageous amount of money. Because they have to do that in order to get one that isn’t being sold a certain night, they don’t do it. They focus more on the main view tonight. The owners mostly come to these auctions to look at the women. When they do, they walk the floors almost the entire time. They only go up to the balcony when the highest bid is revealed.”

“How long do we usually stand here?” I asked.

“About three hours, it usually depends,” he said, “Oh, look, they’re getting here now. Don’t say a single word, or one of them will report you to Jared. They’re all fucking insane, and they’re fucking mean as hell. So watch out. Don’t get hurt.”

“Okay,” I whispered and I looked up when the double doors of the front building opened. My heart began to race very dramatically and I felt like I was going to be sick. About thirty men walked in wearing black suits, and then about thirty more followed in behind them. I didn’t notice the woman they were guarding until they separated and only one of them followed her to the edge of the wall where she wanted to stand and look. She looked like she was in about her mid-forties, and she was very slim and pretty, but I remember talking about a woman slave owner; I didn’t like her very much.

“Keko Mason,” Louis spoke and I jumped, “Baddest bitch I’ve ever met.”

“Doubt it,” I muttered under my breath and he let out a laugh that made me smile a little. The men guarding the doors of the building were about to close it, but they stopped. I could barely see outside, but there was a light in the doorway of the doors so that you could see who walked in, but there wasn’t anyone coming.

“Shit,” Louis cursed and I panicked a little, “I was told he wasn’t going to be here.”

“Who?” I asked, but he ignored me and said something to someone over his earpiece.

“He’s here,” Louis said and I looked back to the open doors. What the hell?! Is this man invisible or something?! “Make sure we get some more guards up here, I know he’ll want Upton.”

I pursed my lips at the sound of my last name and looked back to the doors for the thousandth time, searching for some sign of a man. A shine in the gravel in front of the doors caught my eye and realized that it was a pair of silver boots. I narrowed my eyes and my hand squeezed my dress when a man walked into the light shining underneath the door. He was wearing what looked like a black Gucci suit with some kind of white… piping. His hair was long and curly, and it rested right below his shoulders. When he looked up to the light, his features were more noticeable and I was so disgusted that I thought he was impeccably… gorgeous. He had eyes that could simply bore into you with just one glance, and his lips were…

“Harry Styles,” Louis snapped, and my heart sank. I’ve heard that name before… and not in a good way. “The most dangerous man in the whole North. He’s fucking crazy, and he may look like he has charm… but looks can be very, very deceiving.”

I couldn’t seem to take my eyes away from the man named Harry, because I was full of wonder. I became more and more disgusted because the more he moved, the more beautiful I thought he was. When he looked down from the light and across the tables, a grin grew across his lips and I had to force myself to look away from him.

“Yes, I fucking see you ogling at him, princess, but you won’t be staring at him like that when you find out what he does for a living,” Louis muttered and I swallowed hard.

When I looked back at… Harry… he was studying each and every woman standing on the stage, making sure that he didn’t miss a flaw while looking at them. My heart began to race harder as he moved down the line, getting closer and closer to me. When his green eyes finally landed on me, my lips parted when he stopped completely in his tracks, the scarlet red candle lights shining firmly on his olive skin. He muttered something that I couldn’t read, and the way he was looking at me made me feel more self-conscious than I have ever felt in my whole life, and I squeezed my dress again.

“He’s… watching you, Parson,” Louis muttered to me, obviously thinking that I didn’t know. For God’s sake, his eyes were burning a hole right through me.

I watched as Harry said some words to a few other men around him and they brushed off what he said like it was nothing, but I saw something in his eyes that disagreed with the way that they disagreed. Which made me desperately wonder about what he said…

~~

“Bids are in, and it’s time for the highest bid to be shared,” Jared said, walking up beside Sofia on the stage and pulling out a piece of paper that had an amount of money written on it. Harry had disappeared to the balcony, and I couldn’t see him there, so I just ignored his presence completely. “What does that number read right there, baby?” Jared asked Sofia, and her shaky hand reached for the paper in his hand.

“Eight hundred… thousand,” Sofia’s voice came out in a squeak, and she shuddered out a few breaths before she spoke again, “By Daniel Peakes.”

Daniel Peakes stood up in the crowd and raised his hand, making Jared grab Sofia’s hand and run down the stage’s stairs and into the crowd. Daniel took Sofia by the hand and I saw her silently crying to herself as Daniel took her off and into the back of the building. Poor girl. I instantly felt tears of sympathy pricking the corners of my eyes, but I closed my eyes and sucked them back, not wanting to cry in front of all these men and give them the satisfaction of scaring me and hurting my feelings.

Jared suddenly then grabbed my arm and drug me off of the stage, making my tears come back. What did I do wrong? Was it because I was talking? He pulled me to the back of the building and stood me beside Louis. When I looked at him, his arms were crossed and his forehead was creased as if he was angry.

“W-What did I do wrong?” I asked Jared and he put his finger over his lips, telling me to be quiet. “I don’t understand…” I whispered, running my hand through my long hair. Jared grabbed my shoulders and kissed my cheek, making tears fall from my eyes and my whole body go numb. He wiped my tears away, fixed my dress, and pulled my hair over my shoulders.

“Don’t worry, Miss Parson, you did nothing wrong,” he said, making me let out the stifled breath I didn’t know that I was holding.

“Jared Francesca,” a British voice that I hadn’t heard yet echoed through the entire back building and it sent shivers through my whole body, “It’s been years.” I heard a voice, but I didn’t know where it was coming from and Jared’s hands dropped from my arms as he straightened up his tie and looked forward. I studied Jared’s facial expression, and he seemed to be… intimidated? Why in the world would Jared be intimidated by anyone? “And… you,” I sucked in a breath and my lips parted when I saw Harry standing in front of me, looking at the curves that made my body, “You are so lovely…”

“T-Thank you,” I stuttered out and I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off of him for the millionth time tonight. I am utterly disgusted in myself… for this man is irreverently gorgeous.

Harry looked to Jared and grinned, “I am prepared to give you full amount.” Full amount? Harry grinned at me and grabbed my hand, leaning down and pressing his lips against it. I am a horrible person. “Because I could use her… so beautiful…” I wasn’t sure if I should be scared of what he said or complimented…

“No,” Jared snapped, crossing his arms and shaking his head, “I thought you just wanted to look at her. She’s my newest edition, and she is not for sale.”

“Not… for sale?” Harry’s accent sent shivers throughout my body again and he looked at Jared, his eyes wide and hopeful. “We’ll have to change that.”

“Harry, no. She is not for fucking sale. She’s the best one I have,” Jared argued and I looked at him, narrowing my eyes.

“I said, we’ll have to change that,” Harry barked at Jared and my eyes went wide, making me take a step back and hide behind Louis. He was so happy; so cheerful, and his voice turned so dark and devilish… just like that?

“No!” Jared yelled, making Harry take a step back and shrug his shoulders.

“We’ll fucking see Jared. We’ll, fucking see,” he said and he glanced at me one last time before walking out of the building and leaving me dazed and terrified.

Notes

I am so excited for this story like you guys don't even know!

Please tell me your thoughts, they mean a whole lot.



Kal xx