Auctioned Mates Revenge
Chapter 17

Glenda's

POV

I stared up at him, shocked and a bit ashamed. The world still felt a bit hazy, but his words felt like a bucket of ice water over my head.

No one had ever cared if I was sober or not when they used me.

"Do you need help with changing for bed or can you manage?" Matt asked, looking at me.

I couldn't believe it. He wasn't going to sleep with me again? He hadn't even tried to get my dress off. I hadn't managed to get more than a single button undone. If he was right that I was drunk, what was stopping him? "Renda?" he asked again.

"I... I can do it."

Matt nodded and leaned forward to press the smallest kiss to my forehead. A little bloom of warmth went through me at the tender gesture. My eyes burned with tears, but I held them back. "Good night, Renda."

The door clicked closed behind him softly and I sat back on the bed, staring at the door in amazement.

He'd stopped. He didn't seem swayed by my words at all. I knew patrons who enjoyed it when I acted drunk, or tried to get me drunk, so they could rape me thinking I wouldn't remember all the terrible things they'd done. Some of them even said they preferred it if I was drunk and it had been the only time that I hadn't had to count while they used me.

No one had ever stopped just because I seemed a bit tipsy, but this man I have to hate and planned to betray had shown me more respect and courtesy than anyone ever had and he already owned me.

How ironic.

I shook my head as my heart clenched with emotions I couldn't name. I was so confused by him and his actions.

Why was he treating me like this? I knew I was pretty, but that wasn't enough to reel him in or make him treat me like this. Among prostitutes, it was often the prettiest ones who were treated the worse because the men who bought them paid more money for them. His words kept me awake until I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer.

When I woke up, I still didn't understand his actions.

Was it all just a ploy? Was this how he treated every girl he wanted, or was he just not attracted to me?

I shook my head as I showered the next morning. The haze of the alcohol had vanished, but I remembered clearly when he'd let his weight rest on top of me that he was hot and straining against his pants.

He wanted me. I could have rolled my hips against him and made him quake with ease, but he didn't take me.

Maybe he wasn't like all the clients of Midnight and Larry's? Maybe he didn't just want to use me.

I shook my head, "Get over it, Glenda."

There was no point in thinking about this anymore or trying to understand. I was already too deep to start trying to change course. Matt was my enemy. Everyone who died in Fluorite, all the young women who died in Dan's dungeons, and Angelia deserved to be avenged, so Matt had to stay my enemy if I was going to avenge them.

I thought back to Jay's son at the party. Matt said that they were all Armand's friends, but did that include him?

I wasn't sure. I would have to ask Matt to clarify, but how was I going to talk to him as if nothing had happened last night?

I got dressed and walked to the door. A bit of embarrassment made me hesitate at the door, but I had to go and talk to Matt.

I walked out of the room and headed downstairs as Matt walked down the hallway, half-naked and sweaty, earphones in his ears and drinking from a tall water bottle. He froze in the hallway, staring at me and I stared back.

He was well-defined like a man from a billboard selling underwear or cologne. For a moment, I wondered if the skin over his rippling muscles was as smooth as it looked. My fingers twitched, and I felt myself growing warm like the faintest hints of arousal. My stomach turned in disgust, but the feeling didn't go away as I looked at him.

I thought about last night and how the urge to sleep with him seemed so normal.

"Uhm..." Matt stammered, breaking the silence. "Good morning. I... just went for a work out. Were you looking for me?"

I turned to him and gave him a tight smile. Maybe we wouldn't have to talk about last night. I hoped not as I wasn't sure what I was going to say. It seemed I was always deviating from the plan and doing something that didn't make any sense when it came to Matt. "Yes... sort of." I shifted my weight, scrambling for an excuse and a way to ask for more information and maybe figure out how involved Matt and Jay were with the massacre. An idea came to mind. "I had a friend when I was in Midnight, but I lost touch with her when I got to Larry's. I was wondering if I could go on a trip to see her."

He nodded and seemed oddly relieved by the question, "Of course. What's her name?"

"We were both sold to Midnight. So there's probably not any official information on her. She was called Trinity when we were at Heaven, but I'm not sure if that's her real name either."

It was a lie, of course. Trinity's real name was Zoe Jones, and she grew up in Fluorite with me. Before the massacre, we weren't very close though we were close in age. When I was sold to Larry's, she was still there. With any luck, she was still there.

I hoped she'd learned something, and if not, that I had a chance to get her out somehow. The longer she was in the industry, the longer there was a chance that the Wallbers or Dan would realize that we were all loose ends that would be better ended. With Jay's son out and about in society, that time was likely to come sooner rather than later. All I had to do was find who I could, including Angelia, and disappear before they had a chance to kill us all.

"I'll put out feelers. I planned to go to Midnight next week for business. You could come with me if you want." Matt took a sip, "Though if you wanted to go now, I'll arrange an escort."

"No, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you," I said. "Next week is fine. If you find any information about her, please let me know as soon as you can."

Matt nodded, "I will."

"Thank you," I said. He turned towards the stairs.

"A heads up, I'll probably be out of the house for the last few days, so if you need anything there will be staff here."

"Thank you."

He walked upstairs as I went to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator and took a deep calming breath as the cold air washed over me. My hands were trembling, but I had held on long enough to get him to agree to look for her. Now, all I had to do was wait.

The next day I woke up and made breakfast. I waited for Matt to show up, but he didn't appear. Curiously, I walked upstairs to his bedroom and knocked on his bedroom door. The door opened as if it had been left ajar. "Oh, sorry, I-"

There was no voice beyond the door. I pushed the door open and found it empty. The room was bigger than the guest room with darker furniture and a king-sized bed on a four-poster bed frame.

"Hello?" I stepped in, heading towards the closed bathroom door. I stopped seeing a single picture frame on his bedside table.

Curious, I approached it to get a better look.

The picture in the frame looked torn on one side as if something had been torn out of the photo. From the shape, I bet there was someone else in the photo. The two young boys in the photo smiled out of the photo with bright sunny smiles. They looked no older than middle schoolers or freshmen in high school. The one on the right had Matt's eyes, and I didn't recognize the other.

Where was the other boy and who had been torn out of the photo?

I turned from the photo, wondering about it as I left the room and headed back downstairs.

An older woman was in the kitchen, plating the breakfast I'd made. She smiled at me.

"Good morning, Miss Renda. Mr. Wallber asked me to look after you while he was gone today. If you need anything, please let me know."

I smiled and took a seat, "I will. Thank you."