“I’ve got many of you willing to pay three million. Do I have four?” Madam Alana countered, and the lights kept flashing numbers.
My heart started pounding and along with it, an idea to help ramp up the bidding. I spun to the side, stretched out my leg, and bent over it, as if to fix the buckle on my heel, giving the men a great side shot of my ass.
“I’ve got four million… Do we have five?” Madam Alana pointed at someone toward the back who’d lifted his illuminated paddle. “Five, excellent. Do we have six?”
The lights disappeared except for one lonely light. Lucky number thirteen .
“I’ve got six million to number thirteen. Do I have seven?”
All of a sudden, the auction room went dead silent.
“Six million for the hand of the lovely Ms. Ruby Dawson. Going once…”
We both waited, and I held my breath.
Six million dollars.
It was more money than I’d ever seen in my entire life. And it would all be mine. Madam Alana’s company didn’t take a percentage from the bid; the buyer paid an additional percentage on top of what I would receive. Three years of marriage for six million dollars. I couldn’t believe it. My ears started to ring, and everything got really quiet, just like when I was first about to step on the stage.
“Six million going twice…”
No change. No new bidders.
Madam Alana smiled wide, lifted a golden bell, and shook it from side to side. The ringing reverberated throughout the entire room.
“Sold. To lucky number thirteen.”
Sold, for six million dollars, three years of my time, and unlimited access to my body.
I smiled as I realized all my dreams for myself and for my sister Opal were about to come true. I didn’t know if there was a God, because I’d definitely never felt blessed, saved, or protected before now. But I certainly believed I had me a guardian angel. And her name was Madam Alana.
As I waved out at the audience, trying to focus on the silhouette of the man who’d become my future husband, I realized the absolute best part of this day.
My life would never be the same.
I couldn’t wait to start living it.
Episode 11
Dakota’s Auction
DAKOTA
Swaths of floaty, swishy fabric fluttered around my ankles. The dress Madam Alana had chosen for me was long. As in, the damn thing kept catching on my cowboy boots.
Yeah, cowboy boots. Madam Alana didn’t know this, but the second she left the dressing room to start the show, I switched out those ridiculous stilts they put me in for my tried-and-true boots. Not that they’d notice. The godforsaken purple getup dragged along the floor. Who the hell would buy a dress that got dirty as they walked?
If I was being honest, I didn’t know, and I didn’t much care. All I cared about was getting that fat payday so I could help save my family’s ranch. The legacy of my grandaddy and that of Savvy’s future kids. Me, I didn’t think too much about having any of those little buggers. Too much to manage on top of a bustling cattle ranch. I’d rather spend my time on the back of a horse than carrying around a little one. I figured that was all Savannah and Jarod’s job.
A pang of guilt pierced through my heart at the now-uncertain future my sister had. I didn’t much care about what happened to me as long as the ranch was saved and left in working order. Savvy, however, had a bright future. She was a year away from securing the bachelor’s degree part of her ultimate goal, which was to become a livestock veterinarian. The ranch needed that skill set desperately and Savvy had taken it upon herself to achieve such skills and knowledge. And now…she was going to marry a man for money.
I sighed as I trudged toward the stage and got in position behind Jade and Ruby. The first two women who we didn’t know well, Stephanie and Elizabeth, had entered and left the stage, one in tears, the second one mad as the dickens. We had a kumbaya moment that I barely paid attention to as Ruby then Jade took to the stage and did their thing while the rest of us waited behind. After Jade went, I saw Ruby race down the stairs, smiling wide and heading to the changing room. Looked like she was going for round two which was great news since the first two hadn’t made the cut.
I turned around and took my sister’s hands.
“It will be okay, Dakota. I promise.” Savannah attempted to console me when it was me who was supposed to be taking care of her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I choked out. My chest tightened as icy fingers of regret clutched my heart in a claw-like grip.
Savannah smiled sadly and tilted her head. “Neither of us have ever backed away from a challenge. It’s only three years.” She shrugged as if it was all the same to her, but I knew breaking it off with Jarod and leaving school and her life at the farm all had to be weighing down on her.
“I wish it was only me doing this.” I cleared my throat as I heard strange cat-like calls come from the other side of the heavy drapes.
“I’m not. It’s always been you and me against the world, right?” She reminded me of the promise we’d made the day we buried our mother.
I lifted up my hand, pinky out. She hooked hers with mine .
“Always. I love you. No matter what happens, know that to your soul, okay?”
She pulled me into a fierce hug. “I do know that, Dakota. Now get out there and kick some auction ass!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle as I heard my name called.
I took a deep breath, yanked my dress up at the hips so I didn’t fall up the stairs like a dumbass, and dropped the fabric when I got to the top and the curtains parted.
“And now we have the lovely and lengthy Dakota McAllister.” A round of applause rolled through the room as Madam Alana continued. “This young woman is twenty-four, strawberry blonde, also five foot ten. She can ride a horse like a champion jockey, herd cattle, and line dance with the best of them.”
I squinted against the bright lights as I tried to find my mark. I caught the red X near the front of the stage and moved toward it. At the same time my dress got caught up around my ankles, being as there was so much damn fabric, and before I knew it, I was falling forward, with the red X marking the spot like a target.
My knees crashed to the shiny black stage.
“God damn it! Fuck, that hurt!” I cried out, slammed my palms against the stage floor, and pushed myself up, fighting the fabric twisted around my legs as I did so. Then I yanked the damn thing, shook it out, and let it fall back down. After I stood up straight, I remembered where I was. “Shit,” I breathed out as the entire room went dead silent.
“Are you okay, Ms. McAllister?” Madam Alana asked, her tone sharp like a knife, cutting deep but still with a slight edge of concern.
I swallowed and pushed my shoulder-length locks away from my cheeks, blowing the longer strands from my now-heated face.
“Um, yeah. I’m good. Sorry, I got caught up in the fabric.” My cheeks heated, likely a glorious shade of pink that highlighted my humiliation.