But I liked Ashely and Sophia. Like me, they were taken from their homes. Sophia was happy here. Ashley was not.
“You know she wants Lorenzo, right?”
“Ashley,” Sophia whispered, and ducked her head to quickly scan the hall.
“Oh relax,” Ashley rolled her eyes. “No one’s around to hear me not call him Sir.”
“She’s so pretty though,” I argued.
They all were. Every girl walking around this house was drop dead gorgeous. And then there was me. Plain old Kya Caruthers. I should be thankful Lorenzo even looked at me.
“Girl please, you’re gorgeous.”
Sophia nodded in agreement and smacked my butt, “I’d kill for your ass.”
They were sweet for lying to me, but I knew the truth. Most of my life, it was shoved down my throat.
‘You’re useless.’
‘Not worth my time.’
‘Why did I have such an ugly daughter?’
Sighing, I reached out to finger an orchid petal. I wanted Lorenzo to care about me. Whisper sweet things in my ear and give me tender kisses. Just one kiss would be fine. I had sex I don’t know how many times, and still never been kissed.
Maybe it was easier if he didn’t have to look at my face. I didn’t like looking at my face, so why should he? Still, I never felt lonelier than I did every night when he rolled away from me and went to sleep.
“Have you been talking to Ciara again?” Ashley placed her hand on my back, “Don’t listen to anything that witch says.”
“Ashley! Ciara’s been here longer than us. You should respect her.”
“She’s also an uber bitch,” she spat back at Sophia.
When I heard Ciara’s story, I kind of felt sorry for her. She wasn’t taken like the rest of us. She was sold. By her own father. My mother wasn’t the best maternal figure out there, but at least I could go to sleep knowing she didn’t sell me to a monster. And that wasn’t all.
Ciara was about to get sold again. Apparently they only kept slaves in the house for two years. Meaning I had a shelf life.
Before that happened, I wanted to feel the intimate loving touch of a man. Just once. For some reason, I wanted that man to be Lorenzo. I don’t know when it happened, or how, but I’d come to care about my captor.
I sat up every morning, praying he’d kiss me before he walked out the door, and waited anxiously for him to come back at night. That was never going to happen. I wasn’t a person to him. I was a thing. Something not worthy of a name.
What would my name sound like on his lips?
“Here comes Liam.” Sophia tipped her head back at a patch of tulips Liam was strutting around.
Ashley grumbled and muttered under her breath.
I still had no idea why she didn’t like him. Sure, Liam was conceited and a bit arrogant, but I thought he was funny.
“Sophia,” he called with a large smile on his face, “Just the lady I was looking for.”
“What about Ashley?” she called back with a strange smirk on her face.
Liam sauntered over and curled his lip at the other girl. “I said lady, not whore.”
She sneered back at him.
“You do realize she does the same thing you do.” They all stopped and gawked at me. “What? She does.”