I take the card from her, and all it says is a time and a place, and that time is nine tonight. “What am I looking at?”
“In the basement of Wolf House. It’s an auction of sorts. You’ll belong to the highest bidder.”
Forgetting all about my foot, I jump up, hardly able to believe what I’m hearing. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish I was, but…”
My heart crashes in my chest as my brain races to catch up. The Wolf Pack at Wolf House is real? “Where did you get this?”
She hesitates for a brief second. “I can’t tell you.”
“Kaitlyn,” I warn.
She stands and puts her hands on my arms. “Just trust me on this.” She takes the card and holds it up. “This…right here…is your ticket to Harvard, Maize. You might never run again, but as long as you can stay at Kingston and keep your grades up, you’ll get that scholarship to Harvard. This will help you afford it.”
I glare at her, unable to wrap my brain around this. “How long have you known about this?”
“A little bit now, why?”
“Why are you just telling me now?” I practically shriek.
She exhales and makes a groaning sound. “I was hoping you’d miraculously recover, and two, I wanted to wait until the last minute so you couldn’t overthink it.”
“Overthink it? I’m not going to overthink it. In fact, I’m not going to spend one more second thinking about it.” Kaitlyn frowns. “Look, I can’t…” My words fall off as I actually take a second to think—okay maybe overthink—all this, and what selling myself could mean for my future. The fact of the matter is, I’m a fighter, a survivor who will do whatever it takes to succeed. But would I sell myself, become some rich asshole’s plaything? That’s insane, right?
She blinks dark lashes over hopeful blue eyes. “It’s a means to an end, that’s all it is.”
“I…I…” I sink back onto the bed. “What would I have to do?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. You just show up, and well, the guys bid, and you become their…I guess like maybe their servant or something. It can’t be that bad. Maybe you just cook and do their homework or something...”
“Or something, something like sleep with them.”
She glances down and frowns. “I don’t know if that’s true. But if it was so bad, why would girls agree to do it? I don’t know much, but I know this happens once a month, on the last Saturday of the month, and these cards are not given out lightly, they’re given out to—”
“Girls who are desperate!”
A door slams down the hall, and I jump. We live in a very rundown old house with three other girls, someone is always coming and going, and the place is always creaking—pipes always breaking—so I don’t know why I’m on edge, or maybe I do. Am I really considering this?
I take the card from her and toss it onto my bed. “I need coffee,” I say, and hobble to the door. “And you need to get to the meet. One of us needs to keep her scholarship.”
“I’m going. I’m going. And I put a whole pot of coffee on for you. I figured you’d need it after…” She glances at the card I tossed to my bed.
“Maybe what I need is a stiff drink.”
She gives a humorless laugh and walks into the hall with me. “You know, maybe Christian will bid on you. He does feel responsible. He actually seemed really nice at the hospital, once I started talking to him.”
“He’s not nice, and he is responsible, and he’s the last guy on the face of this earth that I’d want to be serving.” My stupid mind takes that moment to roam. If Christian bid on me, he’d likely make me clean his toilet, or something equally disgusting…like sleep with him.
My heart jumps into my throat as images of me in his bed, his big body next to mine, his callused hands holding me down, while he does dirty things to me. “Oh my God,” I whisper.
“What?” Kaitlyn asks as we head downstairs.
I shake my head. “I can’t do this. I can’t sleep with some guy for payment. I’m not a prostitute.”
“Christi…uh, I mean, the person I talked to, the one who gave me the card—”
I roll my eyes. “Christian, obviously.” When did she start thinking I was an idiot, and when don’t we tell each other everything? I guess whatever depraved activities take place in that basement really are shrouded in secrecy, because it’s not like my best friend to keep anything from me. Maybe once you know about it, you’re a part of it, and down the road, this ridiculous secret society offers protection or favors or something. Or maybe it’s off with the head if you snitch. Okay, time to cut back on watching thrillers.
“I never said that.” She puckers her lips. “Anyway, that person who gave me the card said the cards are actually coveted, and you’d never have to do anything you don’t want to do, and come to think of it, you don’t have to worry about Christian bidding on you. A little birdy told me he doesn’t participate.”
My God, what is with the heavy disappointment sitting in my gut.
I am all kinds of messed up, that’s for sure.
You hate him, Maize. HATE HIM!
“His father is a Supreme Court judge, I sure as hell hope he doesn’t participate,” I shoot back, hating that I know more about him than I should. It was just curiosity that sent me to his social media a time or two. He doesn’t post much. He mostly comes up in photos he’s tagged in. “Not that I care about him or anything.” I catch the smirk on Kaitlyn’s face. “What? I hate him. You know what he did to me.”
“To be honest, taking his pants to his knees and getting you expelled
