The Auction (15 page)

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Take off the rest of your clothes.” Tori hesitated for a moment. He watched her with an unreadable expression. It was like he was testing her. Her stared into his eyes and it was almost as if he wasn’t even there but if this is what it took to reach him then she would do. She
undid
the fastening of her pants.

“Slowly.”

Tori
eased
her pants down her hips before kicking them off. She then removed her panties at the same
slow
pace, never breaking eye contact with
Foster
. When she stood before him completely naked, she barely managed not to cover her nudity. He’d seem her naked before but the way he stared at her now, unnerved Tori a bit. She moistened her suddenly dry lips with the tip of her tongue.

“No
w
get on your knees.”

Once she did as he ordered, Tori waited for his next command.

Foster looked down at her and stroked her hair almost as if she was a favored pet, but the look in his eyes remained dead. “You’re so beautiful. When I first saw you Victoria, I had to have you. Do you know why?”

She shook his head. “Because there was something in your eyes that told me that despite your circumstances, you weren’t going to let it get to you. You were unbending and brave among a bunch of women who looked like there was no hope left. I saw a light. I wanted that light for myself.” His words though touching was delivered with zero emotion.

Seeing him like this made her question everything she believed about him. Who was the real Foster Graham? She placed her hand on his thigh and stroked it in comfort.
She grazed
the outline of his cock
with her thumb
. Foster inhaled sharply as if he
r
touch had shocked him.

“Un
do my pants and take out my dick
.”

Tori unfastened his pants and slid them down. His shaft bobbed slightly
when she
set it free. He was long but not as much as he was thick. His cock was red and veiny. She gently cupped it with one hand and gently stroked it with another. She rubbed her thumb against the helmeted tip before leaning forward and circling it with her tongue.

He moaned, encouraging her to continue with her exploration. Tori licked him from root to tip and then repeated.

“Stop fucking teasing me and put it in your mouth.”

Tori wrapped her lips around his rod and slowly took him into her mouth an inch at a time. He placed
his
hands on either side of her head and thrust forward. She relaxed her throat muscles as he pushed his cock to the hilt, enabling her to take him whole.

She didn’t need to move much because he took over, fucking her mouth hard and fast. He grunted and groaned as he moved in and out of her mouth. It was almost as if she wasn’t there. Foster seemed to be exorcising some demon and she was his vessel.

He surprised her by suddenly pulling out. “On your hands and knees,” he grunted.

Foster didn’t wait for her to comply. He grabbed her by the waist and positioned her the way he wanted. He was behind her in an instant. She felt his cock at her entrance before
he slid
into her.
Foster
gripped
Tori
by the shoulder
s
and plowed into her. She could feel his thrusts deep inside of her, each one harder and faster. And despite the fact that he didn’t seem to care about her pleasure or even his, her body loved it. She’d be sore when
this
was over but the fire inside raged on, sending her to the edge. Her climax was quick and fast, but he kept going. His grip remained firm on her shoulders, digging into her flesh. She was sure there would be bruises in the morning.

Foster kept going on and on, in an extraordinary show of stamina. He continued
even though
her arms were too weak to hold her body braced. When Tori collapsed to her elbows, he caught a handful of her hair and kept fucking her. The only sounds he made were animalistic grunts and growls. The ache between her legs came next. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying out. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed but she knew this was longer than anything she’d ever experienced. Any pleasure she’d felt before was gone. Tears stung her eyes as he kept going. Foster was no longer a man but a machine with no emotion, no fee
ling and no ability to grow tired
.

Each time her body sagged, the tighter he gripped her hair
. He pulled
so tight she thought she he might yank it out. “Foster,” she cried out his name. “Please. I can’t.” Either he didn’t hear her or he ignored he
r. Every part of her body ached. H
er back, neck and knees screamed for relief. Bright dots danced before her eyes and the room started to go dark. Just when Tori thought she’d faint, Foster pulled out.

A damp gel-like substance suddenly coated spots on her back and she realized he’d released his seed on her body instead of inside of her. She crumpled
to
the floor and pulled herself into a ball. The tears streamed down her face.

It barely registered when she was lifted off the floor and carried out of the room down the hallway and up the stairs. Her mind was completely numb when he took her to the bathroom and cleaned her off. Her mind, body and soul were completely exhausted when he placed Tori in her bed and tucked her inside the covers.

Foster leaned over her and lowered his mouth until his lips nearly touched her ear. “I told you I wasn’t a good guy.”

And then he left.

Chapter Sixteen

Foster swallowed the contents of his glass in one gulp before reaching for his bottle of scotch to refill it. The bottle was nearly empty and he decided he wasn’t nearly as drunk as he wanted to be. He wanted to be so drunk that he could no longer feel or remember anything. He wanted
to
fall into a sweet oblivion, at least temporarily.

He’d hurt her again. No matter what his intentions, he always ended up doing
the thing he said he wouldn’t
. Why the fuck couldn’t he get it right? Foster wasn’t lying to her when he said that he wasn’t a good person but even still, he didn’t know what had driven him to do that. One minute he was trying to put his distance between them so he wouldn’t say or do anything stupid
and the next he’d turned into the monster he feared. His intentions had been honorable,
but when she touched him so gently, looking so sweet and more
perfect
than anything he ever deserved, something inside of him snapped.

Foster had wanted to consume that goodness, to feel something other than the rage, pain and fatigue of the last several days. Once she placed her mouth around his dick he’d lost all control. By the time he’d come back to his senses, he realized what he’d done. Foster wasn’t sure how he could face her. He couldn’t even look at himself in the mirror.

The specter of his father’s memory seemed to taunt him. When he squinted, he could almost see his father looking at him with disapproval. “You warned me, didn’t you? But I didn’t listen. I wanted to prove that I was a man. And now look at me.” He snorted before taking a healthy gulp from his glass.

The agents at his banks were only the beginning of his problems. Several of his businesses had been bombed, injuring several of his employees and killing ten. If that wasn’t enough two of his personal accounts were completely wiped out. It had taken Gareth days to track it down and place
the money
into encrypted accounts that made it difficult to hack. All while this was happening, his search for Macy had taken a detour. Every single one of his contacts had wound up dead. Peter West, who had gone missing, was found in a hotel room beheaded. Ruben Meyer had been gutted from nipple to navel. The three men West had named were also found dead, one murder more gruesome than the next. It was clear someone was trying to send him a message.

That someone
wanted him to know that they could get to him from anywhere at any time. They could hurt him in his business and personal life. With each incident the mystery caller had gotten through to him to let him know that he was still watching. The final straw was when enforcers accompanied by the city commissioner had hauled him away from his office to take him downtown for questioning surrounding the death of West. Thankfully his assistant had contacted his legal team and had gotten him out of that situation. The hefty bribe he had to pay to the commissioner to make sure those questions
were
never asked again hadn’t hurt either.

Foster had had the week from hell. All the sins of his past had finally caught up to him, and there seemed to be no way of digging himself out of this hole. Any hope that he had with working things out with Victoria was gone. There were moments when he believed that she still had feelings for him. He figured he could explain why he did what he’d done and prove to her that he was sincere. But he doubted she could forgive him for what he’d done to her in the library. He didn’t blame her because he couldn’t forgive himself.

Foster was in the middle of pouring himself another drink when the door to his study opened and Dare stormed inside. His brows were knitted together and the scowl that lined his face was deep.

“What the fuck is going on with you?”

Foster poured liquor into his glass until the bottle was empty. “And hello to you too.” He held up his glass in a salute.

“Don’t play games with me. Is there any reason why you haven’t been answering your phone and why Mrs. Gordon claims you’re not home when I stop by? If I didn’t charge past her today, you would have kept avoiding me.”

“It’s not Mrs. Gordon’s fault. This is actually the first time I’m been home in days.”

“Really?” Dare asked skeptically.

“I have no reason to lie.”

“You look like shit, man.”

Foster took a sip of his drink. His vision was starting to blur. “You sure know how to flatter a guy.”

Dare stalked over to his desk and grabbed the glass out of Foster’s hand. “This is no time for jokes. It’s all over the news how your businesses were bombed and you were being questioned for murder.”

Foster slouched in his chair. “Oh, that made the news as well?” Not that he cared. His world was so fucked up right now that one more thing didn’t matter.

“No. I actually did some snooping around myself. Foster, what’s going on with you? You have me worried. Aya’s been asking about you as well. I’ve never seen you like this. Look, I may not be the most open person and I apologize if you felt you couldn’t come to me with any problems you’re going through, but I want you to know that I have your back.”

“I doubt there’s anything you can do.”

Dare took the seat facing Foster’s desk. “Tell me about it.”

Foster wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the heavy
burden he carried
, but he felt the need to confess. He rubbed his temple
s
to relax the tension of an oncoming headache. “These people behind the auction have made it clear that th
ey don’t want me snooping in
their business. They’ve spent the better part of the week trying to destroy me. Before that, I’ve been getting these mysterious calls from an anonymous source that’s taking credit for all the chaos happening. But it’s just not about me trying to get Macy back. This is personal, otherwise I think they would have tried to kill me by now.”

“Why w
ould someone go after you, Foster? You’re probably one of the most laid back people I know. I’ve never heard of you having an issue with anyone.”

“Of course not, because I was very good at what I did. Anyone who knows the real me is either too scared to speak up or ha
s
disappeared.”

Dare narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Foster sighed. ‘”You know a little bit about my family’s background. My grandfather wasn’t born into wealth. He fought for every single credit he earned, and because of that he became respected and admired for bettering himself. He was held up as the gold standard citizen, someone from the slums who didn’t constantly have a hand out. He’d made something of himself and amassed a fortune that
a lot of people envied
.”

Dare nodded impatiently. “Yes, I already know this.”

“My grandfather wasn’t the man everyone thought he was. People wanted to believe that someone from poverty could actually make something of themselves with just hard work just so they can point to the other poor people and call them lazy. They were willing to look the other way in regards to how my grandfather made his fortune. He was a big, intimidating guy so he got a lot of work as a bodyguard. He was also extremely street smart. He realized he could use his natural assets to get what he wanted. He started making small loans off the grid and charging
an
exorbitant interest
rate. Y
ears ago, they called it loan sharking.”

“Really? I guess that would make sense. How else would he have been able to amass a large enough amount to start a bank? That would take a lot of capital. “

“And influence. I wish I could say that illegal loans was the only thing he was involved in, but he dabbled in intimidating small businesses for protection money, blackmail, drug dealing and gambling. You name it, he was probably involved in it in some way. By his mid-twenties he was one of the biggest crime bosses in the country, but he was cunning about the way he went about things. See, it was always his plan to make a name for himself within the Elite. He wanted to rub elbows with the very people he hated. My grandfather said it was his goal that no one would ever look down on him again.”

“I can imagine he didn’t have it easy growing up.”

Foster shrugged. “No one who grew up where he did had it easy. He just chose the path
he
saw fit. The thing about my grandfather is, even though he left the slums, the slums never left him.”

“How do you mean?”

“Even after he started the bank and built it to what it is today, he still continued his underground activities. Not all of them
just the more
lucrative ones, like the gambling, illegal loans and blackmail. When people didn’t pay him back, he had an interesting way of collecting.”

“What did he do?”

“He’d torture them.”

Dare raised a brow.
“And no one ever found out.”

“The ones who did were paid off and the ones who couldn’t be bribed were either blackmailed or they disappeared. My grandfather wanted to build an empire and he was willing to do it by any means necessary. Along the way he took over other businesses and got rid of the competition. That’s one of the reason there are so many Grahams banks in this region. I think most of the people he associated with either feared or revered him and sometimes a little of both.”

Dare nodded in his understanding. “I remember your grandfather always being larger than life whenever I was in his presence. Even my father deferred to him and we both know that my father did that with no one. Do you think my father knew what he was up to? I wouldn’t put it past him.”

“I honestly don’t know. I’ve only seen your father and my grandfather together in social settings. Whether they had any dealings in my grandfather’s illegal activities will remain an unanswered question since they’re both gone now.”

“And your father?”

Foster shook his head.
“Wanted nothing to do with my grandfather’s underground business. He wanted
the businesses to
be completely legitimate. He felt that
Grandfather
could leave that world behind because frankly, a lot of people my grandfather dealt with were dangerous. Of course my grandfather refused to listen. It didn’t matter that he’d built his empire like he dreamed, he still held on to his street mentality. As long as the money was good why walk away? Besides, I don’t think he could have even if he wanted to.”

Dare frowned. “What do you mean?”

“That life was in him. He liked it too much, that control, the need to have someone’s life in his hands. He was addicted to the power.”

“Did he tell you this?”

“No.
”

“Then how do you know?”

Foster took a deep breath. He didn’t know if what he was about to confess would change how Dare felt about him but he was tired of living this lie. If the past few days had taught him anything it was that no matter what you did to cover your tracks, your past would always come back to haunt you. “Because he brought me into that life and I loved it.”

“Get the fuck out of here. Not you. I mean I know you used to look up to your grandfather and he was a mentor to you, but you were involved in the illegal stuff?”

“Just the collection and intimidation part.”

Dare narrowed his eyes. “In what way?”

Foster raked his fingers through his hair and released a heavy sigh. “
Well, remember, I already told you that my grandfather had secret businesses that weren’t completely legitimate that I was involved in.”

Dare snorted. “Yeah, I thought you mean illegal trading or some shit like that, not that you were leaning on people. I want know everything.”

Foster sighed again.
When someone didn’t pay back one of Grandfather’s under-the-table loans, that’s when we needed to give the mark a reminder. I was thirteen years old when I watched him beat a man to near death and threaten his family if he didn’t get his money. I was fucking terrified. Here was a man I looked up to and wanted to be like and he
had turned into some kind of beast
. I didn’t understand what was going on but I didn’t want to speak out either because like I said, he was my hero. I didn’t want him to think I was a wimp so I kept quiet. I didn’t even tell my father what I’d seen.”

“
Grandfather said he wanted me to toughen me up
and that
he didn’t want me to end up soft like my father. So I witnessed things that most people only ever see in movies. My grandfather once had a guy chained to the wall and made him watch while
he
raped
the man’s
screaming wife. And so it went, whenever he came by to collect
me
for some quality time, it was always on one of his runs. After a while I became desensitized to the violence. In my mind I justified it by saying these people shouldn’t have borrowed money they couldn’t pay back, or they shouldn’t have crossed my grandfather. I convinced myself that these people deserved it so I wouldn’t end up seeing my grandfather for the monster he was. And then it happened.”

“What?”

“He took me to our regular location and then told me to pick one of the weapons off the wall and use it.
You see, the very first time he took me to one of his sessions, he made me participate, but he ended up doing most of the work. This time around, he wanted me to do the entire job on my own.
Watching was one thing but
taking part
was another. I wanted to run away but more than my fear of hurting that man who’d never done anything to me was the fear I felt of my grandfather’s reaction. I didn’t want him to look at me
the way he looked at my father
. I didn’t want him to direct
his
disappointment toward me. So I took a small knife off the wall and my hands were shaking. Every step I took toward that terrified man, I’d shake ever more. I could barely hold the knife steady. I was about to tell my grandfather that I didn’t want to do it and then his voice cut through all my resistance.”

Foster began to shake as the memory took hold of him. “
Don’t let me down like your father. Make me proud.”
More than anything he wanted to
please his grandfather
, so
he
swallowed the bile that threaten to spill from his mouth. He ignored the tears flowing down the bound man’s face. He shut his ears to the pleading and took the knife and slipped it down the side of the man’s face. He’d watched his grandfather do this a countless amount of times so he knew just how deep to cut.

“And then what?” Dare broke into Foster’s thoughts.

Foster didn’t realize he’d drifted away. “And then I began to make precise slices all over his body. He screamed and begged but I didn’t stop. I kept looking back at my grandfather and all I could think about was how happy he seemed. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that there was a piece of me that liked it. It gave me an adrenaline rush. It became my addiction
too. There were men after him.
I became good at what I did. I even studied up on torture techniques and what tools or maneuvers I needed
to use
in order to produce the most pain. I was so efficient, my grandfather started to defer to me. I handled all the enforcing. I became immersed in this world, dealing with a bunch of criminals. I became feared in my own right and I loved it. I became an even bigger monster than my grandfather. But it was at the cost of my humanity and my relationship with my father. When he found out about my involvement into the seedier side of Grandfather’s business, he never looked at me the same again.” Foster grabbed h
is glass and downed the
remainder
of its contents before tossing it across the room. The glass hit the wall and smashed into several pieces.

He dropped his head into his palms. “And the really fucked up part about all of this is I’m not sure if I had a chance to do it all again that I wouldn’t.”

A long silence surrounded the room and Foster sunk deeper into his misery. He wouldn’t be surprised if Dare walked out
the door without a backward glance
. To his surprise, he felt a heavy hand fall on his shoulder. Foster raised his head to see Dare standing over him. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. You were a kid.”

“I was a kid who became a man who enjoyed doing sadistic shit. And because of the stuff that I was involved in my father was killed. We did a good job of covering it up and calling it natural causes, but there was no doubt in min
d
or my grandfather’s that he was murdered. By that time, I’d seen enough to recognize when something was natural or not.”

“Really? Do you know who did it?”

“I never did. But my grandfather did and oddly enough, he never told me who. He just made some cryptic statement.”

“What did he say?”

“A son for a son.” Foster had begged his grandfather to tell him what that meant but he’d refused. It was odd that the Foster’s father’s death was the thing that had finally broken his grandfather. The old man was never the same again. It was clear the man had a lot of regret, especially involving the relationship between him and his son.

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know. I never really got a chance to find out because with my father gone, I had to take over his business duties. I realized that I couldn’t go back to that life. It was the least I could do to honor his memory, and besides, I realized the longer I continued, the more of my soul
I lost
. I busted my ass to separate all of our legitimate business
interests
from the illegal ones. Night and day this was my goal. I paid a lot of people off, rearranged a few things. I even had to do a few more jobs as favors. It took me a few years to be completely free of any underground activity. You know what happened next, my grandfather died. This time it was natural causes. I checked. Grandfather was getting up there in years but he was an otherwise healthy man. I thi
nk he died of a broken heart. I’d like to believe he
regretted the
rift
between him and my father.

“To distance myself from my criminal past, I cultivated this
charming
playboy persona. I attended the right parties, always had a beautiful woman on my arm. I even participated in The Run because it was something that people in our circle did. Most of those women I tagged, I didn’t even touch. I’d let them spend the night at one of my other houses and then let them go. I made it appear that I spent the majority of my time living a life of leisure when in fact I worked just as hard as anyone else with this much responsibility. I even had you fooled. I was determined that no one could associate me with the man I used to be.”

Dare raised brow. “So was any of this real?”

“You mean our friendship?”

Dare nodded his head in the affirmative.

“That was one of the only real things in my life. You and Victoria.
You and I have
been friends since we were children. Nothing will change that unless you decided you don’t want to deal with someone like me.”

Dare began to pace the office. “So everything that’s happened to you in the last few days
was
because of your past?”

“I have no doubt. I thought it was because I began to dig into the auction and all the missing women and children. I’m not proud of it but to get some information I had to resort to my old tactics. But all my findings have come to a dead end because every single one of my contacts is now dead. I almost got sent to prison because of one of those deaths. I’ve done a lot of fucked up shit in my life, but I’ve always stopped short of murder.”

“Shit, man. Why didn’t you contact me?”

“Because I didn’t want to get you involved in my bullshit. My father and grandfather are gone. I’m not going to have your death on my conscience as well.”

“Your grandfather made his own choices. As far as your father, that wasn’t your fault. You didn’t kill him, someone else did.”

“But I might as well have. Maybe if I hadn’t involved myself in that life he’d still be alive today.”

“Or maybe if your grandfather hadn’t involved you. Look Foster, you’re in over your head right now and you need help. I’m quite capable of handling myself. Besides, I’m not without my own resources. I’m sure that if we put our heads together we can come up with a plan together.”

“I’m already in too deep, Dare. I can’t drag you down with me. Besides, if you get involved you could inadvertently be involving Aya. I know these types of people, they’ll try to get to you through the people you care about. I know this because that’s why
my father is dead. He wasn’t even involved in that life.
It was what my grandfather used to do. It was what I did. Someone has a personal vendetta against me and it’s stressful enough trying to keep Victoria safe. I wonder if she would have been better off if I’d left her on the block than bringing her home with me.”

“Why did you bring her here? Who is she to you?”

“Someone I don’t deserve. But at this point it doesn’t matter. She’s here so I can keep her safe.”

“How about you let me worry about Aya. I’m perfectly capable of protecting her myself. She’s stubborn as hell but maybe I can convince her to spend some time away at one of my houses. I can hire a team to guard the perimeter. Perhaps you should consider letting your Victoria stay with Aya and that way we’ll know they’re in a safe place while we sort out this mess.”

Foster’s first instinct was to protest but Dare actually made sense. There was no telling who was watching the house. If he could get Victoria out of here safely and away from harm that would be one less worry he’d have.

Foster sighed with defeat. “Okay. We’ll go with you
r
plan.”

“Good. I’ll make the arrangements to get everything set in motion by nightfall. That will be the best time to get her out of the house. In the m
eantime, get yourself together
. I’ll be in touch.” Dare turned to leave.