He owns me

~Mia~

I rushed down the stage, following behind Aunt Alexa keenly. “Please Aunt, don’t sell me off. I promise to pay you back for everything.” I cried behind her, and she took an abrupt turn, looking at me with a straight face.

“You have paid back already. Didn’t you hear that man? $100,000! I can manage that.” She responded, letting out a grin.

“But… but, I don’t know this man. What if he’s not a good man? What if he ends up…”

“I do not care! You’ll have to take care of yourself, Mia! You are an adult. Listen, you need to act cool when we meet him. Don’t you dare act like you are forced to do this, okay?!” She smacked angrily, and I gulped hard.

Tears rolled down my cheeks and I hastily ran the back of my hand across my face, completely forgetting that I had makeup on.

“Finally, we are getting rid of her. Argh! I can’t believe I dreamt of this day!” Tasha, my cousin spat, walking towards us and standing akimbo next to her mother, Aunt Alexa.

“What about her bags?” Aunt Alexa asked her.

“Outside. Ryan left them there.” She responded, shooting another disgusted look at me.

“Great. Mr Cross is waiting outside too. Come on, Mia.” She said to me, leading the way.

I ignored Tasha and just followed behind Aunt Alexa. I was more worried about who my buyer was than anything.

As we got out to the parking lot, I saw Ryan, my other cousin, walking towards us. He bit his lower lip as his eyes trailed over my body.

“Can’t believe that man is going to have a taste of you first.” He muttered, and Aunt Alexa hit him hard on his head.

“Get out of here, Ryan!”

I clenched my jaws and looked up to see Mr Cross waiting by his car, and next to him stood another man I didn’t see when we were in the bar.

Getting to where they stood, Aunt Alexa moved even closer, while I kept a reasonable distance away from her, keeping my head lowered in fear.

“Mr Cross, once again, thank you. I don’t know how to express my gratitude. You finding Mia worthy of that amount is alarming. My secretary confirmed your payment.” Aunt Alexa uttered, grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me closer to her.

“Hi, Mia.” I heard his deep and resonant voice again, and I slowly raised my head to look at him. He and the man that stood next to him kept their gazes on me.

“H…hi.” I stuttered, trying to force on a smile, but I just couldn’t. Tears kept prickling the corner of my eyes.

Aunt Alexa pointed to the luggage not too far from his car. “Her bag is…”

“She wouldn’t be needing that.” Mr Cross cut her off, and I turned to look at Aunt Alexa.

“Oh… okay. I’ll just take it back then. I expect to see you at our next auction…”

“That won’t be happening, Mrs Alexa. We’ll be on our way now.” The man who stood next to Mr Cross answered as he walked to the other side of the car.

“Get in.” Mr Cross said to me, and I nodded obediently, staring at Aunt Alexa. I knew the deal was sealed and there was no going back from here, but what I couldn’t believe was that she was so happy and comfortable selling me off.

I got into the back seat and settled in. I kept to one side of the seat and placed my hands on my thighs. I looked out of the window and watched Aunt Alexa and the clubhouse vanish from sight.

I gulped hard and looked up and that was when I noticed Mr Cross staring at me through the rear mirror.

“Hello, Mia. So, I haven’t introduced myself to you. My name is John and I’m Ethan’s best friend.” The other man in front said, turning to look at me.

He stretched out his hand in a handshake and I let out my hand too. “Hi, Mr John. My name is Mia.” I responded, unsure of the right response.

“You are a very beautiful lady, Mia.” He added, and to my greatest surprise, he raised my hand to his lips and planted a kiss on my hand. My brows lifted in shock and I looked into the rare mirror to see Mr Ethan staring at me again.

“John, let her be. You’re scaring her.” He said, and Mr John carefully let go of my hand.

“Scaring her? Did she tell you that?” He scoffed, shaking his head.

I breathed out softly and lowered my head again. I wasn’t sure how to feel about everything that was happening.

“Don’t be scared, Mia. I’m not going to hurt you.” I heard Mr Ethan say, and for some reason, I believed him.

Maybe it was because of how soft his gazes were, or the calmness in his voice.

“Thank you, Mr Cross,” I responded with a faint smile.

“It’s Ethan. Just Ethan is fine.” He replied, looking into the rear mirror again. I nodded shyly and just then, I heard Mr John laugh.

“Just Ethan is fine.” He mocked with a laugh. “I knew you’d say that.”

“Shut up, John. Act mature for once, okay?” Mr Cross responded.

“Keep your eyes on the road and I’ll keep mine on this beautiful Diva.” Mr John uttered, turning to look at me. He had a large, funny grin on his face as he stared intensely at me and this made me grin widely.

Even though I had yet to know either of them, Mr John seemed like a fun person to be with.

“Mia, just ignore him, okay? That’s what I have to deal with every day.” Mr Cross uttered, and I chuckled softly and nodded.

After a short while, we stopped in front of a huge mansion which happened to be Mr John’s. He alighted and bade us goodnight.

After a few minutes, the car stopped again in front of a very huge mansion and my jaw dropped at its magnificence.

Even though I had the idea that Mr Cross was going to be a rich man, I never expected his house to be so grand. It was one of the biggest houses I had ever seen. It was way bigger compared to Mr John’s.

“Here we are.” Mr Cross uttered, turning off the car engine. I kept my gaze on the house as I got out of the car. I felt his gaze on him and I quickly tried to hide my awe.

“Come on in.” He said, leading the way. I followed behind him, still struggling to walk properly in my four-inch heels. Getting to the porch, I carefully lifted my legs so I wouldn’t fall, and then I saw his hand in front of me.

“Let me help you.” He uttered, and I nodded, holding onto his hand.

“Thank you, Mr Cross,” I answered as I walked up the porch.

“Ethan. Ethan.” He reminded me, and I nodded in obedience.

As we got into the house, I was wowed again. It was extremely beautiful and warm, regardless of its largeness.

“You should get out of those first.” He said, pointing to my heels before walking away.

“Yes.”

I pulled off my shoes, still feeding my eyes with the beauty of his home when he came back with a flip-flop.

“Here. You can wear this. They’re mine, so they are pretty big.” He dropped them in front of me, and when I put them on, they were truly bigger than my feet.

I mean, what was I expecting? He was way taller and bigger than I was.

“Better?” He asked, and I raised my head to look at him. I let out a smile and nodded.

“Much better.”

“Great. C’mon, let me show you around while you tell me more about yourself.” He uttered, walking to a door on our right.

“This is the kitchen.” He uttered, and I nodded. As I had expected, it was very huge and equipped.

“Tell me, Mia. What is your relationship with Mrs Alexa?” He asked as he headed to the stairs.

“She’s my Aunt,” I responded, and his eyes widened as he turned to look at me.

“Your Aunt?”

“Yes. My father’s sister. She took me in when my parents died.”

“Woah. I can’t believe an Aunt would ever sell her niece off like that. That’s so unbelievable.” He responded while I was struggling to pull my gown down behind him.

Climbing the stairs made my gown shift up to my ass and this was pretty embarrassing for me. I couldn’t let him see me like that.

“Are you alright?” He asked, and when I raised my head, I realized he was looking at me.

“Oh… yes. Yes, I’m fine. Thank you, Mr Cross.” I muttered, letting go of my gown.

“You can pick any of these rooms. They are all empty.” He continued, pointing to the rooms on our left and right.

“Okay, Sir.”

“Tell me everything I need to know about you.” He said as we continued the tour.

“Errmm… there’s not much to say. I’ve lived a pretty boring life. I’ve worked hard since I lost my parents. Things were never good with Aunt Alexa and her children.” I further narrated, and in no time, we were in the backyard, and there was a pool.

‘He has a pool!’

“This is the pool, obviously. You can come here anytime you want.” He responded, turning to look at me.

“I can?” I asked in surprise.

“Well, it’s too big for only me. Come here.” He said, walking to the chairs next to the pool. He sat on one and pointed to the other next to him. “Have a seat.”

With my hands folded in front of me, I walked to the chair and sat upright.

“How old are you, Mia?” He asked, reaching for something in his chest pocket and it happened to be a cigar. I raised my brows in surprise because I didn’t think he was a smoker.

While he reached into his pants, he looked at me and that was when he realized. “Oh… you don’t mind. Do you?” He asked, and I shook my head.

“No, I don’t. Aunt Alexa does it a lot too.” I responded, and he nodded and pulled out his lighter. “I am twenty years old,” I added.

“What?” He managed to speak with the cigar in his mouth. And in some kind of way, this made him hotter. “Wow. You look so mature to be twenty. I mean, you’re very beautiful. I wanted to tell you that first, but John is just an asshole.”

I chuckled softly and lowered my head.

“Thank you, Mr Cross.”

“Ethan, Mia. Just Ethan.” He sighed deeply.

“Ethan,” I responded even though his name without a title felt heavy in my mouth. He owns me now.