Chapter Nineteen

Ornette was taken to a private room off the side of the reception hall. More than anything, it reminded her of the back of a limo with cramped quarters, plush seats, and drinks. Once inside the room, Varner lowered Ornette to her feet with a series of gentle, but firm touches. She was uncomfortable with the gaze he directed toward her, but she kept looking back at him without averting her eyes.

Eventually, he dropped out of their staring contest by letting his gaze travel down until it rested on her clenched fist. He curled his hand around her fingers gently. “You can relax, you know. Nothing is going to happen. You know the rules of the game.”

Ornette followed his suit and stepped away from him to remove her gloves. She started by taking off the right glove. The room was more lit than the hall they had just left and she saw that she had accomplished her design with Rowan. There were a few hairs sneaking out from between her clenched fingers. The stickum would hold the hairs in place without her clenching her fist. She folded the glove up casually like it was a ribbon and placed it on the glass coffee table top in the middle of the leather sofas.

“What do you want from me, Varner?” she asked, still casual. Actually, she was light as a feather. She didn’t wait for him to answer and continued stripping her arms of her accessories. The bracelet came off and then the ring.

“I want you to look at me,” he said smugly.

Obediently, she raised her gaze to meet his. “Done.”

“No,” he amended. “I want you to look at me the way you look at Desmond Falstead.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she refuted.

“I saw you,” Varner persisted. “I saw you looking at him during the bidding. I know Sleeping Beauty Inc. models aren’t supposed to fall in love with their owners, or anyone else, but when he was bidding on Mikayla, your interest was all over your face.”

“I just get turned on by bidding. That’s part of the reason I sell myself. I love the bidding process. It’s so sexy when men will say how much they’re willing to pay for what they want.” It was a lie. She hoped he wouldn’t know the difference. Ornette actually found the whole bidding process a soul-sucking nightmare, but she would rather anything than admit to Varner that her heart of stone had beat for Desmond.

Would he buy her story?

Varner inclined his head. He was willing to accept the excuse, probably because he didn’t know enough about Ornette to call her on her pretenses.

“You’ve seen the footage of how I behave,” she began. “Would you like to have the version of me who lived under Fen’s arm? Maybe the version who went out to dinner with Joel? Or would you prefer the version of me that Hans tucked into his very own bed?” She was teasing him and he was jumping for the bait.

“I want a version you make for me,” he said playfully.

Ornette raised her eyebrows and refrained from saying anything close to the truth. Varner’s comment showed how much he did not care for her. If he was truly interested in who she was, he would not want a version of her that she created to please him. He would want who she really was. He was not interested in that. He wanted a version of her that was made to please him.

She removed her other glove and placed it on the table. “Are you going to ask me to sit down or are we going to stand here bickering until my handlers come to take me away?”

He sat down and pulled her onto his lap.

His lap was enormous. His chest was enormous. His shoulders were enormous and, at close quarters, even his head was enormous. Ornette was nothing on his lap. She was a doll… who had to start breathing like a dragon to keep herself from panicking. Her left arm had already begun to shake and it was hard to hide that kind of thing when she was in a man’s lap.

Varner noticed immediately and put his hand over Ornette’s. “What’s the matter? Haven’t you ever sat in a man’s lap before?”

Of course, she had, but he was huge and she was terrified. Her brain was refusing to give her a play. She should be able to turn the situation on its head. She should be able to say something that would put him in his place or repel him somehow. She should say something that made her less sexy or something. Anything.

He pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay,” he whispered.

“What do you mean, ‘It’s okay’?” she hissed back. In her experience, a man telling her it was okay was a precursor to something absolutely not okay happening. She didn’t know what kind of control Varner had over her bracelet. He said she knew the rules of the game, but she didn’t feel like she did. It didn’t seem like he and Desmond were working together, but it did seem like Varner had more control over the situation than he showed. He was the MC of the show for pity’s sake.

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“Nothing bad is going to happen tonight,” he said to her soothingly. “I’m your Papa Bear, little Goldilocks.”

They were being filmed. That was why he mentioned his role in the show.

She stopped trembling instantly. “Have you brought any of the other models into this room with you?”

He nodded.

“Which ones?”

“Claudia, Orpah, Clandestine, and you.”

“So, you brought someone here during each afterparty?” she persisted.

He nodded again.

She got up off him. “Sorry, I made a mistake. For a second, I thought I was special to you in some way. You made that big fuss over me on the first day, and you pulled me away from Desmond when I was dancing with him last week and away from Rowan tonight. I thought maybe something was happening between us. Now I see that is not true.”

He tried to pull her back, but she was fast enough to evade him. She thought that was a lucky happenstance. She hadn’t always been lucky.

“Wait, I’m supposed to bring a different woman in here each week,” he tried to explain.

“Yes. I know. It’s for the show. I’m in here with you because it’s for the show. That’s fine. I’m here with you. Would you like me to fix you a drink?”

He moved so he was sitting on the edge of his seat. “Yes. I met with the other contestants because the producers of the show asked me to, but I did it so subtly that you didn’t even know I did it. I carried you in here over my shoulder! Everyone knows I brought you in here. Everyone knows I singled you out. You’re my favorite.”

Ornette hesitated. His speech had been a little moving, but she did not jump into his arms. “Why am I your favorite?”

He would have won harder if he hadn’t hesitated. “I… uh…”

She laughed. “Do I remind you of Goldilocks? Am I a better Goldilocks than Claudia because I’m smaller, like a little girl?”

“Uh…” He tripped over himself again.

“I should tell you right now that I am a woman. I’m also older than Claudia and quite a few of the others. I’m in my forties. I’ve just been in cryostasis so long that I haven’t aged properly. That’s because I’m less popular than the other girls. I’m the least popular of the Sleeping Beauty Inc. models you guys purchased. That’s why I’m number twelve.”

Varner’s face changed.

Perceived value was a serious thing on Venus. What something appeared to be worth meant a lot. He had mistaken her value, but why?

“Why am I your favorite?” she asked, getting on her knees to bring herself to his level like he was a child who needed the adults in his life to be more understanding of his situation. The motion was nothing like a woman abasing herself for a man.

“Maybe you’re not,” he said with a cocky grin. It was a terrible smile. It started with his tongue in his cheek and ended in a flash of white teeth. It was the smile of someone who knew he had the advantage.

Nothing Ornette could do would turn the tables on him. Not really. She could banter. She could pretend to put him down, but in the end, he held all the cards and the only thing protecting her was the fact that they were making a show, so he didn’t want to bloody her up to put her in her place. Nor did he want to screw around with her and ruin her value to the other participants.

“Maybe you’re not special,” he continued, leaning forward and towering over her. “Maybe that’s what I like about you. Maybe I like that you’re the cheapest. Maybe I like that you’ve been sold so many times and you still look like that. You’re not that many ticks below Claudia, you know, and she’s been sold four times. You’ve been sold fourteen times. She won’t look as good as you after she’s been sold fourteen times. You’re made for this kind of thing, aren’t you? Made to be used by a man?” He licked the corner of his mouth suggestively. “It’s hot.”

Ornette had been knocked off her game by the close quarters of his body. She had started trembling in his arms and that had embarrassed her. She leaned forward and whispered, “Do you want to hear a story about what this Goldilocks did to a Papa Bear who took things too far?”

He looked so into her that he was going to start salivating around his fangs like a real bear.

Ornette placed herself next to him on the other side of the armrest of the sofa. She didn’t have to lift herself that far up to put her mouth right in his ear. “One time,” she began. “I had an owner who was in a wheelchair. He got in the habit of shocking me with my bracelet whenever I was slow to respond to his call. His use of my buzzer was so common that he was shocking me several times a day. Finally, I’d had enough. I was nearby. He called me. I stood behind his chair and waited for him to shock me. When he did, I shoved my bracelet and half my arm with it in his mouth.”

Varner gasped. “What happened?”

“I blackened his lips and left marks on his face. He filed a charge against me, but when the evidence was examined, the judge ruled against him for violating our contract. I was dismissed from serving him and Sleeping Beauty Inc. let me go back to work for them without a mark on my record. Except, after this round and being on this show, I’m not going back to Sleeping Beauty Inc. Try me.” She backed off and said in a sing-song voice. “You’re right, I am cheaper than the other girls.”

When she saw Varner’s face at what she said, she couldn’t tell what effect it had had on him. Was he like Fen who wanted to pull her into his arms and let what little love could exist between them take over? Was he like Joel who wanted to make plans, but needed more information before he could make a decision? He didn’t want to get screwed over. Or was he like Hans who just wanted a cheap thrill?

Varner didn’t move at all. He just looked at her like he had no idea what to say.

She sighed. “Thank you. With that out of the way, would you like me to fix you a drink?”

“Yes,” he said like he wasn’t struggling to say what he wanted.

“Would you like it too hot or too cold?” she said bitingly. “Don’t answer that. I know you want it too hot.”

He smiled and gave her a look that let her know he was enjoying himself immensely. “That’s going to make a great sound bite.”

“I know,” she said as she flicked the switch to start the coffee maker.