Deep Blue (3 page)

Whatever happens can’t be worse that what I’ve already been through. I’ll be okay, I know I will.

Moments later, I had lost the fight. With Scout barking in the background excitedly, I fell fast asleep.

I
woke up to the sound of someone humming a cheerful tune. I could hear the damn dog barking too as I stirred in my hay pile. I sat up as quickly as I could and pushed my hair back out of my face. I opened and closed my mouth a few times to try to get the bad taste out, when I heard someone fiddling with the lock on the stall.

“You woke up just in time!” Troy remarked, with a smile. “Here, put this on darlin’. We’re going for a ride.”

A pretty white and blue sundress landed on my lap. I stared at it for about ten seconds before picking it up and throwing back at him.

“Not really my color.”

“I don’t know. I think it suits you, personally. But I can’t have a pissing contest with you about this. I need you to put this on so we can get going,” he said, tossing it back onto my lap.

I balled the dress up ready to throw it back at him, but the stern look on his face stopped me. He closed the door to the stall, crossed his arms over his chest, and watched me.

“Can I at least have some privacy?” I asked, starting to wiggle my denim shorts off.

Troy smiled and walked over to me when I got my shorts to my knees. He pulled out large iron sheers and cut them up the sides so he could pull them off without having to remove the chains. I rolled my eyes; apparently he had thought of almost everything in the few hours I had been asleep and the couple of days I had been unconscious.

“Get changed, little miss,” he said tossing the sheers onto a stack of hay. “We’ll be late if you don’t hurry.”

“Where exactly are we going?” I asked, puling my tank top over my head.

“To the old corral.”

“Why?”

Fuck.
I wound up putting the sundress on inside out. With a sigh of frustration I pulled it off, turned it out, and pulled it over my head again. I tried to lift myself up to shimmy it down over my thighs, but Troy already had the end of the chains in his hands and was scooping me off of the stall floor.

“C’mon Scout,” he called out. The dog barked in reply and ran ahead of us, jumping into the backseat of Troy’s truck.

In anticipation for tonight, the door was open on the passenger side already. As he set me gently down, he quickly tied some rope around my wrists, linking them to the chain. 

“In case you try to get out,” he explained with a sly smile.

“Is this really necessary?” I asked as he closed the door. “Honestly, what kind of birthday present involves me being chained and tied up by someone?”

“It’s more of a trade really,” he said once he got into the driver’s side and pulled his seatbelt on.
That’s nice. At least he’s making sure,
he’s
safe.

“What are you trading?” I asked curiously.

He put the truck in reverse, one arm behind the seat I was in as he turned his body to look out the back window. Once he had sufficient room, to turn the truck to the right and started driving he smiled again.

“You.”

A
n hour later, after driving around the corral area a few times, he pulled onto the grass and parked the truck.

“Here’s how this works,” he started, turning off the truck and sliding the keys into his pocket. “You’re going to be put on display in the old corral and I’ll get to choose who I want instead of you. I know how it sounds, but you’re such a pretty girl Posy. I know I can make a good trade for you. And I’ll see you again some day; you’re just too young for me right now.”

I stared at him. If I was hearing him correctly there were other people in this redneck town that were going to be bringing girls to trade with each other.

“Troy, why would you do this to
me
?” I asked, dangerously close to tears.

“Because I want you back eventually. And the only way for that to happen is to know where you are. Don’t worry. It’ll only be for a little while,” he promised hopping out of the truck and waiting for Scout to jump out.

He walked around to my side and leaned in the window, looking at me as a kind smile crossed his lips.

“If I don’t find anything I like, I can always keep you. I just can’t promise I’ll be able to
not
put you under my stables yet. So, if you think about it, this really is for the best. Now can you promise me that once I take all of that off, you won’t try to run? They shoot the runners around here,” he said moving out of the window and opening the door.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the headrest of the seat. I didn’t even try to stop the tears this time.
They shoot the runners around here.
My only chance of surviving this new hell was to be paraded around like a cattle and hope that someone else wanted me until Troy was ready to have me.

“I want you to go into this with some dignity,” he said, as he undid the chains and tossed them over his shoulder. “I won’t carry you because I trust now that you know what’ll happen if you run, that you’ll behave. Here, take my arm, keep your head up, and remember; I can always keep you if I don’t like what’s being offered.”

Yeah, under your fucking stables.

I swallowed hard and tried to blink back fresh tears. Troy looked at me questioningly as his arm was still hovering waiting for me to take it. I glanced at the group of men around the old corral and the girls that stood next to their owners. They hadn’t seen us yet; I could make a run for it and hope that I could get far enough before any of them tried to shoot me.

I glanced over my shoulder and back at Troy’s arm. I sighed and linked my arm in his. With as crazy as this town seemed to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t some good ole boys hiding in the trees, ready to snipe the first thing that ran.

Troy led me to the group waiting at the old corral area. As the others saw us approaching the men looked me up and down hungrily, while the girls looked at me with anger and resentment in their eyes.

“Ignore them. Just focus on me and it’ll be okay,” he said out of the side of his mouth.

I tightened my hand around his arm as he began to greet the others. I found it comforting somehow to know that the man that wanted to trade me like some kind of livestock was letting me hold onto him for dear life. It was a kindness he really didn’t have to afford me and even though I was stuck in a less than desirable situation, I appreciated it.

“Alright little lady. Go over there with the rest of the girls,” he said after ten minutes. “This should go fairly quickly.”

I nodded and walked over to the other “prizes” that were dressed identically to me. We were all wearing the same sundress in the same color.

I stayed to myself when I heard them whispering that this was all my fault that they were going to be traded again. I clasped my hands in front of me, as one of the men walked into the center of the corral and started giving some kind of twisted speech about a rotation.

I scanned the men for Troy who was leaning over the side of it, one boot up on a rung, making a face at me. I tried to smile but it came across as a grimace, especially since I realized that the man in the middle of it all was done talking.

I kept my eyes trained on Troy like he told me to do when I noticed a man walk up to him and shake his hand. They seemed to be in deep conversation about something, when the man nodded at me and Troy laughed.

Then he nodded and shook the man’s hand. As soon as that was done, the man walked around the corral toward me and introduced himself.

“Hi Posy. May name is Denton and I’m your new owner. Let’s go pretty girl.”

I
was so tired and angry. I was now at my seventh rotation in a new town. After Denton had traded me for one of his girls, he moved us from the town. The next time a rotation came up, we wound up at a new corral and again, I would be moved to a new town. It was always a small, country setting with rustic roots and hillbilly boys.

I had showered before I was brought to the new corral and I pinned my hair back, hoping that my new owner would at least be attractive. My last owner, Lucas was old, dirty, and abused me in more ways than I knew were humanly possible.

Taking a deep breath as the new batch of girls was walking toward me, I scanned the group of men to see which one I would prefer to belong too. Seven fucking years of doing this made me feel as if though I had some right to choose my next owner, even though I knew that wasn’t nor ever would be the case.

I crossed my arms over my chest as some man I had never seen before entered the corral and started the same fucking speech I had heard seven years before. Why everyone was there, what the purpose of this was, and how everyone should choose carefully as there were no take backs or exchanges once a deal was made.

I watched the first girl enter the ring as the men quickly surrounded the corral to get a look at her. She kept her head down and seemed to be trembling, which wasn’t a good thing for her. It made it blatantly obvious that she was new to what was happening and they would be furiously trying to out bargain each other for a chance to break her in.

“Look at you all grown up,” a voice said from behind me.

I whipped around to face the man that was speaking to me, wondering if I would know him. One glance into his deep blue eyes and I had to fight the urge to attack him in front of everyone.

“Troy?” I asked.

“Yes ma’am. Aren’t you even more beautiful than I remember, pretty, pretty Posy,” he remarked with a twinkle in his eye. “How old you are these days?”

“Go fuck yourself,” I replied through grit teeth.

He laughed, a good-natured laugh and reached for my hand. I promptly jerked mine out of his grip and watched his deep blue eyes become excited.

“Oh, you’re definitely ready for me now,” he said in his smoky tone. “Come on. I’m not dealing with this horseshit tonight. Point out who you came with.”

“I said go fuck yourself,” I hissed at him. I wasn’t leaving with Troy. In fact, in that moment of anger, I decided I wasn’t leaving with anyone. Today would be my day of freedom, come hell or high water.

“Remember what I told you?” he asked, moving closer to me. “I told you that I’d get you back eventually. You weren’t ready for me then Posy, but you obviously are now and I’m not gonna let you slip away again. Tell me who you came with so we can get out of here.”

I looked up into his ruggedly handsome face and realized he hadn’t changed at all. He was still the ever polite, country boy who knew what he wanted and would do whatever was necessary to get it.

“His name is Lucas,” I said with a defeated sigh. “He’s that old guy over there standing next to the corral door.”

He gripped my hand firmly in his, leading me away from the girls, leading me toward where Lucas was standing. Once we got to him, Troy pushed me half behind him and began his bargaining. He told him that the only reason he had the pleasure of my company for whatever time he had it for was because he had brought me to my first corral seven years ago. He also told him that he had come empty handed and he didn’t have anything to trade him for me with the exception of a bullet between the eyes.

A solid handshake followed, as expected, and Troy led me out of the livestock parade back to a new truck.

“Yours?” I asked opening the door and hopping into the passenger seat.

“Yeah,” he replied with a laugh. “My farms been doing really well these past few years.”

I pulled my seat belt on and rolled my eyes. I didn’t want him to see that I didn’t care because I had a feeling I could convince him to let me go at some point.

“So tell me how you’ve been,” he continued, putting his truck in drive and turning his eyes to the road.

“Fantastic. Nothing says acceptance like getting abused over and over. Rape seems like a strong word to use right now; I wouldn’t want you to feel bad or anything about what you did to me, but to be honest, I guess when you scream ‘no’ over and over to no avail, it could be classified as such. I think my favorite thing was being told what an ugly whore I am by all of them,” I continued angrily. “Correction; an ugly whore that no one else would fuck so everything I got done to me, I deserved. How have
you
been?”

Troy didn’t speak. I glanced at him and saw the a mixed look of anger, sadness, and disgust on his face. I sighed and turned my attention back to the road ahead of us. Hours passed before he finally said anything and by that point I was contemplating jumping from the moving truck.

“I’m sorry that happened to you, Posy. Those fuckers ... They should have never done that to you. One of the rules is that if the girl says no, then the answer is no. They should have stopped when you told them too.”

“Oh, so there are rules?” I asked incredulously.

“There are always rules, just like with anything in life.” He moved his right hand from the steering wheel and placed it on my leg. “You’re not ugly and you’re not a whore. I’ll prove it to you somehow. Just give me time.”

Troy smiled as I turned my attention back to the road. I don’t know why but I believed him in that moment. What I didn’t know, what no one warned me about, was that Troy was the worst of them all.

“So, when did you grow that?” I asked nodding at his new beard, to change the conversation.

And if I had known that the way he intended to prove to me that I wasn’t an ugly whore was more vile and vicious than anything I could have imagined, I
would
have jumped from the truck right then and there.

3 Weeks Later

T
he loud claps of thunder outside caused the horses in the barn above us to whiny loudly and buck frantically. The sound and weight of their hooves crashing into the floor caused small fragments of wood and slivers of hay to fall down on me. I coughed and wiped my face free of the debris wondering where Troy was hiding. I knew he was in this secret room with me because I could
feel
his presence; I could hear his steady breathing.