Page 14 of Defending Mateo
Five
August 16th
9:36 A.M.
There was still nothing for Ally to do but sit and wait as day three began to tick away.
Shame continued to burn through her after what happened in the shower yesterday, but at least the shakes seemed to have stopped. When that woman from the cell beside hers had leaned in and whispered that the men expected them to touch each other and make each other come, that fighting against it would only lead to trouble, she hadn't believed it.
One look into Mateo’s cold, dark eyes had confirmed it, though.
It was do this or suffer something worse.
Those few sentences the woman had uttered included a warning that the last woman to refuse had been saved from her punishment only because someone had accidentally started a fire in the couch cushions in the guards’ room, and in the commotion of the fire alarm going off, it had been postponed. From what the others assumed, that woman had wound upbeing forced onto her knees while the men each took a turn coming on her, then refused to let her wash up afterward, forcing her to remain covered in their semen.
That sounded worse than the shower, so she did it.
Allowed that woman to touch her, make her come, then touched other women, and made them come. It was disgusting, and she was sure she was never going to feel clean again. It wasn't just that she wasn't attracted to women, she would have felt repulsed even if it had been men, because it was losing her bodily autonomy. Becoming a toy for someone else’s amusement, where her own wants and needs were ignored.
Ignored was something she was used to, something she even prayed for when it came to her school bullies, but she’d never been in a position this bad before. As she sat huddled on the floor, naked now because no one had given her clothes after the shower, and the ones she’d been wearing had been removed, she realized she was waiting for things to get worse.
Thingsalwaysgot worse.
Always.
The cells were quiet, none of the women spoke, and she hadn't been able to engage the one in the cell beside her to answer any more questions. The men walked up and down the row of cells often, laughing and talking. They opened doors and took women down to what she assumed were teaching rooms of some sort. The sounds that came from those rooms made Ally wish for more quiet.
She tried to block it all out. Keeping herself curled into as small a ball as possible was more difficult now that she was naked, and she didn't want to give the men too much of a view of her body. She’d taken to lying on her side, legs still curled up to her chest, but facing the wall, so the men only got a view of her back.
At least except when it was mealtime, and she had to crawl up onto her knees, hands on her thighs, unable to cover her breasts, as she waited head down for her meager meal portion to be delivered.
“Get up, one four zero,” a voice ordered.
One four zero, that was her. Apparently, she didn't even deserve a name in this place, she was relegated to being nothing more than a number. A thing. Something they planned on molding into the perfect slave, then selling. She had no idea how much you got from selling a human being, but it had to be a lot for these men to risk the potential punishments for human trafficking if they were caught.
“Now, one four zero, trust me, you don’t want me to have to come in there and get you,” the voice warned.
No.
Not just a voice.
Mateo’s voice.
Only it was so much colder, harsher, than she was used to.
Afraid of what he might do to her if she didn't comply with his commands, Ally forced herself not to focus on the fact that she was naked and scrambled up to her feet. Did he want her on her knees like at mealtime? He’d told her to get up, but he hadn't specified, and she was terrified of making the wrong choice and being punished for it.
Hesitating for a second, Mateo must have sensed her uncertainty, because he issued another order. “Come to the door, we’re going to begin our training sessions.”
Just like that, the bottom of her world fell away.
From her brief talk to the woman in the cell beside hers, Ally knew she would be assigned a trainer. Of course, a part of her had hoped it would be Mateo, because she wanted to believe that everything between them hadn't been a complete lie, and he’d go easier on her than any of the other men would.
But the other part absolutely did not want him to be her trainer. If he was, then she couldn’t pretend that maybe he wasn't really a part of this, maybe there was some mistake, something she wasn't seeing, that she didn't have the full picture.
“Out,” he barked, and she glanced over to find he’d opened her cell door and was waiting for her.
Since there was no other option than to do what he wanted, she took a tentative step toward him, her body brushing against his as she stepped through the door. Even from the first time they’d met, Mateo had always been a comforting presence to her. He was strong and confident, and somehow he seemed to transfer a little of that to her. Now, though, touching him made her feel like she was going to throw up.
