/Ugh. / Ashton thought as he saw the 'surprise' his parents had left him. Along with the items they had bought, they had hired a whore. She was laying across a crate a rather large crate, staring up at the ceiling. She was very beautiful and clad in the most alluring clothes Ashton had seen. If you could really call them clothing. They were more like pieces of cloth strung together. She must have pleased many people with her charms, but Ashton wasn't one of them. He couldn't explain why, but he wasn't interested in anyone, man or woman. He had to deal with this now before she either over-charged him or actually tried to do her job.

Squashing his disgust and clearing his throat, Ashton spoke to the woman in his business voice. The one he saved it for occasions such as this one. "My parents may have hired you, but your services aren't necessary. I'm willing to pay you a small fee for your time. But then I want you gone."

The woman blinked and looked towards Ashton's general direction. Then she slid off the crate and strode over to him. When she was close enough, Ashton noticed that she wasn't very tall at all. The top of her head only reached his upper chest at best.

Patting his chest, she beamed up at Ashton. "Don't worry. Your parents already paid me. If you don't wanna use me, I'll go. Nice doing business with you," she said casually. She picked up a jacket lying nearby on the ground. Ashton, being the gentleman that he was, helped her put it on. She was shocked at first, but she shook it off with a shrug. The woman was as much a professional as Ashton was.

"Thanks." And she left, closing the door behind her. Ashton sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I need to talk to my family about this," Ashton muttered. �"That was the worst surprise I've ever gotten." And he set to work sorting out the different crates and packages.

/Come on. Come on. Hurry up and get it over with. / Claude mentally urged, tugging on his collar. He was watching and waiting for the right opportunity. /Damnit! Shin, could you go any slower?! Oh no. Not him! Shin, if you dare..! /

"I hope you are satisfied with your purchase. He's already been drugged and he'll be ready once you feed him the contents of that vial. Feel free to beat him around if you like. Just no permanent damage, you hear," Shin commented. "Unless you want to pay a little extra." Shin chuckled and flashed him a cheesy grin. His gripe on Claude's lease loosened as he prepared to hand it over. THAT was the moment Claude had been waiting for.

Claude grabbed a good portion of the rope and yanked backwards. The least flew out of Shin's hands and it flopped over Claude's shoulder. Before Shin or anyone could recover, Claude had turned tail and darted as fast as he could into the crowd. His hands were furiously pulling on the collar, trying to yank it off. The crowd parted as Claude shoved his way through.

"Someone stop that slave!" Shin cried. His face was bright red with anger and there was smoke practically coming out of his ears. "STOP HIM!!!"

Claude wasn't paying any attention to what Shin was saying. All his attention was on putting as much distance between him and Shin as possible. He was so focused on running that he didn't even notice the young man that stepped out of a warehouse and directly into his path.

The two of them collided, kicked up dust, and Claude flew backwards onto his rear. The other man stumbled back a few steps and waved his arms to catch his balance. Claude shook his head and glared at the person that he'd run into.

Ashton groaned and blinked his eyes a few times to stop the spinning. When his vision and head cleared, Ashton found himself gazing into the most amazing blue eyes he'd ever seen. They burned with anger and shot daggers at him. Ashton somehow managed to pull his eyes away and look at the rest of the young man's form. His eyes traveled downwards and he immediately noticed the collar on the young man's neck. It was a slave collar, a sex slave collar to be precise.

Just then, he heard a voice yelling at them. Ashton and the other man turned to see a slightly overweight man running towards them. Following him was a man Ashton recognized as a business partner of his family's, Yarou. He was known for his libido and the cruel way he treated his servants. Ashton was disgusted by him and didn't want to have anything to do with him.

"You there! Don't let that slave get away!" the man in front shouted. The blonde man scowled and scrambled to his feet. Instinctively, Ashton grabbed for the leash trailing behind him. The blonde nearly got away when he was pulled back by Ashton's firm grasp on the rope. He chocked on the collar and fell back onto his rear once more. Ashton looked at the two men coming up to him while the collared man coughed and rubbed his neck.

"I'm going to kill you Shin if you make me sleep with him," the blonde threatened between coughs. "I don't care how much you're getting paid for me. I swear if I have to....."

"That's enough!" Shin shouted, slapping him.

Ashton glanced back and forth between Shin, the blonde, and Yarou. The lust, the hate, and the greed in their eyes helped put the pieces together for Ashton. This Shin guy was the owner of the blonde and he had been recently sold to Yarou for the night.

Ashton felt sick to his stomach at the thought of the collared, young man being sold to the scum that stood before him. His hand tightened on the rope and cleared his throat. He didn't know what was coming over him, but there was something Ashton was sure of. He wasn't letting the blonde go with Yarou anywhere.

"Excuses me gentlemen, but what's going on here?" Ashton inquired. He said the word 'gentlemen' with some heavy sarcasm that couldn't have been missed by anyone. He sill had a firm grasp on the rope and wasn't planning on letting go soon.

�"Nothing that concerns you Anchors. It's just a little business deal," Yarou, replied. The fact that Ashton was the heir to a business partner of his meant that he owed him a bit of respect and courtesy. So he pretended to ignore the sarcasm. "Thank you for catching this trouble maker, but you can be on your way now. Tell your parents I said 'hello' and that we must do business again sometime soon."

"How much did you pay for this one Yarou?" Ashton asked out of the blue. Yarou huffed at being ignored so rudely.

/That little brat needs to be taught a lesson and not smart mouth to his elders like he does. If he wasn't cuddle by his parents like he is, I'd take him out and teach him that lesson. / Yarou thought angrily.

"700. Why do you want to know?�" Ashton inwardly gapped. Yarou paid 700 for a single night!? It was unheard of. Not that Ashton could completely blame him, but what was so special about this guy? He didn't even think that the woman his parents had hired had cost that much.

"I'd like to buy him from you," Ashton stated calmly. He reached into his pocket and felt for his money pouch, while screaming at himself. Why the hell am I doing this?! I must have lost my mind! I'm buying a SEX SLAVE!!!! But, It feels like something I should be doing. "How much to buy him from you?"

Shin smirked as if he had an ace up his sleeve. "There's no way you would be able to afford him," Shin stated firmly. "Claude's worth more than you could possibly have on you."

"Will 7,000 be enough?" Ashton suggested. The amount sent Shin gawking at the amount and Yarou's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Ashton could hardly understand why he was doing this, but the look on all their faces was worth it.

Claude couldn't believe what was happening right in front of him. He had long ago stopped rubbing his neck and stared at Ashton with wide eyes. Ashton happened to look down at his future purchase and the feeling inside him strengthened to push nearly all doubt away.

"I said, 'Will 7,000 be enough?'" he repeated.

"Ye Yeah," Shin managed to stutter out and was going to say more when Ashton cut him off. He wasn't going to back down, but he did want to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Then there are no problems. Here's your money, and you'll be sure to give Yarou a refund, right? Good day and we, I'm sorry to say, won't be doing business again." And Ashton hauled Claude to his feet and led the dazed blonde away with Shin and Yarou staring at the two of them, disbelieving.