Given Read Online Free Page B

who were forced into government protection; stories of
men taking young girls and women against their will and selling them to the
highest bidder. Were men like those waiting somewhere, planning to seize her
before she arrived to her six’s private security?
    Shaking off the morbid fear, Kristannie focused on trying to remember the time before her mother died. She’d ridden in
the back of her mother’s car and looked out at the big world beyond the glass.
She could remember her mother singing to the radio and laughing while she
drove. She thought her mother’s name was Alicia, but she couldn’t remember for
sure, and her records were sealed. The new laws prevented her from knowing anything
about her past. She was property after all, government issued. A tear trailed
down her cheek.
    * * * *
    “Stop fidgeting, Jared.”
    “Christ almighty, Max, calm down. We’re all nervous, lay off
the kid,” Brax said.
    “He’s only a year younger than I am, it’s not like
twenty-two makes him a child. We need to pull it together so they don’t decide
we can’t handle this,” Damon growled gruffly, defending his younger brother.
    “I, for one, can’t wait to feel her. Finally, boys, we lose
our virginity tonight! A real living woman—and she’s ours.” DeAnthony gave a joyous whoop. His friends
chuckled nervously. The two bodyguards they’d hired stood armed and silent,
watching the assembled crowd. Giving Day always brought a crowd of curious men
and protesters.
    “Women have rights! God gave Eve to Adam, not to six!”
shouted a protestor who came too close to the waiting men. A police officer
ushered him back behind a barrier.
    “Equality for all men!” The angry
man stepped back toward the waiting six. Two police officers escorted the
outraged man back behind the line again.
    “You can’t blame them.” The other five men turned to look at
Braxton with horrified expressions.
    “So what are you saying? You want to give up your share to
that guy?” Malcolm joked.
    “How would you feel if you didn’t qualify, Mal? We’ve never
had the chance to touch a woman. Old porno is the closest we’ve ever gotten to
having sex with one. Most of these protesters probably don’t qualify for the
lottery. If they’re not gay, they’ll likely die without having sex. The old
guys who lost wives or girlfriends have been without for almost twenty years.
Granted, they sell some very lifelike devices, but I’ve heard they don’t
compare to the real thing. I guess we’ll find out soon.” Braxton’s tone was
serious as always.
    Mal shrugged, playful as usual. “There are so many
girl-boys—you know, the passers, the guys passing themselves off as
girls—moving here from economically poor countries, these angry assholes might
as well spend their time at the airport waiting for planes. That’ll get them a
lot closer to sex than wrecking the happiest day of our lives. Remember when
these things were full of clapping and handshaking instead of tension?”
    “Those days are over. Let’s just be glad we were drawn and
let the other guys worry about lifelike rubber and passers,” Max grumbled.
    “She’s here.” Jared’s words came out in a whoosh of
anticipation. They watched the black SUV with tinted windows as it pulled up to
the front of the building. They stood in front of the grand capital tense, quiet—waiting.
    A uniformed solider opened the front passenger side door and
stood, surveying the crowd. He opened the back door. Max sucked in a deep
breath and the sound broke the spell the other five men seemed to be under.
    The crowd suddenly began shouting and the rabble of voices
grew chaotic. The six men turned to watch a tall, grubby-looking man sprinting
across the green grass of the capital lawn, running toward the SUV and their
woman. A police officer tackled the man and the two rolled onto the ground.
More officers swarmed the desperate man.
    “I just want to touch her!” the wild-eyed man wailed as