other and only hung out in that one spot on the steps to their
rundown apartment building but the weather was getting better
and better so there was no need to go inside. Anisha looked at
her and asked what was wrong as she saw Kim"s gloomy expression.
“I did it” she said, “I did the dude.”
Anisha looked at her in shock “I"m sorry” she said, “trust
me it will wear off in time. It gets easier too” she added.
Kim looked at her with a stern face and said “it doesn"t
need to get easier. It was a onetime thing.”
“I hope so girlfriend” Anisha said with a certain amount of
doubt in her voice.
“I"ve got another joint. Want to share it?” Anisha asked.
Kim nodded. That would help she thought. They talked for a
long time and for the first time Anisha"s job did not come into
the conversation. They hugged as they split and they both went
into their own apartments. Jake came home early and looked
pleased. The deal he had been working on was going well he said. Another week or two and they would be back on track. Then he
would finally get honest work and they could move on. Kim felt
relieved. It helped knowing that the one time would be the only
time. The week went by quickly. Jake had to leave for the week
again getting the deal setup but not really disclosing what it
was about. Kim thought it was probably better not to know. If it
would get them back on track she didn"t care.
They talked on the phone a lot again and it reminded her
about when they had first gotten together. She snickered at the
thought. Here she was sounding to herself like they had been
together for years but really they had only met less than half a
year ago. But it started to feel good again and Jake seemed to
be doing well and was cheerful on the phone. He asked her how
she was doing all the time and more and more she answered that
she missed him, which was true, she did miss him. He told her he
had more to do and wouldn"t be back for a little longer. He had
been gone for almost a week now. They were really close with
rounding things up and he needed a few more days. He would send
her some money. If this would finally be the end of this life
then she could wait a few more days.
Four more days passed. The phone calls with Jake grew
longer and so did the talks with Anisha. Finally when she talked
to Jake that night he told her he would be home tomorrow. She cheered and told him how much she missed him and he told her he
missed her too. The next day Jake got home around noon. They
flew into each other"s arms and hugged as tight as ever.
“How did it go?” she asked.
“Great” he said, “The day after tomorrow I have to meet
with a local guy on Halsted. He is a local pimp with some
connection. He has a money man lined up. Once that is set we are
ready to go and I"ll get paid.”
Kim tried to remember where she had heard about Halsted,
than she remembered. Anisha had told her it was one of the few
places they could still work without too much hassle. The city
had been cracking down on prostitution and most areas had been
cleaned up. Halsted had become the place for street walking. The
next day they spent the morning together in bed and in the
afternoon Jake had some more things to take care of. She wished
he would include her more but she figured he just didn"t want to
bother her with anything after all she had been through in the
last month. She went outside and Anisha was waiting for her.
“Hey, girl” she said, “I thought you weren"t going to
come.” Kim smiled and sat down. Anisha offered up her joint and
Kim declined. She told her about the deal coming together
tomorrow at Halsted.
Anisha looked up “That"s where I usually work. You should
tag along with Jake and say hi. He must be meeting with Travis
there.”
“Who"s Travis?” Kim asked.
“He"s kind of a pimp but doesn"t really have much in the
works of girls. He mostly takes on girls from other pimps. They
pay him twenty percent of the take and he holds the money for
the girls while they are with the Johns. You don"t want too much
cash on you while you are with a John. That"s just asking to be
robbed. But the main part of his service is that he has a group
of local youths running around the area. They can spot a cop a
mile away and warn him. He then warns the girls that use his
services and it keeps them out of jail. I"ve used him for the
last year now and I"ve only seen two of his girls arrested and
they were too hard up for a fix that they didn"t listen to him
when he told them to clear out.”
Kim blinked and thought how whacked this all was but to a
lot of people here it was a way of life. They hadn"t thought about it any differently then she had about the social rules at
school.
“If you tag along tomorrow you should dress the part”
Anisha told her, “It"s best not to stick out like a sore thumb
in an area like Halsted.”
“What if someone asks me?” Kim asked with a shudder.
“You"ll be with your man” Anisha said, “They leave you be
for the most part and the Johns don"t like to draw attention to
themselves so if you just say no they will move on.”
Kim though about it for a bit and had to admit that she was
intrigued about it all. Also she had been confined to her
apartment with Jake gone so much that she was eager for a break
from it. That night as she and Jake watched some TV he told her
that he was meeting Travis at five the next day. Travis had
great contacts and the money man would be there and it was as
good as done. He asked if she wanted to tag along and go out and
celebrate afterwards. She nodded and the next day they got up
late and Jake left to do more of whatever he did during the day.
Kim got some groceries and hung out with Anisha again. She
told her she was going to tag along. She had heard so much about
it and though not interested in ever doing anything she had
gotten curious about the scene. “Don"t expect any glamour” Anisha has said laughing.
At four she went inside and got changed. She wore the short
white skirt and pink top she had worn for Jake a while ago. It
was sexy but not sleazy and it should allow her to blend in she
thought. At four thirty Jake was back to pick her up and
together they drove to Halsted. Once there he parked and they
got out. Jake introduced her to Travis. Travis was a sleazy
looking guy in his mid to late thirties. He wore a lot of gold
rings and chains and wore jeans and a Chicago Bulls Jersey that
was way too big for him. It had been Pippen"s shirt in a
championship game he boasted. Kim said hi and then spotted
Anisha. She looked much different. Usually Anisha wore baggy
jeans and a t-shirt or sweatshirt depending on the weather, now
she was wearing a really tight spandex neon pink skirt with
fishnet stockings and a tiger print tube top and clearly no bra.
Kim excused herself and we
nt to say hi to Anisha. Anisha looked
her over and nodded in approval.
“Not bad” she said smiling.
Kim looked at her and joked “I think I failed in not
sticking out if that is the dress code here.”
Anisha laughed “Never under estimate the convenience of
spandex in this profession” she joked back. “You look great” she said, “Think of it as going for the
high school cheerleader angle. Guys dig that.”
Kim shuddered and laughed off the thought. They chatted as
Jake talked to Travis. An old green Taurus stopped next to them
with the window rolled down.
“How much?” came the question through the window of the
car. Kim stood frozen not knowing how to react.
Anisha quickly leaned into the car and said “Fifty for you,
honey.”
The guy leaned over the passenger seat and looked past
Anisha.
“Not you” he said irritated, “Her” pointing at Kim.
Kim was paralyzed with dread.
Anisha looked at Kim and quickly told the guy “You can"t
afford her.”
He grunted and moved on and Kim and Anisha had trouble
containing their laughter. For some reason the situation had
seemed comical. Then she noticed the discussion between Jake and
Travis was getting heated and Jake was getting very animated.
She walked back to him trying to figure out what was going on
and to calm him down. As she got closer she heard him say “What do you mean he"s
not coming?” he yelled at Travis.
Travis told him that the money man had found a different
investment and all his money was tied up. There was nothing he
could do.
“What does this mean?” Kim asked.
“This means the deal is off and I can"t get Antoine"s money
for him” Jake said angrily while pacing nervously.
“How much do you owe Antoine?” Travis asked nervously.
“Three grand, due in two weeks” Jake said irritated, “But
I"ve run out of options. I can"t get the money and Antoine is
going to kill me” he added.
Travis looked at him puzzled and then said “Man, only three
grand. That piece of ass there with you can get that here in a
week.”
Jake looked at him with fury in his eyes and paused for a
moment then balled his fist and stepped toward Travis ready to
punch him in the face. Kim quickly jumped between them and
stopped Jake.
“He"s right, it"s our only option” she said trying to calm
Jake down. Looked at her and said “you are not hooking” with a stern
voice.
“It"s no different than what I did with Antoine except this
will actually fix things” she heard herself say shocked at the
fact she was suggesting to become a prostitute.
“I don"t want you to” Jake said.
“If I don"t, you will end up dead. I got us into this mess
and I will get us out” she yelled at this point more irritated
with him telling her what to do than shocked with what she was
suggesting.
“No” he said angrily focused on her now instead of Travis.
She looked him sternly in the eye. Then she turned around
and walked to Anisha.
“Do you have any condoms I could borrow?” she asked. Anisha
handed her some with a stunned look on her face.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked.
Kim nodded angrily and turned around. She spotted the green
Taurus that had stopped at some other girl now and walked over
to it. She shoved the girl out of the way and looked into the
window. The driver was a guy in his mid to late forties, balding and fat. He was repulsive she thought but the anger pushed the
repulsion away.
“One hundred” she said sternly.
The girl she had pushed away protested but thought better
of messing with this lunatic and muttered something that
included the word “bitch” then walked away.
The guy looked her over and said “without condom.”
She shook “One hundred with condom” she said sternly.
He thought a few seconds and then unlocked the door. She
got in and he drove around an abandoned building where there was
some privacy. They parked and still fuelled by anger she took
her top off and pulled her panties off from underneath her
skirt. The guy was watching in disbelief with his mouth
watering. He was disgusting and she was determined to get it
over with as fast as possible. She remembered what Anisha had
told her and got him worked up by playing with herself and the
guy started to sweat and squirm. When she thought he was ready
to blow his load she quickly took out his penis and put a condom
on it. Then she leaned over and pulled the lever to recline his
seat. She straddled him and not five seconds later he came
inside of her. She got off him and put her top back on and
picked up her underwear. He collected himself and got rid of the condom. Then he zipped his pants back up and drove back to where
he had picked her up. She still had a look of fury in her eyes.
He was considering arguing about how short it had been but
figured she would go off on him and it hadn"t been her fault he
couldn"t have lasted longer. When they got back she held out her
hand and he put five twenty dollar bills in it. She got out of
the car and slammed the door shut. He drove off as she walked
towards Jake and Travis but shocked at the scene and fearful of
what she might do to them. She still looked furious. She handed
the money to Travis and asked him to hold it for her and thus
accepting his services. She ignored Jake completely and walked
back to Anisha. Anisha just looked at her still stunned.
“Now what?” Kim asked forcefully.
Anisha stammered and then started to explain the tricks of
the trade. Kim got several more inquiries quickly but most moved
on looking for something cheaper or someone who would go without
a condom. Men are stupid pigs she thought. Jake wisely kept his
distance and good half hour later one of the guys that had
thought she was too expensive returned and told her to get in.
She did and fifteen minutes later she was back with another
hundred dollars. She hated herself for doing what she was doing
and felt dirty all over. She was still angry and that helped
keep her mind off the specifics. At least this was voluntary where the rape wasn"t and she had learned to deal with that.
Antoine had been much classier and she had done that but really
it was no different. It wasn"t that big of a step from that to
this she thought.
Traffic picked up in the area and more and more men
stopped. She had six more customers when she called it quits at
eleven o"clock. Anisha was going to hang out for a little longer
and they said goodbye. Travis gave her five hundred and sixty
dollars and kept one hundred and forty himself. She drove home
with Jake not saying a word. When they got home she took a long
shower trying to make herself feel less disgusting but it didn"t
seem to work. After her shower she went to bed alone and Jake
got the message that
he shouldn"t join her.
The next day she woke up after noon and Jake had made
breakfast for her. She sat down and ate. He told her again she
didn"t have to do it but she told him that she just wanted to
get it over with. That night she stayed until midnight and the
next night it had been until two am. Jake had tried to be as
supportive as possible and he had been very appreciative. It
really wasn"t his fault either and she couldn"t stay mad at him.
After the fourth night she counted the money and told Jake
that tomorrow they would have enough. Jake looked at her
somberly. “We have about two thousand in bills due too” he said,
“Between the apartment, the car, and groceries.”
She looked at him in shock.
“Fine” she said angrily, “I"ll work a few more days, but
that"s it. Can"t you get rid of that stupid car?” she asked
irritated.
“It"s a lease, if I cancel the lease it will be more
expensive” he explained sheepishly.
Kim frowned thinking that was odd but since she knew nothing about it she let it go.
Chapter 14:
She continued to work and netted between five and eight
hundred a night. She kept her price up and was not going to do
anything she didn"t want to. She was also not ever going to do
it without a condom she vowed. Jake had offered her more drugs
at times but she declined. She was done with that, that"s what
got her in trouble and she was having none of it anymore. She
felt strong, even though she was disgusted with what she did but
she felt better about herself than she did about her customers.
She had a valid reason for doing this. They were just horny
perverts.
In the late afternoons she would go to work with Anisha
while Jake would go out looking for a job. He still had some
things going on the side and that kept him busy as jobs were
hard to come by. As the next few days went by she realized that
this was their only solid form of income and she started to fear
that she couldn"t stop. She managed to get the money together to
both pay all the bills and to pay of Antoine and that night she
handed five thousand dollars to Jake. He took it and hugged her. “You saved my life” he said and kissed her.
“We need to talk” she said.
He looked at her and they sat down.
“Look, we have no income and before long we are in the shit
The Loverboy Page 11