The Loverboy

by Miel Vermeulen

  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