The more Trina had to work, the more she grew to detest what she did for a living; having to have sex with repulsive, smelly men who talked down to her and treated her roughly. And she felt resentful towards Shelley who hadn’t told her any of this when she had enticed her into prostitution, probably so she’d have someone to help with the bills.
That night when Trina arrived at her usual spot, it took a whole half hour until she got her first customer. The night was chilly. Trina was wearing a short skirt to show off her long, toned legs and a bomber jacket with the zipper half open, revealing her cleavage. Her clothing didn’t protect her very well from the cold weather and she was glad to get inside the stranger’s car and warm her frozen thighs.
When the man brought her back, Trina asked him to drop her further up the road. She knew she wouldn’t get much custom in her usual spot at this time in the evening so she wanted to stand nearer the centre of the red-light district where it was a bit busier. The other girls wouldn’t like it, but she’d just have to take her chances.
Trina hadn’t been there long when a hard-looking, petite blonde got out of a car and approached her. ‘You here again?’ she asked. ‘I thought I’d fuckin’ told you to hop it the other night.’
Trina scrutinised the girl who was so thin and frail looking that a gust of wind could easily have carried her away. There was no way she was going to let a skinny cow like this one intimidate her. Besides, she had to be where it was busy; she needed the money.
‘And I told you to stick it,’ she said. ‘I’ve just as much fuckin’ right to stand here as you have!’
‘Oh, have you?’ said the blonde. ‘We’ll soon fuckin’ see about that!’
Trina ignored her and for a few minutes they competed for custom. Trina won the battle and she smiled smugly at the girl as her client sped away with her sitting in the passenger seat of his car. As Trina got down to business, she shrugged off the girl’s threat.
It wasn’t until she returned to the spot and the customer had driven away that the girl returned. But this time she wasn’t alone. Trina gulped as she sized up the girl’s friends. There were three of them and they were all substantially bigger than the blonde. Not only that, but they were carrying baseball bats. As she looked at the hostile expression on the face of the petite blonde, and saw her friends close in behind her, Trina knew she had a problem.
‘This is her, the cheeky bitch!’ said the blonde, pointing Trina out to a big girl with mousy hair, coarse features and a heavy, aggressive stride.
The big girl looked vaguely recognisable and as she stepped forward Trina guessed that she must have been their leader. Trina barely had a chance to register the appearances of the other girls as the leader sped towards her, yelling abuse and waving her baseball bat.
‘It’s OK, I’ll go, I’ll go,’ yelled Trina, instinctively raising her arms above her head for protection.
But there was no time to escape or to talk her way out of things. Before she knew it, the girls had crowded round her and were beating her with their weapons. Trina felt the stinging blows to her arms, legs and back. Unable to dodge them, she crouched low to protect most of her body from the vicious attack. But she still felt the heavy impact of the baseball bats as each agonising strike sent waves of pain shooting through her.
Trina howled and pleaded with the girls to leave her alone. Her head was face down with her arms covering it and, although she couldn’t see much, she could sense everything. Trina knew there was no point in fighting back; she was no match for four baseball bats, and raising her arms would just leave her more exposed. While the savage beating was taking place, Trina also felt a hand snaking through her pockets. Her heart plummeted as they reached inside her jacket and pulled out her cash.
Although the hiding was over in a couple of minutes, it seemed to last forever. Just as Trina felt she couldn’t take any more she heard the sound of screeching tyres and the girls fled.
She remained crouched on the ground, her arms still trying to protect her head and face, afraid that the assault wasn’t finished. Trina shuddered as she heard footsteps approaching. Then her sore and tender back stiffened as she prepared for another blow. But instead she heard the gruff sound of a man’s voice.
‘You alright, love?’
She looked up to see the imperfect features of a stranger hovering over her. Behind him was a car parked on the edge of the pavement, the lights still on and the driver’s door open. She guessed he was a punter who had been kerb crawling. Feeling vulnerable, Trina got unsteadily to her feet while the man helped to support her.
‘Jesus, they’ve given you a good going over, haven’t they?’ said the man.
Trina shrugged off his attentions, physically removing his hands from under her arms where he had been holding her. Then she straightened herself up.
‘Yeah, but I’m OK.’
‘You don’t look it, love. Come on, let me drive you home.’
But Trina didn’t trust him. People didn’t do you favours for nothing in her world. ‘No, I’m fine. I can get myself home. I don’t live far.’
Trina backed away from the man then turned and walked off, feeling his eyes still on her for several seconds. Then she heard the sound of the man walking away followed by the slamming of a car door. She felt relieved. The unwanted attention from a stranger had put her on edge at a time when she was already feeling so defenceless.
She’d tried her best to remain upright as the man watched her but once she knew he was out of the way she gave in to the intense pain. She could feel it all over her body, even her face which she’d tried so hard to protect, and her nose was pumping blood. As she hobbled away, she became aware of more and more bruised and tender areas on her body. It felt as though each part of her was being hammered like a set of drums reaching a crescendo; the throbbing beat rapid and frenzied.
Trina felt sore, defeated and humiliated. It brought to mind that other time she’d been attacked when only a child, and she subconsciously fingered the scar on her cheek. Feeling the sting of a bruise she fought hard to contain her tears, silently cursing the cruelty of the girls and of those who had marked her once before.
When Trina reached home and examined her injuries, she was shocked. Her arms, legs and back were a mass of bruises. There was also a bruise on her left cheek in the same place as her scar and a cut on her wrist where a particularly hard blow had broken the skin. A trickle of blood was still coming from her nose.
The sight shook her and she could no longer hold back her tears. Hating herself for being so weak, she sat down on the edge of the bed and gave in to her emotions. Feeling sorry for herself as well as angry with the girls, she wondered desperately where she would go from here.
But her self-pity didn’t last long because Trina was a fighter. She knew she couldn’t go back to working the same patch. There was too much risk of running into the vicious bunch of girls again and, although Trina felt afraid, she tried not to admit it to herself. Instead, she reasoned that too many bruises were bad for business and losing her earnings just didn’t make financial sense.
Trina therefore decided to try a new patch altogether. She’d heard mixed reports about Manchester. Aytoun Street was a good place to try from what she’d been told so maybe she would start there. She knew there would still be risks but there was no way she was going to leave herself so vulnerable again.
Trina had already had enough of troublesome clients even before the attack by the other prostitutes and she wasn’t prepared to take shit from anyone any more. So she’d do what she should have done a long time ago and make sure she carried a weapon. And as anger from tonight’s attack gripped her, Trina knew that, if necessary, she would be prepared to use it.
43
December 1998
It was during Trina’s second night on Aytoun Street that she noticed another young girl watching her. She was obviously a street girl; her provocative clothing and gaudy makeup gave her away. Trina immediately became wary, thoughts of
her beating at the hands of the group of prostitutes never far from her mind.
Trina weighed up her chances if things should turn nasty. The girl was only of average height so Trina wasn’t worried about her. But what if she had friends nearby?
When the girl walked over Trina braced herself for an encounter. ‘You new to this patch?’ she asked.
‘Yeah,’ said Trina.
‘What’s your name?’ she asked.
Trina whispered her name, remembering Shelley’s rules never to let a client know her real name.
‘Is that what the clients call you?’ asked the girl.
‘No, it’s my real name but they don’t know that.’
‘I’m Laura,’ said the other girl, ‘but the clients don’t know that either. You got a pimp?’ she asked.
‘No!’ said Trina.
‘You’re joking, aren’t you? You can’t work this patch and not have a pimp. It’s way too fuckin’ dangerous.’
‘I’ve managed up to now,’ said Trina with her usual bravado.
‘I know someone you could work for,’ said Laura. ‘He well looks after us. I can introduce you if you like.’
Trina thought for a moment. It would mean having even less money to herself and she didn’t really like the idea of giving some of her earnings to a man. But then she reflected back on her beating at the hands of the other prostitutes and the difficult clients she’d had to deal with. She was tempted by Laura’s suggestion but didn’t know how she’d manage financially.
‘I can’t afford one. I’m already in the shit with money.’
‘How come?’
‘My flatmate pissed off and left me in a load of debt.’
‘Really? Does that mean you’ve got a room to spare?’ asked Laura.
‘Yeah.’
‘Where?’
‘Whalley Range.’
‘Oh, yeah. Well, it looks like it’s your lucky day then cos I’m looking for somewhere to live. How much are you charging?’
‘Half the rent of four hundred a month plus half the bills.’
Trina wished she hadn’t said anything. After all, she’d only just met this girl and didn’t know anything about her. But, there again, she was desperate. Although she’d been working long hours, she still hadn’t paid off all the debts or replaced all the things Shelley had taken. Laura seemed alright, and she was certainly a lot friendlier than the prostitutes she’d met in Whalley Range. And, surely, she couldn’t be any worse than Shelley?
‘OK,’ she said. ‘Do you want to come and see it? Oh, and you’d have to buy your own food as well.’
‘Sure. Is tomorrow OK?’
‘Yeah, about three o’clock.’
‘OK. Do you want to meet my pimp as well?’
‘Yeah, could do.’
‘OK, I tell you what, you give me the address of your place. I’ll come round about half four or five and then take you to the Rose and Crown about six o’clock. A lot of us meet in there before we go to work and my pimp’s always there. I’ll take you over to him.’
‘OK,’ said Trina, managing a smile. This girl didn’t seem too bad after all.
*
It was the following night and Trina and Laura were on their way to the Rose and Crown. Laura had already visited Trina’s flat and, after showing her round, they had both decided that Laura would become Trina’s new flatmate.
Trina had taken to Laura straightaway. She had a friendly, down to earth way about her and was easy to get along with. Trina could tell that, despite Laura having been on the game for a few months, she was still naïve in many ways. Having stayed on her friend’s sofas for the past few months she didn’t know much about running her own place and was still getting used to the adult world just like Trina was. Trina also realised that she had a far more dominant personality than Laura and she somehow felt that living with her wasn’t going to be a problem.
They soon arrived at the Rose and Crown and Trina followed Laura inside. It was an old pub with dated furniture and an interesting mix of customers, who Trina’s Aunty Tamara would have referred to as ‘characters’. It also smelt of cannabis. Trina recognised the peculiar odour from some of her clients who smoked it. But none of that bothered her. She was used to this type of pub as she’d been to a few in Whalley Range, which had a similar clientele.
As soon as they got inside, Laura strode up to the bar where she joined a tall, skinny guy. ‘Hi, Gilly. I’ve got someone to introduce you to,’ she said, an ingratiating smile on her face. ‘This is Trina and she’d like to come and work with us.’
Trina wished Laura hadn’t have said that. It put her in a difficult position straightaway as she hadn’t made her decision yet.
Gilly surveyed Trina from head to toe and she became conscious of his eyes roaming from her face to her breasts and then her thighs before travelling back up her body and finally making eye contact.
‘Nice,’ he said. ‘What you having to drink, Trina?’
Trina replied abruptly, ‘Lager.’
She had taken an instant dislike to this man. His cocky attitude. The way he looked at her. The way he spoke. And his smug good looks. While he had been inspecting her, she had also been examining him. He was definitely a looker but, even if she’d have been interested in men, he wouldn’t have appealed. There was something superior about him. Although he was dressed scruffily and tried to talk street, his refined accent spoke of a different class and gave away his background.
And the way he looked at her was dismissive. She felt just like a piece of meat for sale and he made no attempt to hide the fact that, in his eyes, that’s exactly what she was. As soon as the drinks were served, he grabbed his own and left the girls’ drinks on the bar for them to fetch.
‘Come on. We’ll go and sit at a table and have a chat,’ he said, matter-of-factly.
Then, once Trina had joined him, he laid out the rules: what she should charge, how much she would earn, the hours she was expected to work and so on. Trina listened, but didn’t take it all in. There was a lot of information and Gilly was whizzing through it too fast.
‘Oh, and you’ll have to change your name,’ he said. ‘I like my girls to sound exotic. That’s why we chose the name Crystal for Laura. So, I think the name of a precious stone would be good, something like Sapphire, Emerald or Ruby. What do you think?’
‘Ruby,’ Trina answered straightaway, thinking of her precious necklace that Shelley had stolen.
‘Nice one,’ said Gilly before briefly mentioning his role as protector then holding his hand out for Trina to shake.
‘You on board then?’ he asked.
Trina hesitated a moment. But then she saw the encouraging smile on the face of her new-found friend and thought about the dangers of the street to a girl of seventeen. And something about the name Ruby drew her in; it made her feel special. She was now part of a group instead of being on her own.
‘OK,’ she said.
But she’d already decided this wasn’t necessarily going to be a permanent arrangement. She’d gone it alone before, but she was nervous at the moment after her recent attack. She hated the thought of having to rely on a man to fight her battles so she’d use Gilly’s protection for now and see how it went. Then, if things didn’t work out, she’d drop him and go back to working the streets on her own. After all, just because she’d agreed to work for him for now, it didn’t mean she had to work for him forever.
44
January 2009
A few months after the client assault on Pammy, there was another significant visit to the club. This time, the visit involved two men rather than one. Tall, dark, good-looking and just a few years older than her, Ruby recognised them instantly even though she hadn’t seen them for years. It was her cousins Josh and Calvin, and the shocked expressions on their faces told Ruby they also recognised her.
Ruby greeted them enthusiastically, pleased not so much at seeing them, but at the fact that she was now in a position of power. She still recalled their p
utdowns when she was a child and it felt good to be able to show them what she had achieved. Despite the feeling of exasperation that they had always engendered in her, she welcomed them with a smile.
‘Hi, long time, no see. How are you two doing?’
‘Good,’ said Calvin, and Ruby could see that they were still sporting their designer gear and were heavily decked out in expensive-looking jewellery.
Just then a regular client approached the desk. ‘Excuse me a minute,’ she said to her cousins while she checked the man in on the computer and directed him to the room of the girl he had booked.
Her manner was professional and the man was courteous and friendly towards her. While she was tending to him, she could see her cousins exchange looks, as though they were impressed with her status and the respect she commanded.
Once she had dealt with the man, she turned her attention back to her cousins. ‘What are you up to nowadays?’ she asked although she already knew the answer. She’d heard the rumours that they were now running a gang and were involved in all sorts of illegal operations.
‘This and that,’ said Calvin while Josh remained tight-lipped, seemingly embarrassed at being spotted in such a place by a member of his family.
‘Good, well it looks as though it’s paying off anyway,’ she said, curling a finger under one of Calvin’s gold chains and lifting it towards her to examine.
‘Oh yeah, it always does,’ said Calvin. ‘Anyway, what about you? Is this your place?’
‘Sort of. I’m the manager and I have half the profits. I’ve just bought my own house too.’
‘Really?’ asked Josh, his embarrassment temporarily forgotten. ‘Where are you living?’
‘Altrincham,’ said Ruby, smugly.
‘Wow! Nice one. And how did you cop for this?’ he asked, his eyes taking in his surroundings.
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