*I couldn't even stand up anymore and fell to my knees. Even if I'd tried to talk, I would have been completely incoherent.
"How pathetic," I heard Karyn say. I looked up at her, daggers shooting from my eyes. I wanted to kill this bitch right now. Fuck Jon and his attempts to save her. Karyn Black was beyond redemption. She was a blight and she had to be stopped. I just couldn't bring myself to move. Rachel had been more or less innocent in this. I looked down at the crumpled mass of muscle and bone and couldn't help but think that it should have been me.
"Now, we really have to do something about you," she said rather calmly. "After all, I can't have you getting in my way." I cursed myself for the fear that illuminated my eye. She shook her head and smiled. "Oh, I think not," she said, gesturing toward the remains of my friend. "Rachel's death was a mercy. She felt almost no pain you know. You on the other hand don't get to be quite so lucky Natalie." She shook her head again. "I'm going to make you suffer until the end of time for what you've done, but for the moment I just need you out of the way."
I closed my eyes as she started to wish. Even if I'd been strong enough to attempt something, there wouldn't have been time. I heard her say, "I wish " and then her voice trailed off into a whisper that I couldn't hear anymore. With no idea as to what I was about to face, I held my eyes shut tightly and prepared for oblivion as my world went dark.
The last thing I could remember was wishing, against all prior evidence, that Malcolm were here to help.*
It was a cold night in the city and I hated the cold more than just about anything else I could think of at the moment. Arms across my chest, trying to maintain what little warmth I could, I sucked on the end of my cigarette as I watched people go about their business. Once, it seemed like a lifetime ago, I'd had a normal life. I'd had a family and friends and, as much as I'd hated it then, right now I'd have given anything to be back behind a desk in the classroom. It wasn't going to happen; I had long ago come to accept that. It didn't stop me from wanting it though. Taking another drag, I tried to suppress the shivers that were coursing their way up and down my body. Glancing down I could see the goose pimples on my arms and somehow just noticing them made me feel even colder. Flicking my ashes, I returned my attention to the people who were passing me by. It wasn't supposed to have gone this way. When I'd left home Well, when I'd left home I'd been nothing but a stupid thirteen year old girl who'd thought she'd known everything.
How wrong I'd been.
Now, even if I wanted to go home, I'd never be able to afford it. Even a simple bus ticket was beyond my meager means. A sigh escaped my lips as I took another drag. It was getting late, probably about six in the morning if the slowly brightening sky was any indication. I dropped the cigarette butt on the sidewalk and stubbed it out with the toe of my black heels. Trying to turn my attention to something more immediate, lest I spend the entire day dwelling in the forgiving land of the past, I reached into the little black purse that was slung over my shoulder and dug around until I found what I was looking for. As my fingers gathered every folded and crumpled piece of paper they could find, I turned and started walking. Occasionally glancing back over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being followed, I eventually turned into a convenient alley. When I was certain I was alone, I pulled out the paper. When I'd counted up the money I'd made last night it came out to nearly fifty dollars. It hadn't been a stellar night, but I supposed it hadn't been too bad either.
Stepping back out into the world, the cash back in my purse, I waited until there was a break in the traffic and took the opportunity to cross the street. Safely on the other side, I lit another cigarette and made my way down the sidewalk. As I walked I kept my head down and avoided the gazes of others. City life wasn't easy and it never paid to draw attention to yourself. That was a lesson I'd learned the hard way. As I walked, the motion helping to warm my trembling flesh, I did my best to concentrate on the business at hand. Soon my day would end and I'd be able to get some rest, but first there was one last unpleasant detail to attend to.
Finally I came to the apartment building. Walking into the entry and redoubling my effort to avoid notice, I slowly climbed the stairs. About halfway up, I felt a hand wrap around my wrist. Slowly I turned and directed my attention downward. Standing a few stairs below me was a man who was probably in his mid thirties. His hair was scraggly and looked unwashed and his clothes were torn and ragged. Even before he spoke, I could smell the alcohol on his breath, and the faraway look in his cobalt eyes told me he was probably strung out on more than just booze. When his mouth opened in a leer, his rows of worn and broken teeth came into view.
"Hey pretty," he managed to slur. "How's 'bout you and me have a little fun?" He gripped my wrist tighter and his leer turned into a grin. You didn't get far in my line of work if you let yourself get hung up on stupid little things like physical appearance, but right now I just wasn't in the mood. Besides, I seriously doubted he had a dime to his name.
I pulled my arm away with enough force to loosen his grip. Honestly, had he been at the top of his game I doubted I could have broken away. Fortunately he wasn't. "Get lost," I said loudly as I continued up the stairs. A quick look over my shoulder showed me that he'd all but forgotten about me the instant I'd started walking away. He was slumped down, sitting on the step he'd been standing on before, and mumbling to himself about something or other.
Steeling myself for what I knew would come, I made my way down the hall at the top and stopped in front of the apartment I'd become so familiar with over the last three years. Taking a deep breath, I knocked twice. A moment later, the door opened. A tall, rather bulky man stood on the other side. When he looked down and saw me standing there, Jacob nodded and led me inside. I was pretty certain that in all the time I'd been here I'd never heard him so much as mumble a single syllable under his breath. I followed him into a rather rundown, smoke filled room. In the air I could smell the two things that hung in the atmosphere dominating everything else. They were alcohol and sex.
Christian was sitting on the couch against the far wall and there were others here too. Christian was relatively young, probably in his early twenties though I'd never bothered asking his age. He had short dark hair and a rather lean build. He also had a kind of charisma about him. It was a quality that made you want to listen to him. He had a bottle of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. It was dim in the room, but I could see a certain twinkle in his emerald eyes. He smiled as he saw me come into the room. I smiled back. He had that affect on me. Honestly I would have fucked him in a heartbeat, for free, but he had this rule about sampling his own merchandise.
"My favorite girl," he said softly. His voice was a smooth as oil. The other people in the room didn't seem to react, except for the man who was standing in the corner. He was tall, dressed in a rather casual looking black suit. His hair was dark and he had a certain appeal about him. Nobody else seemed to be paying him any attention, and as I turned my focus back on Christian, I couldn't help but think somewhere in the back of my mind that he seemed familiar.
"Not my best night," I told him as I crossed the room. I reached into my purse and pulled the money out. As I did that, I also lit another cigarette. The man in the corner seemed okay. If nothing else he seemed like he was amused by something. The other two in the room, save for Jacob, gave me the willies though. I guess it was kind of the way they were watching me like I was the most important thing in the world. I did my best to not let them see how much they were creeping me out.
I laid the money on the table. Christian leaned forward and took it in his hands. When he'd finished counting it, he looked back up at me. It was clear that he wasn't happy, but he wasn't going to take it out on me. I had to admit that I'd gotten lucky in that department. When I'd first come to the city with nothing more than the clothes on my back, he'd taken me in. Sometimes, when business was slow and the John's didn't seem to be biting, I'd talk to the other girls and they'd tell me horror stories about how their pimps beat them. Christian had never laid a finger on me.
He tilted his head. "Something is better than nothing." He took a deep breath. "Here's your cut," and he handed me back fifteen dollars.
"And?" I prodded a little more anxiously than I'd have liked.
"Of course," he said. He turned to his bodyguard, "Jacob?"
The rather bulky man with the shaved head nodded and disappeared into another room. A few moments later he returned and placed a little baggy of white powder in my hand. I wrapped my fist around it tightly, anticipation building. This was what I'd really been waiting for, and the reason that I kept coming back. The money was nice, scant as it might have been, but this was what I needed.
I started to turn and leave but Christian cleared his throat, stopping me in my tracks. I turned slowly.
"Why the hurry?" he asked carefully.
"Just wanna get home and get some rest," I told him. "Wanna be ready for tonight."
"Have a seat," he said, and it wasn't a request. Unsurely, I made my across the room and sat down on the couch next to him. "Have a drink dear," he said, handing me a bottle of the same beer he was drinking. Shrugging, wondering what the hell was going on, I opened the cap and took a long drink. He glanced down at the baggy in my hands. "Please, you don't have to wait on my account."
"Okay," I said slowly. Truth be told I really didn't think I could wait any longer anyway. I'd been craving it so badly the last few hours that I thought I was going to go crazy. It had taken everything I'd had to hold it together this long. Slowly I opened the bag and dumped some of the powder out on the table.
"Let me help," he said leaning in and cutting it into a couple of thin lines.
"Thanks," I said softly. I took one of the dollar bills and rolled it up until I had a rather effective makeshift straw. Looking back at him one more time, a little off-put by the look on his face, I leaned in and snorted both lines. A calm came over me and I leaned back on the couch, a lazy grin crossing my lips. Everything that had been bothering me up until that point seemed to float away. I happened to glance over at the tall man in the corner and he gave me a rather goofy smile and winked. I tried not to laugh.
"These gentlemen came here specifically to see you," Christian said with a smile.
"How sweet," I said in a lazy manner that matched the smile on my face. I looked over at the other two men who were sitting in chairs across the room. One looked a little older, probably approaching forty with streaks of grey crisscrossing his otherwise black hair and the younger one had short blond hair. Both of them were dressed entirely in black from neck to toe. Any other time I might have thought that a little strange, but I wasn't exactly in my right mind. The older one introduced himself as Carl, and the younger one told me his name was James. I nodded at them and absentmindedly snuggled against Christian.
I couldn't remember much of the next several moments, but I did manage to latch onto bits and pieces as they spoke to each other.
Carl, " looker . Just sixteen?"
Christian, "So she says thirteen when she came to me three years ago "
James, " sure this is her "
Carl, "Has to be. She's ."
James, "But just a hooker "
Carl, "Nevertheless what we were told "
Christian, " talk payment then "
Maybe it was a reflex, but when I heard the word payment, my body seemed to move of its own accord, like it was on auto pilot. Probably because payment in my world was always accompanied by one thing. Without even realizing what I was doing, I found myself kneeling on the floor in front of Carl. Somewhere between the couch and the floor I'd slid the straps of my black halter top down over my shoulders, giving the two gentlemen a nice view of my breasts.
My hand was on his crotch now and his eyes were closed. I could feel him hardening beneath his pants and I smiled up at him. In another minute I'd undid his fly and taken his cock out. Holding it tightly in my hand, I was just about to kiss the head when he said something that dropped me right back into reality.
He was looking at me when he said it, his eyes open now. There was a certain level of surprise in them. As my lips touched the tip of his member, he whispered, "You're really Natalie Gibson?"
