by Marni Mann
He was tall, like Huck, but he wasn’t nearly as built, and he was probably somewhere around his mid-twenties. His light coloring told me he wasn’t from India.
I’d never seen him before.
When I couldn’t take another step without running into him, I said, “Can I help you with something?”
I’d never spoken to a client. I didn’t even know if I was allowed to. Huck had made it very clear that he didn’t want them anywhere near me. Maybe I would wait for this guy’s response, and then I would kindly ask him to get out of my way.
“How much are you?” he barked.
How much…am I?
He wants to buy me?
He was American. For some reason, that made his question hurt even more.
His stare dropped to my breasts, and he licked across his top lip, showing teeth that were dark and chipped.
I felt like I was going to be sick.
“I’m not for sale.”
When his hand ran across my cheek, I tried to slap it away, but he grabbed both of my wrists with his other hand. He was so much stronger than me.
“Get off me,” I snarled. “Let go of me right now.”
He ignored me, continuing his journey all the way to the other side of my face where he paused at the corner of my mouth.
“I’m not kidding. Get your hands off me, or I’ll—”
He squeezed my cheeks, so I couldn’t open my mouth. “You’ll what? Scream? Looks like you can’t do that now, can you?”
Panic ran through me.
Where’s Lawan? The bouncer? Why is this man touching me, and no one is stopping him?
I looked a little past his body to see where everyone was. Lawan was standing next to her desk, speaking to a client and the girl he had chosen. Her back was to me; therefore, she had no idea this was going on. I looked to the right, and the bouncer was patting down a group of men who had just come in. He was too busy to notice me.
“Mmm,” I tried to hum to get someone’s attention.
A knee jabbed into my stomach, and all the air was kicked out of my body.
“Make another sound, and I’ll shove my fist straight up your cunt.”
I tried inhaling though my nose, but I was so worked up, I couldn’t calm myself enough to let any air in. My body turned numb. Anxiety had completely filled my chest. I was shaking. I was seeing black dots.
He released my cheeks, and I opened my mouth enough to fill my lungs. But air wasn’t the only thing that went inside. His fingers did, too, spreading my jaw as far as it would go. When I tried to make a noise, he pushed down on my tongue and gagged me.
“This one will do,” he said.
My heart rate sped up even more as another man joined us and said, “Think we can carry her back to our motel?”
The new man moved behind me as the first guy continued to inspect my mouth. It watered so badly, saliva dripped off my chin. My nostrils were flaring, and I still wasn’t getting enough air in.
There were hands on my ass that felt around each cheek and down my crack, and they went all the way up my back to my shoulders.
“Yeah, she’s real light,” the grabber said. “I should be able to sling her right over my shoulder.”
With the other guy still holding my wrists, I couldn’t punch. With him still in my mouth, I couldn’t scream. But I could kick, and I did it as hard as I could.
The second my toe hit his leg, the grabber roared into my ear, “No fighting, darlin’, or you’ll force us to get rough with you right here.”
There was no way out of this.
Bile began to churn in my stomach.
“Do we offer a couple of hundred to take her?” the guy in my mouth said.
“That much?” Grabber said. “There’s nothing special about her.”
“Then, I’ll offer them fifty. If they want more, I’ll pick her up, and I’ll walk the fuck out.”
“They won’t stop us. I’ll make sure of that.”
The fingers were suddenly pulled from my mouth, and a hand was slapped over it, so I couldn’t scream. Then, there were arms around me, and I was picked up into the air.
My nose was blocked. It wasn’t allowing any air in. I couldn’t scream. I had nothing to fight with. I couldn’t even wiggle now that he was holding me so tightly. My lungs were pounding. My throat felt thick and tight. Blood was rushing to my head, and the black dots returned.
I was about to pass out.
I needed air.
There wasn’t any.
The black dots were turning into giant circles.
They grew again.
Quickly.
“Put her down,” I heard.
I still felt us moving.
I still didn’t have any air.
But I knew that voice. That gravelly, erotic deep voice.
And then I heard that same voice say, “Put her down right now, or I will fucking gut you right here.”
“He’s got a gun, man.”
I wanted to see the guys’ faces one last time, like I was able to see the man’s face in Mumbai. I wanted to see their hands, like the ones I’d memorized in India.
And I wanted to see Huck’s.
But I saw nothing. Just big globs of black that were filling all the white spots.
My body hit something hard.
Everything inside me bounced.
Then, I hit the hardness again.
I felt pain.
I felt nothing.
The darkness grew until it completely took over.
Huck
“Lawan,” I said, my teeth gritted together so tightly that I could barely speak, “if you come in this room, I will kill you.”
She stood in the doorway, her goddamn eyes filled with tears. “But, sir, I’m so worried about Arin. Is she okay?”
I pressed my body against Arin as she lay motionless and quiet on my bed. “Lawan,” I growled, “shut the door, and go back downstairs.”
“Sir—”
“Lawan, shut the fucking door!”
The door gently closed, and I heard Lawan’s feet move down the hallway, toward the stairs.
I hadn’t been kidding. I wanted to fucking kill that woman.
The security guard, too.
When the feed had come across my monitor, showing a guy with his hands on Arin, I hadn’t looked to see where Lawan and the security guard were. I’d rushed down my stairs as fast as I could, and once he’d dropped Arin on the floor, I’d popped those two motherfuckers in their faces.
Fucking Americans.
They’d be returning home with broken ribs and busted eye sockets. One of them now only had eight fingers, and I was positive the other wouldn’t ever get his hearing back.
I didn’t play games.
I didn’t go soft.
Not when it came to people I cared about.
They’d picked the wrong brothel and the wrong fucking girl.
It wasn’t until I’d gotten Arin in my bed and checked her all out to make sure nothing looked cut or broken that I’d rewound and watched all the feed. When the first guy had come up to Arin, Lawan had been with a client. She hadn’t seen a thing. The security guard had been with a group of guys, and his eyes hadn’t been on Arin either.
Each had been doing their job at the time.
I didn’t fucking care.
I ran a better operation than this. I expected more from my employees.
I’d made a promise to Arin that nothing would happen to her inside or outside of this brothel.
I’d failed her.
Both men had touched her.
And they’d touched her in a place where she should be the safest, in my own fucking lounge.
If the feed hadn’t caught my attention, if I had been in my apartment and not in my office, I might have lost her.
Forever.
The thought of that affected me harder than it should have.
I’d been fucking her every day since the moment she gave me permission. My cock had b
een spending so much time inside her pussy, I’d had her stop sleeping in the guest room, and she now spent every night in my bed. I no longer had to carry her down the hall. If I wanted to touch her cunt, I could. If I wanted to eat it, I just had to duck my head underneath the blanket.
I was enjoying it.
All of it.
And I didn’t know what the fuck that meant.
But I knew, once she woke up, there was a chance all of that could change. From the way those fuckers had put their hands on her, how they’d squeezed her mouth and groped her ass, it could very well bring back memories from Mumbai. Memories she’d been trying to forget. And here, in a place where I knew she had been feeling comfortable, she had almost been trafficked again.
I heard her wince, and her arm moved. Then, the back of her head began rubbing against the pillow. I stayed close, waiting for her eyes to open. It took almost a minute before that happened.
And, once it did, I immediately assured her, “They’re gone. They won’t touch you ever again.” I pushed away the hair that had fallen in her face. “How do you feel?”
Her chest rose slowly, and she exhaled over my face. “What did you do to them?”
I was surprised by her question. I’d figured those men were the last thing she’d want to talk about.
Still, she deserved an honest answer.
“I had two of my security guards beat them down.”
Her eyes roamed over my face. “Are they still alive?”
“Yeah, they’re alive.” I almost fucking laughed. “You thought I’d kill them?”
When she rolled her head to the side, a single tear slid out of the corner of her eye. “I don’t know.” She wiped it away before I had the chance.
I didn’t kill.
I injured when it was necessary, but I’d never fucking kill.
“It’s my fault this happened,” I told her. “I made you a promise, and I—”
“Huck, please stop.” She was looking at me again. She reached for my hand, which now rested on her side, and she lifted it to her face. “It’s not your fault. You were upstairs, working. Lawan was distracted. The security guard was, too.”
“Don’t make excuses for us.”
“I’m not.”
I leaned closer, so she could feel my words, and I cupped her cheek. “When I make a promise, I keep it. There are no exceptions. What happened to you is inexcusable. Besides me, no one in this fucking city has the right to touch you.”
She put her hand on top of mine. “Well, it might just happen again tomorrow because that’s when I’m going back to work.”
This girl was fucking crazy if she thought I’d let her go back in that lounge or anywhere near those clients again.
“No, you’re not.”
“Huck, don’t argue with me.” She sat up a little, and I could tell she was sore but not enough that she made a sound. “They didn’t break me, and the ones before them hadn’t either. I can’t stay locked in a bedroom for the rest of my life. Things are going to happen, and I will deal with them.”
“You’re not working in the brothel,” I growled.
“So, you’re firing me?”
“Yes.”
“Then, I’ll work for free.” She pushed my hand away from her. “You gave me enough to pay for my passport and a plane ticket. I don’t need any more of your money.”
Jesus, this girl. Not even getting assaulted had changed her work ethic. Neither had fucking her boss. She would get up at sunrise every morning and make it down the stairs without my help. She’d stay there until Lawan dismissed her. I was impressed as hell.
That didn’t mean I’d change my mind.
“How long until a new passport arrives?” I asked.
“Two weeks. Maybe less. It depends on how backed up they are.”
I nodded.
I didn’t know what to say.
She had a life in New York. She was going to start a new job in marketing. She was going to be paying off her student loans, so she could move into a bigger apartment. She’d told me that two nights ago.
“You don’t look excited that I’ll be leaving soon.”
I pressed my hand against her navel, circling the soft skin around her belly button. “I’m not.”
She smiled. It was slow and drawn out, but it was there.
I hadn’t been sure if she’d give me one of those for a while, if ever. I was so fucking happy to see it, I kissed her.
“You want me to stay?” she asked as I pulled away.
This answer mattered. It could change things. I had to know exactly what I wanted, and I wasn’t in that place yet.
Things felt good.
But asking her to stay would be permanent. It was something I couldn’t take back. It was putting myself in a position where she could turn me down, and I didn’t want that.
So, I avoided it and said, “I want you in this bed for the rest of the afternoon and all night and all day tomorrow.”
“Huck—”
“If you feel well enough tomorrow night, then we can talk about you doing some work inside my office. But your old position isn’t an option anymore, and don’t you dare try to do it without my permission.”
“That’s fair.”
I nodded, surprised she had given in that easily, and I got up from the bed.
She grabbed my hand before I took a step. “Where are you going?”
“To get you something to eat.”
Her brows pushed together. “Really? Right now? Why are you always trying to feed me?”
“Food will make you strong.”
“Huck, I don’t need food.”
“Then, what do you need?”
“You.” Her voice was so fucking raw. I wanted to rip her clothes off and use my mouth to make her forget anyone but me had ever touched her. “Come lie down with me.”
I got back on the bed and slid my arms around her body. I pressed my face into her hair and breathed her in. I wanted more of this.
That was what I wanted.
But I didn’t tell her that.
The Kid
Before
I know it’s been a while since I’ve written.
I’m sure you know why.
That last letter you sent…damn. It hurt to hear all of that.
A few days would pass, and I’d forget about the things you wrote. Then, I’d sit down to do some homework, I’d see your note on my desk, and it would hurt all over again.
Neither of my parents wanted me.
That’s some heavy shit to swallow.
Knowing it is one thing.
Hearing the details of it is an entirely different thing.
A thing that has kept me up some nights.
A thing that’s changed who I am.
It doesn’t feel good, saying that neither of you got what you wanted.
But it’s the truth.
I was born. I was taken care of. And, somehow, I made it out of the shack.
That’s the part of the story I want to hear.
The part where you and my mother and I were all living in the prison.
Together.
How the fuck did that happen?
Shank
Before
When I’d first come to prison, I used to keep track of the days. But that had quickly turned into a countdown of how many I had left in my sentence, and that number would only piss me off. Anger like that had gotten me sent to solitary confinement, which was the way prisoners were punished. In most jails, it was a smaller cell, no yard time, and twenty-four hours of lockdown. Here, they put you in a hole that had been dug in the ground. It had bars over the top, direct scorching sunlight, bugs, and animal shit.
It’d made me fucking crazy.
I didn’t need that kind of wrath, so I’d stopped counting and asking for the date.
That was why, when I received the kid’s letter, I didn’t know how long it had been since I last heard from him. I guessed it was a ton of months. Christ, probably
more than a year.
The kid had clearly had a lot of shit to work out since I’d told him both of his parents had wanted him dead. And, on top of that, he’d now learned how much of a cunt his mother was.
He’d learn that once again when he read the letter I was about to write.
Out of the story I’d told him so far, this was the part that pissed me off the most.
The part where everything had changed.
Beard, Diego, and I never thought we’d get caught. We’d never planned for what would happen next. We’d certainly never anticipated what actually went down in the end.
I sure as hell hadn’t expected a skinny, average-looking woman with a pussy that wasn’t even all that tight to destroy us.
But she had.
I found my paper and pen in the corner of my cell. The shit had so much dust on it, I had to blow it off before I began writing.
You see, kid, things changed once you were born. You became Toy’s obsession, and he turned mushy and protective as hell. He was so fucking happy to be living in the shack with you. You were all he saw, all he talked about, all he wanted.
It should have bothered me. Hell, it should have made me jealous.
It didn’t.
Even if the reason was you and not me, I enjoyed seeing him smiling all the time, not using drugs, not drinking. He was back to being the guy I’d met in the Gaslamp Quarter.
Your mother wasn’t like Toy. Some days, she wouldn’t even hold you when she was feeding you. Toy would have to press your lips against her tit, and you’d suck from it. But that changed, and she eventually accepted you, even started loving you, and she and Toy were fucking co-parenting—or whatever that shit was called.
I told Toy not to trust that cunt.
I told him not to let her spend so much time outside the cage.
I told him, the second she had a chance, she’d take that baby and bolt.
I was fucking right.
That bitch escaped in the middle of the night without even leaving a goddamn trace.
She’d gotten smarter since I found her in her East Coast apartment. She now knew how to hide, and she did a hell of a good job at it. I couldn’t find her anywhere, and neither could my PI.
