Skin Game

by Lawrence C. Ross

  “What?”

  “That’s the point,” she responded. “No one knows what happens to old strippers. They go back into society, having saved nothing out of this shit, and gained nothing from this shit. If I go, Sean will simply find another bitch to shake her ass, and he’ll make money. There’s no pension in stripping, baby, and if you’re smart, and you are a smart girl, you’ll get out as soon as you can. You can do better, but you don’t want to be me.”

  Debra stared back at the mirror, dabbing away a tear that was streaking down her face. She tried nonchalantly to put on her makeup.

  “But in the meantime, I’ll shake my ass as long as Sean will let me. But just know that I don’t blame you.”

  “Thanks, Debra,” Keisha said, sitting in her chair. “So, how much did you make today?”

  Debra stopped putting on her makeup and smiled. “Bitch, didn’t I tell you to stay out of my money?”

  Keisha laughed. “Why it gotta be all that?”

  “Because that’s how we bitches roll,” Debra said, laughing. “My money is my money.”

  “Believe that!” Keisha said, picking up her duffle bag. “See ya next week, Debra.”

  Patra was in the parking lot, waiting for Keisha. She’d finished her night at the Chi Chi Room early and had gone to another club to dance. She was driving but had had a few drinks.

  “See ya, Blackie,” Keisha said, getting into Patra’s car.

  “Be safe, y’all,” Blackie yelled.

  “So how did it go tonight?” Patra asked, her breath definitely tinged with vodka. “When I was leaving, it seemed like a gang of men were coming in.”

  “It was a damn good night,” Keisha said. “A damn good one. I made about seven hundred dollars.”

  “Damn,” Patra exclaimed as she drove. She turned down their street and into their apartment parking structure. “I think I’m going to tell Sean that I need to take Debra’s place on Saturdays. Ain’t nobody feeling that bitch anyway.”

  “Ah, girl, I just patched shit up with her, and you’re going to fuck it up.”

  “She finally forgave you?”

  “Yeah, she knows the writing’s on the wall.”

  “Hell, she was always big,” Patra said. “But now she can barely get into her bikini. And I think she stopped working out, so shit’s getting all jiggly, and not in a good way, if you know what I mean.”

  They walked into their apartment and Keisha instantly collapsed on the couch. “Good night,” Patra said, going into her bedroom.

  Keisha had gotten used to getting in early in the morning and then sleeping all day. There was a routine she kept. Close the blinds, turn off any alarms, and sleep away from the rising sun. And since Patra pretty much worked the same hours, no one disturbed her. But this morning, she had to keep her cell on for Steven. The money was too good to miss out on for a good sleep. And it rang exactly at nine.

  “Hello,” Keisha said sleepily.

  “Wake up, darling!” Steven said on the other line. “I’m on my way to pick you up.”

  “Right now?”

  “Yeah, right now. If you want to make five thousand, you’ve got to follow my schedule. So be ready in an hour.”

  “All right,” Keisha said. Steven hung up and Keisha put her head back on her pillow. She was bone tired from working last night, but she tried to force herself to get more energy. After staring at the ceiling for about half an hour, she jumped into the shower and got dressed. As soon as she finished, she heard the doorbell ring.

  “Just a second,” she said, walking to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw Ray and Marty. She’d been expecting Steven.

  “Are you ready?” Ray asked when Keisha opened the door.

  “Give me a second.”

  “Cool, meet up downstairs in the parking lot.”

  Keisha closed the door and went into the kitchen. Patra came out of her room.

  “Who the hell was that?” she asked sleepily.

  “It was Ray and Marty,” Keisha said, drinking a cup of coffee.

  “From Pimp? What are they doing here?”

  “I’m about to do my first porn shoot,” Keisha said, finishing her coffee. “I gotta go.”

  “So you decided to do it?”

  “Yep, and I better go now before I change my mind.”

  Keisha started toward the door, when Patra stopped her. “Always remember to fuck them and don’t let them fuck you,” she said. “Go get your money.”

  “I intend on doing just that,” Keisha said, walking out of the apartment.

  Chapter 15

  Sex: the thing that takes up the least amount of time and causes the most amount of trouble.

  —John Barrymore

  “You didn’t think we’d come in a limo, did you?” Ray asked as Keisha walked into the parking lot. He and Marty were leaning against a black Hummer limo. The first thing that popped into Keisha’s head was, why all of this for her?

  “Steven only goes for first class,” Ray said, as if to answer her question. “Get in—we have some places to go.”

  They all got into the limo, and the driver left the apartment complex.

  “So how long is this shoot, and what am I going to be doing?” Keisha asked, a bit nervously.

  “It can last all day, and you’re going to be doing a lot of things,” Marty said, smiling. Keisha found Ray okay, but Marty to be creepy.

  “Who am I going to be working with?” she asked.

  “That, we don’t know,” Ray said. “Since this is Steven’s first shoot, he wanted to pick your partners so that you’d match up perfectly on film. You know, he really believes in you.”

  “Great.”

  “Do you want a drink?” Ray asked, pulling open the bar. “We’ve got some Crown Royal, Jack Daniels’, Coca-Cola, 7-Up—”

  “Let me have a 7-Up,” she said, looking out the window. It looked like they were heading for the San Fernando Valley, which was pretty damn appropriate since it was known worldwide as Porn Valley. “It’s too early for Crown Royal.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Keisha said, sipping on her soda, “I’m going to chill for a second. I didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

  “Go ahead,” Marty said, with his creepy grin plastered on his face. “You’ll need your rest.”

  I still have a chance to pull out, Keisha thought as they rode. I’ll only do one video, take the money, and then be done. Even if this comes up later in my life, at least I can say that it was a one-time mistake and not some long-term career.

  After thirty minutes of driving, the limo turned into a strip-mall parking lot.

  “Where are we?” Keisha asked.

  “We are at the San Fernando HIV/AIDS testing center. Before you can work, you have to get tested. Are you okay with that?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay with that,” Keisha said. The driver parked and they all piled out of the limo. “Will my partners be tested too?”

  “Of course. You can’t work in the industry if you don’t get tested. Too much money is at stake to have a positive performer on-set,” Ray said.

  They walked into the center, and instead of going to the waiting room, Ray led them straight into a back room.

  “Steven set it up so that we could get you tested quickly,” Ray said, handing her a clipboard. “Fill this out and I’ll get that nurse. Come on, Marty.”

  Ray and Marty left the room, and Keisha filled out the form. It was pretty standard, asking her about her sex partners, and whether she had any diseases. Truth be told, she’d had only one sex partner, Donovan. She’d really thought she loved him until he started dealing drugs, and then she’d had to walk away. But after Donovan, she hadn’t found anyone she’d wanted to sleep with.

  How ironic, she thought, that the second man I sleep with is going to be a stranger.

  There was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Keisha said.

  “Hello, Keisha,” the nurse said. She was a slender white woman, and she wore a blue nurse’s uniform. />
  “I’m Rebecca, and I’m going to be doing your test,” she said. “Do you have any questions about the test? And have you ever been tested before?”

  “No, I’ve never been tested. And no, I don’t think I have any questions.”

  Rebecca looked over her chart. “So you’ve only been with one sex partner?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you use condoms while in that relationship?”

  “Always.”

  “Have you ever taken drugs?”

  “The only thing I do is weed from time to time.”

  “No heroin?”

  “No.”

  “Good,” Rebecca said, putting down the chart. “This should be fine then.”

  Keisha began unrolling her sleeve.

  “Oh, we’re not going to draw blood. We have a cotton swab that we use at this facility so we can get a result within twenty minutes. Plus, who wants to get stuck with a needle anyway?”

  Keisha hated needles, and this cotton swab was a godsend. She opened her mouth and the nurse put the swab on her gums. After roughly scraping them, she was done.

  “That’s it,” she said sunnily. “We’ll have the results in about twenty minutes.”

  Keisha stood up to go, and the nurse opened the door for her. “Should I stay for them?” Keisha asked.

  “No, we’ll just fax the results to the Stage.”

  “What’s the Stage?”

  “That’s where you’re going to be working. Didn’t they tell you?”

  “No,” Keisha said, “they didn’t.”

  Ray and Marty were sitting in the lounge, where it seemed like every porn actor and actress was waiting. Keisha didn’t know how she could tell they were in porn, but there was something about them that told her it was true. Before she walked toward Ray and Marty, Rebecca stopped her.

  “Be careful, and take care of yourself,” she advised.

  Keisha was touched. She thought that Rebecca would be pretty jaded after dealing with so many sex workers, and she thought it was kind that she cared about her.

  “I will,” Keisha said softly.

  “That was painless, wasn’t it?” Ray said as they made their way back to the limo. “We want to keep you safe during the shoot.”

  “Yeah, I definitely want to do the same. Where’s the Stage?”

  “Who told you about that?” Marty asked.

  “The nurse. That’s where she said she was going to send my test results.”

  “Well, that’s where we’re going. Shouldn’t be more than ten minutes away. The Stage is a studio set that the industry uses from time to time. We’re going to use it because we couldn’t get our location for the day. Plus, we’ll have many chances to use our locations in the future.”

  “Who said that I’m doing this more than once?” Keisha said.

  “Everyone always does it more than once,” Marty said. “Everyone.”

  The limo pulled up into the parking lot of another strip mall. It seemed like the San Fernando Valley was nothing but a land of strip malls.

  “Let’s go,” Ray said, opening the limo’s door. It was now a little before noon, and the sun was out in its full glory. The San Fernando Valley was at least ten degrees hotter than Los Angeles, and Keisha began sweating the minute she got out of the car.

  The limo pulled away and they began walking to a characterless building. When they entered, there was movement everywhere. An older woman was putting out cookies, apple Danishes, and coffee on a table. Two surfer-looking guys were moving heavy equipment. And a middle-aged Latina was animatedly talking to a short white guy with a camera, when she noticed Keisha, Ray, and Marty enter.

  “Well, it’s about time you guys got here,” she scolded Ray and Marty. She had a slight limp as she walked. “We’ve been waiting for an hour, and now I’m behind and the shoot’s behind.”

  “Look, don’t give us any shit,” Ray said. “This girl didn’t have her papers in order, so we had to go by the clinic, or else we would have been here on time.”

  “Keisha, right?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “My name is Marisa and I want you to come with me,” she said, taking Keisha by the arm. “Marty, make your black ass useful and get this girl something to eat. Have you eaten?”

  “No.”

  “Bring her some coffee and a Danish. Hurry up, because we don’t have a lot of time to fuck around.”

  Keisha and Marisa entered the makeup room, where a small, almost delicate, young sister was getting her makeup done. Her hair was in rollers and she was reading a script.

  “Trevi, this is Keisha. She’s going to be working with you today,” Marisa said. “And that’s Allison, my assistant.”

  “Nice to meet you, Keisha,” Trevi said, extending her hand. Keisha shook it.

  Trevi couldn’t have been taller than five feet. She was a Latina with curly, jet-black hair. She was tiny, with tiny features, except for the fact that she had fake breasts that pointed straight, rather than hanging naturally. They were larger than her body should have been able to support.

  “Trevi is known in the industry as the orgasm queen,” Marisa said cheerfully.

  “Yep, that’s right,” Trevi said with a smile. “I can orgasm whenever I want.”

  “Now, that’s a skill I’d like to have,” Keisha said.

  “I feel bad for those who can’t,” Trevi said. “Have you worked on any other films?”

  Keisha sat down in an open chair. “No, this is my first film.”

  “So we’ve got a virgin, eh?” Trevi said.

  “Yep, she’s a virgin, and I wish I was the guy to take her cherry,” Marty said, walking in with coffee and a Danish.

  “You wouldn’t be the one to get it, even if you were the last man on Earth,” Keisha said.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” Marty said with a frown.

  “And I’ll die not knowing.”

  “Ha!” Trevi said, smiling. “I like you already. Get out of here, Marty. We’ve got lines to read.”

  Marisa opened up a case and began working on Keisha. “You’ve got beautiful skin,” she said. “So often, I have to work on girls who have pretty features but absolutely fucked-up skin. But your skin is almost flawless.”

  Keisha leaned back in the chair and let Marisa work on her makeup.

  “So are you nervous about doing your first scenes?” Trevi asked.

  “A little,” Keisha said. “I’m not really that nervous about having sex, but damn, I’ve never done any acting in my life. I just don’t know if I’m cut out for this.”

  “Look, it’s easy,” Trevi said. “Do you remember what you used to do when you played with your dolls? Just go into a make-believe world and you should be fine. And if it feels good, go with it.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Fake it to make it, babe,” Trevi said, laughing. “Fake it to make it. That’s the motto of this industry.”

  Ray walked in with a piece of paper in his hand.

  “Keisha, we got your test results and you’re fine,” he said. “Steven is on his way here, and he wants me to take care of you. I’m also going to be the director of the shoot. Our regular director, Jeff, is out of town. Here’s the script. You’re playing the part of—wait for it—Keisha. Read the lines and see if you can remember them. The faster you can memorize them, the faster the shoot will go. By the way, is there anything that you won’t do?”

  “I won’t do anal,” she said, looking at the script. “I don’t want anything in my ass. Other than that, we’re going to be straight.”

  “Cool. Since this is your first time, if there’s anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, you make sure to let me know. We want to have a good time, and if you’re not having a good time, then it’s not going to be a good shoot.”

  “How many times do I have to have sex?”

  “You’re going to do four scenes. We’ll introduce you to the guys you’re going to be working with when they get
here. And you have a scene with Trevi. Do you have a problem with women?”

  Keisha stopped for a second. She’d never had sex with a woman, and never had a desire to do so. But this was a job, and it really wasn’t like sex, but a job.

  “No, I don’t think I have a problem with it. I’ll just feel it as I go.”

  “Cool,” he said. “Read over the script and then we’ll bring over your wardrobe for the shoot.”

  “All right.”

  Ray left.

  “Finished” Allison exclaimed to Trevi. She handed her a mirror.

  “You made me look beautiful, as always,” she said, admiring her makeup and hair. “Too bad it’s going to get fucked-up when the men begin pulling my hair.”

  “Occupational hazard,” Allison said, laughing.

  Trevi watched as Marisa worked on Keisha. She was applying makeup at a rapid pace, trying to make up for lost time.

  “When did you get in the business?” Keisha asked.

  “About two years ago,” Trevi replied. “You’d never guess what I did before I started working in the business.”

  “What?”

  “I was a kindergarten teacher,” she said, laughing.

  “No shit?”

  “No shit. And I loved it, too. But you get paid shit wages and I wanted a car. I actually got into porn because I wanted a car. But after I made enough for a car, I found out that I wanted a nicer apartment, and then nice clothes, and so here I am two years later. I like the sex, and the folks are great, but I’m getting out in the next year.”

  “Ah, the exit strategy,” Marisa said, laughing. “Everybody in porn has one, but they never seem to be able to implement it.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me,” Keisha said. “I’m doing this shoot, and then I’m out. I’m trying to make some cash so I can get out of my roommate’s apartment and pay for school.”

  “So you’re going to school? Where are you going?”

  “UCLA.”

  “Wow! Well, go on, girl, get that money,” Allison said.

  Keisha kept reading the script, and the more she read, the more ridiculous it sounded.

  “Okay, have you read this, Marisa? These are some of the dumbest lines I’ve ever read, and I’ve never read any other scripts.”