Jade explained the entire plan to Big Rob, and he came up with ideas she had never even dreamed of. Much like she thought, he had connections everywhere. And, although he was hesitant at first and wanted each and every detail down to the letter, it seemed as though his interest was definitely piqued. Besides, Big Rob was a pro; she didn’t expect anything less from him.
Now, all that was left to do was to school Bridget. She had adapted pretty quickly to sellin’ her body, but Jade wasn’t sure it would be quite so easy to convince her to sell her soul.
CHAPTER FOUR
DAVID D. McDONNELL, ESQ.
David D. McDonnell was no stranger to Hunts Point. His father, Charles E. McDonnell, Esq., in his infinite wisdom, had deemed it appropriate to introduce David to the seedy world of Hunts Point and sex for hire at the tender age of eighteen. As far as his father was concerned, a teenager overly preoccupied with getting laid couldn’t free up his mind for more important pursuits like his all-important eminent career as an attorney. The same career he had enjoyed and his father before him. One might have thought he would have found a much more suitable environment to achieve this goal. But Charles McDonnell had no intention of allowing some college-educated call girl to get any “bright ideas” about his son, such as blackmail or even worse—marriage. No, these hookers on Hunts Point were exactly what the situation called for. Their brand of sexual gratification was akin to a fast-food drive-up window; quick and easy satisfaction, with no messy entanglements. It had been good enough for him, and it would be good enough for his son as well.
Charles knew just the right girl for his son. Her name was Marie and, although she was definitely experienced, (he himself had gotten a “taste” of what she had to offer), she was young enough and appeared innocent enough so as not to frighten his inexperienced son. As David cruised Hunts Point more than twenty years later, he remembered his introduction to this world. It had been winter 1973—January, to be exact. It had been freezing cold with snow on the ground. On that particular day, David could remember being so confused as to why his father had driven them there; away from the warmth and comfort of their Upper East Side condo to what appeared to David to be the “underbelly of the beast.”
As they drove through the intersection of Hunts Point Market, David remembered being awestruck and more than a little frightened. During the twelve years he attended prep school in the largely affluent Bronx community of Riverdale, he had never encountered people such as these. He would be graduating in June, yet he suddenly realized just how sheltered his life had been until now. Only a few miles away, life was decidedly different than anything he had ever known.
By the time David understood why they were there, it was too late for him to protest and he wasn’t completely sure he wanted to. David was young and handsome and came from a well-to-do family. It was a given that he would follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and be an attorney; probably take over as partner at McDonnell & Simpson when it was his time. The firm was a thriving, successful law practice started by David’s grandfather, Phillip McDonnell, over three decades ago. Therefore, it was no surprise that he had no difficulty in attracting the attention of most of the young girls attending The Horace Hanover School. Yet, there was one in particular who caught his eye; Caitlin Gallagher was blonde and beautiful and the ideal choice for an eventual wife and mother of a successful New York City attorney. She was from a family of attorneys as well and it was understood that she, too, would follow in her family’s footsteps. Caitlin and David started dating freshman year and were still dating by the time they were seniors and about to graduate. The problem was Caitlin seemed completely disinterested in having sex with David. Like most teenaged boys, David thought about sex night and day and, after four years of everything short of going all the way, he was more than a little frustrated, but Caitlin had no intention of giving it up. Her mother and grandmother had trained her well. As far as Caitlin was concerned, she would not be having sex with David until they were married.
That’s where David’s dad came in. He understood the pressure his son was under and, in order to avoid the hazards of distractions caused by a constant hard-on, he did what he thought any “good father” should do. He set his son up with a Hunts Point hooker just as young as his son. Marie had been forced to sell her body at the tender age of sixteen. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, Marie had run away from home after five years of sexual abuse, suffered at the hands of her own father. When she finally mustered the courage to tell her mother, she pretended not to believe her. So Marie decided she had no other alternative but to leave. Still a child, Marie fueled her departure with dreams of one day becoming an actress, and therefore decided to find her fame and fortune in New York City.
Much like other girls her age, that dream quickly turned to dust when she realized she had no place to live and nothing to eat. After a week of sleeping in doorways and looking for food in the garbage, the resident pimp added her to his ever-growing stable of girls who worked for nothing more than a crowded place to lay their heads and a meal here and there. Any small measure of innocence Marie had left after being abused by her father was quickly lost after working the streets of Hunts Point. Marie saw things and did things that no teenage girl should ever have to experience. Her minimal self-esteem dipped to sub-zero as a result of her life on the streets. Therefore, it was no surprise that the attention of any apparently decent human being would leave Marie feeling completely mesmerized.
That was exactly the effect David McDonnell had upon Marie. Marie’s pimp, J.T., had certain repeat customers that paid very well (not that Marie saw any of that money), but J.T. made sure all his girls knew that his “special” customers should get extra special attention. Charles McDonnell was one of those customers. Although Marie did exactly as she was told by J.T., she couldn’t stand it when Charles McDonnell was one of her customers for the night. Marie knew full well what she did for a living, but certain customers, like Charles McDonnell, had a way of making girls like her feel like less than dirt. Although Marie’s self-esteem was understandably faltering, she wasn’t stupid. It occurred to her that if she were somehow inferior because of what she did for a living, what did that make customers like high-and-mighty Charles
McDonnell who paid for her services? As far as she was concerned, he was no better than she was. So, when he brought his son, David, to Hunts Point, the last thing she wanted to do was take on a younger and equally as arrogant version of Charles McDonnell. However, Marie was surprised to find that David was nothing at all like his father.
The first night that she met David, he was clearly very nervous and, thanks to Marie’s encounter with David’s egotistical father, she was extremely resistant to making David’s first time a memorably pleasant one. In fact, what she wanted more than anything was to make it the complete opposite. However, afraid to incur J.T.’s anger, she did what she was told. Although very young, Marie was wise beyond her years when it came to matters of sex.
“You a virgin?” Marie asked.
David was offended by her remark and tried his best to appear older and more mature in Marie’s eyes.
“Of course not!” he responded.
“I’m just asking, because you’ve been standing over there for five minutes now, and you haven’t said one word or even tried to touch me or anything. Oh, I know, are you gay?”
“No, I am most certainly not gay! I’m just not in the mood.”
“Oh, because if you’re gay and you don’t want your father or anybody to know, we could hang out for a while and nobody would have to know. I mean, I won’t tell anybody.”
“Just so you know, I’m not gay, but I would rather kinda hang out. I got a girlfriend and I don’t want to cheat on her. I don’t know why my father brought me here anyway. He must be crazy. I don’t know how he even knew about this place.”
Marie sat there, smiling.
“What’s so funny?” David asked.
“I was thinking how nice it mu
st be to be so trusting and naïve,” Marie responded.
“Trusting and naïve? Are you talking about me?”
“Who do you think I’m talking about? Certainly not myself. I can’t believe you actually said that. You don’t know how your father could’ve known about this place. What did you say your name was, honey?”
“David.”
“Well, David, think about it. How do you think your father knew about this place? To start, Charles McDonnell is one of my best customers.”
It went on like that for two months. At least once a week, David’s dad would drive him to Hunts Point. He’d go to a sparsely furnished room somewhere and sit and talk with Marie. After three weeks or so, Marie and David stopped verbally sparring with one another and actually had real conversations. David couldn’t understand how a girl as intelligent as Marie could have ended up living this sort of life. Marie was surprised to find that someone who obviously had as much as David had could be so down-to-earth. She was surprised to find that she actually liked him and looked forward to their conversations; and each time David visited Marie, he found he looked forward to their visits more and more. He talked about Caitlin and, on one of their visits, Marie actually felt a slight twinge of jealousy.
“What’s wrong?” David asked.
“Nothing,” Marie said.
“Marie, come on. There must be something wrong. You sound funny.”
“I said nothing!”
And suddenly, from out of nowhere, Marie began to cry. This girl that appeared to David to be indestructible was actually crying. He took her in his arms and, despite her feeble attempts to break away from his grasp, David held onto Marie, stroking her back and whispering in her ear.
“Don’t cry, Marie. Please don’t cry.”
Standing there holding Marie in his arms, this was the closest the two of them had ever been to one another and understandably, David’s teenage body responded in the only way an eighteen-year- old boy’s body could respond to a beautiful girl. David got so hard there was no mistaking the fact that he was extremely aroused.
David was embarrassed and wished he could control what was happening. He wanted to be a friend to Marie, not treat her like a prostitute. Over the weeks, he had come to like and admire Marie very much. She was one of the nicest, smartest, most courageous people he had ever known and, instead of standing there and comforting her, he was getting a fucking hard-on. He was surprised she hadn’t kicked him out. Instead, Marie did the complete opposite. She raised her head and kissed David. David had spent many a night kissing Caitlin for hours on end, but this was different; this kiss made David feel more like a man than a boy. Marie’s skilled tongue probed David’s mouth, bringing him to new heights of arousal. As Marie’s tongue quickly darted in and out of every corner of David’s under-explored orifice, David went on an exploration of his own; he sucked at her tongue, eager to taste all of her. Never removing her mouth from his, Marie slowly unbuttoned David’s button-down blue shirt, opened his belt buckle, unzipped his pants and removed all of his remaining clothing.
David’s four years on the swim team had helped to chisel an impressively strong body, and Marie stood for a moment and admired David’s body. She had been so accustomed to her much older clients she didn’t think she could remember ever having seen a more beautiful body. She playfully pushed David down onto the bed and began slowly removing her clothing, revealing a body that David could only describe as sweet, rich milk chocolate. David suddenly wanted Marie more than anything or anyone he had ever wanted in his entire life.
Her breasts were swollen mounds of pleasure on top of which sat a deeper, richer shade of chocolate drop, perfectly suited to be licked, sucked and enjoyed by his anxiously anticipating mouth. Beneath her soft, flat belly, a triangular paradise awaited him. Her mound was a thing of beauty and all he could think of was worshipping it with soft, sweet strokes of his tongue. Her body was the canvas on which he would soon paint. But first, there was so much Marie wanted to show him. She started with his feet, sucking each and every toe, enjoying the way his body wriggled and squirmed. From his toes, her tongue mapped out a trail leading directly to his inner thigh, where she suckled for what seemed like hours, feeding on his strong swimmer’s legs, enjoying the short gasps that escaped from his mouth each time her teeth nibbled on his pliable flesh. By the time she reached his manhood, David was in danger of shooting his creamy load all over Marie’s beautiful face. Marie wanted this night to last forever; or at least as long as was humanly possible.
She slowed things down a bit; slowly tantalizing David with her tongue, punishing him so sweetly with sporadic sweeps of her tongue across his stiff and anxiously awaiting tool. Just as Marie thought David would succumb to her expert tongue, he grabbed hold of her so powerfully, Marie was completely astonished. He flipped her over onto the bed so that he was on top of her and ravished her body with the adoration she so deserved. He kissed her from head to toe. There wasn’t an inch of her body that wasn’t showered with affection. He tasted all of her. By the time he reached Eden, Marie was oblivious to anything but the feel of his lips and his tongue exploring her now inflamed button of bliss. Marie inspired in David a level of heightened expertise that allowed him to give Marie great pleasure. Her soft moans were all the encouragement David needed to give her all that she wanted—and needed.
“David, I want you inside me so much. Please, let me feel you. Please.”
Both David and Marie made love for the first time that night, exactly two months after they first met. For the two lovers, it would be the last time either of them would be that close ever again. Not long after making love, the tell-tale knock on the door announced the end of their time together. It was David’s father returning to take him home. Somehow, Marie knew she would never see David again. The thought of losing what was probably her last chance at a fairy-tale ending was a crushing blow. She sobbed outwardly, unable to hide her deep hurt within.
“Don’t cry, Marie. Please don’t cry. This isn’t an ending; this is the beginning. I’ll be back and we’ll be together; the two of us. I’ll be graduating from high school in a few months and then it’s college and law school. I can make a future for us. I’ll take care of you. I can. No one will ever hurt you again.”
Even as the words flowed from his mouth, they both knew it was a fantasy. Boys like David didn’t marry girls like Marie. Yet, Marie knew she had to be strong for both of them; even if she never saw him again. She pressed her finger to his lips to quiet him.
“Even if you and I never see each other again after tonight, I know that, for at least one night, I was loved.”
“Marie,” was all David could think of to say in a hushed tone. Then, he kissed her. It was the deepest, most soul-stirring kiss either of them had ever shared with anyone. Their lips locked together, sealing the bond they had shared; blocking out all those that would conspire to keep them apart.
As David’s father pounded on the door with greater urgency, David’s parting words to Marie were, “I love you and I’ll be back,” as he headed for the door.
Unfortunately, those words were also heard by Charles McDonnell. McDonnell Senior never mentioned David’s professions of love, but he resolved, at that very moment, to end any association his son would ever again have with “that whore” Marie.
For months, David tried to locate Marie, secretly venturing uptown to Hunts Point, hoping upon hope that he would find her, to no avail. Eventually reality hit; she was gone from his life forever. What followed was an endless flow of one-night stands with upper- crust bimbos and David’s equal sampling of every drug he could get his hands on, until he finally hit rock bottom. David was wandering around aimlessly, intent on finding something to fill the void. That’s when he met Michael Santangelo.
Michael and David had been classmates at Horace. However, they had never been what anyone would call friends. They played on the basketball team together, but Michael was different than David and most of the boys at Horace. Whil
e David and most of the students there had parents that were loaded, Michael was attending the school on scholarship. His parents were blue collar workers who wanted a better life for their son. Most of the students either lived in the finer areas of Manhattan or had homes in Riverdale or New Jersey, while Michael lived in one of the worst sections of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Not only that, Michael was Italian, unlike his Jewish counterparts at Horace, making him pretty much an outsider. However, he was able to fare better than some of the scholarship students at Horace because he was a star on the basketball team. Michael and David’s bond was formed one night when David tried to sneak into a club with a fake ID. Michael was a frequent visitor to the club and, since he could deal with David a lot better than most of the assholes he had met at Horace, he decided to help him out.
“Yo, Vic, that’s one of my boys. Let him in,” he told the bouncer at the door.
“Michael, I’m tellin’ you now, I don’t want no trouble outta you tonight,” the bouncer responded.
“Me? Trouble? Why would I cause any trouble? Come on, Vic; let him in.”
“Go ’head.”
From that night on, David and Michael were frequent visitors to Name This Joint, their favorite hangout. Unfortunately, one night the two pissed one of the patrons off by flirting with his girlfriend, and they got into quite a scuffle. The end-result: Both boys had to be picked up at the police station by their parents after being arrested. David’s mother and father had said nothing until they were in their car on the way home.
“All I want to know, David, is what the hell are you doing hanging out with that Guido in the first place?” David’s father had asked. “I didn’t raise you to hang out with that element.”
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