Dirty Business (6 page)

Soon Veronica wore herself out. She lay beneath the boy, undulating her hips, riding the last waves of pleasure that racked her body.

Suddenly the boy leapt up from the mattress.

“Shit,” he said. “Motherfucking, shit!”

He held his T-shirt high on his chest. His voice had taken on a high pitched squeal, like a wounded pig.

“Shit, motherfucker,” he said. “
Shiiiiiit
.” He drew this last word out in a pitiful wail.

Still reeling from her orgasm, Veronica looked at the boy dancing around her like a fool. She weakly reached behind her.

A look of terror passed over her face.

Leaping from the mattress, Veronica raced into the bathroom. Quick as a lick, Gloria dashed into the bathroom behind Veronica.

Joe saw the dark stains on the sheets. Watched the boy kneel over the mattress to use the linen to clean his cock. He was practically in tears. Miss Rose berated the weepy lieutenant. She complained to Donnell about her sheets.

Joe grinned.

Veronica had had a little accident.

The bathroom was tiny.

Gloria slipped inside and closed the door behind her. She snapped the little lock button inside the doorknob. Pausing with her face to the door, she listened. The boy continued to wail and curse in the room outside.

“Excuse me,” Veronica said. “A little privacy please.”

Turning from the door, Gloria found Veronica perched on the toilet seat. She looked pained. Exasperated.

“You want to keep this door locked,” Gloria whispered.

Veronica sighed. It was hard to deny the wisdom of locking the door. She held a wad of toilet paper in her hand, but looked shy about cleaning herself in front of this girl. Veronica made as if she was going to say something, but then she decided against it. Folding in on herself, she put her head in her hands and sighed.

Gloria crossed the room and pulled back the shower curtain. Opened the faucets. Warm water roared into the tub. She kept her back to Veronica, her eyes on the water splashing into the tub.

“Fuck,” Veronica said. “That was embarrassing.”

“You made him cry,” Gloria said. She grinned over her shoulder.

Veronica smiled weakly, even though she didn’t feel like it.

The splashing water made a big resounding noise that filled the little room.

“Did Donnell make you do this?” Gloria asked, her eyes on the tub.

Veronica began cleaning herself. No one said anything and the sound of the water filling the tub gradually changed as the water level rose.

“No,” Veronica finally said. “Not really.”

She unwound more paper off the roll. “I did this all on my own.”

Veronica somehow managed to hold herself with great poise, even as she twisted to inspect the backs of her legs. She stood and glanced at herself in the mirror. Veronica stroked her long hair with her hand. Bending forward, she let her hips come to rest on the sink. When she finally cast her eyes back toward the tub, Gloria smiled.

“I didn’t know it would be all of them,” Veronica said. “I thought it would just be me and…” She let her voice trail off.

Gloria pursed her lips. Nodded.

An awkward silence followed.

Veronica leaned over the sink and inspected her face in the mirror.

Scanning some nearby shelves, Gloria found a bottle of bubble bath. Poured some into the tub.

“You like bubbles?” Gloria asked.

Veronica sighed. Placing her hands on Gloria’s shoulders, Veronica looked into the other girl’s eyes. “Are you and Donnell…” Veronica let the question trail off.

Gloria bit her lip. She sat down on the edge of the tub and looked at her feet. “He likes to watch,” she said. “He likes to put you in a situation where you have very little power.”

Gloria flushed.

“And then watch you squirm,” Veronica said.

“Sometimes squirming can be fun,” Gloria said. She tapped her finger on the side of the tub. “Memorable.”

A crash came from the rooms outside. The boy raised his voice.

“For example,” Gloria looked up, grinned. “This is a night he’ll always remember.”

“Hey, look,” Veronica said, stepping closer to the tub, “I’m sorry. You’re being very kind to me, and I feel terrible …”

Taking Veronica’s hands in her own, Gloria shushed Veronica and then stood herself. She made a sweeping motion with her arm toward the tub. Veronica smiled. She slipped past Gloria and stepped into the tub.

“I followed Donnell here,” Gloria said, closing the toilet seat and sitting down. “But now we’re growing apart.”

“Too much squirming?” Veronica asked.

“Something like that,” Gloria giggled. “There’s a guy in the room out there, Mr. Murphy—”

Veronica nodded.

“Donnell thinks I fucked him,” Gloria said. “Donnell can’t let it go, but he won’t confront Mr. Murphy, either. Instead, Donnell finds ways to do business with him. It’s like Donnell’s desperate to get the best of Mr. Murphy. It’s like Mr. Murphy has this magical power to draw Donnell in, capture and hold his imagination. His attention.”

“Did you?” Veronica asked.

“Did I what?”

“Fuck Mr. Murphy?” Veronica grinned.

Gloria blushed.

Veronica laughed. “He’s got kids.”

“I didn’t fuck him,” Gloria said. “I
babysat
for him. He came home early and found me and Donnell in his garage.”

“What were you guys doing in the garage?”

Feeling her cheeks flush, Gloria tilted her head and grinned. “
Squirming
,” she said. “At least, I was.”

Veronica giggled.

“Mr. Murphy kicked Donnell out and took me home. On the way, Mr. Murphy stopped at the bank …”

Gloria paused. Grinned shyly.

“He gave me
a hundred bucks
,” Gloria whispered.

“For babysitting?” Veronica drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She looked intrigued but also confused. “But you didn’t have to fuck him?”

“That’s right,” Gloria said. “He said I’d already earned it.”

“That’s pretty good.”

“But then he started talking
funny
.”

“Funny?” Veronica asked.

“Yeah, funny. Asking me about blowjobs. About how Donnell’s cum tasted. Funny.” Gloria spoke in a whisper.

Veronica listened intently. “What did you tell him?”

“At first, I didn’t know what to say,” Gloria said. “I didn’t want to discuss any of that stuff with him. But he had just given me all that money, so I didn’t want to say no, either. And then he put his hand on my thigh.”

Gloria grinned, even as her cheeks flushed.

Veronica had a warm, soapy wash towel and dragged it across her chest, then down between her legs. She grinned.

“And …” Veronica said, drawing the word out, coaching her new friend.

Slipping off the toilet seat, Gloria knelt next to the tub, the better tell the next part of her story. “I ended up moving his hand between my legs,” Gloria said. “It felt good.
Really good.
Hot. I told him I liked giving blowjobs. I said that Donnell’s cum tasted warm, salty.”

Veronica grinned.

“You know what he said to me,” Gloria licked her lips. Paused.

Veronica raised her brow. She rolled herself up to the side of the tub, her face only inches from Gloria’s nose.

“He said I was a slut.
A hot little slut
.” Gloria’s voice was tiny. Breathless.

Veronica knitted her brows together.

“When he said that, I came
so hard
,” Gloria said.

“You liked it?” Veronica asked.

“Loved it,” Gloria grinned.

Veronica laughed and sat back with a great splash.

“A little slut, huh?” Veronica giggled.

“No,” Gloria said, her face cross. “Don’t tease me. I feel terrible.”

“About the money?” Veronica said.

“No,” Gloria said. “I feel good about the money.”

Veronica sloshed a fist pump. Grinned.

“I feel terrible that I came so hard when he called me a slut.”

“Lots of girls like dirty talk,” Veronica said.

“Do you?”

“Sometimes,” Veronica said.

“But I’m not a slut,” Gloria said. She reached her fingertips out to Veronica’s wet shoulder to add a little weight to her claim.

“Of course you’re not,” Veronica said. “You just like being called one. Sometimes being called a slut is just what you need.”

Gloria smiled.

“You know what turns me on? Veronica asked. “I like the idea of Joe Murphy giving you one hundred dollars to answer two questions about blowjobs.” Veronica made a face and squeezed her thighs together. “That would definitely make me hot!”

Gloria tucked her hair behind her ear. Grinned.

“We don’t have to feel bad about the things that turn us on,” Veronica said. “Our job is to figure out what makes us feel good—who we are—and then accept those things about ourselves. Once we can do that, then we have to get out into the world and find ways to get our needs met.”

“But, it’s a dangerous job—” Veronica said. She raised her arms and presented her own body as it soaked in the shallow waters,“—and sometimes it’s a downright
dirty business
.”

Joe kept an eye on the lieutenant that Veronica had punched.

He’d stormed around the living room with his dirty dick hanging out, making a big noise. Miss Rose finally had to put her foot down. Insist he shut up. Calm down. Donnell had backed up Miss Rose. The boy had sulked on the couch ever since.

The girls were still in the bathroom.

Joe folded his cards. Tossed his hand into the pot. Disinterested in the game, he just wanted the girl. Cutter passed him a small mirror with some powder on it. Joe took the mirror and passed it on to Donnell.

“Help yourself,” Cutter said.

“Thanks,” Joe said. “But no thanks. I’m good.”

Cutter rolled his eyes.

Donnell took the mirror, set it aside. Frowned at his hand.

Gloria appeared in the living room and collected Veronica’s small pile of clothes. Joe watched the boy sit up, crush out his cigarette in the ashtray. Gloria returned to the bathroom.

“Joe’s all clean and serene,” Miss Rose said. She reached for the mirror herself. “Over a year now?” she asked.

Joe nodded to Miss Rose, and then when he glanced back into the other room, the boy was gone from the couch.

His absence was Joe’s first clue that something was amiss. His stomach fell. Joe inched his chair back from the table, his eyes scanning the adjoining room. The crash from the back of the house was his second, bigger clue.

Gloria screamed, “
No
,” and then called for Donnell.

Everyone turned to the other room. The boy had Veronica by the hair. She was nude, wet, and hunched over, clutching her clothes in one hand. He was marching her toward the front door. Gloria was hollering, pummeling his back with her fists.