Run (5 page)

“If I ever get out, I will make sure you pay.”

Dare narrowed his eyes. “Then it’s fortunate for me that you’ll never see the light of day again. But don’t worry, I won’t hurt your niece. Much.”

As the guards dragged the old man out of his office, kicking and screaming, Dare fingered his now aching jaw and smiled. His prey was finally in his sights and it was only a matter of time before he caught her.

Aya yanked at the hem of her dress for the fifth time as she mustered up the courage to enter the run down building. She could feel the heavy weight of several gazes on her body as she stood in the doorway of The Pleasure Dome, the town’s seediest brothel. Ignoring the loud cat calls and whistles from the men loitering on the sidewalk, she pressed the doorbell then wrapped her arms around her body as she waited to be invited in.

“What do you want?” A husky female voice spoke from an intercom that had seen better days.

She pushed the call button to speak. “I’m here to see Nan Wesson.”

“What for?”

“I wanted to inquire about a position.”

“Don’t you sound fancy? Only positions we have to offer here are on your back. You sure you’re at the right place?”

Aya clenched her fists at her sides willing herself to stay put instead of walking away like she wanted to do. “Yes.”

The door buzzer went off, indicating the door was open.

Aya quickly entered the building and shut the door behind her before she could change her mind. An imposingly steep set of stairs greeted her. She craned her neck and only saw darkness. Once she climbed these stairs, there would be no going back. She laughed derisively at her fate but she had no choice but to continue on.

With each step, she shook. She should have gotten used to this process by now, going from one den of iniquity to another. But it was worse, because each time her desperation was that much more. Rejection after rejection from the more reputable brothels had led her to this stink hole.

When she finally made it to the top, her knees knocked together and her hands shook. The pungent stench of sex, body odor, and desperation assaulted her nostrils and she bit her bottom lip hard to keep herself from gagging. Aya jumped as she felt something crawl over her foot. She looked down just in time to see a very large cockroach scurry away. It made her wish she hadn’t worn sandals.

She was tempted to turn back around and forget she’d ever stepped foot in this place but she didn’t just have herself to think of. There was Uncle Arthur. If she had only herself to think of, Aya would have said to hell with this and figured out another way to earn money. But there was no way she’d be able to raise the kind of cash needed to pay the exorbitant bail that had been set to get him out of jail. Even if by some miracle she was able scrounge bail money together, she wasn’t sure the enforcers would release him because of who he’d assaulted.

Fucking Dare O’Shaughnessy.

Assholes like him were the reason the world was in such a shambles. They could destroy lives so casually like that cow who’d had her arrested, like the man who’d abused and eventually murdered her mother, and this bastard intent on paying her back because he couldn’t get his way. Her situation might be bleak but she’d be damned if she pleaded for mercy. Because one, it was clear he didn’t have any considering how he had handled her uncle and two, she wouldn’t give him the smug satisfaction.

“You plan on standing around or are ya coming?”

Aya whipped her head to the side to see a tall thin woman with electric blue hair and eyebrows to match, leaning against the frame of a slightly open door. Wearing nothing but a barely-there G-string and sparkly pasties over melon sized breasts, she gave Aya a narrowed-eye stare. “This don’t look like your type of place, honey.”

“Are you Nan?”

“Ha! That old hag wishes. Name’s Fay. Follow me.” Fay led Aya down a dark narrow hallway where they passed several doors, most of them muffling sounds of grunts and screams. When they arrived at the double doors, Fay stopped. “Here we are.” She gave the door two swift knocks before it swung open.

A monster of a man stood on the other side. He was as wide as he was tall. Aya had to crane her neck just to see his chest and take a couple steps back to get a glimpse of his face. He scowled at the two women without speaking.

Fay, who seemed unimpressed with the giant, stamped her foot against the creaky hardwood floor with barely concealed impatience. “You gonna let us in or what?”

The silent doorman, who Aya assumed also doubled as a bodyguard, stepped back just enough to allow them through. As she followed Fay inside what turned out to be one big office, Aya took extra care not to touch the large man who looked like he wasn’t above eating people.

The office stank of cigarette smoke. With only two of the many windows open, there was very little fresh air circulating. The room was sparsely furnished, save a huge metal desk in the center of the room. A few paintings depicting couples in various sexual acts adorned the walls but what caught Aya’s attention were the holographic images that were scattered around the room of women, some of whom were performing the very acts displayed in the pictures. Others seemed to be occupying themselves with other tasks.

Aya jumped when the door clicked shut behind her. She looked over to see that the doorman had closed it and was now standing in front of the door blocking her way out. He stared back at her, his expression unreadable. Even if she wanted to leave, she doubted she could.

Fay must have sensed her unease, because she gave Aya a pat on the arm. “Don’t worry about Marion. He wouldn’t hurt a soul…unless they try to skip out of here without paying.”

Aya giggled more from nerves than anything else. “Marion?”

Fay jerked her finger toward the doorman. “Yeah, the big brute over there. He’s harmless. The one you should be worried about is Nan.”

As if on cue a woman who wasn’t much taller than Aya came through a door from the other side of the room. The woman seemed to be close to Uncle Arthur’s age but Aya couldn’t be sure. Her iron gray hair was pulled into a severe bun and she wore small-wire framed glasses. Though her frame was bulky, she moved with the agility and grace that suggested she might have been a dancer in her youth. If this was Nan Wesson, there was nothing scary about her at all. In fact, she could have been someone’s grandmother.

Instead of taking the seat behind the massive desk, she stood in front of it, pushed her glasses up until they rested on her head like a tiara and folded her arms over her generous chest. She looked in Fay’s direction and narrowed small but sharp dark eyes.

“Unless you need something, I suggest you head back to your room.”

Fay pursed her lips. “I was being a good Samaritan by showing the new girl where the office was.”

Nan pursed her lips. “More like sizing up the competition. Perhaps if you learned new tricks, you’d have more clients. You may leave now.”

Fay flared her nostrils but turned round and headed for the door. “Hateful old bat,” she said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

Marion stood aside and let her out before closing the door again.

Nan shook her head. “Worthless whore. But the truth is, she’s one of my highest earners and she knows it. But you….” She finally looked at Aya with an assessing stare. “You’d give her a run for her money, I think. Take off your clothes.”

Everything seemed to happen so fast Aya wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. “Take off your clothes. You don’t have a hearing problem do you?” Nan reached behind her and produced a cigarette. She pressed a button on her desk and a small heat patch appeared in the corner which she used to light the cigarette.

Aya glanced nervously in Marion’s direction. This was the first brothel she’d visited today and it certainly wasn’t the first time she’d been asked to take her clothing off, but each time she’d been given some degree of privacy. Most of the places had allowed her to disrobe in a private dressing room while her nude image was recorded by holocamera and the image was then sent to her potential boss. It had still been disconcerting but this was downright uncomfortable.

“I, uh, is there a dressing room? Maybe you can see me on hologram?”

“Is that what you’re going to tell the client when they request your services? Honey, this ain’t the place for modesty. If you want to work here, I suggest you get to stripping.”

Aya balled her fists at her sides and wished desperately that she could leave, but this was her last shot. With shaky fingers, she slid the straps off her shoulders and slowly pushed the dress to her waist and then wiggled it down her hips until it lay in a pool at her feet.

Nan squinted as she took a deep drag from her cigarette and slowly exhaled a stream of smoke like it was the most pleasurable exercise in the world. “Underwear.”

“What?”

“Take them off. If you’re worried about Marion, it’s nothing he doesn’t see every day.” She took another puff. When Aya didn’t move, she barked, “I don’t have time for this shit. You can leave.”

“No wait! Please give me a chance.” Aya hated that she had to beg for something she never would have dreamed of doing weeks ago, but it was either this or let her uncle rot in prison. Squeezing her eyes tight, she quickly discarded her bra and panties before she could talk herself out of it. Aya fought the instinct to cover her breasts and vagina from Nan’s scrutiny. This couldn’t last forever, she told herself.

“Turn around. Slowly,” the older woman commanded.

Doing as she was told, Aya bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from crying. She couldn’t imagine things getting worse than this. Nan was in front of her before Aya noticed her moving. She ran nicotine stained fingers down the side of Aya’s body as she examined her. “Your body is nice. Very firm. Tits are a nice size but my clients like them extra-large here. If you earn enough money for me, we can always get them enhanced.” She glanced at Aya’s rear. “But, maybe we don’t need to because your ass more than makes up for you not being big enough on top. This is your bread and butter, right here.” Nan then caught Aya’s chin between her thumb and forefinger.

By now, Aya felt like a slab of meat being inspected for purchase. “What?”

“This face. Lovely. You still have an innocence in your eyes that a lot of the whores here don’t. Guys eat that kind of shit up. And you’re exotic. Dark skin, big slanted eyes. Yep, you’ll be a hit here. We’ll do something about your hair though. Maybe get some extensions added.”

Nan’s bluntness should have offended her but hearing what sounded like she’d be hired nearly made Aya weep. “So I can work here.”

“I’d be a fool to turn you down. Not sure why you came here in the first place when you could probably work in one of the fancier joints on the west side.” It had been the same thing Fay had said. Aya wasn’t going to volunteer that she’d already tried the other places.

Nan narrowed her eyes again and Aya realized the wheels were turning. There was something in that stare that told her that she wasn’t quite secure in working here after all. “Are you clean?”

Aya nodded. “Yes. Disease free.”

“Hmm.” Nan walked behind her desk and rummaged through one of the drawers. She produced a scan gun before returning to Aya. “Hold out your arms, palms up.”

Aya trembled knowing what was next. She’d hoped because of its seedy reputation she wouldn’t have to go through this part. Doing as she was instructed, she waited as the Madam ran the gun’s infrared light along her arms until it beeped.

Nan frowned as she read the findings on the gun’s tiny monitor. “Who the fuck did you piss off, girl?”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“You’re a do not hire. You must have ticked off the wrong person. Look girl, I would hire you in a heartbeat. You’d make me a hell of a lot of money, but you ain’t worth losing my business over.”

Aya couldn’t wrap her head around what the woman meant. Do not hire? “I still don’t follow. You just said yourself I could bring in a lot of money.”

“I also said you’re not worth me losing my business over. Now fuck off!” Nan took a long drag from her cigarette.

Incredulous, Aya stood rooted to the same spot. She’d been to twelve other brothels. Some of them hadn’t let her past the front door. A few of them after giving her a scan had politely told her they weren’t hiring without any explanation although she figured they had been lying. She couldn’t leave without figuring out why. “Just like that? With no explanation? I know I’m clean. Disease free.”