The Loverboy (13 page)

“No” he said angrily focused on her now instead of Travis.
She looked him sternly in the eye. Then she turned around
and walked to Anisha.
“Do you have any condoms I could borrow?” she asked. Anisha
handed her some with a stunned look on her face.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked.
Kim nodded angrily and turned around. She spotted the green
Taurus that had stopped at some other girl now and walked over
to it. She shoved the girl out of the way and looked into the
window. The driver was a guy in his mid to late forties, balding
and fat. He was repulsive she thought but the anger pushed the
repulsion away.
“One hundred” she said sternly.
The girl she had pushed away protested but thought better
of messing with this lunatic and muttered something that
included the word “bitch” then walked away.
The guy looked her over and said “without condom.”
She shook “One hundred with condom” she said sternly.
He thought a few seconds and then unlocked the door. She
got in and he drove around an abandoned building where there was
some privacy. They parked and still fuelled by anger she took
her top off and pulled her panties off from underneath her
skirt. The guy was watching in disbelief with his mouth
watering. He was disgusting and she was determined to get it
over with as fast as possible. She remembered what Anisha had
told her and got him worked up by playing with herself and the
guy started to sweat and squirm. When she thought he was ready
to blow his load she quickly took out his penis and put a condom
on it. Then she leaned over and pulled the lever to recline his
seat. She straddled him and not five seconds later he came
inside of her. She got off him and put her top back on and
picked up her underwear. He collected himself and got rid of the
condom. Then he zipped his pants back up and drove back to where
he had picked her up. She still had a look of fury in her eyes.
He was considering arguing about how short it had been but
figured she would go off on him and it hadn‟t been her fault he
couldn‟t have lasted longer. When they got back she held out her
hand and he put five twenty dollar bills in it. She got out of
the car and slammed the door shut. He drove off as she walked
towards Jake and Travis but shocked at the scene and fearful of
what she might do to them. She still looked furious. She handed
the money to Travis and asked him to hold it for her and thus
accepting his services. She ignored Jake completely and walked
back to Anisha. Anisha just looked at her still stunned.
“Now what?” Kim asked forcefully.
Anisha stammered and then started to explain the tricks of
the trade. Kim got several more inquiries quickly but most moved
on looking for something cheaper or someone who would go without
a condom. Men are stupid pigs she thought. Jake wisely kept his
distance and good half hour later one of the guys that had
thought she was too expensive returned and told her to get in.
She did and fifteen minutes later she was back with another
hundred dollars. She hated herself for doing what she was doing
and felt dirty all over. She was still angry and that helped
keep her mind off the specifics. At least this was voluntary
where the rape wasn‟t and she had learned to deal with that.
Antoine had been much classier and she had done that but really
it was no different. It wasn‟t that big of a step from that to
this she thought.
Traffic picked up in the area and more and more men
stopped. She had six more customers when she called it quits at
eleven o‟clock. Anisha was going to hang out for a little longer
and they said goodbye. Travis gave her five hundred and sixty
dollars and kept one hundred and forty himself. She drove home
with Jake not saying a word. When they got home she took a long
shower trying to make herself feel less disgusting but it didn‟t
seem to work. After her shower she went to bed alone and Jake
got the message that he shouldn‟t join her.
The next day she woke up after noon and Jake had made
breakfast for her. She sat down and ate. He told her again she
didn‟t have to do it but she told him that she just wanted to
get it over with. That night she stayed until midnight and the
next night it had been until two am. Jake had tried to be as
supportive as possible and he had been very appreciative. It
really wasn‟t his fault either and she couldn‟t stay mad at him.
After the fourth night she counted the money and told Jake
that tomorrow they would have enough. Jake looked at her
somberly.
“We have about two thousand in bills due too” he said,
“Between the apartment, the car, and groceries.”
She looked at him in shock.
“Fine” she said angrily, “I‟ll work a few more days, but
that‟s it. Can‟t you get rid of that stupid car?” she asked
irritated.
“It‟s a lease, if I cancel the lease it will be more
expensive” he explained sheepishly.
Kim frowned thinking that was odd but since she knew
nothing about it she let it go.
Chapter 14:
She continued to work and netted between five and eight
hundred a night. She kept her price up and was not going to do
anything she didn‟t want to. She was also not ever going to do
it without a condom she vowed. Jake had offered her more drugs
at times but she declined. She was done with that, that‟s what
got her in trouble and she was having none of it anymore. She
felt strong, even though she was disgusted with what she did but
she felt better about herself than she did about her customers.
She had a valid reason for doing this. They were just horny
perverts.
In the late afternoons she would go to work with Anisha
while Jake would go out looking for a job. He still had some
things going on the side and that kept him busy as jobs were
hard to come by. As the next few days went by she realized that
this was their only solid form of income and she started to fear
that she couldn‟t stop. She managed to get the money together to
both pay all the bills and to pay of Antoine and that night she
handed five thousand dollars to Jake. He took it and hugged her.
“You saved my life” he said and kissed her.
“We need to talk” she said.
He looked at her and they sat down.
“Look, we have no income and before long we are in the shit
again” she said.
Jake dropped his head and somberly agreed with her.
“We can‟t continue putting band aids on this and hope that
somehow by a miracle this will all pass and everything will be
ok” she continued.
The old Kim from six months ago would have thought exactly
that. She would have thought that everything would just
magically turn out ok. The new Kim had seen too much. She had
talked to Anisha too much and seen what was going on at Halsted.
Many of these girls and women had thought that everything would
turn out ok at one point and then after years they had lost hope
and just accepted their lifestyle. Kim was not going to do that.
“I can‟t keep living in uncertainty. I love you and I want
to be with you. But we can‟t go back to our old lives. I will be
returned to my mom and then you will go to prison for a long
time. Even if you didn‟t hit that guy you‟d be arrested for
kidnapping. You can move about freely but as soon as I am found
they will link me to you and we are in trouble” she summed up
the situation they were in.
Jake listened intently and nodded in agreement.
“When I am eighteen we can pick things up again. Then we
can be together without risking you going to jail. I will just
say I ran away from home and roamed the streets and deny any
involvement with you. We got back together after I turned
eighteen” she continued.
“That could work” Jake agreed, “but what do we do in the
meanwhile.”
She swallowed and said “I will continue to work at Halsted.
We need money. You will continue to try and find a job.
Meanwhile we save the money I make. We don‟t need that much and
could easily save a few thousand a week. When I turn eighteen we
buy a place and get out of here. Then I will get a normal job
and my GED and we are going to lead a normal life. No more
hooking, hustling or running.”
“But that‟s half a year away” he said, “Are you sure you
want to do that?”
She nodded and said “It‟s the only way. If we continue the
way we are going now we will be in this situation for a lot
longer than half a year. I don‟t like this either but this way
there is an end. I can‟t do it if I don‟t know when this is all
going to end.”
Jake looked at her in surprise. Was this the same insecure
girl he had met not six months ago? He agreed and hugged her.
“Together we can get through this” he told her.
He grabbed his coat and took out the gun she had first seen
when he had saved her in the ally.
“I want you to have this” he said.
She backed away from it as if it was going to bite her.
“For protection” he added, “If you are going to do this I
don‟t want anything to happen to you.”
“I can‟t take that with me” she said as she took it in her
hands and it looked huge in her small hands.
“Tomorrow we will get you something more suitable” he said.
She nodded and the next day they spoke to Travis and he
could help them out. He made a phone call and thirty minutes
later a big black Cadillac stopped on Halsted. The driver was a
huge man that had trouble getting out from behind the wheel
despite the size of the car. He opened the trunk for Jake and
inside was a variety of weapons; anything from a nightstick to
an AK-47 assault rifle. Jake looked through it and found a small
22 caliber handgun. He showed it to Kim and she nodded in
agreement. It was a lot better than that cannon that Jake had
offered her and it looked a lot better than anything she saw in
the trunk. She was just in awe of how easy this seemed to be and
more and more she wondered about what she had gotten herself
into and more and more she was determined to get her and Jake
out of this sick and twisted world. Jake pointed at something
else in the trunk. The big man pulled out a small can. It was
mace he explained. Easy to carry around and will stop a man dead
in his tracks. Jake looked at it and nodded.
“How much for both?” he asked.
“Two fifty” the man said.
Jake paid him and the man gave her a quick explanation of
how they worked and she put them in her bag that she carried
when at work. Anisha had helped her get it organized giving tips
on the essentials to bring. It was still too early and there was
barely any traffic so they headed back home. She sat down on the
couch with a blank expression. He sat down next to her and put
his arm around her.
“Everything will be ok” he said, “Before you know it we
will be out of here. Then we can start over and have a real
life.”
She liked that thought and settled into his chest. That
thought was what was going to get her through this she told
herself. In her mind she already started to count the days. It
would be so wonderful. They would have a nice house in a
respectable neighborhood and she would do her best to forget
this part of her life. They would be setup well after half a
year. They could save a lot and she wouldn‟t have to live like
this anymore. She would even be able to avoid having to live
like her mom had the last several years. She admired her mom for
doing what she did. Six months ago she had thought she
understood it but not accepted it and had resented her mom for
not being around very much. Now she knew that her mom had done
what she did to prevent her daughters from ending up in this
world. Her mom had worked so hard to prevent that and now she
was here after all. She had blown it she thought. She felt like
she had lost everything, everything except Jake. Sure things
hadn‟t gone as planned but she was determined to make it work.
After sitting in silence nestled in his arms she noticed it
was time to get ready. She got up and went into the bedroom to
get changed. She had stuck with the teenage cheerleader type
look. Partly because it did seem to work but mostly because she
shuddered at the thought of looking like a spandex covered neon
sign like most of the girls. She opened her bag to make sure she
had enough of everything and saw the gun and the mace. She just
couldn‟t get used to the gun. She took it out with two fingers
and held it away from her like it was a soiled diaper. Then she
looked around. One of the molding boards was loose and she
pulled at it a little. It came loose further and revealed a hole
in the wall behind it. She hid the gun in the hole and covered
it up again with the molding. She kept the mace in her bag. That
could come in useful she thought. Then she left for work.
Jake dropped her off even though it wasn‟t that far. Then
he left to go find work. He returned around midnight and
collected her earnings from Travis and they went home. As time
went on he showed up later and later. After a while Jake usually
didn‟t show up until after two am; after two weeks she usually
only saw Jake when he stopped by at the end of the night to
collect her on Halsted but not before he collected her earnings
from Travis.
She suspected he had stopped looking for work even though
he insisted he hadn‟t and he had gone back to his old ways of
hustling deals. She was staying true to a plan and had made a
calendar book in which she marked the days until her eighteenth
birthday. She had stuck to her principles and had not given in
on anything. No sex without condoms and no drugs, except for
some pot every now and then with Anisha on the steps, and
nothing crazy or weird. She still despised it but with a goal in
view she was confident that she could do it. Anisha had followed
her lead. She also had discarded the drugs and stopped doing
tricks without condoms. Together they kept each other going.
As the time passed Jake wasn‟t around very much. One, maybe
two days a week at the most and when he was around things were
distant. He seemed preoccupied. They also didn‟t have sex very
much anymore, which she contributed to her work. Winter was on
its way and soon it would be time they could start over. Anisha
had been right. There was no getting used to the work but it
became easier over time. She despised it and with great pleasure