The Loverboy (20 page)

that he keeps giving you drugs which you gladly take to forget
about the horrible work you do and not much longer you are
hooked and totally dependent on him with nobody else to turn
too. That is where they want you to get and then they can do
everything they want with you. They don‟t have to sneak around
with the other girls anymore and groom them right in front of
you. They might even include you in the grooming process.”
“Is this what happened to you?” Kim asked.
“More or less” Laura nodded sadly.
“But that didn‟t happen” Kim said, “I was done and quit
walking the streets. This was a vacation and when we got back we
were going to move into this house we were buying.”
“What about the drugs?” Laura asked.
“I quit after he got into financial problems over the drugs
he gave me after the rape. I wasn‟t going to let it cause more
problems” Kim said.
“And that‟s why you are here” Laura said, “He didn‟t buy
the house and couldn‟t keep up the charade. You are stronger
than most. Most girls get sucked in and are trapped. You set an
ultimatum and he couldn‟t get you off that. So finally he took
you on this trip and sold you to a cartel. I heard you had two
pounds on you, that‟s a lot they must have paid a lot for you.”
“But doesn‟t it cost them money if I get caught” Kim
reasoned.
“Sure” Laura shrugged, “But it‟s a present for the corrupt
officers. Look, they give them a little bust, although two
pounds isn‟t little, the officers are heroes and look the other
way when the real shipment comes through. The cartel gets their
big shipment through without risk, the officers get paid and
make a bust that sets them up for promotions and the loverboy
gets paid a nice amount of money for setting it up. Everybody
wins, everybody but you that is. See he milked you for
everything he could. You didn‟t get in his trap all the way so
he set this up for you and made a final nice amount of money off
you while he got you out of the way and knew he wouldn‟t have to
worry about you for the next twenty years or so.”
Kim started to cry as she realized what Laura had told her
was true. Laura hugged her and stroked her hair.
After a while Kim pulled herself together and asked “How
about you? Why are you here?” Laura shrugged and showed Kim her
arms. Both arms were covered in old needle marks.
“I was getting old and wasn‟t that popular with the Johns
anymore. Also I started using too much and was getting too
expensive. The profit they made off me was minimal and thus they
gave me the same treatment as you. I knew though. I remember
hoping that I would just be a mule. You know where they use you
to smuggle without getting caught but the amount was too small
so I knew I was the decoy.”
Kim looked at her in surprise and asked “If you knew why
not just get rid of the drugs? Just drop it in the trash before
the police found it.”
Laura shrugged “because I wanted out and this was the only
way I could see how. I am no longer a prostitute and drugs is in
short supply here so I am clean too. In many ways my life is
better now than when I was „free‟. A lot of women even go back
to their loverboy after they get out. I hope I can stop myself
from doing that.”
Kim swallowed hard and nodded.
“Why did you think I was from the Netherlands?” Kim asked.
“Loverboys is a big problem over there and thus I thought
you were from there. The problem is that the girls do everything
voluntary and thus it‟s hard to prove criminal acts on the
loverboy‟s part. However the law is catching up with it and they
have recently included clauses in the Dutch laws to take down
these loverboys. So I guess they are looking for areas where
laws are still not covering this and I guess the United States
is one of those areas. There is an outfit in Amsterdam that uses
the blue butterfly tattoo you have and I heard rumors that they
were expanding internationally but nothing more than that. I
guess you are proof it is true.”
“So the tattoo is a stamp of ownership” Kim concluded
horrified.
“Yep” Laura confirmed, “And it‟s also good for business.”
Kim looked puzzled.
“Getting arrested for solicitation is bad enough but it‟s
really bad if you get caught with an underage hooker” Laura
explained, “So if you have a tattoo the Johns can justifiably
claim that they thought you were eighteen since you need to be
eighteen to get a tattoo. So you get more business if you look
really young like you but they have an out in case they get
arrested.”
Kim was more and more in shock. Her faith in human nature
was wobbling more and more.
“You are nothing more than a tool to make money for these
people. A commodity” Laura tried to comfort her.
“How could I have been this stupid?” Kim asked herself
aloud.
Laura put an arm around her and said “Don‟t blame yourself.
These people are masters of manipulation. You just acted the way
they expected you too. If anything you did better than most and
the scary part is that the good ones are successful with over
ninety percent of the girls. They don‟t mind spending some money
as they will earn it back a hundred times over. You have nothing
to be ashamed of.”
It didn‟t really make her feel much better but it was a
start.
Chapter 23:
Back in her cell Kim tried to think things over once again.
Things were turned upside down again and she didn‟t know what to
do. Clearly she couldn‟t count on Jake coming to her rescue
anymore. She didn‟t want him too. He had done it all. He had
arranged that she would be raped so he could play the hero. Then
he had gotten her hooked on drugs and manipulated her into
walking the streets and all by pretending it was because of her.
And she had tried to protect the slime. She wished she could
have him there so she could beat the crap out of him. She could
never do to him what he had done to her though. She didn‟t think
she could be that evil but she would sure give it her best shot.
He had alienated her from her family so he could have more
control over her and she had let him thinking she was protecting
him.
He probably never shot one of the guys that had raped her.
He had probably used blanks or shot high. It had all been one
big performance and she had bought it all like a three year old
sitting on Santa‟s knee. The anger seemed to consume her but she
let it. She would rather be angry than think about what was
next. None of it looked good and it was better to just stew
about the asshole that had put her here. The rest would come
later. In her cell she stewed and over the next few hours she
came up with over a hundred ways to kill or torture him and
played each one in her mind over and over for satisfaction.
Rose returned at lockdown and gave her a strange look. She
must have looked like she was in a trance with an evil smile on
her face as she thought about ways to hurt him. Kim told her the
whole story and how Laura had explained it all to her. Rose was
shocked and comforted her. The anger drifted away as Rose held
her and sorrow came in its place. She thought about all the
suffering she had felt and seen. She had suffered a lot but so
had her mom and Ally. She thought of Annie and longed for the
friendship that seemed a life time ago. She longed for her old
life back, never would she think it wasn‟t good enough anymore.
Never again would she complain about her life being too boring.
Boring sounded pretty good right now. Sure there was enough
boredom here but it wasn‟t boring. At lights out she got into
her bed and cried herself to sleep.
The next morning they got up and Rose took her to
breakfast. They ate and sat around with a group of women for a
while. There were also a couple of three year old boys running
around the table. She still couldn‟t get used to the kids
running around in the maximum security prison. These kids had
never seen the outside of the jail and were completely content
within its walls.
Around ten Rose nudged her and they went into the kitchen
for her first shift in the kitchen. They did the lunch and
dinner shifts and where Rose was clearly one of the people in
charge, Kim was put into a corner to peel potatoes and whatever
other vegetables were on the menu. The amounts were mind
boggling and she started before lunch peeling for the dinner
shift. Depending on what they had on the menu she had help but
most of the time she was on her own. She figured it was due to
her basic Spanish and status as the newest member of the kitchen
staff that had earned her this lowly position but she was happy
to have it. It was mind numbing work but it kept her busy.
While she was working she always had her ears open for
anything that was said and then she would repeat it softly to
herself. It helped and after another month or so people stopped
snickering whenever she would say something in Spanish. Another
month or two later another one of the kitchen staff was released
and she was promoted to cooking vegetables. But since there was
a slow time after lunch she often helped the new girl in the
slow times with the peeling; anything to keep her mind off her
situation.
In her free time she read a lot and studied her Spanish. By
August she was fluent which she felt was good as she wanted to
be able to follow her trial and actually understand what was
going on. She made many friends and the jail didn‟t seem as bad
anymore. As time went on she started to make peace with her
situation and decided to just take things as they came. This
didn‟t mean that she was just going to let everything just roll
over her but more that she wasn‟t going to look for short cuts
anymore. She was going to work hard and try to make the best
life for herself that she possibly could even if it meant
spending the rest of her life here in this prison. This train of
thought seemed to make things easier for her. “Live life a day
at a time” that was her new motto. This seemed to be the way
many of the inmates that had the happiest appearance seemed to
live.
She made many friends and the work in the kitchen seemed to
give a purpose in life. It also helped that she found out that
kitchen employees were generally left alone by the ones that
were trouble. One of the unwritten rules was that you don‟t mess
with the ones that handle your food. She still stayed clear of
the ones that were reported to be trouble and when someone tried
to put the moves on her she made sure she would turn them down
very respectfully so that there were no hard feelings. Sometimes
she considered hooking up in the prison, it seemed nice to have
some companionship but it just didn‟t do much for her. Maybe it
had been because of her life on the street and she just didn‟t
miss the physical aspect of a relationship. All she needed was a
hug every now and then and Rose, Laura, Maria or anyone in the
kitchen staff was always available for that.
Sometimes she got scared of how she had made peace with
everything. Surely this had not been what life had had in store
for her but usually she just dismissed those thoughts with “It
is what it is” and she went about her business. The prison had
almost become her new high school. It had cliques just like
school had but here she had many friends where in school she had
had only one.
She thought of Annie a lot. Annie had probably graduated by
now and was getting ready to go to college. Whenever she thought
of that she vowed to graduate herself. With her Spanish up to
speed she signed up for classes in the library in the mornings.
The purpose of the classes was to obtain the equivalent of high
school while in prison. The program was not that well used but
the woman who ran it was very passionate about it and always
managed to encourage enough of the women to take the classes to
keep the program going. She was a former teacher that had shot
her abusive husband. He had lied and since he had been the one
on the floor with a bullet in his leg she had been found the
aggressor and self defense was not accepted. She had gotten ten
years for attempted murder.
Kim found much inspiration from her. She had gotten a
rotten deal and yet her main focus in prison was to make other
people‟s lives better and where ever she could and Kim would try
and follow her example. Quickly she helped out with the studies
when it came to English, the rest she needed enough help herself
with but at least she was able to give something back. Gradually
she started to get her self esteem back. She was loved and that
felt great. And it wasn‟t because of how she looked or what she
wore. After all everyone wore the same clothes. It was because
of how she acted. She was friendly and helpful and always there
for anyone in need. It changed her perspective on life and she
liked it and vowed to continue when she got out.
Jake was also no longer on her mind. She would take care of
him when she got out too somehow…if she ever got out.
Chapter 24:
It was two months before her trial and she used the money
she made in the kitchen to call Nicandro, her lawyer. It wasn‟t
until the sixth attempt that she finally got a hold of him. He
seemed preoccupied and too busy to talk to her. It took him a
few moments to remember her, long enough for him to pull her
file and look her up it seemed.
Then he said “Yes, your trial is coming up in a few months.
I‟ve been preparing for it and I think we are ready for it.”
She knew this was a lie. By now she had talked to plenty of
inmates and discovered that drug related charges were dealt with
harshly and her case was bleak at best. She had been caught with
two pounds of cocaine in her suitcase and she had admitted that
she had put it there. She had signed a confession stating this.
A confession in Spanish that the officer had conveniently left
out some of the details from. Details like her not being aware
of the content of the box and she thought that the lawyer had
already written her off. He promised to visit in the next few
weeks but it seemed more like he was trying to get rid of her.
He didn‟t show in the next two weeks and she started
bugging him again. After almost daily calls he finally showed