Earthbound (21 page)

“So…” she purred.

I must’ve looked mighty uncomfortable,
shifting my weight around on the edge of the cot. I really just
wanted to get the eff outta there. The whole paying for it thing is
just not for me.

“Would you like to see my breasts?” she
continued, slowly unbuttoning her blouse.

“Yes!” I blurted out. “No! I mean… how much
is this costing me?”

“What is the matter, Asher? You do not seem
at ease with our relationship.”

“That sums it up,” I reply.

“Am I not pleasing to you?”

“No, you’re pleasing…”

Sage relaxed and stopped unbuttoning her
blouse. She leaned forward. Seemed genuinely interested for a
second. “Let me guess. There’s a girl…”

I was kinda relieved. “Yes!” I said, a little
too loud. But I guess anyone hearing that outburst could easily
misinterpret it in a place like that.

Sage raised her eyebrows, waiting for more.
“Describe her. Long brown hair. Penetrating eyes. Alluring
lips.”

“Uh, yeah. How did you know?”

She just smiled. “Go on.”

“Her name is Rebecca. I’ll never see her
again so I’m okay telling you this. I think I’m in love with
her.”

Sage laughed. Not in a mocking way mind you,
it was a sympathetic laugh. “Women are forever a puzzle, are they
not?”

“Oh they are.”

“What do you love about this Rebecca?”

“Her… her inner fire.” I don’t know where
that came from. I’m never the type to talk about anyone’s “inner
fire.”

“Mmm. That is quite alluring. And how does
she feel about you?”

“Oh that’s easy. She’s so disappointed in
me.”

“I would not be so certain.” She gave me
another knowing smile. “I show no offense if you imagine I am her.
In fact, it will only make it more pleasurable.”

I liked the sound of that. And my brain was
telling me Sage was the closest to Becca that I’d ever get. The
next best thing. I made up my mind and leaned in to kiss her. Just
a kiss. What’s the harm in that?

She stopped me abruptly. “Kissing is
extra.”

I stared at her for a long pondering moment.
Right. She was a prostitute. So effing stupid.

“Maybe you should call me James
Garfield.”

I got up off the cot and ripped open the
curtain. Eff Birkin. At that point, I just needed to go. Sage
called after me but I didn’t care. I stormed down that long hallway
of lonely people and tried my best to peek under the other
curtains, looking for Pace’s boots or something like that. Couldn’t
exactly call him by name. Didn’t wanna attract Birkin’s attention.
Was glad he was preoccupied. Guessing he was more comfortable with
the transaction than me.

At this point I didn’t realize I was raising
a ruckus. But before I could do anything, a big booming voice
stopped me cold.

“Who pays???”

I turned around slowly and saw this guy
coming out from behind one of the curtains. A big brawny guy,
probably twice my size which is pretty big. He was headed right
toward me. And he looked furious.

“Who pays???” the brawny guy shouted in my
face. I could feel spittle from his mouth splattering me. This guy
was nearly rabid.

“You should pay,” a female voice said. It was
Sage. She stood alongside the brawny guy with her arms folded,
looking at me all scolding. She seemed like a different woman
completely. Her posture was different, her voice was different, the
way she spoke was different. She was nothing like Becca. Guess it
was all an act. “You should pay or you should run.”

I didn’t like either option. I also didn’t
want Birkin seeing me. No good choices. So I nodded and reached
into my boot to pull out some gold coins. But then I realized I
didn’t have any on me. Pace had all the gold. But before I could
say anything…

“Do I understand correctly that my associate
here was running off without paying?”

It was Pace. He was partially dressed, his
shirt opened, his belt undone. Gwen stood next to him, looking
petrified by the way, clutching her unbuttoned blouse closed
tight.

Good ol’ Pace. Must’ve heard the commotion.
Must’ve come to rescue me. Not that I needed it.

“That’s right,” the brawny guy grunted,
turning his attention toward Pace. “You pay for him?”

“Me?” Pace just started to laugh. The brawny
guy didn’t like getting laughed at. Didn’t Pace notice that he
towered over him, twice his height? “I don’t pay for sex,” he
announced.

“Oh, everyone pays,” Sage remarked, “one way
or another.”

“Maybe we should just pay and move along,” I
offered. I glanced over at the curtains, hoping Pace would get the
hint that Birkin was right near us.

“An excellent suggestion, James Garfield,”
Pace replied. “Come here, big guy, I’ve got something here for
you.” Pace fumbled in his pockets for a second as if he was looking
for something. The brawny guy leaned closer. And closer. He just
wanted his gold. But instead Pace gave him something else. He
cocked his fist best he could and gave that guy a roundhouse punch
to the jaw. It was a decent attempt. Not sure what came over Pace
though. Cause all he did was make the brawny guy mad. That guy’s
response swing knocked Pace backward, right into someone’s private
curtain. I caught a glimpse of, well, you know. Was glad it wasn’t
Birkin. Don’t think I could live with the sight of that, I’ll tell
you that right now. The naked guy in that booth was fuming. The
brawny man didn’t seem to care. He dove on top of Pace, fist
first.

Now we had created a quality ruckus. Gwen and
Sage scattered. More ladies ran outta their booths and hightailed
it outta there. Their customers got quite unhappy. Then I noticed
something. Someone was watching the fight from behind me. A head
was poking from out of a curtain.

“What’s goin’ on?” Birkin asked.

I raised my right elbow and smashed Birkin
right in the face. That’d keep him preoccupied. Then I glanced down
and saw that Pace was spitting blood, so I figured it was time to
intervene. With great enthusiasm, I lifted the brawny guy off of
Pace and leaned in toward him, our foreheads nearly touching. So
what if he was bigger than me. I’m a brawler.

We traded blows for a few moments, but I
didn’t have time to enjoy it too much. The customer whose booth
Pace got knocked into was getting in his licks and Pace was in
danger of getting seriously hurt. So I decked the brawny guy hard
and he collapsed into a curtain, unconscious. Then I lifted the
customer off of Pace and whacked him around like a toy. Then for
fun I beat on Birkin some more, making sure his eyes would swell
shut – enough so he couldn’t recognize me. It was great fun using
my fists again. This was the kind of pleasure I could enjoy!

With no one else to hit, I just grabbed
another customer and decked him. Probably shouldn’t have done that,
but what the eff. That got a few other customers jumping in, which
was great. I could’ve kept punching for hours, but I heard a
commotion coming towards us from outside the private room. “What
the hell’s going on?” a male voice shouted.

“It’s the sheriff!” I heard a few of the guys
mutter as they slipped away from the fight. The sheriff. That
wasn’t good. I realized we were doing a terrible job of keeping a
low profile. Or maybe with Becca out of our lives I just cared
about my safety a little bit less. I dunno. Fortunately Pace heard
it too. We were trapped though. Couldn’t go forward, no back door
to go backward. Thought we’d have to shoot our way out of this
one.

“This way!” Gwen whispered loudly, grabbing
Pace and leading us deeper down the hallway.

“It’s a dead end!” I said. But Gwen didn’t
listen. Instead she pulled back a curtain at the end of the sex
hallway and sure enough there was a back door. Effing Sage.
Everything outta her mouth was a lie.

We ran out a back door which led to a fire
escape. We climbed down as quick as we could, and then when we
reached the dirt Gwen indicated that we should follow her, which we
did. We ran for a couple a blocks until she stopped, leaning her
back closely against a wall, panting heavily. I tried not to look
but her blouse wasn’t exactly on right and it was hard not to
notice.

“Think we put in enough distance?” I
asked.

“Y-yes,” she replied, trying to catch her
breath.

“So nice for you to help us Gwen,” Pace said
politely. “You didn’t have to.”

“It wasn’t just for you. It was for me. The
sheriff’s my father.”

Pace and I kinda looked at each other. That
seemed kinda peculiar.

“So he doesn’t know about your chosen
profession?”

“Oh, that.” She realized her blouse was open
so she quickly buttoned it back up. She was kinda bashful about it
too. Kinda odd since she was a prostitute and all. Guess she gets
all modest when she’s not at work. “Yeah he knows. He just gets
pissed if he thinks I’m being lenient with a customer.”

For the first time, Pace wasn’t sure what to
say. Finally he responded. “That sucks.” She shrugged. “Crying
shame. You’re way too beautiful for this.”

“Just trying to survive in my own way.” I
think I understood girls like Gwen and Sage pretty well. I know
what it’s like to go hungry. What you might be willing to do to
just eat a decent meal.

“Pace,” I muttered, “just so you know for
future, that’s not my thing.”

“Sex is not your thing. Got it.”

“That’s not what I… nevermind.”

“Wanna go get a drink?” Pace asked Gwen. “Not
at the saloon of course!” That cracked her up.

“We have somewhere to be,” I reminded Pace.
It was getting close to closing time.

“Where’s your common courtesy?” Pace scolded
me. “Gwen came to our rescue. A drink is the least we can do.”

Gwen led us to a house where an old woman
sold us some homemade gin for a gold coin. The stuff tasted like
rocket fuel, whatever that might taste like. Then Gwen brought us
to a park where people roughly our age hung out. If they weren’t
busy being prostitutes and customers, of course.

We drank for a while. It became obvious that
Gwen was a lightweight. Made sense. She had a small frame. And that
homemade gin was powerful stuff. Gwen did a lot of giggling, a lot
of hanging all over Pace. I found it kinda tiresome. And I kept
waiting for Pace to indicate he wanted to be alone.

Later when she was really drunk, Pace was of
a mind to ask the question we were both wondering about.

“I hope you don’t mind my asking,” Pace said
delicately, “but is your line of work profitable? I mean, are you
making a lot of money?”

She nodded. “Lots of locals. Some visitors
from other settlements. Some of my Dad’s friends. That’s kinda
weird, but I charge them double.” I almost gasped. That sounded
horrifying.

“What do you do with the money?”

“Oh, I’m saving it.” She looked around for a
second, making sure no one was eavesdropping. Then she whispered so
low I had a hard time hearing her. “I’ve been collecting, saving
for years now. I’ve got a long way to go, but maybe by the time I’m
forty I’ll have enough to run away. Just don’t tell my dad, okay?
He doesn’t know and if he found out he’d take all my money for
sure!”

“Oh you don’t need to worry about us,” Pace
reassured her.

Gwen grabbed him. “I can give you a free one
if you’d like. Your friend too. Together if you’re into it.”

I immediately shook my head no on that one.
Not into it.

I figured Pace would go off with her though.
Whatever. But instead he didn’t seem interested in her anymore.
Maybe he felt sorry for her, I dunno. He had something else in
mind.

“I’m not your dad, I’m not your brother, I
barely know you. But I do know there are other ways to make money.
In fact, maybe you can help us. Want to make a little money?”