Exhibit (10 page)

Lucky Lou's was principally a strip joint masquerading as a bar. They had a show on every night, which featured about six different girls, and the customers could ask for extras if the girls were happy to provide it. There was a series of rooms out back where they could go for half an hour if a deal was struck. Jess wasn't a stripper or a prostitute, even though the owner would have been more than happy to have her working there in that role. She worked on the bar, serving drinks and collecting glasses, and that was it, apart from dealing with the usual bunch of ass-holes with wandering hands, who liked to get closer than they were meant to.

The dancing girls earned about five times what she did on average, and she thought about doing it a number of times. She was still young and had a good figure, but every time she thought about it as a real consideration, she came to the conclusion that it wasn't for her.

She didn't mind the job, and she liked the people she worked with, much more than the customers that came through the door. She also got better tips than she did at the diner, and got to take home everything that was directly given to her, instead of dropping it in a big pot, and splitting it amongst all the other staff members.

Due to the location of the bar, out near the main highway, customers tended to be a mix of regulars, and those just traveling through the town on the way to their next destination.

Jack was one of these men. Jess had never seen him before, but there was something about Jack that interested her, and she knew it immediately, the moment he sat up at the bar, and she set her eyes upon him. Jess had a long track record of picking the wrong guys, and Jack was definitely one of those guys. The trouble was, she couldn't stay away from them.

“What can I get you?” she asked.

“Whiskey. When you see it empty, you fill it up until I tell you to stop. Ok?”

“You just going to sit there and drink?”

“That's right.”

“Hard day?”

“Nope”

“Lucky for some.”

Other customers came and went, but he just sat there, not doing much else but putting whiskey into his belly and smoking the odd cigarette. He didn't even turn to look at the dancing girls when they came up on stage.

“There are a hundred shitty bars in town, why did you come into this one, if you didn't want to look at the girls?” she asked him.

“I heard this had the best staff.”

She filled his glass and smiled. He had a scar on his jaw that ran almost the full length of his face. It was partially covered by stubble, but it didn't look like he was bothered by it. She couldn't figure his age, but he looked cute. Despite the amount he'd drunk already, he didn't look affected by it. She liked that. A man who could hold his drink.

“You want to join me, go ahead.”

“I don't drink.”

“You don't drink, or you don't drink anymore?”

“Both.”

Later, Carl came into the bar. Jess watched him stumble up to the bar and sit down. Jack watched too. Carl said “howdy” to him, and Jack raised his glass to say hello.

“There aint no food in the house, and there aint no beer, Jessie.”

“There weren't none earlier when Denny and I sat down to eat, what do you want me to do about it?”

“Give me a drink will you?”

“You aint had enough?”

“You ask me that again I'll show you why you shouldn't.”

“What can I give you if I aint got none?”

“You're standing in front of a whole row of them. Just pass one over.”

Carl turned to Jack to roll his eyes, looking for someone to agree on Jess's stupidity. Jack just stared at him, dead eyed.

“You're drunk already, Carl. Just go back home”, she said.

Jack's glass was empty, so she filled it up.

“Get another glass”, Jack said.

“What?”

“Another glass. It's ok, I'll pay.”

“Well there you go, a gentleman.”

Jess filled a glass and put it in front of Carl. He drank it in one, and she looked to Jack nervously. Jack nodded, and she filled it up again.

“Sit down”, Jack said to Carl.

Jess suddenly felt nervous. Jack had a look in his eye that scared her. It was the way he was looking at Carl, as though he would tear him apart given half the chance.

“When are you coming home?” Carl said.

“When I finish here, you know that.”

Carl finished another glass and Jack nodded once more. Jess filled him up.

“Go home, Carl”, she said when he was done. “I aint filling it no more.”

“Since when do you tell me what to do?”

“When you can afford to buy it, that's when.”

“Bitch.”

Jack's glass was empty again so she filled it up. When she moved the bottle away, he grabbed her arm. Jack was out of his chair in seconds, and Carl's face was pressed down onto the counter, his shoulder locked in such a way he couldn't move without hurting himself. A few other people who had been sat at the bar stood up to give him some space.

“Apologize for what you said”, Jack hissed at him.

“Fuck you.”

Jack tightened the lock.

“Alright, alright, alright. Sorry”, Carl said, eventually.

After a little while longer, Jack let him go. Carl dusted himself down, thought about taking a swipe at Jack and then left.

“See you at home”, he shouted to Jess as he went.

“You didn't need to do that”, Jess said to Jack.

“He was beginning to annoy me.”

“It isn't going to help.”

“You feel like staying somewhere else tonight, you let me know.”

“Thank you, but I'll be alright.”

“I know you will.”

By the end of the night, Jack had almost finished the whole bottle. He told her to put it aside for him for the next time, and left her a fifty dollar tip. She got back home at three o'clock, completely exhausted. Denny was wrapped up in his make-shift bed, and sleeping heavily. She smoothed the hair away from his forehead and kissed his soft skin.

Carl had crashed out on the bed, still wearing his clothes. She smoked for a while, stashed the fifty dollars away in her drawer, and then crawled in next to him. She'd hardly slept, by the time her alarm went off and the day started again.

S
he was late for work, and this time her supervisor pulled her up on it. She told her if she didn't start coming in on time she'd lose her job. Head office had been checking up on punctuality, and she couldn't let it slide anymore. Her hands were tied.

The rest of the day couldn't have gone any worse. They were short staffed already, because Joan had called in sick, and then the kitchen porter Sammy burned himself so badly on a pot of boiling oil, that he had to go straight to hospital.

She was late picking up Denny, and when she got there, he was in a filthy mood for being left waiting for so long. At least that was what she thought it was. Later, on the walk home, she found out he'd got into a fight with other kids at school, when they picked on him for the holes in his clothes and the fact his trousers were too short.

At home, Carl was nowhere to be seen again, but there were new empty beer bottles on the counter top, which immediately filled her with fright. She rushed into the bedroom to check the money that she'd stashed away the night before, only to find that it had been taken.

She couldn't take it anymore. As if to add insult to injury, as soon as she started to cry, the lights clicked off.

The bills had been unpaid for months, and they'd been threatening to cut her off for just as long. It had finally happened.

Denny came into the bedroom and cuddled up to his Mom. Lying there in the mess that surrounded them, in a tight and suffocating room, she felt at her lowest point.

That evening Jack was there again. When she saw him, she reached for the whiskey.

“Not tonight”, he said. “I just came in to see how you were.”

She slid the bottle back on the shelf. “I'm getting by”, she said. “I've been getting by for a good long while.”

“That aint always enough.”

“It's all I've got.”

“You have any trouble from your husband last night?”

“I aint married.”

“Well then I guess that makes two of us.”

“What do you want?” she asked. “I aint sure you told me yet.”

“I want to meet the locals, and stay out of trouble.”

“Well then you're in the wrong place.”

“Maybe you're right.”

“Do me a favor. If he comes in again tonight, don't play the hero. You're just going to make more trouble for me.”

“I didn't like the way he was talking to you.”

“Yeah well. I can look after my own. Aint you got someone you should be looking after too?”

“I think I just found her.”

Jack smoked, while Jess served another customer. When she was done, she went back to him. She took one of his cigarettes and sparked it up. Something about the man intrigued her. She didn't know exactly what it was.

“What are you doing here?”

“I've got some business to take care of.”

“Well aint you full of mystery. What kind of business?”

“What other kind is there?”

Jack finished his cigarette and put it out in the ashtray. He left his card on the bar.

“Call me. I'm only here for a week. Maybe not even that.”

“You going to fix my problems?”

“Try me”, he said and smiled. The light of the bar caught his scar, and for a moment it dazzled like a zip. Then he was gone.

C
arl stumbled noisily into the house. He was drunk, and he wasn't alone. The lightly clothed girl on his arm looked almost half his age, barely old enough to drink, but twice as wise in the profession she had chosen. Carl cursed as he flicked the light switch without response.

“Denny, you fuck, are you here?”

No answer

“Come on. It don't matter one way or another if he is.”

He led the girl through the living room and into the bedroom. A cold, scared pair of eyes watched them pass only inches away, before a door slammed and the light from the street lamp outside the window in the bedroom was cut off completely. Denny buried himself as best as he could in the pile of cushions, hiding himself further into darkness.

“Well go on then”, Carl said to the girl. “Show me what you can do.”

“I aint doing nothing until you pay me”, she spat at him between long puffs on a filterless cigarette.

Carl grabbed her by the chin, hard enough to hurt her.

“You do as your told or you aint getting nothing at all.”

What little she could see of him, which was just about the eyes and nothing else, filled her with so much dread in that moment, that if she could have figured out a way to leave without getting hurt, she would have run and not stopped until the sun came up around her. Eyes like some kind of devil, but worse, she'd explain to her friends over the coming days. Like there was nothing but evil behind them. Then as quickly as she'd seen it, it went away again, as though she'd never seen it at all. She knew who he was of course, or at least she'd heard about him. Small time crook, long time layabout. A man of the country, from the old times with a black heart and fists of stone. There were hundreds like him, all over the spit and sawdust town she figured for home.

“I aint waiting much longer”, Carl said, swaying lightly, bottle still in hand.

She looked up to him again. A heavy set shadow swaying in the depths of nothing. He was nothing she thought. One more fuck, twenty more dollars, food for another week. She unzipped his fly and pulled out his cock. She palpitated it awake and in her hand it began to grow.

“There she is”, Carl said. “Finest home reared meat in the county.”

When it was erect enough, she put it to her lips and began to suck. She ran her tongue up and down his shaft, nuzzled it into the soft connective tissue at the bottom of his glans, and ran it around his rim. Even with those she didn't like, she was a consummate professional.

“Oh yeah, baby, that's fucking incredible”, Carl hollered, between sips of cheap whiskey.

She pulled his trousers and boxer shorts down so she could fondle his balls, and Carl lifted his leg up on the bed to make it easier for her. There were three things Carl liked to do, drink, fight and fuck, and those who knew him in the town, knew he couldn't do any of them very well.

He held the back of her head, grasped her hair tightly, and tilted her chin up towards him.

“Aint you pretty, Maylene”, he said. “Open up wide.”

She opened up wide for him and he forced his length into her throat, almost making her choke. Carl found it highly amusing. In the dirty light he could see her eyes too, big sorry eyes that had seen more than they ever should, now filled yet again with salty tears. Carl thrust harder, and a tear jumped from her eye and rolled down her face. Another one did the same on the other side. When Carl had finished his sick game, and finally decided to pull out, his cock was covered in thick webs of saliva. She coughed and gasped down air.

“What's the matter, Maylene?”, he said. “You aint never had nothing bigger?”

“My name is Mary-Lou”, she spat back at him.

“Whatever. Your name is whatever I tell you it is. Now get that pussy out and bend over the bed. Daddy's got some work to do.”

Mary-Lou pulled down her shorts and lifted up her top. Half a moment later she was naked. Carl reached out and felt her pussy, sliding a finger mercilessly into her hole. Mary-Lou held back a gasp, as her body reacted to the shock, completely unprepared for something to enter her.

“You dirty little bitch”, Carl said. “Not a single hair all over, how'd you know?”

“You going to fuck me or fool around pretending?”, Mary-Lou said.

“You aint half got a mouth on you”, Carl spat back at her. “You'll be lucky if you leave with it all in one piece. Get on your knees and spread those beautiful legs wide.”

Mary-Lou flipped herself over so she was on all fours, her ass thrust out towards him.

“I hear another word from you, you'll sure as hell regret it. Such a beautiful piece of ass, would be a pity”, Carl said.

He slapped her ass-cheek as hard as he could, and Mary-Lou felt the pain reverberate around her body. Carl laughed and did it again, and even in the thin fuzzy light he could see the redness begin to swell on her skin. He put his hand between her legs again and began to rub her cooch, with his thick dirty fingers. He plunged his thumb into her hole, and teased her clitoris with his long grease stained middle finger. Mary-Lou began to moan, not because he was exciting her, but because she wanted him to feel like he was. When he pulled his thumb out of her cunt, and put his two middle fingers in there instead, Mary-Lou felt like he was tearing her apart.