5.
Val had a miserable afternoon and the evening wasn't much better. Because she wanted it, oh so obviously wanted it, he brought the girl to Rudy's at eight.
He knew he was doing something terribly wrong but he wasn't sure which was more wrong. Thwarting her and making her angry, perhaps to the point of losing all control of her, as if he had any control over her in the first place. Or abetting her and therefore taking advantage of her, somehow gaining prestige because of how and who she was. Which he didn't understand or know at all -- he couldn't fathom her desires or needs.
When they got to the bar -- the girl dressed, barely, from the apartment to the car, naked in the car from the apartment to Rudy's cross-town in the waning daylight, the girl oblivious to who could see her, and of course naked from the parked car to Rudy's, a half block walk on the sidewalk, she leading him, to the enjoyment of several honking cars - she got what she wanted.
In Rudy's, he'd asked Tommy D. for a stool. Tommy, looking as if he was going to say something, pointed to one at the end of the bar. Val carried the wood stool into the restroom where the girl was in place and busy - her appearance in the bar was met by a cheer - but unchained.
They'd worked this out in advance, using Val's number system. She wanted to be in the bar, she wanted to be in the restroom, she wanted to be chained to the floor, she didn't want him there if all he was going to do was make her "safe."
He went in the restroom anyway, locked the chains to her collar, and watched from the stool until the frown on her face made it plain she didn't wish him there. He carried the stool back to the end of the bar, got his free beer. Tommy D. told him not to worry about paying, which was awfully fine of him.
And since he was the one who brought the slut, one man's words, he didn't want for company at his table. The things guys told or asked him.
Currently it was Club, a dark man in his forties, long beard and hair each in a braid. The hair braid reached his wide black leather belt. Club had a suntan, black hair, dressed in black, a faded t-shirt with a local cycle club name on the back and jeans, with tall black boots.
Club was a tattoo artist, self-proclaimed, the one who'd done much of the girl's decoration. Val wasn't impressed which didn't bother Club one bit.
"Bob brings her around Friday to get inked. I'm always busy Friday but do what I can for a friend."
"I'm sure," Val said.
"You'll be bringing her by, won't you? Look at this." Club rolled up his sleeve to show his shoulder. Both arms were covered with flame tattoos and naked women. On the shoulder was a medallion, bordered with vines, black ground, white letters: "Ginger." "That's her name, but you know that."
Val nodded. Ginger fit. She was the pretty one on Gilligan's Island. "I'm not sure about Friday. We'll see."
"I'll ink you too, if you want. Free of course. No charge. That girl's special."
"I know that."
"Incredible. I've never known anyone drink so much piss and not cramp or get the shits. Gallons. Of course she pees a lot herself, but you know that."
"It hasn't been a problem."
"Rubber sheets." Club nodded.
"Bathtub. She licks it clean afterward."
Club gave him a look, burst out laughing and slapped Val's arm. "Shit," Club said. "Some of us were just born lucky, the rest of us all have to work."
Val raised his beer bottle as a salute and took a drink.
"The slut likes to party. But of course you know that. You want to make some money, give me a call." Club fished for his wallet; it was attached with a long chain to his belt. He took out a card. "Leave a message."
Val put the card in his wallet.
"Five hundred for all night. No lasting damage. I could make sure for a hundred of it. Some of the guys don't know limits."
"I'll keep it in mind."
"How'd you get her off Bob?"
"Won her in a poker game." Val looked away, around the room. The bar had a mixed clientele, women and men, mostly over thirty, nobody looked overly affluent. He turned back to Club.
"That must have been some game."
"It was. It was. Look Club, the beer is running through me and I need to take a leak."
Club rose with him. "I'm ready for another go. This place could use pretzels but I'm not complaining." He laughed and slapped Val's back.
Val used the urinal, Club along with several others was using the girl. Club was getting obvious pleasure and for the first time Val heard her squeal with laughter.
He went back to his beer and there was a woman at the table.
"You should be ashamed," the woman said. She drew wet circles on the table with her glass. "Doing a young good-looking girl like that. You are a bunch of animals." She looked up at him.
"My limits for shame are continually being tested," Val said. He was thinking of going home from the mall, the sullen girl in the back seat. She hadn't wanted to leave and several of the men looked like they could easily pick a fight. They were bantam cocks who looked astonishingly like Baptist ministers: short hair, polyester shirts, and florid faces. One of the men, a tall heavyset black man, helped Val clean her up and get her dressed. He held the girl while Val splashed her with water from a sink to wash as much of the cum off as he could. His shirt she'd worn to the mall was used as a towel.
At home, the girl in the bathtub moaning, the TV louder than usual to help cover the sound, Val sat on the couch and picked up the envelope Bert had left. He found three five-dollar bills inside.
He'd had two choices - tear up the money or keep it. He was so fed up with the whole situation he put the fifteen dollars in his wallet. Doing that, in a subtle way, changed their relationship, his and the girl's. He wasn't sure how, but it was changed now.
"What makes you think you're the lord of creation?" the woman said.
"I'm not the lord of anything, lady," Val said. "I don't know or understand most of what happens around me, my relationship to the girl back there is my business, not yours, just as what she wants to do is her business and not ours." He finished his beer. "I'll be back in a minute to continue our discussion."
"Smart ass," she said to his back.
He returned with a second free beer, no pretzels as Club said, and he was hungry not having had dinner. "Yes?" he said.
"You're going to pretend she likes it? That's disgusting. Doing what they're doing in there."
"Pretending she doesn't like it hasn't been successful so far, lady."
"My name's Lisa." She took a drink.
"Lisa. Could I get you another?"
She pushed the glass at him.
Her drink was free too. "When we're done we can, one, go to the men's room and you can see what they're doing if you want. Two, you can join in, if you want. Or three, I'm famished. Do you know a good place to eat nearby? I'll buy you a meal."
Lisa studied her glass for a minute. "Three. There's a White Castle a couple blocks away."
"Not one or two?" He took a sip of beer.
"You're an instigator. You know that? No, I'm not going in the men's room."
"It's just a meal, okay?"
"Sure. What makes you think any different?"
"You took your wedding ring off."
"So you noticed?"
"I'm getting better at it."
"Lisa's my name. What's yours?"
"Val."
"You look ethnic."
"My father was Greek. My mother was from Lebanon."
"Not one of those guys with hairy backs?"
"No hair on the back except lower down."
"Val. That's a nice name. Why do you treat your girlfriend like that?"
"Like her? She's not my girlfriend, Lisa. I won her at a poker game last night." He watched her face for her reaction.
Lisa drew circles on the table with the glass, looked up at him. "I don't think I'm going to go out to eat with you tonight, Val."
"Because I won a girl at a poker game?"
"Because I think you're telling the truth and either you have amazing luck or you're a dumbass."
"Thank you, Lisa. I'm a dumbass."
"A handsome dumbass with his hands full. Don't fall in love with her, Val. She won't be yours for long."
"I know that, Lisa. A couple of blocks away, you said."
"Down the street, turn right. Corner of 20th and 1st Avenue." She took her glass and left him.
6.
Val brought the girl home from the bar at eleven. He wasn't going to work in the morning and he could have stayed out all night but he was bored to tears nursing beers at Rudy's and talking. He didn't feel like talking.
He did feel like talking to Nancy but she'd drawn her line and he wasn't sure it made sense to cross it if he hoped to save the relationship. He'd give her time to calm down and him time to deal with the girl.
Dealing with the girl was the big one. If there weren't some emotional tie, she wouldn't be a burden. Part of the burden was that there was enough of a relationship where he couldn't just leave her somewhere.
He unlocked the door and pulled her into his apartment. "Sit on the couch," he said. "After you clean up." She trod off to the bathroom.
Val started coffee and hunted through his cupboards for a snack. He carried a tray in and set it onto his coffee table.
The girl came out, dripping wet, and sat on the couch. She gave Val a nervous smile.
"We need to talk. You won't talk though, will you?"
She shrugged.
"So we'll do the one finger, two finger, three trick. Okay?"
She nodded, pulled her feet up onto the couch under her and leaned back.
"One. Do you want to stay here or, two, do you want to leave? Three, you can just walk out or, four, I can take you back to Rudy's and leave you there?" He picked up his coffee. "A coffee for you and snacks. Please eat and drink."
She held up a single finger.
Val smiled. "Thank you. I think." He paused, set his cup down. "I need to know what you want." She pointed to him, pointed to her mouth. "That easy, hunh?" The girl smiled, gave a quick nod. She opened her mouth to moan. "Stop that."
The girl shut her mouth.
"Thank you." He grabbed a handful of crackers. "Would you be willing to write out what you want?" She pointed to her mouth. "Would you please write out what you want?" She shrugged. "You don't say no, do you?"
She smiled, "Ummm."
"Okay." He tossed her a cracker. If you don't eat that, you can't stay here. My rule. Okay?"
She threw the cracker down on the table and stood.
"Club wanted to know if I was going to bring you by his tattoo parlor Friday."
She sat.
"There are things you want to do. There are things I want you to do. If we are going to live together for a while we need to work this out. If you leave I may get my girlfriend back. You need to make it worthwhile for me."
She pointed to her mouth.
"Honey, I need to be able to talk to a girl before we do the fun stuff."
She sat angrily against the couch's back cushion.
"You have things you want and need. I have things I want and need."
She thought for a moment, nodded.
"I need you to eat and drink something now and again besides piss and cum. Besides. Not instead. We meet halfway. Okay?"
She shrugged.
"Seriously. Okay?"
She picked up the cracker, looked at it, put it back down. She leaned back against the cushion, crossed her arms.
"Eat something. Go into the kitchen and find something to eat." He picked up his coffee cup and turned on the TV.
She came back with two hot dogs. She sat on the couch across from him, legs spread and shoved the hot dogs into her cunt.
"Interesting." He turned on the TV. "Do you want me to be hard or soft on you? We already know when I'm angry I'll hit you. How about that?"
The girl moaned. He looked at her. She pulled a hot dog out and nibbled its end. She made a face.
"Good girl. Both of them." He turned off the TV and watched her. When she was done, he said, "So we need to think about a new tattoo."
She smiled, pointed to her forehead.
"Maybe a piercing. Does Club do piercings?"
She shrugged.
"Okay. Some basic rules. You don't like to wear clothes. Okay. In here you don't have to. At Rudy's," she smiled, "you don't have to. But in between you have to. If you'd prefer a skirt and top, easy to shed, we can get them for you. Understand?"
She crossed her arms and stamped her foot.
"It won't kill you. Another rule is your name is Em, for empty, or whatever you like. Just between you and me. Unless you want to tattoo it somewhere. Not your forehead. Okay, Em?"
She nodded.
"I work which means you'll be alone during the day. Unless I say otherwise, you'll stay here and there will be no visitors. I find you've been roaming or having a party, you're out. No second chances. Understand?"
She nodded, looked away from him.
"We can go to Rudy's. Club said he can fix you up for parties. All night. Interested?"
She pointed to him.
"I'll go to Rudy's with you. I may or may not go to the parties. Okay?"
She shrugged.
"Not sure or don't care?"
She shrugged, smiled.
"What you did at the mall pissed me off. If you need something you need to figure out a way to tell me, otherwise don't think about doing it without my say so."
She pointed to her mouth, held up three fingers.
"I need to know what's going on in that head of yours first."
She shrugged, pointed to him, pointed to her mouth.
"Would you be able to give up Rudy's and the rest for me? Honestly?"
She lowered her eyes, shrugged.
"Have you thought about what you want me to give up for you? My girlfriend. My self respect. Who I am. Just so you can go in a bar and give blowjobs and get your ass fucked by strange men. And a chance to fuck your face makes it all worthwhile? What if I did what you want and when I was done I threw you out onto the street? Will you be happy then?"
She shrugged.
"Look at me, Em."
She turned to him, gave a tentative smile.
"Again. One, you want to stay. Two, you want to leave." He watched her.
She raised one finger.
"How long was your hair before they cut it?"
She held her hand even with her breasts.
"It must have been pretty. Do you want me, one, hard, or two, soft?"
She held up one finger, put it in her mouth.
"Not that kind of hard. You know what I mean." He smiled to show her he wasn't angry.
She shrugged.
"Another rule. You sleep out here, not in the bathtub. I expect you to keep the place clean and neat. Perhaps I can let you run errands - do the grocery shopping. Not right away. We go to Rudy's two nights a week, Club's parlor another, maybe a party one or two nights. Bert and his friends can visit in the morning. Those are huge concessions on my part. Immense. If that's not enough, you should leave. I want you to drink something." She pointed to him, put her finger in her mouth. "If not coffee then something from the kitchen."
She sat still and stared at him.
"Leave or drink something. Your choice. Each minute you waste we take one of my concessions off the list, starting with the parties." He raised his wrist. "Starting now." He watched the second hand. "Forty-five seconds left. Thirty."
She picked the coffee cup up off the table and began drinking.
"Good girl." He lowered his wrist. "Any preference in movies?"
She shrugged, wiped her chin.
He turned the station to HBO. "Okay?"
She shrugged, wiped her mouth and grimaced.
"How many gallons of piss did you drink tonight? A cup of coffee isn't going to kill you. If you'll share a bowl of popcorn I'll share the couch with you. No funny stuff."
She pointed to her mouth.
"Not tonight, Em. But not an impossibility some time in the future."
She nodded.
"Would you make the popcorn? I'll get your bedding together."
She studied him for a minute and smiled.
"See? Give and take."
She went to the kitchen. He watched the movie for a minute, shrugged his shoulders. He was stuck with the girl and Nancy was going to be pissed as hell.
Part 1
Chapters 1 & 2 | Chapters 3 & 4 | Chapters 5 & 6 |
Chapters 7 & 8 | Chapters 9 & 10 | Chapters 11 & 12
Part 2
Chapters 13 & 14 | Chapters 15 & 16 | Chapters 17 & 18 |
Chapters 19 & 20 | Chapters 21 & 22 | Chapters 23 & 24