"I am scared of him." She speaks while wrapping her caramel colored hair around her finger.
"What Beth? What do you have to be scared of?" Her head is hung low and I lean my head and shoulders down so as to make eye contact with her.
"You just wont get it, you wont." She gets up and strolls to the window staring out it. She knew I 'got it'. "You. You are like a dream Cal. A perfect dream. We'd be perfect together you know."
"Perfect, yes. That would be a bad thing though. We'd need something to argue about... or something." I feel my heart getting heavy and I try to ignore it. "You know it just wouldn't be right." I sigh, knowing we both have this understanding.
"Of course I know, or we would have been together ages ago. We are like... two gay people, that have... uh--." She paused and looked away from the window, at me.
"We have knowledge." I say with almost no mood. None anyone could decipher anyway.
"I can go with that." She smiled playfully.
"So, what does he need? What do you need?" I say to figure out what my role shall be tonight.
"I'm in deeper than you think Cal..."
"I'm sure." I figured as much. Such a wonderfully bright girl she is. Beautiful. And always mixed up in things out of her league.
"You see, I was awake, little to his knowledge. He was taking advantage of Lily in that nasty hotel bathroom. Did we ask for it?" I could only see her long hair down her back and her legs. But I didn't need to see her face, to hear the depth in her voice. "Our job was done Cal, he paid us, we were through. He just wanted us to sleep there with him. Paid extra for it." She said this all with such hesitance. I felt she was hiding something.
She looked at me with guiltiness swimming around in her eyes. "I'm not a hooker Max. I don't do these things. And neither does Lily. We are dancers. We dance."
"Are you convinced?" I say gently, again with no mood.
"What? Well, I don't want you to th--." She took a deep breath. "Cal, she and I had a few in us. Had a pill or two in us. I was irate he was hurting her." I could tell now, more than a few minutes ago, she was scared. Maybe there's more to the story. "And this isn't the first time he's hurt one of our girls. He's hurt me too. But the boss insists--"
"What do you need Beth?" She knows I am always here. A kind of... guardian. I get up to pour more coffee into my white mug.
Again she takes a breath. "Come here." She said. "Please, j-- just come here."
I felt a rush of something go through me. I stare at the black in my mug. This isn't a good feeling. This wasn't her job, not at all. I am the one. It is my duty. Just like when we were children, and I saved her from that bully in school; and that shitty man at the country store that stole her ten dollar bill...
"Beth, you are lovely you know." And I meant it. I set my mug down and followed her. Down two sets of stairs, and into her garage.
"Here. Here Cal." She grabbed my wrist and showed me her back seat. There he was, writhing. Like he was the victim. A helpless little victim. I put both of my hands on hers and I gently pushed her to the corner of the garage. "Let me take care of this sweet heart." She nodded with wide eyes.
I opened the door and looked at the knots tied around his ankles, around his knees, his elbows, his wrists. He must have hurt her, for my Beth to get this angry.
I ripped the tape from his mouth, and pulled the gag out, which was nothing but a black tank top from her little body. I looked at her, and noticed her quivering lips.
"So, what are you doing here? Did you have a good ride?" I looked at him ready to pounce if I needed. He was made of fat, not muscle. And he was whimpering like a child.
"She's psycho man! Do you know what it's like to breathe through your nose for so long? I could have died man." His cheap cologne and stale beer breath smothered me.
"No. I suppose I don't. I've never been in such predicaments. Tell me, what got you here?" I am stern. To the point.
"Fuck you man, untie me or I will blow a cap in you, too."
"Too?" I was pacing the room with my eyes, looking for my next move. I noticed little Beth crouched up, she looked at me and started to sob.
"It was him Cal! Him!" She sobbed while stretching her shirt out as if to hide her body. The thought of him stealing innocence from her... my initial sickness left quickly. I didn't need emotion for this.
"Him." I looked at his disgusting face. "You?"
"Get me the fuck out of here. I swear you will regret the day you were born boy!" I could taste his fear. I've waited long for this moment. So has she.
"You know what I do to men like you? Men that treat women like meat?" I looked at her again.
"I make them... the dinner."
And her and I played with our prey... far into the night.
