Tasmanians The Word

When the man in the white tee shirt walked into the apartment, Whitney immediately thought he seemed on edge. That kind of behavior wasn’t all out of the ordinary when Jax brought a customer back with him. But this guy was different. He seemed nervous, but not afraid. Which she got that vibe from a lot of people, most customers seemed to think that one wrong move would mean Jax would pounce like a tiger. But he walked in and took his shoes off without Jax even having to ask. And looked around the place with a nod.

           “Wow,” he exclaimed. “Vintage, I like it.”

           Jax looked back at him taking off his shoes. He seemed to be a bit taken aback by the guy as well.

           “You can have a seat right there,” he said and turned to Whitney and Amy in the kitchen. They were cooking his lunch, Kraft Dinosaur mac and cheese. It disturbed her how much of his horrible side was mixed with an almost childlike nostalgia at times.

           “Get that shit done and then go get changed,” he said throwing his thumb over a shoulder to their room.

           Whitney looked at the food and judged it was just about done and stopped stirring it.

           When she turned, Amy seemed hesitant. She was stirring a thing of Kool Aid and when Whitney tapped her on the shoulder she jumped and looked at her.

           New girl, Whitney thought. Thinking back to a time when she’d been drove two states away from her home by her mother in a rusted up and trash filled mini-van.

           “Do you think that’s enough?” Amy asked with a shakiness to her voice. “He got real mad last time.”

           Whitney looked at the color and thought, she’s got a lot to learn. Jax don’t get mad because you did something wrong. He just gets mad; he likes having the excuse.

           “Yea it’s fine. Come on we gotta get ready.”

           Whitney took another glance at the man as she passed the living room and noticed he hadn’t sat where Jax told him. Another unusual occurrence. Jax always had them sit with their back to the kitchen. It was to make it easier for Candy to pull her gun is she needed, get the jump on them. She wondered how that was going to go over as Jax hadn’t noticed yet.

           But they went by and into their room. The other girls Mary and Bethany were in there. So was Candy. They’d heard her yelling from down the hall as they approached the door.

           “-the fuck you mean he didn’t pay!” Candy yelled at Mary. Mary was like Amy; she was new. Not as new but had a lot to learn.

           “He said he didn’t wanta. Then he just got up and left I didn’t know what to do,” Mary said with her shoulders slouched and her eyes on the ground.

           “That doesn’t fuckin matta,” Candy said. “You get paid first!”

           “He said he’d pay me after…” Mary said.

           God, she’s got a lot to learn, Whitney thought.

           “Are fuckin dumb slut? Are you fuckin stupid!? Jax and I don’t put a roof over your head give you food to eat so you cannot earn that right. This ain’t a fuckin boarding house”-

           “-Jax has got a customer waiting for you Candy,” Whitney said walking to her bunk bed and pulling her trunk out.

           Candy looked away from Mary who was now gripping her arms tight. Her face nearly white.

           “Shit…now you got me all fuckin bothered and I have to go to work.”

           She pulled her shirt out of her pants and let it hang over her waist. Whitney could still see the outline of the Ruger’s grip however.

           Candy walked to the door way shaking her head and turned back at the opening. They didn’t get a door itself.

           “You old mares better start teaching’ these little ones,” she said pointing from Bethany to Whitney. “Because I can’t do all this shit by myself! And you all know better. Jesus Christ. Not getting paid before you work? That’s fuckin basic shit you dumbass!”

           Then she left. Mary almost immediately broke down and turned to the window. Her choked breaths filled the room and she sniffled loudly.

           Bethany hoped down from the top bunk and came to her side. She wiped Mary’s eyes and added some color to her cheeks and tried to work the redness into her look with makeup. She lifted her chin up and stared at her.

           “Just breath ok…we’ll go out and make it right later. But for now, you gonna keep this buttoned up.”

           “I hate it here…” Mary said.

           “Don’t keep saying that,” Whitney said pointing a finger at Mary. “You keep saying that someone’s gonna hear you that don’t want to hear you and then it’s gonna be bad. Keep it in here,” she said pointing to her own forehead.

           When the walked out into the living room, Whitney was surprised to see that Jax hadn’t had the man get up. He was sitting in the corner facing them. Jax was sitting where clients normally were. Candy had a hand on his shoulder and sat on his arm rest like a proper queen. Her rough, mean, and commanding attitude gone as she turned to the line of approaching girls.

           Whitney was running through the paces as she emerged, remembering to smile, shoulders back, and seem friendly. They tried to cover up Mary’s crying well enough, but it was still obvious if you looked at it.

           “And here are the ladies of the hour,” Candy said waving a hand toward them.

           The man in the white tee shirt leaned forward with his knees on his elbows, his fingers clasped together. His face turning almost bright red at the sight of them in their lingerie.

           “It’s just these four you’ve got?” he asked.

           “It is, and every one of them just more gorgeous than the last,” Candy said in a cheerful…and fake tone. It was beyond annoying to Whitney to listen too.

           “I can agree with you there,” the man said. “You know how to pick’em.”

           Jax nodded, and looked over his shoulder down the line of them. He stopped on Mary longer than the others and then turned back.

           “Mr., this is Bethany, Amy, Mary and Whitney,” she said pointing to everyone as she said their name.

           The man started to rub his knees at the sight of all of them. His fingers scratching the jeans fabric filled the silence and his heel started to drum the carpet.

           “Like a kid in a candy store, huh baby?” Candy said patting Jax’s shoulder.

           The man bit his bottom lip. He stopped on Whitney and scratched his stubble. Yup…he’s picking me, she thought. And slowly tried to brace for that reality. It wasn’t worrying to her; it was more just the fact that she’d be working today after all.

           “Fuck man, I mean how do you choose?” he said suddenly.

           It got a boisterous laugh out of both Jax and Candy.

           “Can I just do all of them?” he added.

           Jax and Candy laughed harder. I filled the room to the point it drowned out the radio playing behind them.

           Whitney smiled, but she only did it cause it seemed like the appropriate thing to do. In truth this man was starting to creep her out. He had a joyous and excited way about him that she wasn’t used too. It was either very cut and dry of extremely nervous. This felt strange to her, like what was he gonna ask her to do? Hopefully nothing to weird, she could handle a little of it. But his eye’s said it was something really weird. They were lit up like a kid on Christmas.

           “All of them?!” Candy laughed harder. “Oh shit, that’s funny. Honey, we close up at five, and it’s three now.”

           “Well, I don’t need that long,” the man in the white tee shirt said smiling. His face had turned bright red, and his shoulders were slouched. But Whitney noticed he was still scratching his jeans. The white lines starting to appear in the fabric.

           It got the loudest roar out of them all at this point. Even Whitney smirked and chuckled at the honesty the man had, still bothered however.

           “But seriously though, is that an option?”

           In a hard right turn, the mood changed on Jax’s face. Candy was still recovering from laughter when Jax swallowed and stared at the man with a look that seemed offended.

           “You can have two.”

           “I can pay for all four, I got it right here.”

           He pulled a big brown envelope that looked like it had a huge brick tucked inside of it out and set it on the table.

           “Really I’m dead serious, and I won’t keep you up late either.”

           Jax and Candy didn’t even hear the second part and stared at the envelope.

           Whitney and Bethany shared a glance that said told her she shared the disgusted feeling. It was bad enough thinking that she’d have to be with this man alone and do whatever he wanted in the time he paid for. But now the thought of her having to watch that happen to the three of them as well was…not comforting. And she hoped Jax would decline.

           “Alright. But they ain’t going anywhere,” Jax said.

           And Whitney felt her hope plummet to its death.

           “You got a room?”

           Jax looked over at Candy, and she nodded.

           “You can use the spare bed room down the hall.”

           The men grew a big smile, his heel stopped drumming.

           “No problems here,” he said.

           “Girls, go on and lead him where he’s gotta get. And call for me when you’re done.” The four of them walked down the hall to the spare bedroom.

           On the way down, Whitney found herself just wishing he’d picked her. In truth it would be way more bearable than whatever was about to happen in here. It was even more shocking to her that Jax had allowed it, normally he had a thing about a guy buying all his merchandise at once. Said it was bad to have all your eggs in one basket. Maybe it was just because they were home.

           “Be gentle now ladies!” Candy yelled.

           “Should be telling him that,” Jax groveled

           Bethany shut the door, and the man stood in the center of the room looking around for a moment. Then looked back at the door.

           “Does this lock work?” he asked.

           Oh god…why’s he want to know that? She thought. And strangely it brought some comfort to her knowing that Candy had the key. If they started screaming, the bad kind of screaming not the fake kind, then they’d come running.

           “It does,” Bethany said.

           The man walked over and locked the door, then gave it a firm tug. It was bit disturbing to her.

           “Have any of you ever seen a Tasmanian Tiger?” the man suddenly asked.

           The question silenced the room for a moment.

           Whitney then noticed how the man’s stance had changed. He didn’t have that Christmas like excitement anymore. As he asked the question, he was looking around the room. His eye’s drawn specifically to the light fixture over the bed. Where Whitney knew for a fact Jax had a camera installed.

           “I beg your pardon?” Amy asked.

           “Aren’t they extinct?” Mary chimed in.

           “Yea…I was just wondering if you guys had ever seen a picture,” he said.

           Whitney noticed then that he sounded different; his voice had had a firmer feel too it. Like he was the boss of something in the world and was used to giving directions. Now it sounded nervous. He sat on the bed looking around the room with a rapid switch every now and again.

            Some time passed, and he didn’t say anything.

           Whitney and the other girls were looking amongst each other a bit confused. He’d seemed like the kind of guy to take charge with this. After all he just paid for four girls. No one paid for four girls without knowing what that meant, she thought.

           “So…” Bethany said she didn’t sound like she knew what to make of him either. “How do you wanta get started? Cause I mean, we can just”-

           “I like to take my time with it,” the man said. “Like to look at you.”

           He had a smile on his face again. But it didn’t feel the same to Whitney. There didn’t seem like there was devious sexual desires behind it like it did out in the living room. It seemed more genuine, non-threating. As well his hands were clasped, and his elbows were on his knees.

           “So where are you all from? Originally?”

           No one answered right away. It was almost like they were all listening to some strange song the man was playing that they were trying to decipher.

           “I’m from Baltimore…” Amy said suddenly.

           “Detroit,” Bethany added.

           The man nodded.

           “Denver,” Mary said.

           He looked at Whitney. He seemed like he’d be willing to wait a whole life to hear it. There wasn’t excitement, or even nervousness in his face. He had a soft smirk, almost like he was waiting for a bus.

           “Detroit too,” she finally said. “Same as Bethany,” she said nervously pointing.

           It felt strange all of a sudden whatever this was. They were all standing around this man who’d just paid for their company. Dressed in stockings, bras, and thongs, but there was nothing sexual about it seemingly. It was like he didn’t even notice. She’d walked down the hall to the room with the overbearing notion she was going to watch this man have them one after the other like dogs in a breeding session or something. But so far it was just…strange.

           “Do you like it here?” he asked.

           “No,” Amy said fast.

           Whitney looked at her with a cautious eye. She suddenly speculated what this might be. It was all setting together for her like the perfect pieces of a puzzle. The way he acted, Jax not caring where he sat, the money, Jax letting him have all of them…he was a setup.

           Jax had done it before with her a long time ago. He’d had this young guy pick her up one night, drive her away to an alley for what she thought was just more of the same. But then he’d looked at her, and told her that he was a cop and he’d help her if she wanted it.

           It had brought her the most overwhelming feeling of relief, and this sense that maybe God was real after all. She’d told him before he even finished speaking that she wanted out. That she wanted him to drive her to the police station as fast as possible. And when they drove off, she didn’t even think about the direction he was going. He was going right back to Jax’s house. Right back to tell him what she’d said. It brought on such an intense and strong fear all of a sudden that she wanted Amy to shut up, and be quiet.

           The man looked at Beth. That same questioning look on his face.

           She didn’t say anything. She’d been through the same thing as Whitney and knew just from her look that mum was the word. Mary had the same response. And when Amy saw how the rest of them were looking at her, she suddenly went wide eyed. Her hands wrapped around her shoulders as she realized her mistake. They all went quiet then, and the man looked around at all of them suddenly confused. But slowly his head dropped, and he nodded.

           “It’s alright, we don’t need to talk. They’ll be here in a minute.”

           Whitney looked to the door; she knew what was coming next. The footsteps would come pounding. Jax would already be yelling that ear piercing roar he had. The door would swing opened and he’d start demanding to know which one talked, which one said something.

           He’d more than likely make them watch as he taught Amy the rules. He’d made Beth watch Whitney, and them both watch Mary.

           But as they stood in silence waiting for Jax and Candy to barge in. The only sound Whitney heard was the reeving of an engine outside. It grew louder and louder, and ended with a tire screech out front.

           The man leaned back, sighed and looked at the window. He seemed at ease still and rested on his palms.

           “You guys are going to want to stay in here.”

           The muffled sound of car doors and people talking came from the window. Whitney looked at Beth and the others. It was clear that all of them were unsure what was happening.

           Bethany started to walk to the door with a cautious face.

           “Don’t,” the man on the bed said.

           She looked back and saw him shaking his head.

           “Just. Don’t.”

           Whitney couldn’t help herself. She stepped slowly to the window and peaked out the blinds. Four police cruisers and a large black truck were parked out front of Jax’s house.  

           The man on the bed stood up, and walked to the door ushering Bethany away from it.

           “You should all just sit on the bed,” he said pointing, his voice sounding strangely apologetic.

           They all took a seat, and the man waited by the door with crossed arms making his shirt tighter. It was then that Whitney noticed a bulge in the small of his back under his shirt. A square rectangular bulge.

           The voices then started to roar like she thought, but they were muffled behind the door and not Jax’s or Candys.

           “Police! Search warrant! Get on the ground!”