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“Whatchou want?” the woman asked, getting into the SUV. The guy driving it was a white guy that looked like a pastor. She hoped he wasn’t a pastor; they were usually creeps who wanted to haggle over her prices. He was in a white dress shirt, buttoned all the way up, even though he wasn’t wearing a tie. Black slacks that had obviously been freshly pressed. And nice loafers that reminded her of her Sunday school days for some reason.
“A blowjob,” the guy responded. “Do you have a place you prefer?”
“Up this road a couple blocks there’s a parking lot that isn’t used very often because the pavement’s all cracked up. We can go there,” she told him. “It’ll be thirty.”
“Okay,” the guy responded without much enthusiasm, and she hoped she wouldn’t have to suck him to hardness, that would take forever and it was worth more than $30. She considered telling him a higher price, but decided against it since she’d already said thirty. She’d been lucky earlier, maybe tonight was her lucky night and this guy would be a wad blower with just a few seconds of arousal. Those were the ones she preferred. They were usually so embarrassed they gave her the money and hurried her out of the vehicle.
She looked to see if Adam was behind them; Adam was her pimp and he usually followed her, but if she’d left while he was busy with another girl, he might not have noticed. Adam had four girls on that corner, he needed to hire another guy to help out. He’d gotten careful the previous year when one of his girls had ended up butchered after a job. But Adam was a cheapskate and didn’t want to split the earnings with another guy to help him protect his girls. However, if he was busy one of the other girls would have gotten this guy’s license plate number—of that she was sure. The streets were dangerous and even if Adam was too cheap to look after them properly, they did a good job of looking out for each other. When Shawna had gotten cut up last year, it had been her that had given the cops the plate number of the car she’d gotten into and the SCTU had busted the guy a few days later, after connecting him to several other murders of working girls in the area.
“What’s your name?” he asked, parking in the lot.
“Vanna,” she lied.
“Vanna, do you believe in God?” Great, he was a weirdo. She wished Adam had followed, in case someone needed to persuade him to turn over the money after this was done.
“Not in a long time. Do you need help getting in the mood, or should I just start?” she asked, moving closer to him.
“I’m ready, but let’s move to the back seats so you can move around a little more. You’re gonna need to,” he told her. Fantastic, he was a weirdo with an ego. The woman agreed and got out. He moved too, opening the door and getting out. He opened the back door and climbed in. After a moment she did as well. “Why don’t you go ahead and take your shirt off for this. I’d hate to ruin it.”
“Topless will cost you an extra ten,” she countered.
“I’m fine with that,” the guy said, and he still didn’t sound all that interested in it. She wasn’t sure if the guys that picked her up were weird because she attracted weirdos, or if all men who paid for sex were weird. It was something she wondered about often though, because she did seem to attract the weirdos. Although usually they had mommy issues or wife issues or once she’d had a guy insist that she pretend to be his sister. Maybe it was men in general that were weird. She took off her top, then she reached over and unzipped his pants, sliding her hand in smoothly. He grabbed a handful of her hair. She was used to this too. They usually did. She was about to pull it out and start when she felt a sharp pain in her midsection. It hurt like nothing she’d ever felt before. It was worse than the time her appendix had ruptured. Nausea washed through her and she tried to sit up, but he kept hold of her hair, firmly pushing her closer to his crotch. She tried to explain and he started laughing, and then she felt the pain move, it moved inside her. She vomited on his lap, but his hand didn’t release her hair. She tried to roll over and found he held her too firmly. She looked down the length of her body, something was hanging down onto the seat. Something was hanging out of her and she felt the movement again, sharp tearing pain roared through her and she felt herself go clammy and break into a sweat, she collapsed onto him and the movement continued. Confusion and pain fogged her brain. Nothing made sense. He was squirming under her. She felt cool air wash over her. He was getting out of the vehicle, she realized, as another wave of pain ripped through her midsection. Now he let go of her hair and roughly rolled her over onto her back. She tried to help him and screamed in pain. One of his hands moved into her field of vision, it glistened as if it were wet and it was so dark. She cried with the pain, she wanted to curl her legs up and protect the area that hurt, but couldn’t. Her legs wouldn’t work. Her body shook with the pain. Then he was gone, no longer standing above her head outside the car. She tried to look at where she hurt and heard another door open.
The SUV rocked and then his face appeared over the back seat.
“I need a hospital,” she mewled at him. She’d never experienced pain like this. Her hands found the spot that hurt and covered it to protect it. Maybe something else in her was rupturing. She didn’t know. Her hands felt wet. Why were her hands wet? She felt his hands roughly grab her wrists and pull her hands back from the spot where she was wet. He pulled them roughly, his large dark hand easily held both her wrists. She was in too much pain to struggle. So much pain. She wanted to scream, but only a loud sob escaped her mouth. Then there was the moving sensation again, the pain increased and the world went black. She was in so much pain. She reached down her body for her cell phone. She kept it in an interior pocket of her skirts that she had sewn in special for holding it. She hurt so bad and she was so cold. Her fingers fumbled with it and her arm brushed something squishy and warm that sent waves of nausea through her again as well as shooting pains through her body. It hurt from her hair to her feet. Her phone. She dug it out. The man was gone. She tried to unlock it and her hand brushed against the same squishy, warm thing that her arm had brushed, and she turned her head and threw up. Then she hit the emergency call button, and as she tried to get the phone to her ear the horror of what had happened swept over her. She knew what the squishy warm thing was. The phone fell to the floorboard of the SUV and she tried to carefully shove her intestines back into her body.
Her hands shook with the effort. Every movement was excruciating.
“Send ambulance,” she croaked; hoping 911 hadn’t put her on hold or hung up. She tried to roll over, but it hurt too much and she passed out again. She hoped someone had heard her. She hoped help was coming. She didn’t want to die in this SUV in this parking lot. She considered offering God a bargain, but he’d ignored her every time she’d begged him to stop her daddy from touching her. He’d ignored her the day she watched her daddy beat her mommy to death because she had told her mom about her daddy touching her. He’d ignored her every time she’d begged him for help. He wasn’t going to help her now, no matter what she offered or how much she pleaded.
She gritted her teeth and shoved with all her strength, trying to push the squishy flesh back in through the hole he’d made. She passed out again. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, the pain was still sharp, intense, throbbing, pulsing in her abdomen. She looked to the floorboard. Her phone screen was still lit up and still showed that she was connected with 911. Next to the phone was a fifty-dollar bill. She reached for the phone. The strongest, most intense wave of pain yet shot through her entire body, and she threw up again. Filling the floorboard with the tacos she’d eaten a few hours earlier for dinner.
She stopped reaching. It hurt too much. It wasn’t worth the pain. If she didn’t move, it hurt less. Black dots floated before her eyes. She was so tired. She closed her eyes. Maybe she’d sleep and wake up in her bed. She was cold. She shivered. Somewhere in the distance she heard sirens. Distantly, she hoped they were coming for her. But she hadn’t told anyone where she was. She was too tired to do it now. She took a shuddering breath. Where the fuck was Adam?