Josh Stallings - Out There Bad

Nika’s mouth was watering as she stumbled towards the dining room. Svetlana caught her elbow and steered her to the right, away from all the wonderful food and through a grand sitting room. With its large leather sofas and ironwork, it looked much like it had when the early Dons built the hacienda. Nika walked with her head turned back, watching the dinner disappear behind her.

“Come, little one,” Svetlana said, “I’ll find you a nice bed to lay on and then bring you dinner. Relax, dears, your troubles are over.”

The bedroom was at the back of the building. Five beds were the only furniture in the bare room. The walls were thick, dingy white adobe. There were no windows, the door was solid and heavy, when it was closed, all sounds of the outer house vanished. When Svetlana left to get dinner, they heard her turn the bolt in the door, locking them in.

“See. I told you it was going to work out,” Zhanna said, flopping down on one of the beds.

“You stupid twat,” Yumma snapped. Two days without a cigarette had left her nerves jangled and her mood rotten. “You think everything’s fine?”

“Svetlana won’t let them hurt us. Tell her, Nika.”

“Leave me out of it.” Nika lay back, closing her eyes.

“We will be fine,” Zhanna said.

“Guzel? Will she be fine? She’s taking a sauna, they’re feeding her grapes?” Yumma flipped her bleached hair back and started a mirthless laugh. “Maybe they took her into town for ice cream and cake.”

“Shut up, Yumma,” Nika said.

“Make me.”

Nika didn’t have the focus or energy to take any more shit. Pulling herself off the bed, she looked up at Yumma, who had six inches and at least forty pounds on her. Nika invaded the tall girl’s air space, her jaw was firm, her eyes hard.

Yumma broke eye contact first. “Screw you.”

Nika relaxed the tension in her face and suddenly started to laugh.

“What?” Zhanna asked, wondering if Nika had cracked.

“My first year at school,” Nika said still laughing, “a big girl beat me up. I went to my sister and told her, and she spanked me. Told me she would do it every day until I kicked the girl’s ass.”

“And that’s funny, why?”

Yumma started to chuckle, “Me too, only it was my mother. No dinner until you take that girl down.”

“You’re both crazy,” Zhanna said.

An hour later the lock finally turned and Svetlana came in with a tray filled with food. She hadn’t taken two steps in when Kolya stormed past her. He was a stocky older man in a velour jogging suit.

“What the fuck are you doing?” He knocked the tray from Svetlana’s hand.

“The girls are hungry.”

“Fuck them. They want to eat, they work. They don’t want to work, they can starve.” He kicked the fallen food into the hallway. After giving Svetlana a chilling glance, he walked out.

“I’m so sorry, men are pigs and Kolya is the worst. But he is the boss. I have to do what he says.” The girls looked at her, scared into silence.

“What does he want us to do?” Nika asked in almost a whisper.

“It is nothing, really. Men come here, fellow Russians, nice men, lonely. They pay us to spend time with pretty girls like you.” She made it sound innocent, almost a charity.

“And are we supposed to sleep with these men?” Nika asked.

“We are all women here, I can speak frankly. Which one of you hasn’t slept with a man because he was cute, or had a car, or could afford to buy you dinner and a night on the town? This is the same, you’ll see. Men are pigs and they want what we have, so why not charge them.” She left for a moment and returned with a washbasin, a water jug and fresh towels. “Clean yourselves and I will return for you in ten minutes.”

After the door locked, Zhanna burst into tears.

“She’s right,” Yumma said. “When I fucked Vadic, all he bought me was dinner. If I don’t like the man, I’ll tell him to fuck off. Svetlana wouldn’t make us screw a guy we didn’t want to.”

“You think?” Zhanna said, wiping her eyes.

“Sure.” Yumma splashed water on her face, dropped her dress off her shoulders and cleaned her pits. Slowly Zhanna joined her. Nika sat on her bed, not moving, watching them.

“Come on, Nika, you don’t want to stink up the place,” Yumma said.

“I’m not going,” Nika said.

“You have to eat.”

“No.”

“What if they are cute, and sweet?” Yumma asked.

“I don’t care.”

“What, you’re a virgin?”

“Yes.”

“Oh,” Yumma said, “it’s no big deal, really. All you have to do is lay there. The man does all the work.”

“I’m not going,” Nika said.

When Svetlana returned, she took notice of Nika but said nothing, as if she had been expecting her to refuse. She led the other two out and locked Nika in. The lights went out and Nika was left in the dark with her hunger and fear.

“Relax, your fucking dog is fine,” Piper said. We were sitting in the beast in the back parking lot of Club Xtasy. After finding Gregor’s apartment empty, I had gone to her. “Oh yeah, and Gregor and the Russian skirt are ok, too. By the way, are you fucking her or is Gregor?”

“No one’s fucking anyone.”

“That’s a shame.”

“Tell me about it.”

“If you’re not getting laid, then why are you tangled up in this mess?”

“Where are they?”

“Gregor called me, they’re laying low over at his mother’s place, he gave me the address. Now are you going to tell me what the hell you’ve got into?”

“Long story.”

“Will it have a happy ending?”

“I doubt it.” I filled her in, the short version, meeting Anya, the lap dance, the way she made me feel. I kept it simple.

“She must be good,” Piper laughed, “to convince an old cynic like you that she actually had the big O.”

“I don’t think she faked that.”

“Men never do, and you are a man. So you had a couch tumble, fell in love and now mobsters are trying to kill you. No, don’t explain it. It makes perfect sense in Moses World. You do know it is possible to fall in love without people ending up dead?”

“Didn’t say I was in love with her.”

“No, but you’re willing to risk life, limb and Gregor to save her and the baby sister. What’s that sound like to you?”

“Stupidity.”

“Exactly, or in other words, love.”

“Her little sister, she’s lost. Nobody will give a fuck if she lives, dies or anything in between.”

“And if you weren’t trying to get with the big sister, you’d still care?”

“Yes.”

“We have plenty of kids in trouble right here in LA, if it’s sainthood you’re aiming at.”

“I don’t know them, their stories. Hers, I do. If I don’t do something about it, I’m no better than the freaks who have her.”

Piper understood, even if she didn’t admit it. She and I didn’t vote, picket, donate to save the children, we just did what we could for those we met and left the big picture to those with grander visions than ours. She gave me Gregor’s mother’s address and a warm kiss goodbye. For a moment as her lips pressed on mine, I wondered when I was going to come to my senses and fall for her. Then again, even with all her flirting, she knew me too well to ever make the mistake of falling for me.

Gregor’s mother lived in a California bungalow court off Broadway in Glendale. The small house smelled of boiled meat, cabbage and fresh baked bread. Gregor pulled me in the door, looking around to be sure we were free of prying eyes. His mother knew nothing of our troubles, he wanted to make sure I kept it that way.

“Those Russian fucks showed up at your place. I should have stayed, taken them out. I was worried about Anya.”