Phillip Margolin - Heartstone

Eddie started laughing again, but Willie was thinking and starting to look a bit crafty.

“Say, Eddie, I know where you can get some of that good pussy, but it might cost you a bit. You got some dough for some good stuff?”

Eddie had to think about that. He leaned against the bar, almost missing the counter top with his elbow. For some reason the bar stool wouldn’t stay in place. When he had steadied himself, he reached back slowly and pulled out his wallet. He had thirty-five bucks, plus, of course, some money he had hidden in his room.

“How much this pussy gonna cost, Willie? ’Cause I’m runnin’ low and there still don’t look like there’s much work in this town.”

Willie leaned over and peeked in Eddie’s wallet.

“Ah, shit, Eddie. You’re a good old boy. Five bucks. How’s that?”

Eddie thought about how little money he had left, but then he thought about how he hadn’t had a woman since San Antonio and he lurched off the bar stool.

“Let’s go. You only live once, I say.”

Willie slapped him on the back.

“Only once.”

Eddie slapped some change on the bar and they staggered outside. Willie’s car was parked in the tavern lot. They drove at breakneck speed over icy roads that threatened to throw them off at every turn. Willie’s driving was beginning to sober Eddie up, but speed only served to intoxicate Willie and his driving got crazier as they sped on into the night.

Eddie must have dozed off after a while, because they had started in the city, but they were in the country when he opened his eyes. The car headlights were bouncing off trees and the car was tilted on an incline. Willie was nudging him and he realized that they were parked on a hilly, dirt driveway in front of a one-story weatherbeaten wooden house.

“We here, boy. That good pussy’s just around the corner,” Willie said with a leer and a grin that revealed several rotting teeth.

Willie tripped over an empty paint can on the porch and swore loudly. Then he banged the front door open, because of his frustration at not being able to get his key in the lock until the third try. Eddie was giggling and Willie started laughing again, once they were inside.

“Who the fuck is makin’ that noise?” a voice yelled from a back room. Eddie peered down the hall to see if he could make out where the voice came from. It was too dark.

“It’s me, Ralph. I got my good buddy here and we gonna knock off a piece.”

Eddie could hear someone getting out of bed in a hurry. He looked into the front room. The place was a pigsty. Beer cans on the floor, the stuffing poking through a couch cushion.

A man was coming down the hall pulling on his pants. He stopped when he saw Eddie. Anger suffused his face and he grabbed Willie by the arm.

“Who is that, you asshole?”

Willie looked a little put out, but didn’t try to pull his arm away.

“Lay off, Ralph. This is my good buddy Eddie. Knows more about pussy and motorcycles than any man alive.”

“You brought him here? You crazy? You want to go to…” Ralph started. Then, casting a hard look at Eddie he thought better of finishing his thought.

“Listen, get your ass outta here.”

Eddie looked at Willie. For the first time, he realized that he didn’t know where he was and that he didn’t know Willie too well. He decided not to make an issue of it and began to back toward the door. Willie caught his arm and pulled away from Ralph.

“Now wait one fuckin’ minute, Ralph. Eddie’s okay and he said he could pay ten bucks for some good pussy, didn’t you, Eddie?”

Willie winked at him and Eddie thought better of contradicting him on the terms of the contract. He just shook his head.

“Yah. Sure. But I don’t want no trouble. If your friend…”

“Ain’t gonna be no trouble. Now you just wait here while me and Ralph talk. Then you gonna get yourself some fine pussy.”

Willie and Ralph walked down the hall. He could hear them arguing in low voices, but he could only make out an occasional word. The door of the room they had gone into opened and Willie and Ralph returned. Willie draped his arm around Eddie’s shoulder in a fatherly fashion and led him aside into a corner of the hallway.

“Listen,” he whispered in Eddie’s ear, “my buddy loves this pussy so much he don’t want to share it around, but I talked to him and told him what a good old boy you was, so he’s relentin’. Only I had to tell him twenty bucks. That’s okay, ain’t it?” Willie asked, giving Eddie’s shoulder a manly squeeze, “’cause when you taste this pussy, you gonna say it’s hundred-dollar stuff.”

Eddie was getting frightened. He could smell Willie’s stale breath over the beer smell and he did not like the looks of Ralph, who stared menacingly from the hallway.

“Sure, twenty’s fine,” he agreed, managing a weak smile.

“Good,” Willie roared, slapping him on the shoulder. “Now you slip me that twenty and we go do some rootin’.”

Eddie gave Willie twenty dollars and Willie handed it to Ralph. Then Willie led him into a darkened kitchen. There was a basement door secured by a strong lock next to the refrigerator. Willie worked the lock and switched on the basement light. There was only a single 60-watt bulb and it left most of the basement in shadow. The rickety wooden stairs squeaked with each step and, in his condition, Eddie had to hold onto the banister to keep from tumbling down them.

Eddie was concentrating so much on the stairs that he didn’t notice anything else until he had his feet planted firmly on the concrete. It was cold in the basement, but there was some heat emanating from an old-fashioned furnace that was set off near the far wall. Willie headed toward the furnace and Eddie thought he heard something moving near it.

“How you like that?” Willie asked softly. His voice had changed and his speech was coated with a coarse layer of lust.

It was dark in the basement despite the light, and the corner where Willie was pointing was mostly in shadow, but Eddie could make out a figure, covered by a blanket, huddled on a bare mattress. The mattress gave off a rank odor and there were stains on a corner of it that looked like dried blood. The only part of the person that was not covered by the blanket was the head. He moved closer and he could see that it was a girl. She had not moved since they had come into her line of vision, but her eyes were open and she was watching their every movement. The girl’s hair was dirty, stringy and matted and Eddie had trouble making out whether it was black or brown at first. When he got closer, he could see that it was brown.

“We got this one well-trained, Eddie. Yes, sir, don’t we?” Willie said, half to Eddie and half to the girl. The girl made no response. Her face was a blank and she seemed past caring.

“This one’ll do whatever you so desire, won’t you, darlin’?”

Eddie could hear Willie breathing heavily as he stripped off his jacket. Willie was wearing a heavy belt and he drew it out of the loops of his pants as he talked, never letting his eyes stray from the girl’s face.

Willie jerked the blanket off with a sudden movement. The girl was dressed in slacks and a blouse. The blouse was unbuttoned and the girl was clutching the halves together with her right hand.

The girl moved for the first time when the blanket was removed. It was not much of a movement. Just a quiver, accompanied by a whimper and a rattling metallic sound. Eddie found the source of that sound in a length of chain that was attached to the girl’s right ankle and a metal loop that was fastened to the cellar wall.

Eddie began to feel sick. He didn’t go for this kind of thing. He wanted to back out, but he was too scared of Willie and Ralph to say anything.