Peter Jenkins - Drugged into sin

"You are trying to make things so easy for me, I know, but somehow it just isn't that easy, but do try to understand," she said.

"Okay, shoot. I've got broad shoulders."

"Jimmy, Mr. Price said that he could get you a job if you wanted to stay in New York. He saw you the other day and asked me who you were. When I told him he said that he would be glad to help you out and that you could come over to the house anytime you wanted. I think he knows we were making love in the room, so there isn't too much I could do. I told him that I would introduce you to him." She knew that this wasn't quite the truth, but maybe he would accept what she said at face value and not question her any further.

"That's very nice of him, sweetheart. I don't have a job and I really can't do anything, do you know what he has in mind?" he asked.

"Not really. I don't know exactly what he does, but I have a feeling that all his ventures aren't exactly above board. I know that he knows a lot of people here in the city and that you wouldn't get into any trouble, it just depends on how moral you are going to be," she added.

She knew that she had to say something like that so that Jimmy wouldn't be completely surprised when he met Price, she felt that she had to give him some sort of an inkling or he may not go at all, and then she would be sunk and there would go their relationship. She couldn't bear the thought of Jimmy finding out about her and never wanting to see her again, especially not after that afternoon they had made such beautiful love. She couldn't lose him now, he was the only thing that would keep her balance, her only connection with reality.

"What's he like, this Mr. Price?" he asked.

"Well, he likes to think he has all the class in the world. Of course he doesn't, but a lot of his friends do. That's where you fit in. You have what he doesn't. You're young, you have polish and you can probably be an asset to him socially, if nothing else. That's why he would give you a job, I'm sure."

"Well, it doesn't sound quite kosher, sweetheart, but if I'm going to stay in New York and keep an eye on you, I guess I'd better meet this Price fellow. Now do you feel better. It wasn't as bad as all that, was it?" he looked at her smiling.

"Oh, Jimmy, I don't know what I would have done if you had refused to see him. I want you to stay in New York and maybe it won't be so bad after all. Maybe he just wants you to run some of his errands or arrange parties. I don't know, but all I care about is that you're here and we can be together. I don't know what I'd do without YOU."

She knew that this appealed to his male ego, but she also knew that she had meant every word of it, and it wasn't just flattery. She did need him if she were going to keep her sanity. She wondered to herself, if perhaps, she weren't just a little insane already!

"Where are we going to meet this man," he asked. "The house?"

"No, he asked that we meet him in what he calls his little hideout, it's just a few blocks away, another dingy bar, I'm sure. Here, I have the address," she said.

They walked outside and headed in the direction of Fifty-third Street. The streets had become gray and bleak with little alleyways crisscrossing and children playing around the door stoops of the West Side tenements and stray dogs were running in twos and threes. Finally, they came to the street and turned right and headed toward the east side of town.

"Looks like here we are," she said, glancing at the address he had given her and then up at the building. They walked up the steps of what looked like an old, but once fashionable townhouse, but once they were inside, they could see a well-stocked bar, several people just sitting around and it looked more like a private club.

The room was big and another led off of it. There were several over-stuffed chairs, wide couches and a garish chandelier was hanging from the ceiling casting a rather dim light over the whole place. Several men were lying around on the couches talking to a surprisingly beautiful girl.

"This is Mr. Price, Jimmy," she said walking up to a group of men seated around a table in the end of the room.

"Well, come in… make yourselves at home," Price said, motioning to some chairs alongside the table. "George, make these people a drink." His voice was affected and he was obviously trying to impress them with his power over the people that were here in the room.

The atmosphere was eerie and she felt uncomfortable, but she looked at Jimmy and he seemed to be perfectly at ease. Maybe it's just because I know who these people are and he doesn't, she mused. I wonder how many of these men have fucked me, she wondered as she glanced around the room. A few of the faces looked familiar, but there had been so many in such a short period of time that it was impossible for her to remember.

Jimmy shook the hand that was extended to him and looked at Price through the dim light. He was a tall stocky man with rather square shoulders, long well groomed hair and strong features. His eyes were bright, but hard and he decided that there may have been just a touch of inborn cruelty in them, but shrugged it off to his imagination.

"I'm Price," he said. "So you're looking for a job." He made it sound as if he had come looking to him for a job, rather than sending Christine to bring him to him for an interview. Oh well, he thought, a man as big as this, maybe this is the way he does business. At any rate, I'll hear what he has to say.

He took a long sip of the drink that was handed to him and choked at the sudden burning sensation in his throat.

"Wwwhhat is this!" he coughed.

Price laughed and said, "You'll get used to it. I have it 'imported' from France and I must admit that it is a bit strong, but it does the trick, it's Absinthe."

"But isn't that illegal, as well as being an aphrodisiac," Jimmy asked rather naively.

"It sure is, but when it's mixed this way, don't worry, you won't go out of here a raving maniac, sex starved and depraved." The whole group chuckled slightly, and Christine now knew what it was that they had been giving her to keep her so eager and passionate.

Price had not taken his eyes off Jimmy the whole time he was talking and he began to ask him a few question. He wanted to know if he had ever been in jail, whether he was wanted for anything now, etc. Jimmy told him that he had just gotten out of school and had never had any trouble with the law, not even a parking ticket.

"Good, then you drive, right?" he asked.

Jimmy nodded affirmatively.

"Well, you got class, like me," he said eventually. "And we need a lot of class around here. I like to work with people who have polish, it makes things easier and so much more pleasant," he added, glancing over at Christine.

"What business are you in," Jimmy asked. "It seems that most people can drive, why is that so important?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Price said, "when it comes to a bit of illegal business, there aren't so many, and those that are there have a tendency to get cold feet at a crucial minute. You seem to have a cool head, and there really isn't any risk involved, I take care of all that. Are you interested?"

Price looked over at Christine who was holding her breath, waiting for his answer, knowing that he really didn't have a choice now that he had met Price. He would never let him go.

"As for the business," he went on without giving Jimmy a chance to answer, "it's just a question of a little transaction in whiskey and cigarettes."

Jimmy looked at him questioningly.

"It's a very high paid game," he continued, "and there's practically no risk, this I can assure you. We just keep the market supplied with good stuff at a lower price. I'm sort of a modern day Robin Hood."

Jimmy shook his head as if trying to clear his mind of all the things that Price had said and then thought for a moment.