Huck

“He said you’d help me.”

As I repeated the girl’s words in my head, trying to make sense of them, the silence between us grew. So did her tears, dragging the blood from the corners of her eyes as they dripped down her cheeks.

“And he said you’d keep me safe,” she added.

I clenched my teeth together and put my hand up, warning her not to breathe another word. I turned toward the door and said, “Lawan, go back to the front desk and tend to our clients.”

Lawan didn’t need to hear this.

She saw my purchases come in. She got those girls what they needed, and she was informed when they left.

She didn’t ask questions; she didn’t need details.

This situation was no different.

“What’s your name?” I asked once the door shut.

She bent her knees and slowly wrapped her arms around them. “Arin.”

“Then, Arin, tell me who the hell promised you that.”

As she pulled her legs closer to her chest, she yelped, immediately releasing them, her knees dropping toward the ground. Her panting told me she was trying to calm the pain. “The guy at the pier. He told me where to find you. He said you’d—”

“Help you. I know.” With my phone still in my hand, the flashlight illuminated the condom wrapper that hadn’t made it into the trash. I kicked the foil as hard as I could and spit, “Jesus, fuck.”

Chati was the man she was referring to. He worked the graveyard shift at the pier, the time when the docks saw the most action. On the books, he purchased fresh catches from the fishermen and sold it to all the different markets around town. But, off the books, he sold a completely different kind of catch.

Bangkok was the largest trafficking hub in Thailand. There were many piers, but if a girl came into Chati’s, he would negotiate a fee and find someone willing to pay.

For the last three years, I’d been one of his buyers.

I wouldn’t take just any girl. I had certain requirements, and Chati knew what those were. But never had one randomly shown up to Serviced. And we never conducted business without a phone call first. And the last conversation we’d had, I’d told him I was done. No more. I was out of the game. He hadn’t listened, and that fucking worried me.

“If I call the man at the pier, will he tell me the same story?”

Her nod gave me no reason to believe her.

“You’d better be telling the truth.” I tapped the screen of my phone, pressing the number for Chati.

“Huck,” he answered. “I take it, you found your present?”

I searched the darkness for the girl’s face as I translated, “Tell me what you know,” into Thai, assuming it wasn’t a language she spoke or understood.

“A dinghy pulled up, looking like every other fishing boat I deal with. Two guys were inside, and they lifted a burlap sack onto the dock, barked something in Hindi, I think, and took off. Wasn’t expecting to find a goddamn person inside it.”

“They didn’t try to sell her?” I asked in Thai.

“No, which tells me they weren’t trafficking her; they were just trying to get rid of her.”

She’d told me the truth about Chati. That might earn her a meal.

But there was still plenty of shit I needed to know.

“You’ve got some balls, sending her here,” I said in Thai.

His laugh sounded more like a cackle. “You were a good customer; consider it a bonus. She’s what you like, and she’s free. Win-win.”

“Did you lose your fucking phone? Because, had you called, I would have reminded you that I was done.”

“Ah, come on, man. It’s been a busy night. Lots of boats unloading and all kinds of interesting catches. Wasn’t sure she’d even make it to you, honestly.”

I needed to guarantee Chati wouldn’t send another girl here. That conversation would happen in person and when I had both of my hands free.

“We’ll talk later,” I said and hung up.

I shoved the phone in my pocket and stared at her outline. She hadn’t moved. Hadn’t even made a sound.

“Who was driving the boat, Arin?”

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit.”

“I really don’t.”

“Fuck this.” I turned around and grabbed the door.

She was taking my patience as kindness, and I wouldn’t put up with it for a second more.

I had it open only a crack when she called out, “Huck, stop, please. I’m not lying. I swear I don’t know who they were.”

I glanced over my shoulder, and the light from the hallway shone across her eyes. They were watery and fearful, but they didn’t reveal if she was telling me the truth.

I shut the door, losing the light, so I replaced it with the flashlight on my phone. She winced until she got used to the brightness.

“You have my attention. Don’t lose it because you won’t get it back.”

She crossed her legs in front of her, her arms wrapping around her stomach, her body slowly rocking back and forth. “I just graduated a few weeks ago with my master’s degree. I had some time before starting my new job, so I thought I’d spend it traveling. I picked India because an old roommate of mine was from there, and since living with him, I’d wanted to check it out.” She squeezed the bottom of her shirt, pulling it down, revealing a few bloodstains that I hadn’t seen earlier.

“I was in Mumbai. Had only been there about a week when I met a guy. He took me out for dinner and then to a club. We ended up back at my hotel. I don’t remember much else besides the feeling of the waves underneath me and the hardness of the dock when I landed on it. I…” She looked at the building behind me and at the one on the other side of her, sitting in the alley that ran between them.

“Some guy opened the bag I was in. He asked me a few questions, and then he gave me your name and told me how to get here. I didn’t make it inside.”

Her stare dropped down to her lap, and I realized what she was trying to tell me. She’d pissed herself.

“I wasn’t here long when the lady came out.”

I had a feeling, Chati’s prediction was right. These men hadn’t been trafficking her; they had been trying to get rid of her. I was sure they had taken her credit cards and sold her passport. Maybe they’d even raped her. She’d probably woken up before the drugs wore off. They’d beaten her badly enough, so she wouldn’t remember anything. Leaving her in Bangkok would make it more challenging to backtrack to India, especially without a passport.

“Why didn’t you run your ass straight to the police station?”

She shook her head so hard, I was sure she was getting dizzy.

“No police. They…” As she paused, I saw her drift to a place that wasn’t here with me. “They hurt me once. I’ll never trust them again. No doctors either, so please don’t call one.”

“What do you want, Arin?”

“I want to go home.” Her voice changed, but her eyes still held strong.

“Where is home?”

“New York City.”

I ran the flashlight down her legs, over her bare feet, and back up to her face. “How do you plan on getting there?”

“I’m going to have to go to the embassy and figure out how to replace my passport and buy a return ticket. I only had a one-way. But I have no cash on me, no credit card, and no one back in the States to call for help. This is all going to take some time and a good chunk of money, and I’ll need somewhere to stay in the meantime.”

Whenever I asked one of the girls I’d purchased what they wanted, their response was always, “I just don’t want to be hurt anymore.”

They had been battered and abused and tortured to the point where they could barely remember home. Their only wish was for the pain to stop.

But that wasn’t what had come from Arin’s mouth.

Because she wasn’t like the others.

She had been beaten, but she hadn’t been broken.

She had enough sense to formulate a plan.

And, even though her shaking body told me she was coming off something, her detox wasn’t severe, like all the others I’d seen.

I needed to know how badly she wanted my help and what she was willing to sacrifice.

I waited until I felt her eyes bore through mine. “That place inside there”—I pointed with my head toward the hallway—“is a brothel. My girls sell their cunts for a percentage of the take. They get a little extra for anal and much less if they only give head. What hole of yours can I sell, Arin?”

She tucked her legs into her chest. This time, she fought through the pain, and I only heard it in her breathing. “I didn’t know. I…thought—”

“You thought the guy at the docks sent you to someone who would hold you while you cried and put medicine on your cuts and give you everything you needed to get home.” I kicked a rock in between the doorway to keep it open and moved over to her, kneeling so that she could see the seriousness up close. “This isn’t America, princess. I don’t know what you thought when you packed up that backpack and headed to this part of the world, but we don’t do handouts here. We work for what we have even if that means selling our fucking holes. So, tell me, what are you willing to do to get back home?”

“O-oh my G-God.”

There it was.

The three words she had spoken meant nothing to me. It was the sounds she had made. It was the quivering of her lips that had nothing to do with the drugs. It was the fear that had filled her eyes.

I’d been waiting for desperation. I’d finally seen it, heard it. Hell, I’d even felt it.

“Arin, I’m not going to ask you again. What are you willing to do to get back home?”

It took her several seconds to respond, “Wh-whatever you ne-need me to.”

“I’m going to bring you up to the third floor and let you get some sleep. In the morning, once everything is out of your system, I’ll tell you what I want from you.”

“O-okay, but, Huck?”

“What?”

“I don’t think I-I can make it up the st-stairs.”

When I shot my arm underneath her knees and another across her back, she screamed. The sound fucking killed me, and I immediately pulled away.

She clenched my hand and stopped me from going anywhere. “Just try and b-be gentle. I’m sorry. I-I hurt. Everywhere.”

She wanted gentle. She wanted a place to stay. She wanted a way to earn money.

She was already giving me a fucking headache.

I used the same amount of strength, but I moved slower, lifting her into the air and pulling her against my chest. As I got us into the hallway, she rested her head into my neck.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

The knife was back. This time, it jabbed into my right tonsil.

She felt so tiny in my arms, and I wondered when she had last eaten. One thing I knew for sure was that the girl needed a bath. I could smell the piss on her jeans and the dirt in her hair.

I felt her body relax as soon as I began to climb the stairs.

Once we were inside my apartment, I took her into the guest bathroom and set her on top of the toilet. I turned on the water to fill the tub.

“Lawan will be up in a few minutes. She’ll get you whatever you need.”

“Y-you’re not st-staying?”

“You’re about to strip your clothes off and get inside that bath. If you want an audience, I’ll gladly stick around and watch.”

In this light, I could really see the gashes and bruises, and the marks showed me they’d hit her with an open fist and a closed one. Her long dark hair was matted with blood. That wasn’t the way I preferred my women, but I wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to see a beautiful pair of tits. I had a feeling hers would be worth staring at.

She shook her head, her body rocking over the toilet seat. “Then, wh-where are y-you going?”

She’d been through some shit, and that was the only reason I’d tolerate her questions.

I just wouldn’t tolerate them for long.

“Lawan will tell you how to get in touch with her. Do not come searching for either of us. Do not ask her about me. Do not ask her anything unless it’s something you need. Understood?”

“Yes.”

Blood from her big toe dripped onto the floor. She noticed it the same time I did.

I went to the door and held it in my hand, taking one last glance at her. “Welcome to Bangkok, Arin.”

Not waiting for her reply, I shut her inside the bathroom, and I unlocked my office, taking a seat at the desk. Then, I reached inside the drawer for the bottle I’d been keeping in there for the last several months.

That was the amount of time that had passed since I purchased any girls. Since I decided I wouldn’t buy any more.

Since I realized I couldn’t.