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Mason had guys working around here. I just had to find one. I scratched at my always itchy skin, unconsciously opening old sores and creating new ones. Not that I gave a shit. The stabbing cramps in my stomach stopped me at least five more times as I wandered the rundown east Austin neighborhood. Pain like I never imagined forced me to bend over and groan time and time again. It became so severe, I worried I’d throw up or shit myself right on the sidewalk when I collapsed next to a couple of hookers looking to make a buck. Thankfully, the girls turned their backs to me, uninterested in some junkie chick falling apart on their corner at one in the morning.
Single-minded, I somehow forced my sore feet to continue and ignored the chills wracking my body despite the humid eighty-degree temperature. One more block before I’d most likely crumple to the ground and curl into the fetal position. Soon I would go into full withdrawal and beg for someone to put me out of my misery. My body was about to give up when I spotted a tall, thin man wearing a backwards baseball cap halfway down the street.
Oh my god! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
“Nicky!” I didn’t recognize my own ragged voice. The man watched me with suspicion in his eyes, his hand tucked into a pocket where I was sure he clutched a gun. Undeterred, I staggered toward him, the ground tilting as I walked. “Nicky…” A dry cough interrupted me, stealing my breath as I barked and wheezed and tried to get it under control. Before I could stop, Nicky spoke, his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open.
“Miri? That you?”
“Yeah,” I huffed breathlessl
y, still trying to recover from the hacking fit. “I can’t find Mason and I need some H.”
Nicky’s blue eyes narrowed. “Twenty a bag, Miri. You know there’s no freebies.”
“I don’t have any money, Nicky. Please?” I reached for his shoulders and my legs gave out. Nicky put his hands under my arms and yanked me back to my feet. “Nicky… You know Mason’s good for it.”
He scoffed. “Get real, girl. There’s no free in this game. Go somewhere else.” He turned his back to me, effectively ending the conversation. My stomach chose that moment to twist painfully, and I cried out as I fell to my knees, ignoring the skin that scraped off on the concrete.
“Please, Nicky. I’ll do anything.” I went for his belt, ready to suck his dick if that was what it took to end this agony.
“Fuck off, Miri! I don’t need your skanky mouth on my cock. I got plenty of girls for that.” His face crumpled in disgust as he shoved me back. “Go away, bitch.”
On the ground, my knees skinned, my body battered, my mind and skin squirming as if they were crawling with bugs, I covered my face with my filthy hands and sobbed.
How did this become my life?
All I’d wanted was to escape the horrors at home. But the horrors I’d seen since running away made the abuse I suffered back then look like a day at the beach. I would give anything to go back and convince the stupid seventeen-year-old girl to stay where she was and endure the beatings until graduation. Or even just to have Cat back. Life wasn’t so bad when we were together. We were making it work. Of course, life never turned out how you thought it would.
Instead of living with my best friend and going to work every day to earn a living, here I was, begging a low-level dealer to give me drugs in exchange for sex.
“Listen…” Nicky lowered his voice, his harsh eyes somewhat softer. “I don’t like to see women crying, Miri, and you are Mason’s girl.” I glanced up at him and licked my lips in the hopes of scoring my hit. “I heard a rumor that Mason was meeting up with Boss earlier. You know where Boss lives?” I nodded, my head bouncing up and down on my skinny neck.
“I went there with Mason once.” Nicky’s eyes shot open at my admission. I quickly backtracked to cover my mistake. “I stayed in the car the whole time, Nicky. I swear. Boss didn’t know I was there. Please don’t say anything. I know Mason wasn’t supposed to take me.”
“I won’t say nothin’. Shit, Miri. You two are a couple of stupid fucks, you know that? Wait here.” Nicky disappeared into the shadows and came back with a man I didn’t recognize. “Miri, this is Jorge. He’ll take you there. He’s doing a drop near Boss’s place.” Jorge was short, fat, and grotesque looking, but he could have a hunchback and a second head and I’d still follow him anywhere if it meant scoring some H.
“Oh my God, thank you, thank you,” I gushed, stumbled to my feet, and threw myself at Nicky. On wobbly legs, I hugged him with my useless spaghetti arms. Nicky pushed me away and scrunched his nose.
“Yeah, yeah. You thank Jorge, not me. And don’t mention my name to Boss, you got it?” The dark, menacing look was back on Nicky’s face.
“You got it, Nicky. Anything.” I would have agreed to sell a kidney at this point.
The man called Jorge pointed at a beat-up Chevy two-door. “That’s me. Let’s go.”
His Mexican accent was thick, but growing up in Texas, you got used to it. Jorge waited for me to climb into the passenger seat before he bent over, his nose mere inches from mine. I flinched at the sight of a large scar that ran from temple to chin on one side of his face.
Jorge slapped my cheek just hard enough to sting and I flinched. “You shit or puke in my car, puta, you’ll wish you didn’t take this ride.”
His foul breath nearly gagged me. I swallowed back the bile and nodded. “I won’t. I promise.”
Hell, I’d promise just about anything to get a fix.
“Good.” Jorge slammed the door shut and climbed in on the other side, his wide body taking up most of the space and his oversize stomach pressing against the wheel. Shivers wracked my frail body. I tucked my heels beneath me on the seat and wrapped my arms around my knees. When the car began to move, I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t get motion sick and suffer a beating from Jorge. Instead, I focused on getting to the boss’s house and sweet relief from the hell I’d landed in.
An eternity later, when the car finally began to slow to a stop, I reached for the handle, desperate for my drugs. It was locked. I fought with the ancient car door, eventually pounding on the window to get out. My skin was crawling and itchy and the coughing was getting worse with each breath.
Oh God, I really need my H.
