Chapter 59: Lucy’s Problem

 

Lucy should’ve been used to it by now, but the man’s forceful kiss took her by surprise. They’d no sooner closed the door before he grabbed Lucy by her wrists and pinned her against the wall. The kiss came a second later, fierce and hungry and demanding. Lucy made a muffled sound, opening her mouth for his tongue. She closed her eyes, kissing him back until he broke away for air. She panted, trembling in his grip.

 

“I’ve wanted to do that from the second I saw you,” the man, Jan, leered. He was bigger than her (not that it was a difficult feat) and a solid man. Lucy couldn’t break from his grasp if she tried, and she knew better than to try. Clients preferred when a pretty young girl like her went along with what they wanted. They wanted something soft and innocent, something they could take and claim for their own. She didn’t try to fight it anymore. Mostly.

 

“Yeah?” she said breathily. “What else you want to do to me?” Lucy shifted in his grasp, leaning against the door and looking up at him through heavily lidded eyes. Her tongue darted out quickly to wet her lips.

 

“I wanna see you,” he said. “All of you.”

 

“Well, a little hard to do with you pinning me like this,” Lucy said, sticking her tongue out. It turned into a playful pout. “Unless you want to do it for me?”

 

That was exactly the right thing to say. Jan pulled her by her wrists and pushed her onto the bed. He climbed on top of her, legs splayed on either side. Her current clothes were more cute than elegant or revealing, and were made to be easy to take off. They all had their niche, their little way to show themselves off. Lucy’s was to look clean and pure and act anything but. Jan pulled at her top, releasing her hands in order to pull it over her head.

 

His eyes, clouded over with growing lust, roamed over her exposed breasts. Lucy didn’t have to fake the way her body shuddered. He cupped one breast in his large hand, brushing up against her hard pink nipple. “How old are you, Lucy?” he asked.

 

“18, sir.”

 

“You’re about the same age as my daughter…” he growled. 

 

It wasn’t the first time Lucy heard something like that. It had surprised and scared her, once upon a time. Now, she didn’t miss a beat. “What do you want to do to me…daddy?”

 

Jan groaned, eyes fluttering shut for a second before he grinned. He was all but salivating over her now. He captured her lips again and Lucy opened herself up to him. Her legs wrapped around his waist and pulled him down. He ground his hard cock against her and she moaned into his mouth. When she was able to detach herself, it wasn’t so bad. She could just focus on the way it felt and not the way it made her feel.

 

“Fuck,” Jan grunted, breaking apart again. “I’m going to fuck you, little girl.” He reached down and undid the rope tying his tunic closed. He pulled his underwear down and his cock bobbed in the air. Then he was between her legs again, pulling up her skirt and cupping her cunt. “I’m going to fuck you until you can’t walk anymore.”

 

“Yes Daddy,” Lucy groaned.

 

“Say it again,” Jan demanded.

 

“Yes Daddy!”

 

He flipped her over onto her stomach. That was fine. Lucy spread her legs for him as pulled her silk panties down and off and threw them on the floor. Jan got into position, and she could feel the head of his cock brushing up against her lips. She rubbed against him, mentally bracing for what was to come. Instead, he gathered up her wrists again and pulled them behind her back. Her eyes widened.

 

“Get off,” she said.

 

“No, baby, you’re mine for the next hour. I’m going to --”

 

“I said get off!” Lucy screamed, bucking and pulling away from him. His grip held true and she went nowhere, which just made her thrash around more violently. A wordless scream erupted from her throat and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see the blows come when the men pounded her face and knocked her teeth out and -- The door burst open.

 

The weight on her back was pulled off, but Lucy couldn’t appreciate it. She balled up and covered her head, breathing in hard and fast, unable to get enough oxygen no matter how hard she tried. Lucy waited for attacks that never came, tears welling up in her eyes. All she wanted was to get away, but she couldn’t move.

 

“What the fuck?” Lucy heard from behind her. “What are you doing? I paid my time and --”

 

“Your time was over the moment she screamed for help,” she heard Quentin’s quiet but forceful voice. “You’ll get your money back or can choose another girl if any will have you, but your time with Lucy is over now.”

 

Tentatively, Lucy rolled over, blinking tears away. The scene was blurry, but Quentin stood in the doorway, blocking Jan from coming anywhere near her. She sat up, hugging her arms against her bare chest, heart hammering in her chest. She wasn’t safe, not yet. Not with Jan looking past Quentin right into her face with something like hate in his eyes. That always happened, eventually, when Lucy couldn’t perfectly be what they wanted her to be.

 

“Fuck that, I picked this one,” Jan insisted. “I wasn’t even doing anything bad to her. Get out of my way.” He tried to push Quentin, but the pimp’s hand shot out and grabbed Jan by the front of his tunic. He shoved him away, sending him stumbling backwards. Lucy hopped to her feet and went to the door, peeking out from behind Quentin.

 

“You’re done. You will leave now. Peacefully, while you can.”

 

Jan recovered and straightened up with murder in his eyes. “I’m not going to let a fucking moonkissed tell me what I can and can’t do.” Everyone in the room could see the punch coming from a mile away. Jan wasn’t subtle about the way he wound up his arm and swung. Quentin caught the first in his left hand and twisted. Jan’s eyes widened in surprise before Quentin’s other hand shot out and slapped him across the face.

 

He stumbled back again, but this time Quentin followed through. As soon as Jan raised back up, Quentin backhanded him, sending him to the ground. All around the atrium, Kelli, Jenna, Tricia and two clients laughed. With a growl Jan scrambled to his feet. This time Quentin didn’t let him get all of the way up before he lashed out with his foot, planting it on Jan’s chest and sending him flying backwards into the pool underneath the skylight. Water splashed straight up and Kelli let out a surprised yelp as she and her client got wet.

 

Lucy looked up sharply as Quentin turned around to face her again. It had taken her a while to realize he wasn’t as harsh as he looked, and the scowl with furrowed brows was concern and not anger. “Are you okay?” he asked.

 

She nodded quickly, dropping her eyes in a sudden flood of shame. Jan sputtered in the pool, awkwardly climbing out of the pool as his tunic clung wet and heavy against his body. “This is an outrage,” he bellowed. “I’m never coming back here again!”

 

“That’s the idea,” Quentin yelled back. “Get the fuck out of here and don’t show your face here again unless you want me to break it.” To the other clients he pasted a smile on his face and said, “treat them well and there won’t be any problems, understand?”

 

They nodded enthusiastically.

 

Satisfied, Quentin came up to Lucy and ushered her into her room, closing the door behind them. He directed Lucy to the bed while he scooped her top off the floor and handed it to her. Wordlessly, Lucy took it from him and put it on. She was surprised when he looked away politely, as if he hadn’t seen all of them naked at this point. Still, she appreciated it more than she could put into words. It was like she was more than just a pretty face and a warm body.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said in a tiny voice. “I’m sorry it happened again.” The words weren’t enough, but they were all she had.

 

“I’m not worried about that,” said Quentin as he sat down on the bed next to her. He was close, but purposefully left a gap. She appreciated that too. “I’m worried about you. This is the third time in two weeks this has happened. I’m not sure you’re good to work yet.”

 

Panic reared its ugly head for a moment, and Lucy nearly burst out crying again. The streets were dangerous, and if she was having trouble now how bad would it get when she freaked out without someone to come save her? Maria was gone now and couldn’t help her. Losing the Moonlit Garden would ruin her. She swallowed it all down as best as she could. “Are you going to kick me out?” she asked.

 

“What? No, of course not,” Quentin scoffed. He put his hand on her knee and gave it an awkward pat. “I’m not doing this for the money. I don’t give a damn about any of that. I could be retired now and live comfortably for quite some time. I’m doing this because you girls need someone, and I like you. Of course I’m not going to send you away.” He even sounded a bit offended.

 

“I want to work,” said Lucy. “I want to earn my keep and stay with the others, but this keeps happening. Every time one of them grabs me or pins me down, I just…I go back to that night.” She didn’t need to say which one.

 

Quentin nodded in understanding. “I know you do, Lucy. No one here doubts that. You work just as hard as any of them, and what happened to you was…It shouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me for letting it happen.”

 

“I don’t hate you,” said Lucy. “I…Isa says you should never be allowed to forget it. Maybe that’s true, but you weren’t the one who did this to me. And you helped after.” She pointed to her face, smiling sadly. She was still getting used to the little differences, but Lucy didn’t hate the way she looked now. She was still her underneath it all, but it was strange to look in the mirror and see someone who could be her sister or cousin staring back at her. Mostly, she didn’t look so much like a child now. That alone was worth it.

 

“Isa’s right about a lot of things,” said Quentin with a chuckle. “But the point is, we’re not kicking you out of here. You’ve got a home with us as long as you need one. But we may need to use your room for business.”

 

Lucy laughed. “Yeah, that’s fine. I’m not quitting, I just…How long is this going to keep happening?” That was the real question. It had been the better part of a month and these attacks still kept happening. Each time was like reliving that night over again, stopping before she felt any physical pain. The rest of it was too real for comfort.

 

“It could be a while,” Quentin admitted. “I’ve seen people who’ve had to deal with being beaten like that. It changes you. I’ve been on the receiving end myself. Once, when I was about seventeen, I got jumped and they really worked me over. Beat me until I could barely breathe through the pain and left me for dead in a dark alley.”

 

She tried to picture it, but couldn’t. The first time she’d ever seen him was the night he got Isa away from a rough group, and he’d seemed unstoppable. “How did you get over it?”

 

Quentin shrugged. “Time, mostly. It took a couple years, and in that time I focused on making sure I always paid attention to where I was going. It took me a year to go back to the place where it happened, but I did and stood there for an hour, waiting to see if anyone would start something. No one did. After that, it got a little easier, and eventually faded away. Now all I’m left with is some paranoia and a sharp eye for trouble.”

 

Years. Lucy didn’t even know where she’d be in a couple of years. Would she still be doing this? Would she find something better to do with herself, something that was safer and didn’t involve people pawing at her constantly? She hugged her chest, slouching on the bed as she thought about it. Who knows if there was anything left for her? Lucy didn’t hate what she did, but sometimes it made her feel dirty. Soiled.

 

Quentin wasn’t blind, and after a few seconds of silence he said, “Can I ask you something personal?”

 

“Yeah, of course,” said Lucy.

 

“You’re young. About as young as Razia would allow to work here, but you’ve been doing this for a while. When did you start? Why did you start? It doesn’t seem like something you would do on your own.”

 

Ah, that question. It was something Lucy didn’t like to think about, or else she’d spend hours ruminating on it and it would just lead to a dark mood and either too much wine or making more of the same mistakes that got her here in the first place. Still, even if Quentin wouldn’t understand her story, he wouldn’t judge her for it.

 

“My parents died when I was young,” said Lucy, wetting her lips. “I was twelve. Murdered by a debt collector. He wanted to take me as a slave to pay off their debts for him.” Beside her, Quentin’s head shot around and he didn’t bother to hide the outrage. Lucy just laughed. “Yeah, a bit of a rough start, right? Well, my neighbor got the courts involved and took me in. Said they’d watch out for me if I helped out around the house. Helped watch their kid.

 

“And you know, that’s fine, right? Around the neighborhood I grew up in, there were a lot of little kids, and they liked me. I was good at wrangling them and getting them to do what I wanted without having to yell or be mean. So when my parents died, getting by as a live-in nanny wasn’t the worst thing that I could do. I was still little then, but kids that age find jobs all the time and this one suited me.”

 

“What happened?”

 

Lucy laughed bitterly. “Puberty. By the time I was sixteen, I wasn’t just a kid anymore. I was helping with a bunch of neighbors’ kids and getting a few qala here and there for my troubles. But at that point, I started catching the eyes of the kids’ fathers.”

 

Quentin grunted in understanding, looking down at the floor. She appreciated it. It was hard enough to tell this story without him looking directly at her, judging or worse pitying her. At this point it was always a toss up to say exactly how bad it got or to just glaze over it and trust they understood. If she wasn’t still feeling on edge, she might have told him everything.

 

“They started offering me things. Little gifts, some money, some jewelry. All I had to do was stay longer, after the kids were in bed. Or come over when the wife was out having a bath or spending time with friends. I didn’t want to at first, but they just sort of…Kept on.” Lucy took a deep breath, begging her heart to slow down. “Eventually I got tired of saying no. After that, it got harder and harder to say it. That was when I was seventeen. After that, I figured this is what people wanted from me. Why bother fighting it?”

 

Maybe it was wrong to have gone to the flesh sculptors, she thought to herself. Maybe it would’ve been easier to heal normally. If she was ugly and missing teeth, at least people would stop bothering her and trying to get her to give them everything she had. They just took and took and took and…Lucy released her elbows, only barely aware of how tightly she was gripping herself.

 

“If you had your choice,” said Quentin, breaking the silence that settled in, “what would you do with yourself?”

 

What would she do? Lucy just shrugged. “I don’t know. I like kids, and I was good at taking care of them. I could see myself doing that for a while, if it wasn’t for grabby dads.”

 

Quentin nodded. He mulled things over for a few minutes of comfortable, companionable silence. Lucy didn’t think she was in danger anymore. Not from specters of the past or fear of the future. If Quentin said he wouldn’t throw her out, then it was as simple as that. He was safe. Or so she thought, until he finally spoke. “I don’t think I want you working on your back anymore.”

 

“What? Why? I promise I’ll be better!” Lucy looked at him sharply.

 

He shook his head. “It’s not about that. You’ve been doing this for two years without a break, right? And you never meant to do this in the first place, right?” At her nod, he continued. “Then don’t. We’re going to be hiring more girls and a couple of guys, maybe, and soon there will be more than enough work to go around. What we don’t have enough of are support staff. Tricia gets drinks and cleans up a bit, but she could use some help, and we could use a permanent greeter.

 

“You’re pretty, you’re sweet, and maybe some really shitty men have wanted to use you, but it’s easy to feel protective of you.” He gave her a crooked smile. “Instead of putting yourself in a position to be affected if they turn out to be shitheads, you could be our eyes and ears up front and make sure people know the rules coming in. If they give you any trouble, I or one of our future security hires will be there to help. You’ll still help us, and you’ll have time for yourself. Time where you’re not expected to perform anything for anyone.”

 

It sounded…Too good to be true. “You’d really do that for me?” Lucy asked.

 

“I’d do it for any of you if you needed it. Except for maybe Kelli,” he said, making a face. “Not sure how I feel about her yet. But you can do that until we can find you a job taking care of children or you find out what you really want to do with your life.”

 

He was serious. And if he said so, Razia would probably agree with him and not pressure her into doing anything she didn’t want to. Some of this was stuff Razia had even said in the past that Lucy just shrugged off. She hadn’t been ready to hear it then, but she was ready for it now. Without warning Lucy threw her arms around Quentin. He stiffened for a second before hugging her back with one arm.

 

“Thank you Mr. Q,” she said.

 

He sighed. “You can call me Quentin, you know. I’ve never once asked anyone to call me Mr. Q.” he squeezed her one more time before releasing her. “Take all the time you need to get your head on, and then come on out and be a greeter. We’ll figure out how much you make a night later, yeah?”

 

“Thank you,” said Lucy, smiling. After he left, she did take some time to herself. If nothing else, she wasn’t going to leave the room until her heart slowed down to a reasonable speed and the shakes left her.  It gave her plenty of time to think about what Quentin said. What did she want to do? After giving in and becoming a whore, there hadn’t been much reason to look to the future. When you didn’t have anyone, it was hard to look past the next few days and you just tried to keep on moving on.

 

That wasn’t the case anymore. If he wasn’t lying to her, and Lucy had no reason to believe he was, she would have time and a group of friends that wouldn’t demand anything of her. People who wanted her around without wanting something from her. It was hard to trust, but that last little nugget of innocence still in her still had hope.

 

There were three short raps on the door before it opened. In slipped Kelli, closing the door behind her. “I can’t believe some of these assholes, can you?” She said, rolling her eyes. Sitting down next to Lucy, she threw an arm around her shoulders. “I heard about what happened to you. I just wanna say, you’re so brave for still going.”

 

Lucy’s cheeks heated up. This wasn’t the best time to admit that she was being pulled off active duty. So she just shrugged.

 

“I’ve been there before. Maybe not as bad as you, but I’m no stranger to being slapped around. We girls gotta stick together. Not like the men will.”

 

“Quentin’s not like that,” Lucy frowned.

 

Kelli fell silent for a second. Lucy fully expected her to be pushy and say exactly why he was like that. The brunette was pushy and opinionated, she knew that at least, but she was surprised when instead Kelli slumped over.

 

“That’s what I keep hearing, but…I don’t know.”

 

“I do know,” said Lucy resolutely. “He and Razia are good to us. They get us into trouble sometimes, but they get us out of it too.”

 

“Really?” Kelli’s eyes glittered with interest. “Can I ask you a few questions about them?”