bitter metal. I spit it back into the bottle. My heart punches at my chest bone, like it wants out.
“No, thanks,” I say, and give the bottle back.
“You’re not gonna pass out, Peach. It’ll just calm you down. You look like you about to jump out the window.”
“What’s in it?” I ask.
“It’s just medicine. Like from a doctor. See?” Kat takes a big swig and hands it back to me.
I take a sip. Then another. My heart slows down.
We make a right, past a block of empty houses, past buildings as long as an entire city block, with garbage trucks lined up along the curb.
Then we turn again.
A hotel. We stop at a hotel. The Litehouse.
A small gravel parking lot. Guys leaning up against cars, smoking, watching, nodding to one another. Devon steps out. Complicated handshakes. Throbbing music. Devon barks into the night, a sound like a wolf or bear, and the other men bark back. I shiver, keep my head down, and follow Kat, her skirt swaying as she walks through the lot and up the rusty staircase to the second floor, where there are two other girls perched outside the open doors of hotel rooms. Baby waves, walks down the outside balcony to the last room, and disappears.
Wait. Please. Not yet .
Kat leads me into Room 5. The walls are a sickyellow, the color of rotting teeth. There are two beds, a limp pillow on each, and an old dusty TV plopped on a chair in the corner. It smells like smoke and salt, like a filthy ocean.
“A’ight!” Kat claps her hands once—loudly—like a coach. “This is how we do. Tricks don’t pay us direct. They pay the daddies outside so we don’t gotta deal with no money, which is good because tricks always try to get over. Not the regulars, ’cause they know how it work, and they know they’ll get their ass beat if they try to scam. But the tricks we don’t know? Those the ones you gotta watch.”
Kat talks at me, fast and clear and hard. Her hands too. Pointing to the bed, explaining. She fishes in her silver bag. A small knife. She puts it under the mattress. More talking. She pulls out two pills and a bottle of orange juice. She swallows one, breaks the other in half and hands it to me.
“Here. You need to calm the hell down.”
She blots my face, shakes the front of my purple shirt. It’s wet beneath my armpits, dark like a bruise.
“What is it?”
“It’ll help you maintain. Anything goes wrong, we yellfor Daddy. He and his boys’ll be up here in a second. Girls out there on the track, they ain’t got no daddy lookin’ out, not really. Once you in a car with a trick, he can do whatever he wants and nobody gonna help you. Up in here, though, we covered. Shit goes wrong, you just yell.”
I don’t understand what she’s saying.
What do you do if you’re in trouble?
I want to go home.
No. Not home. Just somewhere else.
I can’t do this. I can’t.
Kat steps toward me.
“You straight?” she says.
I shake my head. No .
“I gotta go,” I say.
“Sit down.”
“No. I want . . .” I glance at the door. Outside, someone laughs. A girl.
Where’s Baby?
Kat grabs my wrist. “C’mere.”
She drags me to the window, shoves back the curtain so I can see the parking lot.
“You see those guys out there? They all Bloods. Thiswhole damn town is Blood. Every red shirt you see, every red sneaker. They run shit here. You do what you told, they’ll kill for you.”
Kill for me. Like Grandpa. There are at least ten guys out there, all bigger than Calvin. Bigger than Mama. Bigger than anyone who’d ever try to mess with me again.
“But you try to take off? They’ll beat your ass ’cause you’ll get us all locked up. Understand? Every single one of them. If you lose your shit and go runnin’ out that door lookin’ for fuckin’ Batman to come up in here and save your ass, you gonna get beat. And then I’m gonna get beat for not beatin’ you myself.”
“Bloods?” It burns between my legs.
“Yeah. Bloods. You ain’t got gangs where you come
“No, thanks,” I say, and give the bottle back.
“You’re not gonna pass out, Peach. It’ll just calm you down. You look like you about to jump out the window.”
“What’s in it?” I ask.
“It’s just medicine. Like from a doctor. See?” Kat takes a big swig and hands it back to me.
I take a sip. Then another. My heart slows down.
We make a right, past a block of empty houses, past buildings as long as an entire city block, with garbage trucks lined up along the curb.
Then we turn again.
A hotel. We stop at a hotel. The Litehouse.
A small gravel parking lot. Guys leaning up against cars, smoking, watching, nodding to one another. Devon steps out. Complicated handshakes. Throbbing music. Devon barks into the night, a sound like a wolf or bear, and the other men bark back. I shiver, keep my head down, and follow Kat, her skirt swaying as she walks through the lot and up the rusty staircase to the second floor, where there are two other girls perched outside the open doors of hotel rooms. Baby waves, walks down the outside balcony to the last room, and disappears.
Wait. Please. Not yet .
Kat leads me into Room 5. The walls are a sickyellow, the color of rotting teeth. There are two beds, a limp pillow on each, and an old dusty TV plopped on a chair in the corner. It smells like smoke and salt, like a filthy ocean.
“A’ight!” Kat claps her hands once—loudly—like a coach. “This is how we do. Tricks don’t pay us direct. They pay the daddies outside so we don’t gotta deal with no money, which is good because tricks always try to get over. Not the regulars, ’cause they know how it work, and they know they’ll get their ass beat if they try to scam. But the tricks we don’t know? Those the ones you gotta watch.”
Kat talks at me, fast and clear and hard. Her hands too. Pointing to the bed, explaining. She fishes in her silver bag. A small knife. She puts it under the mattress. More talking. She pulls out two pills and a bottle of orange juice. She swallows one, breaks the other in half and hands it to me.
“Here. You need to calm the hell down.”
She blots my face, shakes the front of my purple shirt. It’s wet beneath my armpits, dark like a bruise.
“What is it?”
“It’ll help you maintain. Anything goes wrong, we yellfor Daddy. He and his boys’ll be up here in a second. Girls out there on the track, they ain’t got no daddy lookin’ out, not really. Once you in a car with a trick, he can do whatever he wants and nobody gonna help you. Up in here, though, we covered. Shit goes wrong, you just yell.”
I don’t understand what she’s saying.
What do you do if you’re in trouble?
I want to go home.
No. Not home. Just somewhere else.
I can’t do this. I can’t.
Kat steps toward me.
“You straight?” she says.
I shake my head. No .
“I gotta go,” I say.
“Sit down.”
“No. I want . . .” I glance at the door. Outside, someone laughs. A girl.
Where’s Baby?
Kat grabs my wrist. “C’mere.”
She drags me to the window, shoves back the curtain so I can see the parking lot.
“You see those guys out there? They all Bloods. Thiswhole damn town is Blood. Every red shirt you see, every red sneaker. They run shit here. You do what you told, they’ll kill for you.”
Kill for me. Like Grandpa. There are at least ten guys out there, all bigger than Calvin. Bigger than Mama. Bigger than anyone who’d ever try to mess with me again.
“But you try to take off? They’ll beat your ass ’cause you’ll get us all locked up. Understand? Every single one of them. If you lose your shit and go runnin’ out that door lookin’ for fuckin’ Batman to come up in here and save your ass, you gonna get beat. And then I’m gonna get beat for not beatin’ you myself.”
“Bloods?” It burns between my legs.
“Yeah. Bloods. You ain’t got gangs where you come
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