Chapter 02 The hustle
It was a Wednesday night. There is nothing deader than my bar on a Wednesday night. We did all our business on the weekends. I'm sure Pete would rather close the place during the week if he could get away with it. But he couldn't, so here I was watching three drunks nurse their beers.
It was about an hour before closing when he came in. He was wearing a suit. Last time I saw a suit in my bar was a lost vice cop looking for directions to Stella's. He sat at the bar and gave the place the once over. I'd seen my fair share of cops and this guy was definitely not a cop.
"What can I get you?"
"Beer."
"Draft OK?"
"Yeah, just make it cold."
"You got it."
I poured his beer and served it.
"Pretty dead in here," he said making small talk.
"It's a living."
"Hey you are Harry's girlfriend aren't you?"
That caught my attention. It's no secret that I see Harry. You could call him my boyfriend. I wouldn't, but others have. It's hard to call a guy who is gone for days at a time, never calls, shows up at the weirdest times day or night expecting a hot fuck, your boyfriend. But what can I say; I'm a sucker for a nine inch cock. He is more interested in hustling pool than anything else. That's how he makes his cash. For him life was feast or famine. Everything hinged on his last game.
I didn't know this guy. And from the looks of him, didn't want too. He was stuffed in that suit like a gorilla wearing a dolls' costume. He didn't look like money, so there was only one thing left.
"Used to be..."
"Mm, sorry. Not the way I heard it. Say, you wouldn't know where I could find him?"
"Not a clue. I'd look in the cheapest pool hall you can find. That would be my guess."
"Yeah, you are probably right. So I don't guess you would be talking to him, huh?"
"Not unless he brings the money he owes me. Fat chance of that."
"Yeah, I know the feeling. Well look, if you happen to see him, tell him that Benny wants to meet. Real soon."
"Benny?"
"Yeah. He will know who you are talking about."
"That's two bucks."
He slapped a ten spot on the bar and left. I waited a good ten minutes before I tried Harry's cell phone, not that he would answer. He didn't. Well this would have to be his problem.
I was beat from standing on my feet all night for a lousy twenty bucks. I kicked my drunks out and headed home for a nice hot bath. I pulled in front of the apartment and parked the car. My apartment was on the second floor and faced the street. That sucked because you could hear the traffic. But it was cheap and when you have nights making twenty bucks, you got to do what you got to do.
I made my way into the apartment and threw my purse on the sofa and headed to the bathroom to start the water for my bath. I was testing the water when I felt the presence of someone else enter the room. I instantly turned to see Harry standing in the doorway.
"Are you alone?" he asked.
"You son of a bitch! You scared the hell out of me. You better be glad I don't have a gun or you would be dead right now."
"Sorry, sorry. Did anyone see you come in?"
"How the hell should I know? And who the hell let you in?"
"I had to let myself in. We've got problems."
This was one of Harry's favorite things to do. When he screwed something up, it suddenly became 'we'. I could see from the look on his face that he was in pretty deep this time.
"There was a guy looking for you at the bar. You know the type, walking refrigerator. Said Benny wanted to meet soon, real soon. So tell me Harry, what did you fuck up?"
"Nothing I can't handle. I just need to get out of town for a few days so that I can put some money together."
"How much Harry?"
"Twenty large."
"What the fuck!? Are you crazy? How in the hell did you manage that?"
"I had a ringer. I was doing him right too. That is, until I figured out he was ringing me. Benny fronted me the money. Now he wants it back, with interest."
"Where are you going to get that kind of money?"
"If I can get to Chicago, I can put something together. I know plenty of people who can get me into a game. It shouldn't take but a few days. Then I can pay Benny off."
"How are you going to get to Chicago?"
"I don't know. I was hoping you could help me with that. Are those goons still outside?"
"You brought goons to my place? You fucking bastard." I walked over to the window and peeked outside. Sure enough there was a car across the street with two guys sitting in it. If I didn't miss my guess, one of them was the refrigerator. "I've got a good mind to tell them your sorry ass is in here. I can't believe you came here with this kind of heat."
"I just need to get to Chicago. Then I can make everything ok. But I can't really do that if I have a broken arm...or worse."
"I got nothing. I made a big twenty bucks tonight. You can have it for all the good it will do with those guys sitting outside. They are going to nail you the second you hit that door."
"Tell me about it. We just need a diversion."
"No, what we need is for you to disappear. Or better, we need for you to turn into someone else, someone they are not looking for. Hey...that gives me an idea," I said reaching for my cell phone. I called my roommate Sally.
"Hey sugar, how you doing?" She was having dinner with her boyfriend Tim. She started to tell me about her day, but I stopped her. "Hey, I've got a little problem over here. I need you to stay over at Tim's tonight. I know he won't mind. Besides, you know how you get when you've been getting too much pussy...not that I'm complaining."
She didn't really like the idea of me telling her she couldn't come home, go figure? And what did I mean 'getting too much pussy.' Was I complaining about the way she treats me. Had I lost interest in her talented tongue? Then she went the other way. Maybe I was right. Maybe she did need some serious dick to keep her in balance. She covered the phone and asked Tim if he was in the mood for some heavy fucking. Then she came back on and told me to call her later and hung up.
"What's your plan?" Harry asked.
"The only people who can walk out of that door without getting into trouble are Sally and me. So you are going to become Sally. Then we walk right down to the car and I drive your ass to the bus station. You go to Chicago and make this thing right. Those goons won't stay out there forever. Once they realize you aren't coming here, they will move on. Then Sally can come home and my problem goes away."
"That's crazy. They will never buy me as Sally!"
"Oh yes they will because you are going to sell it, sell it big. And believe me, if you give me any shit I'm going to walk right over to that door and rat your sorry ass out. You fucked up, big time. And you brought those assholes to my house. That made this my problem and now I am going to fix it. So what's it going to be?"
"I guess you should start calling me Sally," he said resigned.
"Or Asshole. I guess I will start with Sally," I said trying to lighten up. "Now Sally, go to the bathroom and shave. And I mean everything, really smooth. Not only do you have to fool the goons outside, hopefully that should be rather easy. You also have to fool a busload of people going to Chicago. That will be considerably harder. In the mean time I will try to find something for you to wear."
Harry marched off to the bathroom and I fixed myself a drink trying to calm down. I heard the shower in the bathroom. I don't know how I always end up in these situations. But I do and here I am again. I would make Harry pay for this. I just wasn't sure how.
I went to Sally's closet and started rifling through her clothes trying to picture what would look good on Harry. It had to be something that caught the eye, something very feminine to help sell the deal, but not too flashy. I knew there were enough clothes between the two of us to turn Harry into a cute little thing so he could get to Chicago. After that, he was someone else's problem.
The shower stopped and a minute later Harry walked into my bedroom shaved smooth as a baby. He looked a little weird, especially his bald crotch. He glanced down at the things I had on the bed and rolled his eyes.
"Oh man. I can't wear that stuff."
"Hey you are right. Hit the fucking door Harry!"
"Ok, ok, I didn't mean it. I just... OK, let's do this."
"You give me any more shit and I am done. Got it?"