What a mess. I pressed a shabby towel against the waterlogged hardwood flooring and cursed myself for being so stupid. This was the shit I get for signing an apartment lease without reading the fine print. One of the pipes behind the wall of our sink was broken and leaking into the kitchen. I tried mopping up the damage, but the rank stench of rot and mold was giving me a migraine.
"Fuck." I tossed the soiled rag away.
I couldn't afford to pay for another repair; not with things so tight.
Stavos, the complex custodian, was
supposed
to oversee maintenance. Whenever a problem arose though, he'd find some way of pinning responsibility back onto the tenants. The middle aged black man was intimidating, with his huge frame, brute glare, and domineering attitude. It doesn't help that I'm only 5'6" and skinny. My only option was to avoid him as much as possible. That meant living with a fritzy A/C unit, regular electrical outages, and walls thin enough to punch through. The problem came down to money.
I am 25. I drive a delivery truck in the mornings and make close to minimum wage. The job is a temporary gig while I finish my classes at the local university. My wife Janice is only 23 and works at a convenience store. She is very petite, but stunningly gorgeous. When we met in high school I couldn't even talk to her she was so beautiful. I remember sitting at my desk mesmerized by her dark raven hair and piercing green eyes. When it was hot outside, she would wear short shorts, showing off her long, smooth legs. Her athletic figure was only complemented by the firm C-cup boobs that beckoned every warm-blooded male around her.
I was lucky enough to marry her two years ago. Neither of our families come from much money, so we knew it would be a difficult journey to support one another. The last few months were particularly stressful. Our overlapping schedules and long hours left little time for us to spend together. Too exhausted for sex, we would sometimes resort to cuddling on our worn out, secondhand couch before falling asleep.
Another huge reason we try to avoid the custodian is because of his sexual aggressiveness toward Janice. We had hardly moved in when he started whistling obnoxiously every time he saw her. The insolence of such behavior never shamed him. He would remark how good her ass looked in a pair of jeans, suggest she wear more skirts, or flat out tell her that she looked like a good lay. It was even worse when I wasn't around, though. Janice says that he had offered to fix our apartment up through an
alternative payment plan
. That he would sometimes follow her and when she'd confront him, he would just stare at her tits.
There was nothing to do with Stavos and our seedy apartment until we had more money. I thought back to the busted pipe. I would get into a lot of trouble if I didn't report it. Still, it took me the rest of the day to gain up enough courage to approach Stavos.
He immediately went on the defensive, faulting us for clogging the pipes. When I argued, he threatened us with possible eviction. I knew that was unlikely. Despite being broke, we were still one of the best tenants. Stavos eventually agreed to turn off the water in the kitchen until I paid him for a repair.
It didn't stop him from cornering my wife when I was at work. Janice told me he had been a lot more hostile than before in his demands and sexual overtones. She worried that had they been anywhere but the public lobby, he wouldn't have backed off. On Sunday, she came home frazzled and visually shaken. I sensed she'd had another encounter with Stavos, and so I asked her about it. To my dismay, she pretended that all was fine and awkwardly changed the subject. I felt bad that I couldn't protect her, so I didn't press it.
Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I was down in the basement finishing the laundry. For once, the machine was working. Finally, I would have some time to spend with Janice when I was done. I knew she'd be getting back from the store soon.
I sat reading a book as the machine rattled against the wall. I could hear voices passing by outside. One was very deep, and I unconsciously strained to hear what they were saying. My insides recoiled as the man shouted.
"Get your ass in here!" Boomed the voice, and there was a meek female reply I could not really make out.
I hesitated, recognizing Stavos's tone immediately. Putting my book down, I crept to the door and opened it an inch to see down the corridor. All I caught was a brief glimpse of the next-door room as it's door slammed. The sound echoed off the cement walls. I waited, not knowing what to do. I resigned to do nothing since I was in no mood to put myself in the middle of an argument between Stavos and another tenant. I felt bad for whatever woman had to be stuck in a room with that monster, but not bad enough to intervene.
To my surprise, Stavos muffled voice carried through the wall. Looking around, I noticed that above the cheap light fixture on the wall between the rooms, there was a crevice that no one had ever bothered to patch up. I shook my head at the ridiculously bad infrastructure. I wondered if I stood on the wood table if I'd be able to see into the other room. I found myself drawn closer as the voices became clearer.
I got up on the table. It looked like ventilation pipes had been stripped out of the ceiling. Tentatively, I leaned forward and held my breath. Sure enough, I was able to see into the other room. It was unbelievably cluttered, with shelves of storage equipment, and a workbench overflowing with bags and paper. The only free space was a worn two seat couch, and a coffee table that could have been salvaged from a dumpster.
My knees gave out, and I almost fell off the table when I made out the two figures in the room. The woman I had refused to help was no other than my wife. Stavos and Janice stood facing each other. Stavos looked like a wolf, sizing her up and sneering wickedly.
"You knew this was going to happen", he badgered.
Janice was protesting, but her voice was too soft to make out. She was clearly frightened. Even with high heels, her head barely reached Stavos shoulder. The rest of her outfit, a white tank top and grey mini-skirt, made me grimace. Normally she dressed more conservatively, but since I was washing our regular clothes she must have been forced to wear that. Stavos lust filled eyes shamelessly ran over her slim body, lingering at her boobs, before running down her long, shapely legs.
"Stop complaining Janice, your apartment is your responsibility." Stavos hushed her.
Janice shook her head and responded defiantly. Her eyebrows scrunched together like they do when she's flustered.
Stavos laughed. "Don't be so rude. I'm offering to help. I know you don't have any money, so let me fix the problem."
He took a small step towards her. She crossed her arms over her boobs. It was very clear what Stavos was suggesting.
"Turn around and leave." I whisper, not that she could hear me.
She looked down, biting her lip nervously.
"You said last time you needed to think about it, and now you have," he said edging ever closer to her. "It would be a shame to have to throw that fine, tight ass out on the street."
With a sinking feeling, I realized why she wasn't backing away. The idea of taking Stavos up on his offers had always been a joke. When we first moved in, Janice had pointed out that she didn't understand where the old, fat, ugly, rude, and gross man got the confidence to hit on a married woman. Everything about Stavos repulsed her. The last few months had been more than stressful though. It was like all our energy was being tapped out, and we were still broke at the end of each day. To call it deflating would be an understatement. So, seeing my wife hesitate as Stavos coerced her with promises of help out of a desperate situation that has no end in sight... I understood her predicament.
This is why she hadn't told me about last Sunday. She had been given an ultimatum. Stavos loomed in front of my wife. I could sense his excitement. Janice was looking everywhere but at him.
She froze as his arm wrapped around her back before pulling her against his chest. The hair on my arms stood up as I felt heat rising in my body.
"Let her go you bastard!" I tried to yell, but I couldn't get out the words.
Stavos was touching my wife.
"How about a kiss?" Stavos asked, towering over her.