I was starting to get worried I had taken a wrong turn out of the building as I looked around. Hadn't I parked just up here in a lot? I was sure I had. I should have just finished out the week taking an Uber until I was more familiar! It was only my second day on the job and I was completely turned around in this place. There were no landmarks, just huge buildings blocking everything. It wasn't like this where I had grown up or where I had gone to college.
I went another block, then thought about turning around as I put my phone back in my bag and hitched it over my shoulder. Just as I did, a hand closed around my arm and I turned just enough to see a man in dark clothes reaching for me. I had a split second to react and I jerked away, yanking my arm out of the bag strap he had closed his hand around and I ran, crying out in shock.
A few people looked my way as I ran and I looked back, trying to see if the man was following me. He had my bag, my phone, my wallet! I needed to find the police! I hurried to the next street, looking around, then started to ask a woman to call the police when I saw them.
Two men. One had my bag and they were both following me, watching me.
I turned and sprinted, not knowing where I was going at all, but knowing I had to get somewhere more public, with more people. I saw a bus pull in ahead and I changed course, jumping onto the bus, panting. I was shaking as I looked out the windows, standing and holding the pole. I made my way to the front, to the driver, watching outside as I went.
I was so focused on the outside, I didn't see anyone around me as a hand grabbed my arm and I felt a stinging poke. I had no time to react at all, I threw myself at a young man sitting on the bus.
"I don't know him, he just drugged me!" I screamed, clutching at his hoodie as I looked up at his tattooed and shaved head. I fell to the floor and kept falling, further and further.
A distant voice yelled at me angrily.
"... told you not to bring anymore of your strung out friends or hookups here!"
"I done told you, I don't know her! And she aint strung out! Some assholes were try'na snatch her. Right on the bus in front of everyone! Lookit her, Jaimes! She ain't no hoodrat! She was comin' outta business for work and shit. Them assholes tryna just haul her off and she asked me for help."
"Then take her to the ER, not here to me!"
"How Ima take her anywhere? I don't know her name or any shit. Jus' help her Jaimes!"
"What was she given?"
"I don't know! I done told you, he had a needle! Hey! She's wakin' up! Hey baby girl, lookit me. There you are. You know who them men was?"
"No? I... what's wrong with me? I can't move!"
"Hey, look at me, what's your name?" a woman asked. She was older than the man, quite a bit older.
"Cal?"
"Cal, my name is Jaime. I work in a hospital. I need your full name sweetheart."
"Calista Jennings? What's wrong with me? I can't move!"
"It's alright, Jeremy and his friends ran them off. You were smart getting to someone like you did. They drugged you, but it will be out of your system soon. Do you have your phone or wallet somewhere?"
"They took it."
"And you didn't know them at all? You don't know why they were after you?"
"No!"
"I told you Jaimes, they was like some real human trafficker dudes. Look at her. Girl like her all small and alone. They was lookin for a payday is all."
"I remember you," I said, looking at the tattooed man. "You saved me?"
"Yeah, me an' Derrick. My boy. Here. Jaimes say you need water," he said, leaning me up and putting a water bottle to my lips.
"You do!" Jaime said quickly. "Flush your system! Jeremy, I am going to be late if I don't leave. I don't know where your dad is, can you watch the boys till he gets home?"
"Yeah, aight. Thanks Jaimes."
The woman left and the man eased me back down and left my line of sight. "Cam, Lukie, you two have your homework done? No more Call of Duty till it's done, turn it off!"
He came back into sight a moment later, looking down at me. "I need to go to the hospital?" I asked, still fuzzy headed and heavy.
"Yeah, prolly Lil'bit, but I ain't got my car jus' now. I ain't got your ID either. And I'm watching my little brothers right now."
"Call an ambulance?"
He laughed. "Girl, you know where you at? They aint comin out here for an overdose."
"I didn't?"
"Yeah, I say you got drugged, they thinkin overdose. They won't come, Lil'bit. Hey, say your name for me again?"
"Cal. I have extra keys to my car at my apartment downtown. The supe will let me in and I have copies of my ID's and..."
"Yeah ok, listen up though. It's gettin' late, I ain't carryin' you back to the bus stop and up town. You's hot and all, tiny as hell, but even you get heavy walkin five blocks. You got someone I can call for you?"
"No... I am new to the city, I don't know anyone."
"Your boss?"
"I don't know his number."
"Aight. Well, you get to chill here wit' me and the boys a bit then'."
"Until I can walk?"
He laughed again. "Girl, you ain't walkin' out there tonight. Busses don't run past dark and even if they did... you wouldn't make it two blocks before someone decided they wanted them a taste of what you got. Mornin' is soon enough. I'll get you on the bus and make sure you get home," he said, sitting on the end of the couch, just past my feet. He took hold of one of my feet, then smirked. "How you even find heels for these tiny feet?"
"Internet."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty two."
"You have a boyfriend?"
"No."
"Girlfriend?"
"No. What time is it? When will I be able to move?"
"Fuck should I know? I don't know what they slipped you. It's after eight. Dark already. You really aint seen them watchin you or nothin'?"
"No, it was only my second day at work. I took an Uber yesterday."
"Musta just saw a chance and took it. Hold up Lil'bit," he said, picking up his ringing phone. "Hey Jaimes? ... Yeah? ... Aight, I can do that. How long?... Aight. ... No, he ain't here yet. ... I don't mind, they's doin' homework. ... Yeah, I can do that, what kind? ... Aight, Thanks Jaimes."
He hung up and got up, going to a kitchen area. I realized then that I had turned my head a little. "I moved!"
"Good. Here, Jaimes said you need to drink milk and I need to help you move and shit. Sit up here a little. Say when. You need to drink as much as you can. Aight, here, babygirl," he said, sitting down by my legs again. He started rubbing my calf and moving my leg back and forth. I blushed, wanting to fix my skirt, but said nothing as I stared up at the ceiling.
The door opened. "The hell is this?" a man asked gruffly.
"You's late. Jaime's was helpin' me with this girl. Someone tried to snatch her and drugged her. I was watchin' the boys till you came home."
"Luke is ten, that's plenty old enough to watch his little brother!"
"Jaimes don't agree," Jeremy said, shrugging and continuing to rub my leg.
A face appeared in my view. "The fuck is she from?"
"Downtown."
"Why were you downtown?"
"Workin', pops, don't worry over it. You here then? Jaimes wants the boys to have hot food tonight, said there was ravioli in a big can in the..."
"They can make themselves food! It ain't hard," the man scowled.
"Yeah, aight. I'll heat it up before I go," Jeremy said with a scowl, getting up.
His father sat down in the spot he vacated and looked down at me. At my exposed underwear. "She's fuckable, ain't she? How old is she?"
"Old enough to work downtown. Hands off, pops."
"You didn't say she was yours," the man said, sliding his rough hand up the inside of my thigh and running his thumb over the top of my panties. "Silk. Bet this cunt is tight."
"I said hands off!" Jeremy yelled, crossing the room and pulling me higher on the couch, away from his father's hand. I was shaking.
"The fuck do you care?"
"Your fuckin' wife is at work!"
"She ain't your mom, what do you care?"
"Don't touch her," Jeremy said angrily, making sure my skirt was pulled down to my knees before going back to the small kitchen. He dumped ravioli out of a can into two bowls and put them in the microwave. "Luke! Dinner will be done in two minutes! Can you get it out for you and Cam?"
"Yeah?"
"Soon as it beeps, be careful. Then finish your homework before games. Cam. Look at me, I mean it. Jaimes tells me you aint did your readin again and I ain't takin you to the game. You feel me, boy?"
"Yeah, Jer, I will!"
"Aight then," Jeremy said, sitting me up and putting the cup of milk to my lips. "Alla this now Lil'Bit, we fittin ta go."
"Why don't you leave her here a little while. Come back later?" the older man asked.
Jeremy ignored him, setting the cup down harder than he needed to, putting my shoes in my lap and then picking me up. "You two be good," he called to the boys before carrying me out the door.
It was a small, older house in a very bad neighborhood. All of the windows had bars on every house and the few people in the street looked dangerous. Kind of like Jeremy. He was a little bit terrifying and I stole glances at him as he carried me down the street for two blocks. His jaw was working and he looked pissed.
I had no idea what to say, so I said nothing, I stayed quiet and still and hoped I would be mobile soon. This place was as foreign to me as Germany.
He turned and opened a gate to a larger house, one with the windows all lit up. He went in without knocking and it was full of people. Four men and two women.
"There you fuckin' are! You can't answer a phone now?"
"I was busy."
"Why you still fuckin wit her?"
"Don't worry 'bout it," Jeremy said, walking past all of them in the living room and down a hall. He pushed open a door and set me on a full sized bed in the small room, then shut the door quickly. He turned back to me and threw my shoes on the floor, then sat down and started rubbing my calf again.
I didn't get him. He was like the others... but he wasn't.
He moved up to my arms and I watched him, looking at his tattoos and mostly shaved head. He might have been attractive if he didn't have tattoos climbing up his neck and look so... hard? I didn't know the word. His brown eyes looked almost kind and out of place on him. I also noticed now that he had the hoodie off and he was the kind of guy who worked out. The kind of guy obsessed with self image that I didn't like.
Not that it mattered. He was terrifying.
"None of your friends could take me to the hospital?" I asked softly.
He snorted. "You ain't wantin to owe no favors with them, Lil'Bit. Plus... I cain't be takin you in," he said, blushing. "That heat we drew down on them boys with ain't exactly legal. If someone on that bus had called 911, I'd've had to've left you there. How's'at feel? You try'na move?"
"Yeah."
"Thought so. I can feel your muscles try'na work," he said before moving back down to my other leg. I watched his thoughtful expression while he worked, still confused. If I hadn't been watching so closely, I wouldn't have seen his eyes travel up my leg when my skirt bunched up again. His eyes caught for a moment, staring, then jerked away as he turned his body so he was facing my foot as he worked.
Huh. Well that was something, at least. I felt a little more comfortable with him now.
"This feel better? You want a..." he began.
