Kevin stepped forward with his offering, holding it with both hands and smiling broadly as if he carried a priceless relic or timeless heirloom of great personal value. Sienna, for her part, regarded it much the same. Her mouth hung agape in awed wonderment, accompanying wide eyes that sparkled with anticipation and appreciation of such a gift. The fact that it was a large glass bong sporting a pookie in place of a bowl would've made the scene appear strange to anyone other than those in the room.
"It's beautiful...," Sienna marveled, extending her hand to first caress the thick tube of glass before accepting it into her own possession.
"I thought you'd like it," Kevin replied after a few moments, allowing Sienna to continue appraising its craftsmanship with a curious hand.
"Did they have these back in my day?" Amber mused from the corner of the room, nursing a dwindling Newport between her fingers and looking nearly as entranced as her young daughter.
"Not sure, started seeing them around about ten years ago myself. The hits you can get off these things are massive though," Kevin answered, prompting Sienna to finally reach her other hand out and hold it herself.
"I don't doubt that, it's fucking massive," Amber agreed, stamping out her cigarette in a nearby ashtray.
"Well, I figured it was about time for her to move up to the big leagues, she's been melting puddles like a fucking fiend. You guys are probably my best customers these past few weeks, which ain't great since you pay with 'other' things," Kevin admitted, smirking and nodding toward Sienna.
"I haven't heard you complain," I remarked from my vantage at the kitchen table.
Kevin had been supplying Amber and Sienna with a steady supply of shard and was collecting his payment at a highly regular and exuberant rate. He had probably fucked Sienna between 30-40 times in the past 3 weeks since Sienna's parents had visited—dropping by unannounced more than half the time. With the amount of shit he had been supplying I had allowed it, but I was not about to accept him whining about getting a raw deal.
"I'm not, but I also gotta probably talk to you about it," Kevin replied, his tone sounding a bit strained.
I flashed him a sidelong glare, feeling less than pleased about a change in our arrangement after he'd been enjoying my daughter enthusiastically for 3 weeks.
"I'm all ears," I welcomed, although in a tone that was anything but welcoming.
"Maybe just you and me," Kevin offered through a half smirk, nodding his head once in the direction of the two women in the room.
"You can say it in front of them or you can keep it to yourself," I challenged.
I noticed my own tone—stern and confident—another indication of a change I'd undertaken since meeting Sienna that I was only lately becoming more aware of. Perhaps the result of paternal concern, as misplaced as that might appear given the circumstances, I had become increasingly intolerable of anything encroaching on my role as protector and overseer of the pursuits of my beloved women. While never viewing myself as an intimidating or menacing man, I was also not unaware of being a larger than average adult male in above average physical condition. Kevin's darting eyes and tense demeanor indicated that he too was aware.
"Yeah, I get it," he nodded, making his way over to the table and taking a seat adjacent to me.
Sienna and Amber followed, striding confidently to the table and sitting purposefully before turning their attention to Kevin.
"So, look, this whole thing has been great. I don't mean any disrespect here, but I gotta pay my bills and I gotta do my thing, right? I deal, that's what I do. And if I don't have the cash to buy the shit, I don't have the shit to sell you and the whole thing don't work, so you see my problem, right?" Kevin explained, ending with his hands out in exasperation.
"So, what are you proposing?" I sighed in kind.
"I get that you never would have developed this raging ice habit if you were paying cash like everyone else, and that it would be fucked up to suddenly switch it on you like that after everything, so I was thinking of a compromise," he added, looking between us for a moment before continuing.
"So, I kind of have a side gig, girls that came to me for shit and then couldn't pay so I hook them up with work and—"
"You're a pimp," I interrupt.
"It's not that organized, but basically, yeah. These girls turn tricks, the john pays me, and I give the girls shit," Kevin described.
"So, you want Sienna to be one of these girls?" I asked, trying my best to conceal a confusing series of emotions the idea was eliciting within me.
In response Kevin shrugged and smiled weakly, once again revealing the palms of his hands in an apparent reaffirmation of his financial predicament conflicting with his previous arrangement with us.
I sighed, trying to think honestly about it for a moment.
"I'd be a prostitute?" Sienna pondered aloud.
"Well—" Kevin started.
"Yes, honey. You'd fuck strangers for money, or in this case drugs," Amber interjected plainly.
"But I already do that, I'd just be doing it with people other than him," Sienna reasoned, motioning towards the now-silent Kevin sitting across from her.
"Yes, but that's a very big difference," I cautioned.
"I guess, but it doesn't really seem like that big of a difference to me," Sienna countered.