“We’ve been walking a while.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything.
The burn of my thighs was starting to become too noticeable to ignore. My fresh wounds rubbed against the gauze, the tape occasionally getting stuck on the fabric of my pants.
I sighed, wanting to understand what was going on. “Listen, I know you’re probably freaked out right now over what you saw. All I can say is that I’m sorry you saw it.”
No response. Price had stopped moving, pushing us against a wall.
“I don’t even know how you got into the house.”
He grabbed the zipper of my jacket and tugged it up, hiding the lower half of my face better.
“It isn’t like I haven’t done this for a long time, Price. It’s just a part of me, okay?”
I couldn’t read his facial expression as he rearranged my hood, concealing me further.
Exasperated, I let my shoulders slump. “Can you please just tell me what you’re doing?”
“Look and watch.”
My body was turned, facing outward to the other side of the street. There were groups of people lined along the wall. Some were huddling close, chattering away to each other. A few were sunken down against the ground, their legs brought close to their chests.
I turned on my heel, facing Price. “I’m not sure what all you like to do in your free time, but I didn’t know one of those things would be creepily watching random people.”
His eyes narrowed as he palmed my shoulder once more, turning me back. “Watch closer, Crew. They’re not random people.”
Since I was the one at fault for scaring the shit out of him, I decidedto humor what he was saying. What was so important about these people? It didn’t make any sense to me.
Until I looked closer and noticed the majority of them were dressed in scandalous clothing, their bodies barely covered, even as the air around us got more frigid by the second. My hands were ice at this point, yet it didn’t seem to bother them. Or maybe it did because their legs were shaking as they huddled closer to the person nearest to them.
The few that were on the ground—their backs against the wall, their arms gripped tight in a shield around themselves—were tired. I could see some of their eyelids were closed, others drooping repeatedly underneath the streetlamp lighting.
Not very many of them had jackets or hoodies. The ones who did looked like they were drowning in them, the fabric much too large for their tiny frames. Not a single person had a smile on their face.
On each opposite end of the sidewalk, I saw men with scowls on their faces. They tapped their feet in sync, an impatient rhythm I knew all too well. One man was wearing a sheer crop top, his body vibrating from the cold. The other was bundled in a more appropriate winter coat, his entire body covered except for his face. He looked like he couldn’t take the temperature any longer. He looked exhausted. He looked closed off.
A car stopped beside the one in the coat. He immediately kicked off the wall and strode toward the passenger side window. I watched, expecting a fake smile to stretch on his face as he spoke.
The man didn’t smile. No, his scowl deepened as he bobbed and shook his head in response to whatever conversation he was having. A hand reached out of the window, waving what looked like bills in the air towards the man. Immediately, a toothy grin changed his face from hard-set to flirty and soft. I was stuck watching as he opened the door and threw himself in, barely two seconds passing before the car started to drive off.
I knew everything that had to have gone through his mind. I knew that conversation from start to finish. I understood why the man was off to the side, his eye bags so deep I worried they’d permanently bruise. I knew because I’d looked the same. I’d done the same.
Sometime during the winter after I’d gained enough reputation, I’d given up on appealing to the masses. I started to wear clothes just as hehad because I’d been in the game long enough to understand the fatal reality of freezing my ass off every night. That shit had, could, and would kill a man.
More cars came and went. The people who huddled together for warmth would disband every time, a flashy smile on their faces as they swayed their hips to whoever was staring at them.
They were miserable. I only knew that because I had been them for an excruciating amount of time.
A towering man walked up to one of the barely-clothed sex workers, his shoulders squared up, his chest puffed out. They talked for a moment, the man in booty shorts beginning to shift on his feet. Something was off.
The asshole lunged at him, slamming him against the wall. My feet were moving in an instant, ready to run over to help him, when an arm came across my chest, holding me back.
“What the fuck?” I seethed.
Price pointed to the other side of the road, shaking his head. “They’ve got it.”
I turned back, seeing he was right. A group of people were pulling the asshole off, hitting him in the face until he ran away. The group took the man in booty shorts into their arms, caressing his back protectively. Like they were family.
