“I was living in the woods by the river. Near The Pavilion. Do you remember that place?” he asked.
“Of course I do,” I said tersely.
“There’s an old house not far from there. I was living with a few people for a while.”
“Oh? Who were you living with?” Being homeless created intense bonds between people. We had fallen in love extremely fast by most people standards. But days had felt like weeks. Weeks like months. Survival had you clinging to those around you, scared that you would lose them like you had lost everything else.
It wasn’t surprising to hear that Yoss had found others to hold on to. But had he loved since he had loved me?
Why wouldn’t he have?
I had gotten married after all. Had tried to have children.
I hadn’t been celibate since we were together.
It only made sense that Yoss had been with someone. Lots of someones maybe. Not counting themen…
“You wouldn’t know them. Just some people I met a few years ago. A guy named Perry. There was also a woman named Gail.”
“Where are Perry and Gail now?” I asked, the question sticking in my throat. Was he with Gail? It wasn’t any of my business. It didn’t have any bearing on the services I was trying to coordinate for him.
But it mattered.
Of course it did.
“Perry’s in jail. As for Gail, I don’t know where she is. We lost track of each other a couple of weeks ago.” Yoss was chewing on his lip. He appeared agitated.
“How did you end up under the bridge the other night?”
Yoss picked at a scab on the back of his hand. “I needed money.” He shrugged. “Just a one off. Something to get me back on my feet for a while until I found something else. I still know the tricks. Where to go.”
“So you found…someone who would pay you for—?” I couldn’t say it. Shit. Where was my patented professionalism when I needed it?
Yoss picked, picked at his skin. “You don’t want to hear about this, Imi.”
“I have to hear about it. It’s my job,” I argued.
“Your job. Right.” Yoss laughed without any humor.
“It’s more than my job and you know it.” I bowed my head.
I heard his quiet exhale as he fidgeted restlessly in the bed.
“I hadn’t eaten in a few days. I was feeling like crap, now I know why.” He snorted before continuing, “I knew I needed some money. Gail had taken off and I was by myself in the house. It was cold as fuck and things were looking pretty bleak. I was running out of options. I had almost gotten busted for trying to lift a bag of chips and a Gatorade a couple of days before. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t thinking that clearly.” Yoss cleared his throat.
I stared down at the paper in my hands. I should take notes. But I couldn’t.
“The guy was weird. I knew that the minute he approached me. Twitchy. His eyes were all over the place. I had a bad feeling. But I didn’t listen to my instincts. You get used to ignoring them after a while,” Yoss went on.
I looked up at him and he was staring out the window.
“He hurt you,” I finished for him.
Yoss nodded. “He told me to unbuckle my pants and to turn around. It wasn’t an unusual request, so I did as he told me to.”
My stomach clenched and I tried not to picture what he was telling me.
“The first blow hit me in the back of the head. I fell to my knees. I remember trying to look up, to see what the hell was going on. But he pushed my face into the gravel and started kicking me. I blacked out after that. But not before he took what he wanted and sure as hell didn’t pay for it.” He was unapologetic. Cold. As if the fact that he had gotten raped and beaten was no big deal.
