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“I sure would love to try,” Len says. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“Me and… my sister, we’ve been alone for years… My sister is a couple of years older than me and… she was able to keep us off the streets by selling herself. This guy… he took an interest in her. He treated her really nice and bought her all of these necklaces and paid for us to have this fancy room. And then he tells her she owes him for all of that stuff. That they weren’t gifts. He started selling her, b-but he’s mean and… hurts her and won’t let me see her anymore. I tried getting her out, but he nearly killed me, and when I saw her, she was covered in bruises.”
He drops to his knees and tears open a raggedy-looking backpack. He digs through it, pulling out worn clothes and some bread. A sucker falls out when he seems to find what he’s looking for. It’s a small amount of cash that he holds out to Len.
“This is… this is all I’ve got, but… I’ll do anything you want. I can… do other things too… but if you don’t like men… I’ll…” he says, and I realize that this teenager is asking if sex with Len and the wadded-up cash of maybe forty dollars is enough to get Len to do a job for him.
“You have the name of the guy?” Len asks.
“R-Ricky Grandal…” he says before grimacing because heknowswhat that name means. Heknowsthat Grandal is right there in the seediest part of this city, and while not many like him, he has a good following built off forcing men and women into his service.
Len would have to be absolutely insane to accept anything that this kid can offer in exchange for a job like that.
“Let’s see…” Len says as he looks down to where the kid is holding out probably everything he has. Len reaches past it and picks up the sucker. “Can I have this?”
“Of course. You can have everything.”
“Nah, this’ll do. Thank you,” he says before setting a hand on the teenager’s head. “I’ll see what I can do.”
And with that, Len starts to head around to the front of the building.
“T-That’s it? Are you… are you expecting more when it’s done? That’s fine! That’s okay! I’ll give you everything.”
“Nah, just the sucker is plenty. It’s grape. My favorite,” he says before disappearing. I’m left standing by the kid, and more than anything, I’m fixated on the look on the teenager’s face. There’s so much raw emotion in it. So much… hope. It’s a face that I doubt has seen much hope, and he’s staring after Len like he’s just found himself standing before his very own guardian angel.
And then he starts crying.
It makes me feel uneasy, so I quickly hurry after Len who is getting into the car while licking away on his sucker.
I get into the passenger seat and shift my attention to him. “You chose asuckerover my million dollars?”
He points the sucker at me. “You would be correct. And it’s grape!”
“Why?” I ask.
Len’s eyes hold on to mine. “Because I like him. I don’t like you very much. You’re an asshole. You’re cruel. You’re mean. And you think the world revolves around you. That kid, on the other hand, has nothing but is willing to give meeverything. He would give me every cent he has, the clothes off his back, and even his body to save someone that isn’t even him. So really… if we look at it that way, he offered me a whole lot more because I can’t imagine that a million dollars would even put a dent in what you own.”
I stare at him as I realize that he’s correct. If I offered him everything like the kid did… he’d be an extremely wealthy man. He’d be one of the wealthiest men in this city. But I didn’t. I offered him what I thought he deserved for the job. Honestly, if he hadn’t given me such a fuss, I’d have offered him even less. But isn’t that because I’m a greedy man? Because without the money and the prestige, I have nothing. Would I evenwantto live if I had to give him everything I have? What would I have then? What would I do if I handed this man everything… even the clothes off my back?
He’s staring at me, and I feel like he’s wanting an answer to something, but I don’t know if I can give it. Or is he just enjoying this? He thinks it’s funny making me think this way? Looking down on me or…
I hold his eyes and realize that he doesn’t really look like he’s ridiculing me. He’s got a kind expression on his face.
“Where do you want me to drop you off?” he asks.
“I’m going with you,” I say. And I don’t even knowwhyI say it. What the fuck is wrong with me?
“You sure?” he asks with a raised eyebrow. “You realize you’re involving yourself in someone else’s affairs, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay… then I suppose we should get going.”
“You do know the risk of killing Grandal, right?” I ask.
“Yes, but the reward is so much better,” he says.
“You are a fucking enigma,” I realize.
