Chasing Thunder Read online

  “Hey!” the heavy, dark-skinned older woman barked as she marched toward them. Her severe eyes were black as night. “What did I tell you about loitering?”

  Tammy laughed. “Chill, Edna. I’m not loitering. I’m here with a friend who just got into town,” she said, gesturing to Haley. She held up her phone and leaned across the table to take an impromptu selfie, sticking her tongue out as she cuddled in close to her new “friend” to prove her point.

  Edna pursed her lips. “Mmhmm. I know all about your friends.” She turned to Haley and looked her over. “Where are you headed?”

  There it was. Someone had seen her blinking vagrant sign at last. “I just got off the bus,” she stammered.

  “I can see that,” Edna replied. “You can’t stay in the terminal if you aren’t a ticketed passenger.”

  “She’s a paying customer,” Tammy asserted as she popped another fry in her mouth.

  “Until that plate is clean,” Edna corrected. “I’ve got my eye on you two,” she said, lumbering off.

  Tammy waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t let her scare you. She’s a frustrated bouncer at heart. It’s her noble mission to keep this place free of the homeless scourge.”

  Tammy’s blasé attitude did nothing to calm the panic rising in Haley’s core. Thanks to this girl’s unwanted attention, her shelter was even more temporary than before.

  Tammy read her easily. “Hey, don’t worry. If you got money, you got options. Hell, for fifty bucks you can make it to Vegas if you want. It’s another shithole of a town, but the work is good.”

  “Work?”

  Tammy nodded. “Sometimes I’ll go there for the weekend and make about five hundred bucks.”

  “Doing what?”

  Tammy laughed. “You really did just get off the bus, didn’t you?” She gestured to one of the guys staring at the two of them from another booth. “Consider me part of the hospitality industry.” She winked at the guy, who smiled back.

  “You’re a hooker?” Haley asked.

  It was Tammy’s turn to shrug. “It’s not like we’ve got some fancy college degree. Use what the good Lord gave you. It’s the only real choice girls like us have.”

  “Girls like us?” Haley echoed.

  “Street kids,” Tammy impatiently filled in. “You gotta pay a price to be free. You have to fight to stay one step ahead of everyone, all the time. Otherwise you end up in custody with a one-way ticket back to Mommy and Daddy.”

  Haley shook her head at once. That was not an option. Not now. Not ever. Tammy ate one of the last remaining fries as Edna watched from her perch twenty feet away. She thought momentarily about buying that ticket to Vegas, if only to get that old bird off her back, but then she’d be in yet another bus terminal with the same limited options and even less money. The reality of her impulsive escape was really coming back to bite her in the ass. What had she been thinking?

  But in all fairness, it had been impossible to think about anything while getting the crap beat out of her.

  Tammy ate the very last fry and stood up. “Come on,” she said.

  Haley glanced back at Edna, who had already slid from her perch and was stalking right for them. With a gulp she closed her sketch pad, shoved it into her bag, and followed Tammy out of the crowded terminal.

  Tammy lit up a cigarette the minute they stepped out into the balmy night air. “Stick with me,” she advised as they walked past a rowdy group of young men. “This isn’t exactly the best neighborhood.”

  Haley had no option but to follow her new tour guide. This girl wasn’t any older than her, but she clearly knew what she was doing. It was oddly reassuring for someone who really didn’t have a clue. It certainly seemed preferable to follow this unthreatening teenager than risk jail for vagrancy or head to Vegas to start a new career as a prostitute.

  “Where are we going?” Haley asked.

  “A friend will pick us up,” she replied. “We’ve got a place in Hollywood.”

  Haley’s ears perked up. That sounded a lot more promising than a public bathroom stall or a restaurant booth one could only occupy while paying for food or drink. “What kind of place?”

  Tammy laughed. “Don’t get too excited. It’s not exactly the Hilton.” She stamped out her cigarette with her foot. “We usually make our way between motels, but there’s a place we can crash if we come up short.”

  Within ten minutes, a beaten old car skidded to a stop at the corner where they waited. “Come on,” Tammy said. She opened up the passenger door.

  Haley hesitated only a minute before she slipped silently into the back of the cramped little car. In the front seat sat a man of about twenty with hair as bright and orange as a carrot, kept high and tight in a crew cut. He smiled at her through the rearview mirror. “This is Billy,” Tammy said.

  Haley nodded without offering her own name in return. Strangely enough, neither one of them asked. Identities meant nothing here.

  Haley held onto her bag as Billy whipped the car out of the parking lot and onto the street, barely missing several other vagrants in the process. That brightly lit corner in the shadows of downtown L.A. was a dead end for many. Without these two strangers, Haley knew she would have been forced to join the ranks of the homeless who lined the streets, scraping by any way that they could to survive.

  She recalled Tammy’s matter-of-fact way of looking at her own profession as a hooker. Tammy was fine with sucking the dick of some stranger just so she could have a safe, cheap motel room for the night. Was that Haley’s fate now?

  If so, why the hell did she need to leave home?

  “How’d you do?” Billy asked Tammy, who shook her head.

  “Slow day,” she said as she pulled a wad of five-dollar bills from her pocket. “You?”

  He shook his head as well. “Donny’s got his goons out in force. I haven’t been able to show my face anywhere. We’re staying in the squat tonight.”

  Tammy turned to Haley in the backseat to interpret. “A squat is where we bunk when we can’t afford anything else, or can’t stay anywhere else. It’s usually in some abandoned building. There will be some other people there, but stay with us and you should be okay.”

  Haley gulped. “What kind of people?”

  Tammy shrugged her shoulder. “Tweakers. Burnouts. You get used to them. Just don’t turn your back on them.”

  Billy instantly scoffed. “They’re going to eat her alive.”

  “If you got any money, take it out of your purse. That’ll be the first thing they snatch the minute you fall asleep. And don’t hide it in your shoes, either. If they can take it off of you, it’s fair game.”

  None of their advice made her feel any better. “Maybe you could drop me off at a motel or something,” she suggested. “I can pay for one night.”

  “Yeah, but you can’t rent a room without being eighteen,” Billy informed her. He looked at her in the mirror. “How old are you?”

  She turned her head. “Not eighteen,” she finally said.

  Tammy brightened, like she had the most fabulous idea of her life. “Maybe we can rent a room together.”

  Haley wasn’t too keen on that idea either, given that she didn’t know Billy from Adam and wasn’t exactly sure what he’d do within the close confines of a private motel room. Tammy could easily read the reticence on her face.

  “We could also try to earn some more money,” she offered. “I just don’t know if you’re ready.”

  Haley wanted to ask, “Ready for what?” But she was afraid of the answer, so she sat quietly as the car rattled and sputtered through a series of decidedly unglamorous side streets from downtown to Hollywood. They finally slowed to a stop near a darkened two-story building just a few blocks from a busy boulevard. No Trespassing and Condemned signs were posted all over the building. Billy and Tammy, undaunted, scooted through a narrow gap in the locked chain-link fence. Haley reluctantly followed.

  As quietly as he could, Billy pulled down a metal ladder on th
e side of the old brick building, which had been gutted by a fire. She followed her hosts up to the second floor, through a broken window and into a hollowed-out loft where other homeless kids were scattered across the bare, dirty floor. Haley shuddered and pulled her bag close as Tammy guided her by the arm to an empty corner. They spoke in hushed tones.

  “Sit on your bag,” Tammy advised. “Seriously. They’ll grab it right out from under you if you let them.” To prove her point, she stored her thin cell phone in the ripped lining of her hoodie, where it couldn’t be easily lifted from her pocket.

  Haley nodded and settled on the soft fabric of her sole possession. Together they looked around the darkened room. “Normally we’d stay in our car,” Tammy told her, “but there’s not enough room in that POS for the three of us. I guess it’s good that you see this, though. This is the reality of your new life. Better to learn it now than later.”

  Again, Haley shuddered. What had she gotten herself into? She had leapt out of the frying pan right into the fire.

  A beautiful boy of no more than fourteen scooted over to where they had made camp. His hair was long and straight and would be the envy of any girl. His features were flawless, almost feminine when he smiled, and his body was hairless, thin, and slight. “Hey, Billy,” he said. “Got a dime, man?”

  Before Haley could wonder what this kid could possibly do with a dime, Billy was pulling a small bag from his pocket. They huddled together to do their business, and Haley turned to Tammy. “Drugs?”

  Tammy shrugged. “Like I said. You do what you have to. It’s not like you and I can go get a counter job at some fast-food restaurant, right?”

  Haley didn’t care for the sound of that. Getting a job was the cornerstone of her plan to start over. “Why not?”

  Tammy offered a benign smile for her clueless friend. “Little things like IDs, social security numbers, home addresses. Most kids are too young to have them. The older ones know better than to use them. You can’t stay lost if you’re in the system somewhere, baby.” She pulled a bottle of fingernail polish from her hoodie. It still had the price tag on it, but Haley was fairly sure the dark glittery liquid had been lifted, not purchased. Tammy kicked off her flip-flops so she could apply the polish to her toes. “Besides, you make more money in other ways anyway.” Having no polish remover or cotton swabs to remove the chipped coat of bright pink polish already on them, Tammy just swiped the darker color on top.

  “How long have you been here?” Haley asked softly.

  “Two years,” Tammy answered. “I was thirteen when I left. My parents caught me playing ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ with a girl from our church, so they sent me to some religious camp to pray away the gay.” She laughed. “I was gone the first weekend I got home.”

  “You’re gay?” Haley asked. It was the last admission she was expecting from someone who sold her body to men for money. “I thought you and Billy—” she began, and Tammy’s chuckle cut her off.

  “Were a couple?” Haley nodded and Tammy shook her head in answer. “There are no couples here. The best you can do is find what few people won’t screw you over. If you’ve found that, you’ve found home.”

  Haley glanced back at Billy. “And what do you have to give up in return?” she pondered aloud.

  “Labels don’t matter much here,” she said. “You do what you gotta do, and you do who you gotta do.” She pointed to the pretty boy who was now smoking the joint that Billy had rolled. “Todd isn’t gay, but he’ll drop to his knees and suck a dick in a heartbeat for his next fix. You kind of learn to separate yourself from it. You have to.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” Haley replied honestly.

  “I don’t know if you have a choice,” was Tammy’s matter-of-fact reply. “Look, you’re cute. Cute enough that guys won’t mind the bruises. Hell, they may even want to inflict a few more if the price is right. That’s your ticket, baby. Cash it in while you’re still young enough to get full value.”

  Haley said nothing as she watched Todd and Billy conclude their business. The beautiful boy was out the window in a flash, medicated enough to do what needed to be done for his own survival. Billy returned to their little circle. “Ten more dollars,” he announced softly, so not to draw attention. “Maybe by tomorrow we can get a room of our own.”

  Tammy nodded. Haley wondered why Tammy didn’t just head to the boulevard steps away from the dilapidated old building, but once a couple of tweakers climbed through the window, her question was answered. They were loud and erratic, bugging everyone in sight for money or drugs. By the time they reached their corner, Billy and Tammy had flanked her on either side, staking a claim that the newcomers seemed to understand, though their eyes flashed with the possibilities of what they could do with this young ingénue in their midst.

  By the time they could fall asleep, she was sandwiched in between Tammy and Billy, with Billy’s hard body pressed up against her back, his arm flung across her and Tammy like a locked chain. Haley stayed awake as long as she could, fearing that his hand would somehow find its way down her pants and she’d wake once again to someone forcing her open with his fingers to do unspeakable things to her while she lay paralyzed with fear. It was dawn before her eyes fluttered shut. Not more than two hours passed before Tammy and Billy shook her awake to get out of the building before their hiding place was discovered.

  Despite the fact that she had made it through the night without physical assault, her bag was long gone, as was the money inside. She had been so exhausted that the thief managed to slide everything away from her without her noticing. Even her shoes were missing. “I told you to hide your money,” Tammy reminded ruefully.

  Haley was on the verge of tears. “I thought—” she began, but quickly silenced herself. It didn’t matter what she thought. She was out of her element in this new world, and it was clear the rules of normal existence did not apply.

  They ended up in a diner, with Billy and Tammy footing the bill for the five-dollar breakfast they all shared. And just like at the bus depot, they were merely paying rent to occupy a booth for as long as the waitress would tolerate them. Billy drank at least five cups of coffee, which he used to wash down a handful of pills. He pocketed the rest of his stash, no doubt to sell for extra money, while Tammy’s day would be spent working a street corner near downtown L.A.

  Haley had two choices. She could go with Tammy or she could stay with Billy. The latter seemed the less threatening of the two, so Tammy strutted off in short shorts and Billy and Haley waited on a side street in the parked car.

  He rolled down the windows. The summer heat wasn’t nearly as oppressive as in North Carolina, but she was sweating bullets as they waited in the car. He glanced over her outfit, which covered as much skin as possible. “You’re going to die of heat stroke dressed like that,” he said. “You should change into something cooler.”

  “Everything I had was in my bag,” she explained. She wasn’t even wearing layered clothing to discard as needed. What she had on her back was literally all she had in the world. “I don’t have anything else.”

  With a sigh he got out of the car and popped the trunk. A few minutes later he shoved some articles of clothing at her through the open window. “Here. Change before you pass out.”

  Before she could protest that she couldn’t change in the car, she realized he was pointing to a gas station on the corner. Her legs shook as she exited the car and headed toward the tiny storefront. The attendant regarded her suspiciously as he handed her the key, attached to a wide wooden stick, and she said nothing. She headed toward the grimy, cramped bathroom, which was even hotter than Billy’s beater of a car. The new clothes clung to her damp, sweaty body like a second skin, what little bit they covered. But given the ninety-degree weather, she could hardly begrudge the shorts and the tank top. The breeze cooled her skin as she walked back to the car in her borrowed outfit, right down to the bargain-bin flip-flops.

  Though her clothes were s
kimpy, she looked every inch a teenage girl rather than a streetwalker. She hoped that meant that she could put off her new career as a prostitute for yet another day, but Billy was quick to dash this meager dream.

  “You’re gonna make a lot of money looking like that,” he informed her as she slid back into the car. “You’re lucky they like ’em young.”

  Haley shuddered. The thought of an older man putting his hands on her body made what little breakfast she’d been able to put in her stomach rebel. “I don’t like the men who like them young,” she replied.

  “That used to matter,” he said. “Not anymore. A few more nights on the streets, when all you have left to barter with is what’s between your legs, and you’ll come around.”

  Tammy returned with enough money for lunch and a couple of gallons of gas for the car. Haley could tell by their faces that it wasn’t enough. “You know where we gotta go,” Billy said quietly to Tammy, who tossed a brief glance toward the back seat.

  “And you know what could happen when we get there,” she reminded him softly. “You think she’s ready for that?”

  They continued to talk softly and Haley had to strain to hear what they were saying. “So what do you want me to do? Drop her off at some diner and hope no one else snatches her up in the meantime? You think she’s ready for that?”

  Haley shuddered. She no longer had any money, she didn’t have any clothes, and she had no place to stay. The only thing she had left in the world was this unintentional alliance with these two strangers, who had helped her when she literally had no one. Without them, she wouldn’t know what to do or where to go. And she was fresh out of options. “I want to stay with you,” she asserted.

  Tammy finally acquiesced with a sigh. “Fine.”

  Within the hour they were sputtering and chugging through the winding Hollywood Hills so that Billy could replenish his supply of drugs to sell. Unlike the squalor of the abandoned building or the run-down area around the bus terminal, their destination, a mansion in the hills, was in an elaborate compound. The guards at the gate let them enter the private bricked driveway. Regal palms swayed overhead as they drove up an incline toward the entrance of the multilevel home. The exterior was cold, gray and modern. The interior was not much warmer. Stark chrome and gray walls, pristine white furniture, and stone tables made the residence both luxurious and forbidding.