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"Whatchuwant, you?" the largest of the girls asked She was six inches taller than h over two hundred pounds Her arms were crossed over her substantial chest, and she didn’t look like she wanted any part of whatever I was selling

It hadn’t occurred to me on the walk here I would need any kind of a backstory Foolishly, I had hoped the prostitutes would see me as one of their ranks and accept me into their questionable sisterhood Then they would i about the va ht I could be such a dumb blonde soirly You a long way from da escort services of da Upper East Side, ya know?" This was froirl as she exhaled her ornahed but said nothing It was clear she was the irl took a hard look at me and snorted "You think you can coonna make us say oh, Blondie, you can be one of us? Hmm? You lost on your way to a strip club? Whatdafuckyouwant"

What I wanted was to give her a good reason to shove her attitude right up her ass before I did it for her These girls were treatingmy name for the first time It pissed me off, but in her case she had a reason to look down onthe a few blocks east Last week this girl on ot into a car She never came back and they found her in the park all ripped up" My voice treoes to…

They looked un their heads in enthusiastic agreement

"Yolanda, like what happened wit Cleo, yeah?" The black girl was silenced with a raised hand froirl She was clearly the leader

Yolanda’s eyes narrowed, and she assessed it" I used the na with Mercedes

"Brigit Sounds like a fucking cheerleader"

The other girls laughed for a second before they settled into observant silence In the darkness near the river, at least one vae Holden’s presence covered ht another va would think of this if he kneas a result of the assignet more than a little pleasure out of my current situation Doubtless, Holden would let hiht’s antics

A car drove by and slowed, and I beca back, and the five of them launched into a well-oiled chorus of, "Hey, baby! How you doin’, honey? You need a date? I’ll show you a real good ti hiirls, but to e, bland-faced Yolanda was chosen by the john I craned uy looked like any other hard-up, et pussy on a street corner

The other four returned to huddle near awked at , just blew clouds of sirls were older than sixteen, yet each one looked about forty

"Who’s Cleo?" I broke the silence and hoped it didn’t make me sound like a cop I had crossedto be cold

The two skinny Latinas looked at each other and said nothing, but each wore a griirl shuffled uneasily The chatty black girl was my in, that much was clear I stared at her, and she folded faster than a lawn chair

"She used to be wit us, ya know?" the black girl said One of the Latinas snarled when the girl started to speak, but it did nothing to stop the newly opened fount of knowledge "It was like you said, yeah? She was here, she got picked up, but she did coht how?"

"Veda You shut your fucking nored her "What it matter now, Misty, huh? Cleo dead, ain’t she? What da fuck it matter now?"

I needed to be clear on what Veda had said "She’s dead?"

"Yeah, fuck uys?" I asked

"She got dropped off in this like, li, ya know? Like she was drunk?" Veda panto of a woman under the influence, then abruptly stopped and pretended to sain "Cleo ain’t no duet you killed" Veda shook her head, heaving a solearette at ed prostitutes

"But she was alive?"

"Fuck, girl, you deaf?" Misty said, but she didn’t see an end to et

"It eird, yeah?" Veda continued, looking froirls, who each nodded seriously "Like, she was babbling soe Like you see on deuy touches their heads and shit?" Vedaon the skinny white girl The girl giggled when Veda touched her forehead and dramatically announced, "You be healed, bitch!"

"She was speaking in tongues?"

"What da fuck else she gonna speak with?" Veda rolled her eyes I saw no reason to explain, so I let her go on

"Anyway" Veda was enjoying being the center of attention even for such a sun to bubble with enthusias around Yolanda must have limited her opportunities to be noticed "She went hoht? ’Cause Rayht, ya know?"

I nodded as if I knew the full extent of their pimp’s wrath

"And?"