Authors: Yara Greathouse
Unavoidable (23 page)
I glanced at Colton again and find that he looks mesmerized. I think he realizes that
this is a very painful story to tell. I was glad he was listening. With every word
that came out of my mouth, I hoped that the puzzle pieces would continue to fall into
place for him, and help him to understand. Before continuing the story, my anxiety
took over and I got up and started to pace the length of the living room.
“We received a call explaining the new owner was to be there that day. We were excited
and nervous, because we really didn’t know what to expect. Then Jesse Trevino and
his goons walked through those doors. Just by looking at him and all his guys one
could tell there would be trouble. We were all glancing at each other unsure of what
to do. He kept talking to everyone with an ‘I am better than you’ attitude and wasted
no time telling us all the new rules and how he was going to run his business. Basically,
he informed everyone that he was going to be our pimp and no one was free to do anything
anymore because we all belonged to him from that point on.”
“He did what? Fuck, Brianna, what the hell did that man do to you? To all of you?”
I calmly look at him. I need to keep it together or I am going to ask him to leave
and never come back. It is not fun to face your own personal horror story.
“I was scared. I did not know what to do. I wanted to get out of there as soon as
possible, but his goons had the place on lockdown. All the doors were being guarded.
He brought in his own people to run the business and balance the books. It was a nightmare
from the get go. One of the feistier girls, Mary, confronted him and he slapped her
a few times in front of everyone and said he was going to make an example out of her.
Two of his guys carried Mary out and they took her away. We never saw her again.”
“Do you know what happened to her?” He had to ask. I stop pacing and nod my head.
I take a moment to collect myself, breathing slowly a few times before telling him
more. The worst is yet to come. I brace myself for the things that I have to bring
out of this old mental vault that I’ve used to lock everything inside for so many
years.
“We found out a couple of days later when Jesse came in with a sack full of jewelry
type boxes all beautifully wrapped and we thought he was trying to mend fences for
having been so horrible before.
“The bastard was smiling from ear to ear as he passed them around asking us to wait
so that we could all open them at the same time. Once we did, the screams and crying
started immediately. Inside every box he had ‘gifted’ us, was a piece of Mary. Some
girls got fingers, some got toes, even her ears. It was absolutely horrible.”
I felt a single tear run down my cheek. He pushes himself to the edge of his seat,
but I placed my hand out and shook my head so that he stayed put.
“I’m not done, Colton.” I wrap my arms around my stomach as if that would offer any
comfort.
“Brianna…” He said.
“No Colton. The worst is yet to come and I’m afraid if you get closer to me I will
lose the little courage I have left.
“After the Mary ‘incident’ I tried to reason with Jesse that I never was one of the
girls that performed, and that he needed to let me go. He explained that he understood,
and that I obviously needed extra training to catch up with the other girls. That
night he raped me. I was a sixteen year old virgin and that sadistic fuck took the
only thing that was still mine. I had dreams. I had a dream that I would find the
one person who loved me just the way I was. The one person who was deserving of my
love for them. I’ve never had anybody to tell me those three words until Ciara. She’s
like a sister to me and has been the only one to love me as I am without any expectations
or conditions.”
Colton got up from the couch and moved towards me, but for every step he took forward,
I took one back. Then I was pacing again and wringing my hands. I needed to focus.
“After he had his way with me, he put me to work. Luckily, I had the other girls to
help me out and give me pointers. I was very popular with the older crowd and had
many ‘special’ requests.”
“Oh, no! No, no, no, NO! Brianna, please don’t say it. I think I know where this is
going and I don’t think I will be able to handle it.”
“You need to know. You
wanted
to know everything. I already started and I’m going to finish. When I am done, you
will have a decision to make, Colton.”
We look into each other’s eyes. Slowly, I feel a tear forming and leaning heavily
on my eyelashes, until it is so big it cannot contain itself. It falls heavily marking
a wet path on my cheek. I feel my heart falling simultaneously, down a cliff without
a landing. The pain… the pain I feel for us. For what we could have been. I recognize
the look. I have seen it many times before. It’s the ‘I feel horrible for you but
at the same time I am horrified about who you really are.’ I wipe the tear from my
cheek, say goodbye to my heart and regain my calm composure.
“Yes. I became a prostitute. I was forced to dance and perform sexual acts with strangers.
It was a very dark time in my life. There was no way out. Every night I would cry
myself to sleep because I did not know what I could do. The patrons made their payments
directly to Jesse or one of his men, and we were too scared to run. The threat level
continued to escalate because we had a ‘quota’ to meet and when we did not earn enough
money, our punishment was in the form of beatings.”
He was the one pleading now. “Please stop. I am not sure I can take this. I was not
prepared to face something like this.” His voice was angry and sad at the same time.
He was now the one taking steps back, but it did not faze me. The damage was already
done.
“With time we learned that Jesse’s father was a huge mobster who had intimidated too
many people in order to gain a solid reputation and respect from those people in the
streets. He was vicious and so was his son. This was Jesse’s first solo venture and
he was out to prove himself to his father. Fortunately for me, Jesse was also young
and ignorant, and within a few weeks became obsessed with possessing my body. He wanted
me all the time, so badly that he would only pimp me out to the highest paying customers,
so I did not have as many rounds as the other girls. To this day I am not sure if
that was a blessing, because every moment that I was not with a customer, I had to
spend with Jesse. I decided to take advantage and learn as many secrets as possible.
I even figured out his password to all the secret files that connected him to his
father’s network. One day, I pretended to be asleep and he went to take a shower.
I found a memory stick on his desk, and I copied all of the files I could find. So
you see, all the lessons from Uncle Pete were paying off. From time to time I would
update the information and copy as many files as possible.
“With time, I developed a plan. I had an older gentleman who always requested me,
let’s call him John – that’s adequate, right? He was rich, but was also very kind.
After many weekly sessions, we started to talk and he started to tip me money on the
side. He understood that it was a secret between us, because I had let him know about
Jesse’s rough ways. I would hide the money in one of the ‘special’ rooms’ ceiling
tile, because those rooms were not inspected like our rooms were.
“When I had enough money, I confided in John and asked him to help me out. He had
seen the bruises on me many times, so he knew I was not lying about the abuse I was
undergoing in that place. During his next visit, he brought me a stun gun shaped like
a pen. It had a strong charge to slow down someone enough to hopefully escape. If
I failed, I knew Jesse would kill me. I had everything to gain and nothing to lose,
because – let’s face it – that was no way to live. I was nothing more than a sex slave.
I was dirty. Filthy inside and out. Some days, like today, I still feel that way.
The one thing they were not counting on was that I had a strong spirit and I wanted
to survive.
“I waited a few days until the right time came along. One night a fight ensued on
the floor. All the goons were taking care of the guys who started the fight, and I
knew that was my opportunity. I retrieved my hidden money, ran to my room and put
on sweats and a wig from another girl, placed a change of clothes and a few things
in a backpack, then I hit the fire alarm - there was chaos everywhere. I kept my face
down and pulled up my hoodie walking outside with the others and kept right on walking.
When I made it around the corner, I ran, oh Colton! I ran so hard! I gave it all I
had, and once I was a few blocks away, I hailed a taxi to take me to the bus station.
Once there, I cleaned up and changed clothes, and bought a ticket as far away as I
could afford, and hid because I knew they were going to come looking for me – and
they did. Luckily, a cleaning crew had just come in and I was able to hide inside
the van, until Jesse and his men left. That’s when I was able to board the bus and
leave everything behind.
He is speechless. It makes me nervous. I look at him briefly and he nods, silently
asking me to continue.
“Although I knew Jesse would continue looking for me because I made a fool out of
him and because he was completely obsessed with having me at his beck and call, I
hoped that if I got far enough away he would not be able to find me. Joining the military
was a great way to disappear. I was gone. After three years, I thought he would have
put me out of his mind. I was enjoying
my
life. I was also happy for the first time ever. I let down all my defenses so I could
let you in, Colton. Then came the accident at the football game, and my stupid,
stupid
reaction to go out there and try to save somebody. I should have known better. I
didn’t stop to think that someone was going to record that. Then, with the video going
viral, I have allowed myself to fall back into his sights, putting all of you in jeopardy.
I am so very sorry Colton.”
“Brianna… this is too much…” I look down at the floor and gently nod my head. It’s
his turn now. I take a deep breath and I am ready.
Colton
This is a mother fucking nightmare. I silently pinch myself several times while she
is talking, to force myself to wake up because it just cannot be real. I am in shock.
I don’t know what to say, or what to do. I am dying inside. Out of all the things
I thought may have happened in her past – bad boyfriends, some kind of abuse, drugs
or alcohol - but forced to sell her body? Never! Oh, God! I’ve got to think about
this. I know this is not her fault, but I need time.
“I know, Colton, I know. You don’t have to say anything. Now you know my entire past.
I don’t blame you. I’m disgusted with myself, too.”
“Disgusted? I am
not
disgusted with you… I am just so angry at that Jesse for everything he has done,
I am angry at you, because you should have told me what I was getting into. It was
not fair to me Brianna. This is not okay. We are not okay. I need time to… process.
A prostitute? Sex slave? I just don’t know what to say. And now they are after you?
After us? These are dangerous people, Brianna. This whole thing is completely fucked
up.” I needed time to put everything in place in my head. Right now there were all
kinds of thoughts and I’m afraid I would say the wrong thing and regret it for life.
While trying to wrap my head around this new reality, I feel like I am suffocating.
No one at that young age should have to go through what she went through. No one.
I was just standing there, too angry to sit down and too upset to move. I was afraid
she was getting ready to bolt. She looked so innocent, scared and vulnerable. She
was literally an inexperienced child, and then to have that innocence taken away in
such a violent manner. That Jesse is a fucking pig.
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