Chapter 53: Doing the Right Thing

April 1982, Chicago, Illinois and Washington, DC

Sunday evening, after dinner, I excused myself and called Joyce. I knew she’d have good advice for me, knowing the full situation.

“Shit,” Joyce said, “That is really bad. Some of those guys don’t care about age. In fact, they want the teenagers because they attract clients and they can actually charge more. Grandfather absolutely forbids his guys from using girls who are under eighteen. One time he found out about a girl who was only seventeen and he ordered her sent her back to her parents.”

“What do I do, Joyce? I’d like to help her.”

“You can’t be involved. If they find out you did something, it’ll be very difficult for grandfather to help you. Do you know anyone there you trust, but who isn’t super close to you like Stephie or Elyse?”

“Elyse’s boyfriend, Warren, but he’s just not the type to handle stress or pressure. And I don’t want to get Kathy or Kurt involved.”

“Is there anyone else there you know that would do you a favor and not ask too many questions?”

“The only other person I know really well here in Chicago is Becky, the girl who caused me so much trouble in High School.”

“Steve, that’s perfect! She’s been trying to get back together with you, even as a friend. If you asked her to drive this girl home to Iowa City, I bet that she’d do it if you agreed to have a cup of coffee with her.”

“I’m not THAT desperate, Joyce. Talking to Becky is flat out dangerous.”

“Well, if you want to help this girl, that’s probably what you’ll have to do. Think about it this way — if something happens, she’d take the fall!”

“But they could trace it back to me, Joyce.”

“Maybe. Aren’t you going out of town this weekend? And it’s Easter, so it might be easier for her to sneak out. Have your friend pick her up a block away or so. If they get caught, you’re in DC. Yeah, they could say you knew, but if you’re out of town, at least grandfather can probably help. You’d be done working for those guys, but you’d be safe.”

“I’m not sure I could leave even Becky hanging out like that, Joyce.”

“Well, then you’ll just have to forget about this girl and let things go as they are. That’s my advice. Either use someone like Becky or forget it. You might be able to use her in the future for other things that you want to be able to deny or at least have help with. If she gets caught, so what?”

“That’s cold, Joyce,” I said.

“Jesus Christ, Steve, do you think this is a game? If you do, then get out now, because it will only get more dangerous. You can get out now. I can speak to grandfather on your behalf. This is exactly why I told you long ago that we should be together. I know that’s not what you think, but who did you call for advice? It sure wasn’t your innocent little Kara!”

I sighed, “No, I don’t want out.”

“Then you better become a cold-hearted bastard when it comes to working for grandfather and his friends. They are.”

“As always, you’re right,” I said with resignation.

“Yes, and that includes our relationship. You just need to figure that out.”

I chuckled, “The same thing you’ve been saying for years.”

“And the same thing I’ll keep saying if you ask me for advice. And I’ll let you in on a secret. I enjoyed that time we had with Kara so much, I’d even be willing to bring a friend to play with us from time to time!”

“Very tempting, Joyce!” I chuckled.

“Just remember. I know you’re set on Kara at the moment. But the deeper you get in, the more difficult it’s going to be to keep it secret.”

“I know Joyce. Thanks for the advice.”

“Don’t thank me for advice unless you’re going to take it. All of it.”

“One last question, something that just crossed my mind, what if this is some kind of test?”

She was silent for a moment, then asked, “Did you actually have sex with her at all?”

“No. She made me get naked, but then she just sat and talked to me.”

“And you’re sure she’s underage?”

“I’ve seen enough naked teenage girls to be a pretty good judge,” I chuckled. “The first time I saw her, I’d have guessed fifteen if she hadn’t been where she was. And she seemed properly upset and scared.”

“I’d say she’s probably the real deal. And here’s the thing, if it’s a test, then nothing will happen except they don’t trust you anymore and you’re out. It’s not like they’re asking you to take somebody out, or anything.”

“I’m curious, Joyce. How DO you know all this stuff?”

“I once told you that if I was born a boy, I’d be at the top of his organization and take over when he retires. I can’t do that, but I do know pretty much how things work from my cousins and uncle.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up. Joyce made valid points as she always had. The question was, did I want to help this girl enough to talk to Becky and possibly have coffee with her? One thing Joyce had said made me think I should — that Don Joseph didn’t tolerate underage girls in this kind of situation. A cup of coffee would be worth it.

But could I really take this risk of any contact with Becky? I had fallen into her siren song several times. This felt different, though, and I was in a very different place. I was sure that I could limit my interactions with her to strictly business. If I was as cold and calculating as Joyce told me to be, I could probably find other uses for Becky.

She’d likely help me with anything short of murder just to be my friend, and she’d probably help me with murder if I was willing to screw her. Because I wasn’t on the ‘muscle’ side of the organization, that just wasn’t going to happen. The more I thought about it, the more I thought I could make use of Becky. I could get help and leave all of my friends out of it. All I had to do was keep from doing anything stupid with her. And at this point, I was sure that I could do it.

I grabbed my address book and then dialed the number next to her name.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Becky. It’s Steve.”

“Steve!” she squealed. “You called!”

“How are you?”

“Good. Much better now that you called me! How are you?”

“I’m good.”

“So, can we get together for coffee?” she asked.

“We could, but I need your help with something.”

“My help?” she asked. “What could you need my help with?”

“It’s complicated and difficult to explain. The short version is, there’s a young girl I ran across that really needs our help.”

“Another one of your conquests, Steve?” she asked snippily.

“No. A runaway who got roped into being a prostitute. She wants to go home.”

“How did you meet her?”

“When I was installing a computer. It’s really not important how; just that she needs to get home.”

“So, what is it that you need me to do?”

“Pick her up on Saturday morning in Cicero and drive her to Iowa City.”

“What?!”

“I’m heading to DC on Thursday morning, so I can’t do it. It has to be this weekend because basically she’s trying to escape the brothel and Easter weekend is kind of quiet so she can escape.”

“Escape?”

“Yes. You don’t think they’ll just let her go if she asks, do you?”

“Uh, no, I guess not. But what can I do?”

“Just park your BMW at the corner of 36th and Central in Cicero on Saturday. I’ll call you on Wednesday night with the time. A pretty brunette will come up and get in. Take off right away and drive her to Iowa. She’ll tell you where. When I come back from DC, we’ll get coffee.”

“I’m not sure, Steve. It sounds like it could be dangerous.”

“Not if you do what I said. And Becky, I might need help with business stuff in the future.”

“Oh! So I’d get to see you?”

“Yes. For coffee.”

“OK! I’ll do it! Maybe you could come to a Theta Xi party sometime? I promise to behave.”

“We’ll see. I’m promising coffee. I’ll call you on Wednesday evening and let you know the time.”

“OK. And next week we’ll have coffee!”

“Yes.”

We said goodbye, and I hung up. I felt a bit dirty, but I pushed that aside, heeding Joyce’s advice to be a cold-hearted bastard, at least with regard to working for Don Joseph and his associates. I put on a smile and went back out to join Elyse and Stephie in the living room. I had a bit of Calculus homework left to do, so I finished that, then we relaxed until bedtime.

When we went down the hall to our rooms, Stephie stopped and turned around.

“Elyse, you don’t have to sleep alone if you don’t want to!” Stephie said with a bright smile.

Elyse laughed, “Didn’t he tell you I don’t do that kind of thing? I’m surprised you do.”

Stephie smirked, “If you mean like between us, I don’t. But we can share him.”

“Not my thing, Stephie,” Elyse said.

“OK, then goodnight,” Stephie said.

We got ready for bed and I noticed that Stephie left her panties on. It had to be that her period had started today.

“That time of the month?” I asked.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” she said. “I could give you a blowjob if you wanted.”

“No, that’s OK. It’s not like we didn’t screw enough this morning!”

“Enough?! Are you kidding?! The problem is, I ain’t gonna git any ‘til you git back from DC on Sunday.”

“Stephie, if you want to fuck, we can fuck. I know it’ll be messy, but if that’s what you need, then I’ll do it.”

“So it’s really true that you’ll do whatever the girl needs?”

“Yes, it’s true,” I said firmly.

“I’m going to remember that!” Stephie declared. “I just need you to cuddle me, nothing more.”

We slept spooned together, and in the morning I ran, we showered, ate breakfast and headed to school. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday went as they usually did, though I deviated slightly and picked up my plane tickets on Tuesday.

On Wednesday evening, around 8:30pm, the phone rang.

“Hi, this is Dawn,” I heard a soft voice say.

I explained my plan, and she told me that she could be at that corner around 9:45am on Saturday. I quickly told her about Becky and then I described Becky’s BMW, including that it had Ohio plates, and told her just to walk up and get in. I told her that if anything went wrong, just walk past the car and Becky would leave at 10:30am if she didn’t come by then. We hung up less than three minutes after she called.

I called Becky to tell her the plan and told her to get there at 9:30am and if Dawn didn’t show up to leave at 10:30am. I let Becky know that I’d be home Sunday evening by 7:00pm and she should call and let me know how things went. She also should tell Dawn to call me and let me know she was home safe, if Dawn could do that. We agreed to meet on Thursday afternoon for coffee. Becky said she’d drive down to IIT and we could go to a coffee shop in Bridgeport at 1:30pm.

Later, Stephie and I were spooned in bed.

“I have to say, Yankee, I’m amazed.”

“At what, Peaches?”

“That you’ve been content to just cuddle since Sunday. You haven’t asked, or even hinted, at wanting a blowjob or putting it in my butt again.”

“Have you noticed that, except for that very first night, I let you lead?”

“Yeah, actually, I have. You have to be the least demanding guy on the planet, Steve. For somebody who can fuck like you do, you sure don’t insist on doing it. I’m just amazed at how much you really focus on what the girl wants.”

“It’s what I think is right, and I have to say that it’s worked out well for me.”

“That’s important for you, isn’t it? Doing the right thing?”

“Yes. Very much so. I used to obsess about it because I thought that ‘doing the right thing’ meant that nobody ever got hurt. Well, I know that’s not possible now. So I seek to do no harm, but do what is right. When those are in conflict, I usually err towards doing what’s right with the least amount of harm possible.”

“I can’t believe you were as bad as Bethany and Kathy say you used to be.”

“I told you it was true, remember? That I was a needy, whiney, angst-ridden, drama-filled, self-centered prick?”

“You did, but I thought you were just being hard on yourself and that Kathy and Bethany might have been jealous.”

“They told you the truth, and so did I.”

“Well, it ain’t true no more, that’s for sure. You’re as close to the perfect guy as I can imagine. Hell, you cook better ‘n most girls I know, you do more than your share around the apartment, you’re smart, you’re really nice, and, to top it off, sex with you is nothing short of thrilling. Kara’s a lucky, lucky girl.”

“Thanks, Peaches. Now, given I’m leaving for DC in the morning, is there anything, I mean anything, I can do for you?”

“Just cuddle me. On Sunday night, you can fuck my brains out!”

“You got it!” I said, pulling her to me.

On Thursday morning, I ran, we showered and ate breakfast. Stephie decided she’d stay in my room while I was gone and take the El back after her morning class. I dropped her at IIT on the way to O’Hare to catch my flight to DC. I timed it almost perfectly, walking up to the gate less than five minutes before they made the first boarding call. The flight left on time and arrived in DC on time as well.

“Good morning, Stephen Rayevich,” Colonel Anisimova said, greeting me.

“Good morning, Katya Sergeyevna,” I said, greeting her Russian style with three kisses on her cheeks.

“Your flight was OK, Stephen Rayevich? Do you need anything?”

I chuckled, “Just Tanya.”

“This I can do easily!”

We headed for the car and about forty minutes later, Tanya was hugging me and greeting me with a soft, sweet kiss.

“Hello, Stepa, how are you?”

“Good, Tanya, and you?”

“Good. Come, we have lunch in thirty minutes with Mother.”

She took me upstairs to her room and helped me unpack my bag, then led me to the red settee.

“School is going well?” she asked. “And your computer work?”

“Both are good. How is your school?”

“OK. I do not prefer embassy school, but I finish in three months. Father is already making arrangements for flat in Boston for me.”

“What about a bodyguard?”

“I elect not to have. Is permitted as I am adult and student. Colonel Anisimova send someone right away if I decide I need. I wish to be normal college girl.”

I chuckled, “Drinking, parties, and lots of sex?”

She smiled, “You know very well drinking is normal for Russians, so is no special thing for me. I prefer embassy parties to what I hear of wild college parties. And only lots of sex if you come to Boston!”

I smiled and asked, “Are you suggesting that I move to Boston and live with you, Tanya?”

“Would be perfect, but I know is not really possible. As I say last time, if we are to be couple, must be after we finish college. Do not worry about until then. Now, we are good friends and lovers. We see what happens.”

What was going to happen was that Kara was going to be living with me in a few months. We wouldn’t be engaged, but honestly, that was a technical detail at best, as I’d pointed out in regard to other relationships. Certainly, with Kara living with me, I would not be free to be Tanya’s lover, nor likely see her very much, if at all.

I was torn between telling Tanya immediately and waiting. Part of me wanted to wait, because it would risk ruining the weekend to tell her today. The other part of me reminded me that I needed to do the right thing. I didn’t want the conversation interrupted by lunch, so I decided that I’d wait until afterwards.

I was right to wait, because less than five minutes later, a young woman came to the door to let us know that lunch was served. We walked downstairs and joined Tanya’s mother in the lounge.

“Good afternoon, Stephen Rayevich!” Anna Voronin said, greeting me with three kisses.