Cassandra lived down the hall from me in our apartment complex in Santa Ana. It wasn’t the Ritz Hilton by any means, but it was far enough from the gangland of inner Los Angeles that we felt somewhat safe. Sure you still had to be careful and keep your wits about you, but that’s the way with any big city.

Our apartment building was a secure building – if you were visiting someone, there was a keypad by the front door that you buzzed the apartment you wanted to visit and they would let you in. If you did live in the building, you just entered your personal code and the door opened. There was also cameras in all the hallways so anyone coming in was filmed from several different angles. The landlord took pains to make sure his tenant’s felt safe and secure in the building.

I met Cassandra shortly after I moved into the building, nearly three years ago now. That was an interesting meeting that morning, let me tell you. I had just come from the grocery store with a couple armloads of groceries and she happened to be waiting for the elevator when I got there. She was just coming home from “work” and she was dressed ... well she was dressed for work.

You see, Cassandra was a hooker and apparently she was pretty good at it, because this wasn’t where I would expect to find a girl of her profession. She held the elevator for me and when I told her what floor I wanted she told me that was her floor too. I tried not to gawk at her, but I guess I wasn’t too covert about it because she caught me right off.

“That’s right, I’m a hooker ... a whore, a prostitute, whatever you want to call me. So get yourself an eyeful, buddy!” she said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry ... I didn’t mean to stare, It’s just that I’m new to the building and to this area,” I said looking up at the elevator ceiling as I spoke. The elevator got very quiet after that until the bell dinged that we had arrived on the third floor and we both got out. I went left and she followed behind. I heard her stop and jingle her keys a few doors before I got to my apartment. I reached my door just as she got hers open and I saw her step into her apartment. She shot me a glance as she did but I hurried inside before we had another confrontation.

The rest of the day I spent doing some more unpacking and getting things organized. I was getting ready to open a west coast branch of my company and I wanted to make sure it got off to a good start. I am an architect and I have an office in Virginia as well as the main office in Dallas. I wanted to cover the west coast as well so I was in Los Angeles to see that off.

I had decided to get an apartment instead of staying in a hotel because I wasn’t absolutely sure how long this new office would take to get going. My rent was a month-to-month thing, I didn’t have a lease to worry about so leaving wasn’t a big problem.

It was shortly after dinner I guess when I heard a knock on my door. I was relaxing and letting my dinner settle while trying to figure out the cable channels and looking for the local news. I got up to answer the door, and when I looked through the peephole I saw Cassandra. She seemed to be practicing her speech.

I opened the door. “Hello, Can I help you?”

“Listen, I’m sorry for being such a bitch earlier today. You just caught me coming home from a really shitty day at work and I took my frustrations out on you. I’m sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, much more agreeable and friendly this time.

“That’s okay, we all have our bad days. Want to come in for a cup of coffee? I think I might be able to find my coffeemaker in here someplace!” I said with a smile.

“That would be nice. I don’t get much of a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee anymore,” she said.

“Well, I’m not promising that it will be coffee, but it will be black, hot, and strong!” I joked. “I’m David by the way, David Johnson.”

“Sounds wonderful, David. I’m Cassandra Peterson. It’s nice to meet you.”

We sat and drank our coffee, getting to know a little about each other. She asked me where I was from originally and what I was doing in Los Angeles. I told her that I lived in Dallas, but I was out here setting up a new office for my company. I didn’t ask her too much about her job because well, how do you ask a hooker how she got started or how was work today!

That was the start of our friendship and over the next few weeks we got more and more friendly. We’d pass in the halls and ask how each other was doing, I had her over for dinner a couple times after I got things more organized, and we’d meet at the mailbox or in the elevator. It was nice chatting with her and she turned out to be good company. We never took it past the friendship thing – I didn’t want her to think I was just out for a “freebie” or something. So I never made a play for her. It was enough that we had fun talking with each other.

But Fate had more in store for us than just hallway friends. One day I came home from work and I stopped by the mailbox to pick up the mail before heading up to my apartment. I saw Cassie (she wanted me to call her Cassie instead of Cassandra) coming down the hall and I held the elevator for her. I noticed there was something odd in the way she was walking ... kind of a limp, and she had her head down too. She got in the elevator and she didn’t look up. She didn’t say hi or thank you either. Strange.

“Is there something wrong Cassie?” I asked.

“No, I’m alright,” she said, her head still lowered and looking at the floor.

I reached out and lifted her chin and that’s when I saw her. “Cassie what the hell happened!” I said shocked. Cassie had a huge black eye, a busted lip and some nasty bruises on her cheek.

“It’s okay ... just the hazards of the game. Don’t worry about me, I’ve been through worse,” she said, turning away.

“Bullshit, Cassie! There no reason why you have to be beat up and battered like this. You sell sex, you aren’t a boxer for crying out loud!” I said.

“Well for some people that’s how they get off ... by beating up some whore that is smaller and not as strong as they are. Different strokes for different folks, David.”

“No, sorry, not buying it, Cassie. You are a person, a human being just like the rest of us. Your choice of how you make a living shouldn’t make you more or less important than anyone else. Now come on – you are coming home with me!

We got off the elevator and I took her hand walking down the hallway towards our apartments. Despite her protests and telling me she was okay, I took her to my apartment and once we were inside I sat her down on the sofa. “Now you sit right here, young lady, while I make us some coffee. Don’t you move from that spot you hear me?” I said in my most stern and authoritative voice.

She looked up at my and cracked a small smile, “Yes Daddy.”

“Daddy, hmm? Well then you just sit there and let Daddy take care of you,” I said. I went into the kitchen and came back with a couple cups of coffee. I gave her one and I took one sitting next to her.

“Now, tell me what happened, Cassie?”

“Well, I was with one of my clients and he wanted to do more than he had originally paid for. I told him if he wanted more than we agreed on it would cost him more. He said he was good friends with Johnny and that he would allow me to do what he wanted. I said I didn’t think that was right and he got mad and ... did this.

“And who is this Johnny character?”

“He’s kind of the guy I work for. You see when I came to Los Angeles I was broke and one of my old girlfriends introduced me. Johnny gave me some money to get a place and get started and I have been paying him back a little at a time from what I make.”

“So he’s your pimp?” I asked, trying to understand.

Cassie smiled, “Oh honey, you’ve been watching too many ‘70’s shows! We don’t have pimps anymore – not for a long time. No, I just owe him the rest of his money, so I pay him a little each week until my debt is paid. I work for myself, as do the rest of the girls in this business. Pimps don’t exist much anymore.”

“So how much do you still owe him, if you don’t mind my asking.”

“Well with interest and everything I think it’s around $10,000.00,” she sighed. “It’s going to take awhile yet to pay him off.”

“Wow. What will you do once you get him paid off? I mean are you going to continue...”

“Oh, no. I have been taking some online classes in Business Administration. I dropped out of school as soon as I could so I didn’t get a diploma. So awhile back, I went online and got my G.E.D.

“But most colleges don’t recognize G.E.D.s and I wouldn’t have the money for college anyway, so I started taking online classes instead. I am hoping that getting a degree will help me get a real job someplace and I can get off the streets. It’s just getting too crazy out there anymore.”

“Apparently. Well, you are here with me now and you are safe. You just relax and let me take care of you,” I said.

“That’s sweet David, but you don’t have...” she started to say. But a “shh” and a wagging finger silenced her. She smiled and took another sip of her coffee instead.

“Good girl. Now, I just saw you yesterday, so this must have happened today,” I said.

“Yeah, a few hours ago. I was so shaken up by it that I couldn’t work anymore. Besides it’s a little hard to give blowjobs with a busted lip and sore jaw. So once my nerves settled down, I just decided to call it a night,” she said.

“That’s probably the best thing. After something like that you need to take some time to calm down and get taken care of,” I agreed.

I went and got an icepack for her eye. “Here hon, keep this on that eye ... it will help the swelling go down.”

“Thank you, David,” she said. She tried to smile but it hurt. I took her hand letting her know I understood.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” I asked.

“No, the asshole just hit me in the face. I guess he figured if he messed up my face he could fuck up my night’s work too. He was right, dammit!” she said.

“Well, the important thing is that you are okay. You might have a black eye and some bumps and bruises, but you’ll get better and be out there soon enough.”

“You are a good friend, David.”

I excused myself again and this time I went into the bathroom. I drew Cassie a nice hot bath to help her relax and as soon as it was ready I went back into the living room.

She had finished her coffee by then so I said “Come with me.” I helped her to stand and walked her back to the bathroom.

“What’s this?” she asked surprised.

“I drew you a nice hot bath ... to relax you and help you to unwind.”

She looked at me and her eyes filled with tears until a couple overflowed and ran down her cheeks. “David, I ... I don’t know what to say...”

“Don’t say anything just get undressed and soak for awhile. There’s a robe on the back of the door when you are ready to come out. But take your time. No rush at all, okay?”

She nodded her head. “Thank you, David, for this and for being such a wonderful man. There aren’t many of you left. I’m glad I found one.”

I left her to get undressed and soak in the tub. While she was soaking in the tub, I puttered around the house doing some things that I needed to get done, housework mostly. I had finally unpacked everything and got my place set up the way I wanted it. I am terrible at unpacking. I can pack up and go, but unpacking is my downfall!

I was sitting on the sofa watching television having done all I could do that day when Carrie came into the living room. Man she even rock a white robe! She walked up to me and stood in front of me. As I looked up she lightly kissed her hand and then gave it closed fisted to me.

“What’s this?”

“It’s an ‘I Owe You’ kiss. As soon as my lip heals I will give you the real thing,” she said. “That bath and all this taking care of me stuff is the sweetest thing I’ve ever gotten. Girls in my line of work don’t often get treated so well. Thank you,” she said.

“Cassie don’t worry about it. You and I are friends and I take that stuff seriously. I would be upset if this had happened and I didn’t know about it so I could help out. Now I want you to stay here tonight so I can help you if you need it. I won’t take no for an answer, either. These apartments are two bedroom units so I have plenty of room. I’ve been getting the spare room ready for you while you were in the tub.”

“How come someone as thoughtful as you are hasn’t gotten married,” she asked, smiling at me.

“I just haven’t found the right girl,” I said.

“Well when you do, she will be one lucky woman!” Cassie said.

Later that night after I put Cassie to bed in the spare bedroom and made sure she didn’t need anything more, I lay in my own bed thinking about Cassie. I didn’t know what went on while she worked but I had seen enough of Los Angeles by then that I knew it couldn’t be easy for her.

She had to ride the bus to get to one of her regular locations, getting harrassed and looked down on for the way she was dressed. She had to stand outside in skimpy clothes and high heels all night. Granted Los Angeles didn’t get all that cold but it did rain and it was windy from time to time.

And then there was the inherit dangers of her occupation, getting mugged or robbed, having men beat her up, or having the cops come and hassle her. No, she hadn’t chose an easy path, but after she explained her past, she didn’t have a lot of options either.