Chapter 17

Johnny woke up to searing pain in his chest and a pounding head. Groaning, he cracked one eye open. Faint light filled the room, but after a few moments, he discerned that it wasn’t his bunkhouse. Then he felt a hand run over his back, making him stiffen in surprise.

“You all right?” a female voice asked.

As fast as he physically could, Johnny rolled over, bringing a very pretty blonde girl into his line of sight.

“Who are you?”

Sliding a hand up over his arm, she asked, “You don’t remember?”

Her movement revealed the fact that she was naked under the covers. Immediately, he pulled the comforter over her. “No, ma’am. Where am I?”

She giggled. “In my room, where you’ve been since last night.”

Looking at the window, Johnny asked, “I’ve been here all night? Where is here?”

“The Chowhound, silly. I knew you were drunk, but I didn’t think you were that soused.”

Johnny sat up slowly, his chest throbbed so hard that he couldn’t breathe for a few moments. Lifting the covers, he saw that he was naked, too.

“Oh, no. Did we ... did me and you ... oh, my God.” His words dissolved into another groan.

She sat up and kissed his shoulder. “Well, we tried, but things didn’t cooperate. You were too drunk.”

Johnny closed his eyes in relief. “Thank God.”

She pouted. “Well, that’s not the reaction I usually get.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything about you, ma’am. It’s just that I’d prefer to remember my first time and I’d like it to be with my wife whenever I get married,” he said.

She laughed and slid her arms around his waist. “We could pretend I’m your wife if you want.”

Johnny blushed scarlet. “Uh, thanks for the offer, but I don’t think I could right now even if I did want to, which I don’t. I’m in too much pain. I was shot about three weeks ago and I’m still healing.”

“I saw your bandages and I kept asking you if you were all right, but you said you were. Of course, drunk men say all sorts of things,” she said.

“Yeah. Where’s Ray? Do you know him?”

Gingerly, he got out of bed, trying to find his clothes. He hurt too much to care about being naked in front of her. She’d seen it all anyway.

“Ray was busy last night himself.”

“Oh. He was with one of the girls, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. He had a couple of different customers last night,” the girl told him.

Johnny gave her a sharp glance. “Don’t you mean he was with a couple of your, uh, coworkers?”

She laughed. “No. The only time Ray ever sleeps with one of us is when he hasn’t had any customers for a while. Otherwise, he likes to save himself for them.”

Johnny stared at her for several moments, trying to comprehend what she was saying.

“Oh, you poor thing.” She rose from the bed. “Let me help you.”

Johnny closed his eyes. “Can you please put something on.”

She smiled. “Most men want me to take my clothes off.”

After slipping on a negligée, she helped Johnny find his clothes and get dressed. The whole time, Johnny thought about what she’d said about Ray. Someone knocked on her door and she opened it.

“Is he up yet, Mandy?” Ray asked, coming in the room. “I guess he is. You ready to go?”

Johnny nodded.

Ray looked him over. “You don’t look too good. You overdid it. I told you to take it easy on him, Mandy.”

“We didn’t even do anything. His equipment didn’t work, and he passed out,” Mandy said, crawling back into the bed. “Johnny, you’re a very sweet man. Don’t change. Now, both of you get out of here. I need some more sleep.”

Ray guided Johnny out the back door to Johnny’s buggy.

“Let me help you in,” Ray said.

Johnny brushed Ray’s hands away. “I can do it.”

With great effort, he pulled himself onto the buggy seat. Pressing a hand to his chest, he pulled a little bottle of laudanum out of his coat pocket and took a small sip of it. Ray climbed in beside him and took up the reins.

“I know you’re hung over and in pain, but what else is wrong?”

Johnny said, “I’m embarrassed.”

“Aw, don’t be. It happens to a lot of guys when they get drunk,” Ray said.

“Not by that. I’m glad that I couldn’t ... perform. I don’t want my first time to be with a whore. I’m embarrassed by you.”

Ray glanced at him. “By me? Why?”

“Mandy said that you had customers last night. I thought maybe I’d heard her wrong, but I didn’t, did I?”

“Damn her big mouth,” Ray muttered. “No, you didn’t hear wrong.”

Johnny’s stomach rolled, and he gagged. “I can’t believe you’re sleeping with men.”

Ray burst into laughter. The loud noise made Johnny’s head throb harder. “Not men, dummy. I’m no rent-boy. I’m a hustler. I sleep with women, who pay me to have sex with them.”

Johnny met his eyes. “You sleep with women for money?”

“Yeah. It pays real good, too. You’d make a killing with that good guy personality of yours. Plenty of women would like to corrupt you,” Ray said, his gray eyes shining.

“You’re a whore or whatever they call men like you.”

“I just told you that I’m a hustler, not a whore,” Ray corrected him.

Johnny couldn’t believe his cavalier attitude. “You can call it whatever you want, but it’s still wrong.”

Ray shook his head. “I disagree. It’s an honest profession. The women I see know that there’s no romance attached to our time together and I make a lot more than I ever would working a regular job.”

Johnny fought another wave of nausea. When it passed, he asked, “Does Sandy know about this?”

Ray grinned. “Yeah. I rent a room from her, just like the girls do. However, unlike the girls, I usually have standing appointments since not many women come to the Chowhound.”

Johnny was curious despite his disgust. “Why don’t you live there?”

“Well, I do part-time, but my operation is a little different than it is for the girls. Men don’t care if other men know that they’re seeing whores. I have to be more discreet because women are a lot more timid about it. Plus, they’re judged harsher than men, which is bullshit.”

Johnny rubbed his eyes. “Please tell me that they’re not married women.”

“I can’t do that. I know this is all a shock to you. Look, these women are lonely and unsatisfied by their husbands, who are some of the whores’ biggest customers. They’d rather sleep with those girls than their wives. If their husbands paid them enough attention, their wives wouldn’t seek out male companionship,” Ray explained.

“It still isn’t right.”

Ray grew annoyed. “By your standards and most of society’s, but a lot of those people are hypocrites. I know town council members who come there and other important people, too. You’d be surprised. So, if you’re gonna judge me, you gotta judge them, too.”