Chapter 2

He dismissed us then. We dressed and hurried out to the car. As we were on our way out the door he ordered me not to park my car in his driveway. He informed me that as soon as we finished moving he would have it hauled to the scrap yard since it was nothing but junk and I couldn't afford to repair it.

We were silent on the ride home. I think we were both too stunned by everything that happened and everything he said to be able to think clearly. I tried not to think about the fact that my teenage daughter and I had just worked together to give a man a blowjob.

Neither of us said a word until we entered our house. I looked around and suddenly I saw my house through someone else's eyes. It isn't like the fact that I was a terrible housekeeper came as a surprise to me. But for the first time I was embarrassed. That man had talked to Erin and me as if we were unruly, not quite housebroken children. He had nothing but contempt for us. Unfortunately, everything he said had been the absolute truth.

I found myself wanting to apologize to Erin for raising her the way that I have. Before I could say anything Erin quietly said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got you into this."

I am the worst mother in the world and my daughter is apologizing to me! God I need a drink!!

I turned to face Erin and said, "Don't apologize. Everything Mr. Barr said about me was the absolute truth. This is entirely my fault. I'm everything he said about me. If I wasn't such a piss poor mother you would never have suggested that we solve our problems by burglarizing someone's house and I would never have gone along with it. I'm not looking forward to this, whatever 'this' might be. But I can't deny that I have it coming.

"Look at the way we live. He was right about that, too. There is no excuse for the way we live. It's probably too late for me to turn my life around. But it isn't too late for you. You're smart. You don't have a police record. You can work your way through this."

It looked like Erin was trying to think of something nice to say about me or at least think of something she could say by way of encouragement. But she couldn't. I smiled wryly and said, "We better get to work."

The first thing we had to do was wash all of our clothes. Everything we owned was dirty. That was going to be harder than it sounds. We don't have a washer or dryer and we don't have any money to go to the Laundromat.

If anyone asked why every article of clothing in my house was dirty I would plead poverty. But the truth is that even on those rare occasions that I have money I never do laundry until everything we own has been worn, often more than once. Mr. Barr is right. I am a pig.

I've talked my next door neighbor into letting me use his washer and dryer a couple of times. But he always made it pretty clear that the only reason he was being so generous with his electricity, his water and his detergent was that he was hoping for something a little more personal than a polite thank you in return.

I always tried to be just a little flirty while trying to act grateful but naively unaware of what he really wanted in return. I didn't want to be honest and tell him that he didn't have a chance in hell of getting into my pants. I had to walk a fine line. I had to let him think he had a chance because I needed his appliances and his detergent.

I didn't dare move a bunch of dirty clothes into Mr. Barr's house tomorrow. I had no other options. I was going to have to go next door with my tail between my legs and talk Larry into letting me use his washer and dryer one last time. This was going to be more than a little humiliating, even for someone with as little pride as I have left.

We gathered up all of the dirty clothes and separated them into three loads in the living room. Then I went next door and knocked timidly on Larry's door.

He came to the door and looked at me through the screen door. When he saw that it was me his expression turned dour and in a cold, unfriendly voice he asked, "What do you want, Paula?"

It was obvious that he wasn't in a mood to be generous. I had strung him along and then dashed his hopes too many times. But he was my only hope of getting my clothes washed. I had no choice but to humble myself.

I tried to sound friendly and reasonable. I smiled noncommittally and said, "I'm sorry to bother you, Larry. But I'm in a bind. I don't have anywhere else to turn. We're getting evicted."

I saw his features freeze and I knew what he was thinking. He thought I was going to ask him for money. Maybe that was good. Maybe he would be relieved when I only asked to wash my clothes.

"Larry, we're moving out tomorrow. But every piece of clothing we own needs to be washed and I only have sixty cents to my name. I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me use your washer and dryer one last time.

"I know it must seem like I'm taking advantage of your big heart. But I never meant to. Please, Larry. Just this one last time and then we're out of here."

I could almost hear the gears grinding in his little brain. Finally he said, "I'm not going to miss you, Paula. You use people. You take things from people and never pay them back. You flirt and you lead men on, letting them think maybe they got a chance. But it's just an act. You're just using your good looks and your sexy body to take advantage of people.

"I told you last time that I was through with you. I don't like the way you use people. I especially don't like the way you've been taking advantage of me. If you paid me back everything you've gotten from me over the last year I could probably take a couple of months off from work. No, Paula. You can just pack up your dirty skivvies and move. You have taken advantage of me for the last time."

I had to bite my tongue for a minute to keep from telling the son of a bitch off. What he really meant was he felt entitled to fuck me for letting me use his washer and dryer and he resented me for not feeling the same way. Ass hole!

Yes, I'll admit that from time to time I have borrowed a cup of sugar or a little milk, maybe a couple of eggs, even a few slices of bread. But not anywhere near as much as he seemed to be accusing me of taking from him. Besides, he seemed to like it when I flirted with him!

I took a deep breath and said, "I didn't mean to take advantage of you, Larry. You know I've been out of work a lot in the last year. If I had any money I'd be happy to repay you. You know I would."

He chuckled and exclaimed, "Bullshit! We both know that's a crock of shit."

He glared at me for a moment and then turned to go back inside. I started to panic. I was scared of Mr. Barr. I think I had every right to be. I kept picturing his face when he threatened to kill me. And each time I saw that cold look in his eyes I shivered.

I didn't think that he would kill me for disobeying him about the clothes. But he kept talking about punishing me and Erin every time we screwed up or disobeyed him. I didn't know what he had in mind for punishment but I knew I wouldn't like it. I didn't think it was going to be something as simple as being grounded or losing my phone privileges.

I didn't want the first thing I did tomorrow to be disobeying the first order he gave me. I had to wash three loads of clothes if it meant using a rock in the river to beat them clean. Only I didn't know how to do that and we were a long way from the nearest river.

I called out to him, "Larry, please. I'm really desperate."

I could see him through the screen door. He took a couple more steps into his dark living room before he stopped and looked back at me. He stared at me for a moment and then walked back to the door. His expression had changed, but not for the better. He had a smug, arrogant, taunting look on his face. It looked like he was going to tell me off again.

Instead, he asked, "How much laundry do you have?"

I was surprised at how excited I became when he offered me that little sliver of hope. I quickly answered, "Just three loads. You'll hardly notice I'm here, Larry. Honest. I'll be in and out of here in about two hours, two and a half at the most."

His grin turned to a leer and he said, "I'll make you a deal, Paula. You can wash three loads of laundry and dry them. But for as long as it takes to do your laundry your ass is mine. You do whatever I want until you leave here with your laundry this evening. You're going to pay me back for all the times you've led me on and taken advantage of me with two hours of fucking and sucking. That's my offer. It's nonnegotiable. Take it or leave it."

I stood there with my mouth open, staring at him in disbelief. I probably shouldn't have been shocked. But I was. I couldn't believe that I was going to let two different men have sex with me against my will in one fucking day!

The irony of this situation didn't escape me. It looked like after a year of putting him off and slickly sidestepping his advances I was about to surrender to Larry as a result of the unreasonable demands of the first man to force himself on me, Mr. Barr. It was all the more infuriating because I knew that Mr. Barr had a large, modern laundry room in his home.

I stared at him for several minutes, trying to think of any alternative. I knew none existed. If there had been any other alternative I wouldn't have been standing there begging to use his washer and dryer.

I also knew that there was nothing I could say to change his mind. He had nothing to lose. He was going to make me pay for the use of his washer and dryer with sex or he was going to turn around and be perfectly happy to never see me again.

He waited for me to make up my mind. When I couldn't bring myself to respond he shrugged and started to turn around. I felt the panic again when he began to walk away. I didn't know what else to do. I cried out, "Alright!"

He turned back around with a huge grin on his face. He came back to the door and said, "I'm not going to put up with any of your shit, Paula. If I tell you to do something you do it. The first time you give me a hard time I'm throwing you and your clothes out of here."

I felt like I was collapsing in on myself. I hung my head down. I nodded and fought the urge to be physically ill as I quietly said, "I'll do what you want."

The excitement I heard in his voice when he ordered me to go get my clothes almost made me want to vomit. I was that disgusted with myself.

I turned and stepped down off his porch on legs that were shaking so bad I was afraid I'd fall. I walked slowly back to my house, still not quite able to believe what I had just agreed to do. I was going to let that son of a bitch fuck me for two hours in return for what would cost me about five or six bucks in a Laundromat.

Erin had placed our three loads of wash in three plastic trash bags. She was in the kitchen with her back to me, pulling our pots and pans out of the cupboards. She turned around and started to speak, probably to ask me how it went with Larry.

She saw the look on my face and froze before she'd said two words.

I said, "I'm going to be next door doing laundry for the next couple of hours. Never mind the pots and pans. They aren't worth much and I doubt if our new owner will let us bring them into his house."

She heard the sarcasm. But I think that it went right over her head when she heard me refer to "our new owner."

She hadn't thought of him that way. But once I said it she sighed and seemed to give up a little of herself right before my eyes. I think that somewhere in the back of her mind she may have been expecting to get over on Mr. Barr once he calmed down. Somehow I don't think that's going to happen.

I picked up our laundry in the three plastic bags. The three of them together were pretty heavy but I could make it in one trip. Before I could leave she asked, "What happened? Why do you look like that?"

Instead of answering I said, "If you have anything in your room that you want to move tomorrow get it ready tonight."

I looked at our small, mismatched collection of dinnerware and pots and pans and said, "Throw all that stuff in the garbage can. Look around and see what you want to take with us. Then relax for a while. I don't know what tomorrow will be like."

I picked up the laundry again and she said, "Let me help you with those."

"NO! No, baby. I can manage. You have plenty to do."

I didn't want Larry to see her and get any more ideas in his dirty little mind. I've seen the way he looked at her when she walked by his house. And for some reason I didn't want her to know what I had to do to get our clothes washed. After what just happened to us you would think that it wouldn't matter. Maybe I've reached my daily quotient for humiliation.

I hope not. I have two more hours of it to live through.

I lifted the bags up once more and headed for the door. By the time I reached Larry's front steps I was struggling. I put the bags down and started to knock before I realized he was standing in the dim light just inside the screen door.

Before he opened the door he said, "Just so that there are no misunderstandings, we both know what is going to happen once you step inside, right?"

I choked down the urge to yell at him. There was no sense making things any worse than they already were. I did my best to sound docile when I answered, "Yes, Larry. You were perfectly clear."

He slipped the hook that held the screen door closed and pushed the door open. I carried two bags of laundry inside and through the kitchen to the small mud room where his washer and dryer are located in the back of the old house. I dropped the bags and started to go back through the house to get the third bag of laundry that I left out on the steps.

Larry was blocking my way. He was standing in the door of the laundry room and didn't move.

I looked up at him questioningly.

He leered at me and said, "Take your clothes off."

Then he chuckled at the look on my face and added, "I'm doing you a favor, Paula. Now you can wash what you're wearing, too. All your clothes will be clean when you leave here."

I bit my tongue once more to keep from saying, "Very witty. Asshole!"

Instead I said, "Just a second. Let me get the other bag first."

He didn't move.

I sighed loudly and said, "Larry! Be reasonable."

He smiled and responded, "I don't feel reasonable. I feel horny. I want to see you naked. Think of it as a down payment. Get undressed. Get the other bag and start the laundry. Then you can take care of this."

He reached down and gripped the bulge in the front of his chinos. Like I didn't already know what I was going to be doing for the next couple of hours!

I had gone this far. I didn't have much pride left. At least I didn't provide him with much of a show. It took me about thirty seconds to whip off my t-shirt and shorts. After taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the look of lust on his face as he ogled my tits I stepped out of my panties.

A shiver ran through me when I was naked in front of him. It has been a long time since a man has seen me naked. Now I've been forced to undress for two of them in one day! What makes it even stranger is that both times I did it against my will. I've managed to live thirty-four years without being raped and now it happens twice in one day! I don't think I've ever felt so dirty before.

Larry moved out of the way to let me pass. I started back to the front door, wondering if anyone would be outside and if I could actually make myself step out on the porch in the nude. As I walked past Larry he reached out and one of his large, rough hands gripped my ass for a second.

I didn't give any indication that I even noticed. But I was screaming on the inside.

I went to the door and looked out. It was early evening now. The sun was going down but it wasn't anywhere near dark yet. I looked around through the screen door. I waited for a car to pass. I was aware of Larry standing right behind me.

The son of a bitch was hoping someone was out there just to add to my humiliation!

He got his wish. Just as I stepped out onto the steps a man came out from between his house and the house on the other side of his. He stopped moving when he saw me standing there naked and his mouth gaped open.

Moving as fast as I could I picked up the third bag of laundry and turned to hurry back inside. Larry was standing in the damned doorway again!

I hissed, "Larry!!"

He grinned and slowly moved aside to let me in.

As soon as the door closed behind me I exclaimed, "Damn it! Why are you doing this to me?! I'm doing what you want!"

He glared at me and snarled, "Shut up, bitch! I own your ass for two hours. If you give me any more shit I'll invite him over for a piece of ass. I can make you do any fucking thing I want for the next two hours. That was the deal. You haven't changed your mind, have you?"

I tried to sound reasonable. I said, "I meant that I would do anything you wanted for two hours, Larry. I didn't say anything about entertaining everyone on the damned street!"

He sneered at me and snapped back, "That's right, Paula! You didn't say a word about it. You didn't put any limits on what I could do with you. So quit giving me a hard time or I'll invite a couple of friends over."

I looked him in the eye, planning on putting the brakes on. I had no intention of entertaining any of the other men on the street. But I saw the warning look in his eyes. He was daring me to talk back.

I sighed deeply, put my head down meekly and carried the last bag into the laundry room. Larry followed. He watched as I put the first load of dirty clothes in the washer and used some of his detergent.

I started the first load and then took a deep breath to prepare for what I would have to do next. This wasn't going to be easy. When I sank to my knees a little while ago and began to suck on Mr. Barr's cock it had been the first time in a very long time that I had seen or touched a male sex organ.

It isn't that I don't like sex. I do. But until today I've never had sex with someone I wasn't at least dating and preferably in a committed relationship with. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only principle I've adopted in my wasted life. It's a shame that I never learned how to be ambitious or honest.

Well, that's not true. I knew better than to live the life I've been living. I don't think that I'm morally challenged so much as I'm just lazy. And the longer I sit around waiting for something good to happen in my life the lazier I seem to get.

I sit down in my living room every morning and inertia sets in. I know I should be looking for work or cleaning house or just about anything but sitting in a lumpy old chair watching my life unravel around me. I know that you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket. I know that no knight in shining armor is going to ride up to my door on his mighty steed and save the day.

But still I sit there in that chair and wait for someone to offer me some alternative to doing the right thing. That's how I ended up in this mess. That's how I ended up going to Mr. Barr's house and stealing what I was shocked to find out was a few hundred thousand dollars worth of rare coins. I had no idea that they were worth that much.

As for sex, I haven't met anyone in a long time that I was interested in dating. It's hard for a girl to meet nice men in her living room. And when you're broke, and let's face it, lazy, most days the living room is the final destination for the day. I go there instead of going out and being turned down for more jobs and I sit there instead of actually cleaning the room or any other room in the house.

I had to think very hard to remember how long it's been since I've had sex with anyone before today. It's been more than three years! I missed it for a while. Being celibate had not been a conscious choice. But as time passed I just kind of stopped thinking about it.

I was in shock earlier this afternoon when I first undressed and then joined my daughter in giving Mr. Barr a blowjob. I don't think I had yet recovered from looking down the barrel of his gun and seeing how close he was to pulling the trigger.

This was even worse than undressing for Mr. Barr. Stripping for the amusement of Larry and trying to wrap my head around the idea that I was going to have to let him have sex with me ... Christ! I was as embarrassed as a teenage girl. It has been a long time since I've had sex but I had no desire to start again with Larry.

I forced myself to look up at him. He looked needy and that made it worse for some reason. The sleazy look of excitement on his face made my skin crawl. The only thing that made it possible for me to not run screaming from his house was the fact that I was far more scared of Mr. Barr than I was upset about prostituting myself for six bucks worth of laundry. I still felt shivers run down my spine when I remembered what it was like to look down the barrel of his gun and then at his cold eyes.