The Business of Sex

Waking up bright and earl, exactly seven in the morning Alex sat up from the bed, the blanket fell to his waist. Despite being it being off season, Alex couldn't change his sleeping schedule and woke up exactly at seven.

Instead of getting up, he watched the beautiful and naked girl sleeping soundly beside him. Her back was facing him and the white blanket was also gathered on her waist, revealing her pale back. He cringed when he saw that her sides were black and blue. Alex could kill Tony for what he did to her.

Exploring more of her backside, he noticed that she had a tattoo on her shoulder blade. All that was written was R.D. and S.D. He traced the tattoo wondering what it was about. They looked liked initials to him and judging by the ink it wasn't new.

"Richard and Stacey Dahl," she mumbled, and turned around to face him. "My tattoo, it stands for Richard and Stacey Dahl. They were my parents."

Alex looked at Chloe shocked. He never expected her to talk about her past. She had been so mysterious about it and had only mentioned her parents once in passing about them being only children. It understood that it was touchy subject, much like his brother's death was a touchy subject to him. He sat up and looked at her intently.

Chloe followed suit and sat up herself, wrapping the white sheet around her and looked at Alex. After everything he had done for her, he felt like she owed him at least a piece of her that not many people knew. "My father was a good man, but he had a gambling problem. I mean sure, if you live in Vegas you're bond to try the slots once in a while, but as soon as things got stressful he'd turn to the casinos. My mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was thirteen, so things around the house became really stressful.

"We weren't poor, but after my mom was diagnosed with cancer, it took a lot out of us. We had to move to an apartment just to pay for her treatments and once she was cleared of cancer we were already broke. My dad was forced to take another job because my mom was still too weak to work. We noticed that he came home later and later. At first we thought he was cheating on my mom, but then he came home one night banged and beat up. Barely making into house when he fell to the floor on his knees crying as he confessed that he was addicted to gambling and racked up a huge debt from loan sharks."

Alex watched with great interest as Chloe spoke with detachment and her eyes cold. It felt like she was trying to distance herself from what happened, like she was just telling a story of someone else's life. Like it wasn't her life and what happened to her didn't happen to her at all.

"A couple weeks later, I was at a friend's house when I came home. The door was open, and when I walked in," she started and closed her eyes as if to try and removed the image of seven years ago that was burned in her mind. "When I walked in, there was blood everywhere. On the walls, the carpet, and the couch and in the middle of the room were my parents. My mother had been beaten and raped, lying naked on the floor, my father beside her, his arms, fingers and legs dismembered. I was sixteen." she finished.

Alex shuddered at the image of her parents dismembered and raped. At sixteen he was just starting to play for the Dynamo Moscow with a promising career, not coming home to see his parents brutally murdered. He couldn't even begin to fathom what Chloe had gone through and continued to go through.

"The police said that I was lucky I wasn't home or else they would have done much worse to me than my mom. What's so lucky about being alive when you're left with nothing? I couldn't even bury my parents. The state had to do it. After that, I was tossed around foster care until a couple of months later I couldn't handle it, because the foster father kept giving me these looks like he wanted me, but where else was I going to go? I couldn't work, no one was going to hire a homeless minor. I ran into Tony, he offered me a job. At first it was to assist one of his prostitutes, but then his clients started asking for me, and eventually he gave in and sold me to one of his clients and from then on forced me to walk the streets."

By now there were tears in Chloe's eyes. Seven years she tried to be strong. Seven years she blocked all the memories of what had happened to her parents and it all came undone that one morning. She remembered all those nights when she was alone the first couple of months that she had walked the streets. She felt dirty, disgusting and defiled.

She remembered crying her eyes out as she scrubbed away the men's touches until her skin was red and peeling. She remembered that moment when a fat balding fifty year old man took her virginity. When a man hit her for the first time in the name of sex, when a man asked her to pretend to be his sister as he took her from behind. She remembered everything.

Not knowing what to do, Alex wrapped his arms around the tiny woman hesitantly. He wasn't sure if she wanted to be touched. He helplessly watched as she cried and trembled in his arms, making him hold her even tighter. He had to get her out of this life.

*

Chloe watched as Alex started to gather his things into his duffle bag. The weekend was over and the whole two days with Alex was heaven. He had been nothing but understanding and instead of her serving him; he was taking care of her. Helping her nurse her bruises and making sure she was okay.

Chloe couldn't help but feel like Alex wanted to say something to her. Throughout the whole two days, he would look at her and open his mouth only to close it again. She wondered what it was that he wanted to say, but didn't pressing, thinking that he would eventually say it.

"So you're leaving, huh?" Chloe asked, sitting on the bed as she watched him pack.

There was a heavily feeling in her chest as she watched him. Like if he left, she knew that she wouldn't see him for a long time. If he left, there was no one that would understand what she was going through. No one to help her. She would be alone and it scared her.

Alex nodded, stuffing the last of his shirt into the bag and zipping it up. "Yeah, I still have some promotional stuff to do and then I return to Russia for the rest of the summer until the training camp. Let's go, I'll drive you home," he said with a heavy heart.

Chloe nodded and followed Alex silently out the door. She wondered what it was, but she felt a little bit used by him. She knew that her purpose was to be used, but she thought that with Alex it would be different. As stupid as it was, she was expecting him to ask her to runaway with him, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. She was just a whore.

Alex struggled to say the right words. He had been toying with the idea of taking her away from the godforsaken places, but he didn’t know hot to say it. He looked at her, opened his mouth but the words wouldn't come out, so he just closed his mouth again and turned on the car.

The drive to Chloe's place was silent and it felt like it was going on forever. Neither knew that to say to the other as they struggled with their feelings. Chloe watched the scenery pass her by counting as the car came to a complete stop.

They sat there in silence, waiting for the other to speak and say something, but neither of them could really say a thing. Chloe looked at Alex, she opened her mouth but couldn't say a thing so she closed it again.

"Bye," she whispered and moved to kiss him on the cheek, but he turned his head to look at her so Chloe missed. Thinking he was trying to avoid her, she recoiled and looked away from him embarrassed. "Right," she said and opened the door in a huff.

Alex tried to call for her, but his tongue seemed to be twisted and watched her walk out of the car. He grunted angrily and hit the steering wheel in anger. He wanted to get out of the car and stop her, but when he checked the time, it was already too late and he had a plane in an hour, so he drove.

Slamming her door shut, Chloe rested on the door. She closed her eyes and began to tremble. Chloe never thought that she would ever get attached to Alex. She promised herself that she would never get attached. Tears started to pool in the corner of her eyes.

She kicked herself over and over. Her number one rule was never to get attached to anyone, for the sake of protecting herself she was never supposed to get attached. Chloe's eyes widened when someone banged on the door. Chloe started to panic thinking it was Mason or Tony wanting something from her.

"Chloe, please open the door," Alex yelled.

Chloe's eyes widened when she heard Alex's voice. Thinking it was just her imagination; she ignored it and continued to cry. There was no way Alex would come back for her, she wasn't worth it. She was just some whore.

"Chloe, please open the door," Alex begged.

Realizing that she wasn't imagining things, she wretched the door open. Her jaws dropped and eyes widened when she saw Alex standing at the door.

The moment Chloe opened the door, he didn't give her a chance to speak. He crashed his lips on hers and kissed her passionately just like the night before. Breaking the kiss, he looked at Chloe and wrapped her in hug.

"Come with me. Leave Vegas and move to Washington with me," he said. "I'm not leaving without you," he declared.

Chloe's heart pounded. She had never once felt this happy in seven years. She nodded her head and hugged him tightly. "Yes."