Ch 170 - Alex and the Pimp

Alex knew that he had less than two hundred dollars on him. He thought it would be a good idea to go with this woman and save some money.

"Okay." Alex nodded.

"Come with me," the woman said. "Young man, your accent tells me you're not from around here. Have you come to Washington looking for work?" she asked, leading him through the crowd.

"Um..." Alex was speechless. Why did everyone think that he was a wage earner? What the hell, he decided, and answered, "Yes."

"Do you have friends or relatives here?"

"No."

"Then you're very brave, coming to Washington without any support." She looked back at him and laughed.

By then, she was leading him through a badly lit street.

"Are we near?" Alex suddenly felt a little uneasy. The place was so dark that it seemed dangerous.

"We're almost there. It's not a fancy place. We only charge twenty-five dollars a night. You know, in the Crown Hotel opposite the railway station, they charge two or three thousand a night." As soon as she looked at Alex's face, she knew what he was thinking. "By the way, do you have money?"

"A little, but not much." Alex refrained from asking her how much she had.

"Oh, are you afraid that I'll rob you of your money?" She smiled.

They were walking through an alley where three older women with heavy makeup were hanging out. They started teasing him.

"Handsome boy, are you coming to play?"

"Hey, you, do you like my sister?"

"Hey cutie, how about coming into my house and doing business?"

Even though Alex had no experience in the field, he knew that these women were hookers.

"Well, madam, I think we'll forget all about it. Thank you..." Alex felt that the situation was not good and wanted to leave.

"Hey, you're scared. But I don't have these sorts of people around. My place only has serious guests." The woman took Alex by the hand.

"Okay..." Alex nodded. The woman had already accompanied him from the train station area, and it didn't seem appropriate to turn his back on her. As long as she ran a serious place, he would stay there.

They soon arrived, and he followed her in. He was surprised when he saw five or six women perched on a sofa by the door. They were all in their twenties or thirties and were dressed like the hookers they had walked past in the alley. It was a whorehouse.

"But you said..." Alex looked at the woman.

"Oh, what's the matter? Although I have all this here, I didn't say I'd let you play. You just get a room for sleeping in. Give me your ID card..." she prevaricated.

"No, I'd better find another place. I'm sorry..." Alex didn't dare spend the night there. He was ready to leave.

"Well, young man, are you deliberately teasing me? I've come with you all the way from the train station. If you'd told me earlier that you wouldn't want to stay, I wouldn't have brought you," she said viciously with a smile and pointed in the direction of the station.

"It's not that I've changed my mind. It's that you didn't tell me the truth. I wouldn't feel comfortable staying here. I'm sorry, I'm going." Alex tried to leave, but she held onto his arm.

"Stinky boy, what's the matter? If you come in through my door, don't plan on just walking out." Finally, the woman was showing her true face. She called out, "Hey Burt, come out, there's someone who's trying to run away."

"Who dares to run away?" A man in his forties came into the room. He was bald, nearly naked, with a big beer belly, and a dragon tattooed on his chest.

Alex was afraid that he had fallen into a den of thieves.

"Well, young man, you didn't think I told you the truth? Then, I'll tell you the truth now," the woman said with a sneer. "This is a brothel. If you come to stay here, you have to pick a beautiful woman to sleep with. They don't charge a lot. You just do as I tell you. Tomorrow morning, I'll let you leave safely without saying a word."

"Do you want money? I'll give you one hundred dollars, and I'll leave. Is that all right?" Alex didn't want to have anything more to do with these people, and he was willing to spend a hundred dollars to get out.

"No, you have to find a girl to sleep with after you give me the money, or else you might go to the police station. If you go to the police, the police should have cause to arrest you first."

Alex was speechless. He didn't dare give her the money now.

"Young man, you've said that you were willing to give me a hundred dollars for nothing. So, just play with one of these girls. Why not? Which one of them do you like? I promise they'll serve you well." The procuress winked at the prostitutes on the sofa, and they started flirting with him.

"Handsome boy, come on, don't be shy."

"I know what you're thinking. I promise that if you give me one minute, I'll make you turn into a beast."

"How about the six of us serve you together and make you emperor once again?"

"How are you feeling, young man? You see, you've made my girls want to have a group encounter with you, so you'd better promise me..." The procuress smiled at him. "This has been done many times before. Don't be afraid."

"No, I'm not comfortable with this. I'm going to leave," Alex said. The more he looked at the women on the sofa, the more disgusted he felt. Their frivolous words made Alex feel especially nauseous. He didn't want to stay there for a moment longer, so he pushed the woman aside, opened the door, and went out.

"Ouch..." When Alex pushed the woman, she staggered and nearly fell down. "Burt, quick, catch that boy!"

Her husband didn't expect Alex to be so stubborn. He spat and ran out of the house immediately and grabbed Alex's jacket.

"Do you want to start a fight with me? Will you stay here tonight, or not?" Burt asked him.

Alex didn't feel afraid of him. He had destroyed two criminal gangs in New York, the Azure Dragon Society and the Flag Sect. This lady's husband seemed no more than a common gangster.

"I advise you to leave me alone right now, otherwise..."

"Otherwise, what? You're a poor working man. What do you think you're doing? Believe it or not, when I kill you, no one is going to come looking for you in Washington," the man said threateningly.

Alex didn't need to talk to him anymore. His fists were clenched and ready to smash him in the nose. He was strong enough to deal with this middle-aged man.

"Let go of him!" Suddenly, a sharp rebuke rang out. Alex, the man and his wife, and the six prostitutes all looked in the direction of the sound. A small figure appeared in the dark alleyway.

Seeing her face, Alex was shocked. It was Nelly, the girl he had met selling pancakes from a food truck.

"What are you doing screaming at me? Do you want me to slap you in the face?" Burt yelled at her.

"Let him go!" Nelly ignored the pimp's insult. Her attention was on Alex.

"Burt, don't pay any mind to the ugly girl. Take this boy into the house," the procuress said.

"You stinky woman," Nelly shouted at her.

"Girl, do you want to die?" the pimp said, and several of the girls around him also began to scold her.

"Look at your clumsy appearance. How do you dare go out and face people?"

"Not only are you ugly, but you stink. Go find yourself a boyfriend to talk to."

"If you don't outgrow your looks, you're not even going to be able to go shopping without scaring everyone you meet."

Nelly glared at them fiercely, then snorted, and then looked at the lady's husband. "Let him go, or I'll report you to the police."

"If you dare to report me, I'll kill you!" Burt cried out. "So, what are you waiting for?"

"Girl, you don't want to live, do you?" The procuress rolled up her sleeves and strode over to Nelly. She raised her hand and slapped her on the face and the side of her head. "Do you still want to call the police?"

Before Alex had a chance to react, Nelly spoke again.

"I'll call the newspaper." She raised her head. Her face was blushed, but there was no fear in her eyes. "Not only do you run a prostitution ring, but you've added the crime of beating someone. I doubt you'll be able to escape the police net."

"You bitch." The procuress raised her hand and was ready to strike again.

"Let's fight. I'm telling you—if you don't manage to beat me to a pulp, I'll call the police when I get away. I won't give up without suing you!"

"Do you think I'm afraid of them? How do you think I could be working here for such a long time if I were afraid of the police?" the procuress roared. The group of prostitutes gathered around her.

"So, you're not afraid of the police. Prostitution is forbidden by the state, you know. How strong is your protection?" Nelly asked. "This is all I have to say—if you don't let him go, I'll report you at the police station. And I want to add that if the police come, you will not be the only one to have bad luck. All the people on this street will be taken away with you."

Nelly was proving to be quite fearless.

The procuress glanced at her husband, who looked embarrassed. She didn't know how to end this situation.

"Burt, let the boy go."

"Don't ruin the business of the whole street. We're all the same here. We rely on the railway station, which brings in many people," Burt said.

Nelly was determined to save Alex. Other prostitutes who had gathered around were afraid that their business would be implicated, and they also begin to persuade the lady and her husband to let him go.

Burt bit his lips, sighed deeply, gave Alex a hard shove, and pushed him away. "Go away, and never come around here again."

"Let's go back inside," the pimp said to the girls. He had never witnessed such an ugly scene in his neighbourhood, and he was afraid that the stubborn girl really would report them.

Although the madam had no choice but to give up on Alex, she pointed at Nelly and said, "If the police come, I'll seek you out and break your leg."