CASINO by Mary Collins (top books to read txt) 📖

Chapter one

“Where am I?” Marty said aloud, rolling over and seeing the empty beer cans lying on the floor next to her. Not remembering for a few minutes what brought her here, but then it all came rushing back to her. Having to find a place to hide, she’d ducked in here, fearing the authorities or her parents would find her.
Glad she’d packed the extra pair of jeans and tee shirt in her backpack before leaving the center, now she wished she’d thought to pack clean underwear.
At least this dump had running water, so she could clean herself up before hitting the road again. Looking at her watch it was 6:00 a.m. If she hurried, she could make it to the state line before noon. She’d have to find her way through the woods, taking the highway would be too dangerous.
Hoping to get to Big Dave’s place before nightfall, she knew he’d take care of her, he said he would. They’d met two months earlier at a party she attended without her parents’ permission. Any party she attended was without permission, usually slipping out after her parents went to sleep. Being only sixteen, Big Dave promised her he would arrange for her to get a fake id, and put her to work in his strip club across the state line. That was before her parents took her back to the drug rehabilitation center.
First going to rehab at age thirteen, when she started smoking pot, after that she was in and out. By the time she turned fifteen, she’d graduated to harder drugs, and would steal from her parents to feed her cocaine habit.
Wishing she had a toothbrush, Marty settled on the mint-flavored gun she swiped off her counselor’s desk. At least her face was clean and her hair combed neatly. She stuck her purse into her backpack and threw the backpack over her shoulder.
Walking slowly out of the abandoned house she looked in every direction to make sure no one was watching. She’d found out about the old house from some of the kids in rehab. Seems the old woman who owned it died, and the heirs lived twelve hundred miles away. Empty beer cans lying around, and used needles in the bathroom, showed evidence of others being there.
Heading for the woods, she stayed close to the riverbank. Luckily, she’d been on the run before and knew her way around. Cars coming by made her nervous. Feeling positive the councilors from the rehab had contacted her parents by now, she had to be careful. Holding her breathe as she saw a patrol car pulling up to the curb less than a hundred feet from her, she told herself, “Act normal and don’t look at them.” Pulling her hood up over her head, she looked like any other ordinary kid on her way to school.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she made it to the edge of the woods. Knowing the creek flowed toward the edge of town, she followed close enough to hear it running, yet far enough away so as not to be spotted.
Getting hungry, she unzipped the side pocket of her backpack, and pulled out a half eaten candy bar. Sticking the whole piece into her mouth at once, she washed it down with a few ounces of water from her thermos. No telling how long the water had been in there. She wished she’d refilled it before leaving the abandoned house, but it never crossed her mind.
Finding a moss covered tree stump, she sat down to rest and looked at her watch again. She’d been walking for four hours, and had only a few miles to go. Hoping Big Dave would remember her, she panicked thinking he might not. They’d spent the night together in the back seat of his shiny red Cadillac convertible, he had cocaine and she wanted her share. Next day he’d left her standing on the corner, two blocks from her home. She’d not seen him since.
At 12:45, Marty arrived at the back of the club. The red neon lights on the sign by the highway flashed, “Big Dave’s”. There were several eighteen wheelers sitting beside the road, probably belonging to drivers who’d stayed too late and had too much to drink, and the cars in the parking lot belonged to employees; she knew because they had parking stickers on the windshields.
Walking up the back steps to the small concrete porch, she trembled, not from nerves as much as the need for a fix. Flies and gnats swarmed around an overflowing garbage can and a cat rubbed against her leg. Trying the knob, she found it locked. Then discovering the bell, she rang it. Several minutes passed before she heard footsteps coming, “Who’s there?” a woman’s voice called.
“It’s Marty,” she replied in a shaky voice.
The door opened and a small woman with bushy blond hair and big boobs stood there looking as though she’d just gotten out of bed. Her hair hung over one side of her face and she wore a pink see-through shirt with a pair of black short shorts.
“Could I help you?” The voice reminded Marty of Olive Oil.
“I’d like to see Big Dave.”
“And who shall I say is here to see him?”
“Marty…my name is Marty.” She hoped this wasn’t his wife.
“Do you have a last name Marty?”
“Just Marty...” Not wanting to give her last name, she wished she could think of something witty to say. She’d have to work on that.
“Ok just Marty, come on in and have a seat. I’ll see if he’s here.”
Taking a seat on a chair next to the door, Marty watched the bushy blond disappear into a small office across the hallway and shut the door behind her. In about twenty minutes, the door opened and out walked Big Dave. The blond walked out behind him tucking in her shirt and zipping up her shorts, needless to say what they were doing in there.
“Hey Marty, I thought you’d forgotten me. Come on into my office.”
Marty smiled weakly and followed Big Dave into the tiny office. He pointed toward a leather sofa sitting against one wall, “Have a seat.” He shut the door behind them.
“I’m here for the job you promised me.” She sat down on the worn sofa.
“Can you dance?”
“I can do whatever is required.”
Big Dave reached over and turned on a small radio sitting on the desk. There was a rolling stones song playing.
“Show me what you can do.” He leaned back in his chair and lit a cigar.
“You want me to dance here…?”
“You can dance here in private or we can go out to where the other girls are practicing.”
“I’ll dance here.” Reluctantly standing up, she felt a bit uncomfortable. If only she had a line of cocaine.
“I need something to relax me.”
“I have just what you need.” Big Dave pulled open a desk drawer, taking out a plastic bag and laid out two lines, one for her and one for him. He pulled a hundred dollar bill from a roll of money in his pocket. She rolled it up and put one end to her nostril. Holding her finger over the other nostril, she inhaled deeply.
Relaxing for a few minutes, she felt her inhibitions slip away. With the music pounding in her head, she began to grind. She knew by the look on Big Dave’s face that he liked what he saw and she was sure she had the job.
With her hair bleached blond Marty looked much older and her new id card showed that she was twenty. The men loved a fresh face around the club. This was a dream come true for her. She was making her own money and there was always plenty of coke, not to mention other drugs. Within a year, she bought her own car. It was a 1981 Chevy Caprice. She didn’t drive it much, there was no need to, she had all she needed right here at the club. Big Dave rented her a room in the back with some of the other girls. He didn’t charge much and even advised her he would trade out the rent for sex. Some of the girls made extra money by prostituting, but not Marty, no matter how many drugs she did, she couldn’t bear for the men to touch her. She’d even rejected Big Dave’s advances lately and he didn’t seem to mind, he had plenty of other girls willing to give him sex in exchange for drugs or to pay their rent.
One day she took a drive into town to buy some new clothes. She didn’t go to town much, but it’d been three years and she wasn’t worried about anyone finding her. She was twenty years old now. There wasn’t anything anyone could do to her. If her parents had tried to find her, they hadn’t succeeded. She’d begun to think they didn’t even care.
After trying on several pairs of jeans and a dress or two, she put the things she wanted to purchase over her arm and went to the cashier to pay. She’d meant to go to the bank where she had an account, in her fake name, but being excited about buying new clothes, she’d forgotten all about it. When she opened her wallet and took out two, one hundred dollar bills to pay for the clothes, the sales clerk behind the register said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t have change. Do you have a smaller bill?”
“No I don’t. I just got paid and haven’t been to the bank this morning.”
“That’s a lot of cash to be carrying around. Where do you work?”
“I work at Big Dave’s.” She wasn’t ashamed of her profession.
“I’m sorry, I just don’t have change.” When the woman repeated it, Marty noticed the way she looked at her. That’s what got her attention. She walked away from the counter leaving the clothes lying there. Was it disgust or pity in the woman’s eyes? Whichever, Marty made her mind up that no one would ever look at her that way again.
She drove back to the house where she packed up her clothes and told the other girls she was leaving. She had a gram of cocaine and a quarter bag of pot, taking it out of the hiding place in her closet; she flushed it down the commode.
She’d miss the girls that she’d come to know as family and they’d miss her.
“Are you ever coming back?” Lorna, her roommate, asked. She wouldn’t be back. She’d changed in the last few months, and was different from the rest of them. She spent a lot of time alone in her bedroom and didn’t even come out when Big Dave had a party for them. His idea of a party was getting the girls stoned on whatever drug he had for them and then having an orgy.
“No, I won’t be back.” The tears falling on her arm let her know the girl was crying. “If you ever decide to get out of here…call me. I will write to you as soon as I’m settled and give you the number.” That was the last time Marty saw any of the girls. Once she left Big Dave’s she never looked back.
She drove to the bank and withdrew the two thousand dollars she’d saved, not giving them an explanation