Free SCARRED by Faith Price Page A

the situation didn’t go the way Ted wanted.
          It will definitely not go the way you want it. Lawson grinned as he walked up the steps.
          He had only been inside Ted’s house once and that was before he knew Serene existed. He doubted Ted even knew she existed then. The house looked exactly the same, only dirtier, a lot dirtier. Serene’s absence would explain why. Lawson was positive that she would have done the very best she could to keep the hovel orderly and free of as much dirt as possible.
          Ted led them into the tiny living room that faced the front of the house. A woman with greasy red hair received the bottom of Ted’s boot in her hip as she was kicked out of the chair she was sitting in. She narrowed her eyes at Ted and began skulking away. Lawson grimaced slightly at the bruising around her neck. It was identical to the ones Serene had the night he picked her up.
          Another woman with blonde hair was sitting on the end of the couch and Ted removed her the same way. The women were of indeterminate age. Maybe from a distance they could, if cleaned up, appear in their twenties; but up close they were tired and hard women. The kind of tired and hard that permanently lines a person’s face, and stretches the skin too thin.
          “You just have women everywhere, Ted.” Lawson said and sat in the chair the red head had exited. He made another mental note to himself to have his suit dry cleaned, or burned. He was absolutely sure there was blood and some kind of whitish substance dried on the arm of the chair. He didn’t want to know what it was for sure.
          Ted’s friends brought two kitchen chairs in and sat them facing the couch. Ted and his little cronies lined up on the couch like little kids. It was perfect actually. Any piece of furniture that was soft and low to the ground cut the whole jumping to your feet response time by at least a full second. Sometimes one second was all a person needed.
          “I have another one in the back. I had to do something! You took Serene and my trade.”
          Lawson crossed one leg over the other and folded his hands in his lap. “I paid well for Serene.”
          “Yeah, well that money’s been long gone. How in the hell do you expect me to live?”
          Lawson gave him a patient smile. “I’m not your father, Ted. You have to decide how you’re going to live.”
          “Hey! Let me show you the other girl. You liked Serene, so you might like this one.” Ted stood and began to hurry from the room.
          Lawson held up a hand. “No, that’s not necessary…” he stopped mid-sentence when he realized it was futile. Lawson looked at the two men on the couch. He was sure they had been here the night he picked up Serene. They had done nothing when Ted punched her.
          Ted’s yelling voice burst into the room as he dragged a skinny girl behind him. He threw her into the middle of the room and she landed at the feet of Luis and Abidemi. The girl couldn’t have been more than fifteen years old. She was dirty and bone thin. She looked around the room with large brown eyes that were widened with terror. She was Hispanic for sure, and the way her hair curled, she was possibly black as well.
          Ted and his friends laughed. Ted took his seat and pointed at her. “Go on, sweetheart, dance for them.” Ted looked at Lawson and grinned evilly. “She can dance better than any bitch I’ve had here. You should see what she can do in bed! She can take those big lips and suck the…”
          “That’s enough, Ted.” Lawson’s anger was rising and they weren’t going to play the fun game now. “How old is that child?”
          “Eighteen!”
          “The fuck she is.” Lawson said quietly.
          “It don’t matter how old she is; she works for me.”
          The men sitting beside Ted were beginning to shoot nervous glances at Lawson