something you like, pig? You got the rape eyes all over her.”
“What?” the security guard said. He looked away from both of them, his face guilty. “Just shut up and go sit down.”
“Aww Piggy can’t get his eats.” Alice’s eyes flashed dangerously. “You’re so fuckin disgusting, you know that? You probably look at little boys that way too, don’t you, faggot?”
The guard clenched his hands into hammy fists. He was turning scarlet, and for a moment Dorothy thought he was going to hit the girl.
It was amazing to watch this woman handle men. She was the prisoner here, make no mistake, but she was the one in control.
“Mike,” the other guard said. “Let’s go man, we’re done here.” He stepped by Alice and patted Mike on the shoulder.
Mike shook his head. Crisis averted. In the end, the wiser course of action was just to move on and diffuse the situation. He’d met a lot of girls like this; girls used to men doing what they wanted or intimidated by their beauty; getting drunk off the power of their own cooze. Sometimes they turned mean, like the ability to make a guy have an orgasm turned them into some kind of sexual messiah.
“Take care of that pretty head of yours,” he said, pointing to the swollen spot on the side of her head. “If I wrecked anything in there, they’re liable to keep you on this floor for the rest of your life.”
“Prick,” she said.
The guards turned after they got onto the elevator, both smiling. Mike waved at her as the doors closed. There was silence as Alice watched after the elevator a moment then turned and stalked over to the couch beside the one Dorothy was sitting on. She flopped down, crossing her arms over her chest. She stared at the floor.
Dorothy watched her, a coy smile played on her lips. Sitting closer to the woman now, Dorothy could see Alice was a few years older than she herself was. Harder, as though she was made of wood and covered in flesh. Dorothy could sense the hardness in her. There was lot of stress on her face. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Dark makeup under her eyes made her sympathetic.
But she was more than angry and stressed and exhausted, and Dorothy could see it plain as day. She was all those things and beautiful . Dorothy wondered what her lips tasted like.
“Well?” Alice said. “What the fuck are you looking at?” She’d turned to Dorothy and was staring hard at the girl.
“Umm, nothing,” Dorothy said. “ I mean hi . I’m Dorothy.”
“ I give a fuck ,” said Alice. “Quit staring at me or I’ll bust your fuckin’ face open.”
Dorothy looked down at her knees and played with the hem of her shirt. “I just wanted to say thanks,” she mumbled, her face in her chest.
“What?’
“I uhm ,” Dorothy said. She cleared her throat. Ventured a look at Alice. “I wanted to say thank you, like , for what you did with that guy and stuff.”
“Shit,” Alice said. “That goes back to before I walked in here. He fuckin’ knocked me out downstairs, almost busted my head open.”
“Really?” Dorothy said. “They actually hit you? I thought they weren’t allowed to do that.”
Alice smirked. “Yeah, well, the did. This was down in emergency somewhere, and there wasn’t anyone around to say different. Fucker speared me in the side when I turned around to clock him. I went down hard, smashed my head on the floor.”
“Holy crap,” Dorothy said. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’ll live.” Alice smiled; it was the most glorious thing Dorothy had ever seen. It was like sunrise on her face. “ Shoulda seen what I did to his buddy.”
“You hit him?” Dorothy said. She scooped Toto under one arm and held him tight. The move made Alice look at her funny.
“Busted him in the face,” Alice said, mimicking the cross she’d used to down the security guard. “Broke his nose wide
Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne, Peter Pavia