Rachael Ch. 11: Change of Life

"Will you stay here in town," I asked her.

"No place for me to go, everything I have is here or in this old house. I just need to find a new way to make a living for a while. Your room will be available for rent if you want it. The rest of them too I guess."

"Thank you but I think I have a place to go for the mean time, I really don't want to find myself back in jail again."

"That young fellow, Steve, came by and picked up your things. I hope that was all right, he said you sent him here."

"I had asked him to, thank you for that."

"Mr. Press, I owe you for your time today, can you give me a bill and I will pay you before the month is out."

Before he could reply Madame spoke up and said she was taking care of his bill and that I wasn't responsible for any of it. I thanked her for that also and left, promising to keep in touch.

I felt very free for the first time in a long time as I walked to Steve's place. I considered my situation carefully as I walked. I was out of a job, but that was not critical because I had money for necessities. If I stayed with Steve, I could cut my rent expense to half or maybe nothing. I wondered how long he would keep me. I really liked the guy and he seemed to appreciate having me around. I decided not to press the issue and let him drive the relationship. If he didn't want to keep me then I would find a place on my own. I was hoping Joe and Jenny were doing ok together; it's going to be rough on Jenny without the house to live or work in.

When I arrived at Steve's apartment, I found the door locked but my key worked fine. Steve was not at home. I checked my watch and figured he was in class or maybe on the way to baseball practice. The first thing I wanted was take a shower and get some clean clothes. I walked into the bedroom and saw several boxes of my things from the brothel and looked in the closet and saw my meager wardrobe already hung up. That answered one question; I guess he wanted me to stay with him.

I found some clean underwear and undressed on the way to the bathroom. It was still clean which was a nice surprise. I got in the hot shower and just let the water run over my body, letting the soap slide around while I massaged my breasts and washed everything else as clean as could be. When I stepped out, I saw my douche bag hanging on a hook and decided that and inner cleanse would work wonders. I used two full bags and by the time I was finished I felt great. I had not slept much the night before and I stretched out naked on Steve's bed and closed my eyes for a few minutes, just a quick power nap.

When I woke up, I heard voices in the living room and quickly found some shorts and a t-shirt to put on. I listened intently but didn't recognize any of the voices. Whoever it was had a key, so I figured they were entitled to be there. What do I do? I sat in the chair and waited to be discovered. I heard the fridge go open and shut and the clanging of beer bottles made me think they might be here for a while. I stayed in the chair. I looked at the clock and realized that is was almost time for ball practice. If these guys were on the team, they should be headed out pretty soon. Sure enough, I heard the bottles hit the trash can and the door open and close. I didn't know if I had been lucky or not, but I was glad to be alone again.

I dressed and headed for the ball field. The players were just coming out of the dugout when I walked up to Jenny and said. "Hi."

She almost fainted when she saw me. "Oh, Rachael, are you ok? All I could think of was you leaving in the damn cop car and that was a long time ago. How did you get out?"

"It's a long story but in the end, they let me go. I went by the house and it's out of business for a while from what I saw."

"Yea, I have to go get my things, Madame said I could stay for a while, but we couldn't work. I don't know what to do"

"Madame told me she was going to rent the rooms out, so maybe you can stick it out there until the heat lifts."

"I will certainly try, I don't have anywhere else to go. I guess maybe I could walk the street or bars for clients. What are you going to do?"

"I am at Steve's for the time being," I replied.

"That's great, you guys really hit it off."

"So far so good." I said.