Raoul's First Murders Ch. 01

"Not really."

"Tell me about them."

"They've been hanging out for a couple of months now. I think they want to be Khans. I think they thought Phil could help them get in, and he let them think so because they buy him drinks and stuff. They say horrible things about the Khans when they're not at the club, you know, when they're by themselves, but they're obviously just jealous."

"They're all fucking losers," Sophia adds. "Todd and Phil and them, not the Khans."

"No," Emma agrees. "The Khans are fucking serious. They'll never let Todd and them in."

"But maybe they learned a lesson tonight. Maybe they won't come back now."

"I wish," Emma sighs.

"How did he ever take your money anyway?" Raoul asks Emma.

"He just took it," she shrugs.

Raoul looks at her and she looks at the floor.

"You saw how he takes it," Sophia says. "And she lives with him."

Raoul blinks.

"What? Why?"

"I don't have anywhere else to go," Emma whines as if he'd accused her of something.

"What about your parents?"

"Raoul," she rolls her eyes with a sigh. "Mind your own fucking business."

"I'm sorry. You're right. But I need to know if you can get away from Phil."

"I'd love to get away from him. If I had my way, I'd never see him again."

She's looking at the floor.

He waits, looking at her steadily.

She knows she has to tell him. He has some kind of authority over her.

"I lived with Phil's mom. Since I was thirteen. And her boyfriends. I hated all of them. My parents," she begins, but then shakes her head, "I don't want to talk about it."

She stops talking. Raoul can see she's really finished. There's a lot there. What Phil did to her, what Phil's mom's boyfriends did to her. He doesn't need her to tell him what that kind of men do to women and girls behind closed doors.

He looks at the ceiling and the girls give him time to think.

"Let me get you a place to live," he tells them. "So that neither of you ever have to see Phil or Todd again."

"What?" Emma cries as if he'd insulted her.

"You can't live with Phil anymore."

"Where am I going to live?"

"I will get you a place, I said. You and Sophia and her mom."

"Who's gonna pay for it?"

"Me."

"You?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I want you never to see Phil ever again. Or Todd." He turns to include Sophia. "Either of you."

"But we'll see them at work," Sophia shrugs.

"Then I want you to quit the job too."

"What? We can't do that!" Emma protests.

"Why not?"

"We..., I... how will I make any money? I need a job!"

"I will pay for you until you get another job."

"Raoul, you don't have to rescue us."

"I'm not rescuing you. You can even get a job at a different club. Just one where Phil and Todd don't go. They aren't to know where you work any more."

"Oh, that would be ... ," Emma sighs, hugging him, unable to find a word to describe how nice it would be. "You're so sweet. But I can't."

"She owes them money," Sophia explains. "We all do."

"Owes who?"

"Jerry. Scott. Them. The Khans."

He looks at Emma and she looks at the floor.

"Don't tell your cousins," she mumbles.

"I won't," he promises, putting an arm around her. "It's okay."

Then he turns to Sophia. "You too?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"Me?"

"Both of you," he says, but he's still looking at Sophia.

"Um, maybe two thousand."

"You?" he turns to Emma.

"About the same," she mumbles.

"Really?"

She shrugs. "I don't know."

"So you work there to pay them back."

The girls nod.

"Well, here's the deal then. I'm going in tomorrow to pay your debt."

"What?" they gasp. "No!"

"Yes," he states, simply. "You're both quitting that job as of now and, Emma, you're moving out of that apartment."

"Raoul," Emma whines. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"If they don't want us to quit, we can't quit."

"Well," he says, "We'll see. I'll talk to Jerry and Scott about it. And even so, we definitely have to find you a new place to live."

"Raoul," Sophia says, "I know you're scared right now, but don't be stupid. The Khans are a motorcycle gang. It's not just Jerry and Scott. There are thousands of them all over the country. They run drugs, girls, they've got gambling. They've got cops and judges and politicians. They have fucking tigers, Raoul."

"Tigers?" he interrupts.

"Tigers. Emma and I have both seen them. On a ranch in Nevada."

"It's true, Raoul," Emma promises. "They feed them whole cows."

Sophie continues, "So do you really think they never killed anyone before? They know how to get rid of bodies. If they don't want you to get in trouble, you're not going to get in trouble."

Emma joins in. "And they like you, Raoul. Scott said you're a Khan now. You're not really a Khan of course, but he means they're not going to let anything happen to you."

Raoul is very happy to hear all of that. He imagines the bodies of the men he killed — might have killed — being fed to tigers.

Problem fucking solved, right there. That's how to fucking do it, alright.

There's hope at least. A lot of hope. He even feels confident, almost, again.

But he still has to worry about Todd's crew, and Phil if he's somehow still alive, hurting his family. Even if there's only a small chance of that, he has to prevent it entirely. And that means keeping Emma — who knows where he lives — away from Todd and Phil.

He has to argue better.

He turns to Sophia.

"Do you guys own this lot?"

Sophia shakes her head.

"The home?"

She shakes her head again.

"Renting both?"

She nods.

"Probably paying too much."

"What can we do?" she shrugs.

"Does your mom know Jerry and those guys?"

"No."

"Does she know Todd or Phil?"

"Of course not."

"You live here with just your mom?"

She looks away.

"I don't want to talk about it."

He pauses. Perhaps that means she has a boyfriend she doesn't want to tell him about. Probably not good for her.

"I'll get the three of you an apartment where you can live."

"Why?" Sophia asks. "I mean...." He can see she wants it but can't believe it. "You don't have to rescue us or anything."

"Raoul, this is crazy," Emma interrupts. "How are we gonna pay...."

"I'm paying. I told you."

"But why? How are we gonna pay you?"

"How do you think you're gonna pay me?" he asks, pointing his chin at her tits.

Flattered, they whine some kind of objection. He feels them submitting to him but resisting their own hope, and he intuits something about them: they're fearful.

Through all of the confusion and fear he feels at that moment comes the epiphany that from men Emma and Sophia have only known abuse and abandonment.

They cannot trust him if he's too gentle. He'll have to be rough enough to give them the assurance they need. If a "good" man isn't even willing to push a couple of women around a bit, how can they trust him to do what it takes to protect them from bad men?

Fortunately, he's played games like this with women before. He knows the dance.

So he interrupts them angrily.

"Listen, goddamn it," he growls. He smacks the table, just hard enough to be frightening, and points at them threateningly as they flinch away. "Shut your cocksucking mouths and listen. I've had enough of your fucking back talk."

He pauses a moment, slowly looking from one to the other with a hand raised, daring either of them to protest, fully prepared to slap either of them if they do. But they just watch him, eyes widened with fear. So he goes on:

"I've made my decision. And it's final. Do you under-fucking-stand?"

He looks back and forth at them, scowling.

"What are you —?" Emma begins to pull away, but he grabs her roughly.

"Shut up now, Emma. "

He looks at her steadily. Her eyes widen even further, then she looks away.

"You said I'm a Khan now. Well, maybe I am. Maybe I'm a fucking murderer too. And if I'm not, I probably will be soon. Because if Phil, or Todd, or any of them bothers either of you ever again, I will fucking murder them. Do you understand?"

He looks at each of them and they nod submissively.

He sees their fear becoming trust. This was what they needed.

He looks at Sophia's mom, but she looks away, also scared.

"And you two are not going to see them again. Ever. Ever. I'm not fucking asking you. I'm fucking telling you. Do you understand that?"

They nod.

"You better fucking understand it. You're not going to fuck any of them again either. Not going to dance for them, not going to fuck them, not going to see them. Nothing. Not for money, not for anything. All that's fucking over. From now on your pussies are mine and mine alone."

"Do you think we wanted —" Sophia begins, but he raises his chin threateningly and she shuts up.

He nods at her to affirm that shutting up was a good choice.

"I'm getting all three of you a fucking apartment where I can keep an eye on you. I'm going to make sure you're okay. No one's going to hurt you. But you're not going to give me any more shit about it. Got that?"

"Jesus, Raoul."

"Shut up, Emma." He squeezes her arm hard. "Do you like living with Phil?"

"No."

"Can you get yourself a place?" he taunts.

"No."

"Do you think you'll ever actually pay your debt to the Khans?"

She looks away silently.

"Then you're going to live in the place I get you, aren't you?"

She's still silent, so he shakes her a little. Not too roughly, but enough to make his point.

"Aren't you?"

"Yes."

"I couldn't hear you."

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes what?" she asks, unsure what he wants.

"Yes, you will live in the place I get you."

"Yes, I will live in the place you get me."

"Why?"

"So that I won't see Phil or Todd anymore."

"That's what I fucking thought." He glares at her a bit. "You know I'm doing this for your own good, don't you?"

She nods, beginning to cry.

"You appreciate it, don't you?"

She nods, wiping a tear away.

"Then why are you giving me all this shit?"

"I'm sorry, Raoul."

"Don't be sorry. You'll pay me for it. You'll spread those legs and pay in full."

He turns to Sophia.

"How about you? You like living here? This place is fucking garbage. It's nice inside, you're right. You and your mom make it nice. But outside, it's fucking garbage and you know it. Fucking garbage for blocks in every direction. You think you and her are safe here at night? Two Vietnamese women, by yourselves? I'm surprised you don't both get gang raped every single night. You need to get the fuck out of here while you still can. I'll get you a place in Little Saigon where your mom can make some friends and Emma can live with you."

"You can keep an eye on us in Little Saigon?"

Dismissing her question with a snort, he goes on:

"And you know how you're going to pay me. Blowjobs and pussy. Both of you at once, like the one in the bathroom." He looks back and forth at them. "From now on, I'm your only trick. You got that? From now on, your pussies belong to me. Your pussies, your mouths, your tits and asses — mine and mine a-goddamn-lone if you know what's good for you."

Emma giggles, smiling up at him. "That's what it's really about isn't it?"

"Goddamn right it is. What you did for me there in the bathroom, what you did for me last night at the club, I'm not letting you do that for anyone else from now on. I'm going to own you. And you'll appreciate me for it, and not give me any more of your lip, because I'm keeping you safe and giving you a decent place to live. Kapish?"

"You're cute when you're mad," Sophia ventures. "We'll do anything you want."

"Good girl. What about you, Emma? Anything to add?"

"I'll do anything you want anyway. What about the Khans?"

"I'll talk to them about the debt and we'll see what happens. I'll talk them into letting you go. It's just a matter of money. And then you're fucking mine. Ass, tits, everything."

"Raoul?" Emma interrupts.

"What now?"

"What about my baby?"

"You have a baby?"

"Yeah."

Shit.

"Boy or girl?"

"Girl."

"Where is she?"

"Phil's mom has her."

"Holy shit," Raoul flinches. "We have to go get her."

"What? Why?"

"If Phil wakes up, he's going to look for someone to hurt. They're all going to be looking for someone to hurt."

Raoul has already stood up and is heading toward the dryer to get his jeans himself.

Emma looks at him, frightened. "He wouldn't hurt the baby, would he?"

"You tell me," Raoul says, pulling on his underwear. When he glances back he sees all three women staring at his body.

Emma's eyes widen. "But," she throws her hands up, "I can't take care of her by myself. You don't understand, Raoul. We have nowhere to go. You can get us a place later but right now there's no one—"

"We'll take care of that later," Raoul interrupts. "Right now we have to go get the baby. There's no time to waste. Todd and Phil and that crew might've already gone looking for you there."

"Jesus, Raoul, you're scaring me."

"I'm scared, too. For your fucking baby. So come on. Show me where they live."

Then he tells Sophia, "We'll be back as soon as possible with her baby. Talk your mom into letting me get the three of you — the four of you, counting the baby — an apartment." He continues to talk while putting on his pants. "It'll be a nice place. Three bedrooms, one for each of you. Talk her into it. Don't take 'no' for an answer. We'll be back as soon as possible as with the baby."

On his way out, he turns to Sophia's mom. "Thank you! Very delicious! See you soon!"

"Sexy man!" her mom smiles. "Very big! Very handsome! Very welcome!"

—————————————

Fortunately, Phil's mother lives in a ratty place only about twenty blocks away from Sophia's. The front yard of the house is a carpet of cigarette butts, all the curtains are closed, the only light in the house is the television, and nothing seems to have been dusted for years.

The baby looks to be about a year old and she apparently lives in a playpen. She's sitting in there, covered in cracker crumbs, wearing nothing but a diaper, watching the television with a bottle of milk. The first thing Emma does is check her diaper and sure enough, she needs changed.

"Well change her fast," Raoul orders, "and pack your stuff faster." The cigarette smoke hanging in the air makes the wound on his forearm sting even worse.

Raoul has instructed Emma to tell Phil's mother that he's her new boyfriend and they're taking the baby out for the day. That way she can take anything she wants to keep, because she might never see anything she leaves there again.

"Boyfriend, huh?" Phil's mother smirks up at him, several teeth short of a wrinkly grin, while Emma is in the bathroom. Wearing nothing but a loose tank top and pajama bottoms, she blows smoke over her shoulder, indifferent that her breasts are exposed to his view. "You sure you know what you're getting into?"

"No, ma'am." Raoul shrugs. "Any advice for me?"

"Advice," she snorts. "Yeah. Run like hell. Ungrateful bitch ain't worth shit. She's a liar too," she waves her cigarette earnestly. "Don't believe a goddamn thing she tells you."

Raoul nods, and she continues after a drag.

"You know she's a whore, don't you?"

"No."

"Well she is. She's a fucking whore. You couldn't tie her legs closed. You should see the trash she fucks. White, black, every kind of trash. Wonder her cunt hasn't just rotted off."

She squints up at him through the smoke. "What about you, big boy. You white or black or what?"

"No," Raoul deadpans just as Emma reappears carrying a stuffed backpack in one arm and the baby in the other.

"Y'all have a fine talk?" she asks, exaggeratedly faking innocence and cheer.

"I'll shove a fine talk up your slut-ass," Phil's mom drones, not deigning to look at her. "Talk to me that way."

"Let's go," Raoul says.

Phil's mom follows them out to the porch. It's supposed to be screened in, but only one screen of six remains, and even that one is ripped.

"You can't take that baby on that motorcycle," she warns, but Emma and Raoul ignore her. She gets on the bike behind him, holding the baby between them.

"You sure you got everything you want?" Raoul asks.

"No, but let's just get out of here. I just never want to see them again."

About three blocks away, near a ramp to 91, he notices a U-haul place, giving him an idea.

"Does Phil live far from here? We could stop by there and move your stuff out."

So a few minutes later they're loading Raoul's bike into a U-haul truck.

Phil turns out to live in a "hotel." The whole place stinks of piss and crack and pot, the walls are stained, the carpet in the hall has holes burnt into it. Some people don't even bother closing their doors, so he looks in at their piles of junk.

Fortunately, moving Emma out doesn't take long. She doesn't have much stuff, other than clothes, and most of her possessions seem to have been stored in boxes anyway.

The whole time his arm just hurts worse and worse, and he longs to get home in case the police show up. He imagines just walking out to them and surrendering himself before his family realizes what's happening.

He gives a guy a dollar to blow crack smoke onto his wound, thinking that might help, but it doesn't.

Finally, around noon, they get back to Sophia's.

Sophia reports that her mom would love to move into an apartment with Raoul and Emma and the baby.

"She's completely in love with Raoul," Sophia sighs at Emma.

"Of course she is," Emma chides. "What did you expect?"

After getting his bike out of the U-haul while Sophia plays with the baby, Raoul gives them his remaining cash — about forty dollars.

One arm around each of them, he kisses them on the forehead.

"Ladies, stay here until I get back. I have some errands to run but I should be back for dinner. But promise me that, no matter what, no matter what, you won't go back to Phil's mom's place or Phil's place or Easy Rider's or anywhere else where you might see Phil or Todd or any of them."

"Definitely not."

"And if anyone happens to stop by, you're not to tell any of this."

"No."

"Make sure your mom knows too."

"I will."

"I'm trusting you two."

They look up at him, both in love. It's not the first time he's rescued girls, so he's familiar with the effect it has. Now, at least until he knows his family is safe, he's going to have to manipulate them.

"Listen, if this all works out, I'll have all you in a nice place within days. It won't be a palace or anything, but it'll be safe, it'll be far away from here, it'll be a much, much better place for the baby," he tells Emma, "and a better neighborhood for your mom, too," he tells Sophia. "And," he winks, lowering his voice conspiratorially, "the three of us are going to have a lot of fun together."

But he senses that for them it's a little too good to be true, he senses their trust waning, so he has to make it realistic for them.

"But don't fucking betray me," he warns, shaking them a little. "Or the whole thing will fall down on your heads."

"We won't," they promise happily.

"You better fucking not." He squeezes their arms tightly. "You under-fucking-stand me? You better fucking not."

"We know, Raoul, we know."

"Good. Then wait here for me and keep your cocksucking mouths shut."

—————————————

By the time he gets to the Chateau Marmont, his head is throbbing, the cut is making his whole arm sore and stiff, and he feels nauseous and lightheaded. The sun seems too harshly bright, all the sounds of traffic hit him too sharply.