Ruby by Heather Burnside (carter reed txt) 📗

and examined her injuries, she was shocked. Her arms, legs and back were a mass of bruises. There was also a bruise on her left cheek in the same place as her scar and a cut on her wrist where a particularly hard blow had broken the skin. A trickle of blood was still coming from her nose.

The sight shook her and she could no longer hold back her tears. Hating herself for being so weak, she sat down on the edge of the bed and gave in to her emotions. Feeling sorry for herself as well as angry with the girls, she wondered desperately where she would go from here.

But her self-pity didn’t last long because Trina was a fighter. She knew she couldn’t go back to working the same patch. There was too much risk of running into the vicious bunch of girls again and, although Trina felt afraid, she tried not to admit it to herself. Instead, she reasoned that too many bruises were bad for business and losing her earnings just didn’t make financial sense.

Trina therefore decided to try a new patch altogether. She’d heard mixed reports about Manchester. Aytoun Street was a good place to try from what she’d been told so maybe she would start there. She knew there would still be risks but there was no way she was going to leave herself so vulnerable again.

Trina had already had enough of troublesome clients even before the attack by the other prostitutes and she wasn’t prepared to take shit from anyone any more. So she’d do what she should have done a long time ago and make sure she carried a weapon. And as anger from tonight’s attack gripped her, Trina knew that, if necessary, she would be prepared to use it.

43

December 1998

It was during Trina’s second night on Aytoun Street that she noticed another young girl watching her. She was obviously a street girl; her provocative clothing and gaudy makeup gave her away. Trina immediately became wary, thoughts of her beating at the hands of the group of prostitutes never far from her mind.

Trina weighed up her chances if things should turn nasty. The girl was only of average height so Trina wasn’t worried about her. But what if she had friends nearby?

When the girl walked over Trina braced herself for an encounter. ‘You new to this patch?’ she asked.

‘Yeah,’ said Trina.

‘What’s your name?’ she asked.

Trina whispered her name, remembering Shelley’s rules never to let a client know her real name.

‘Is that what the clients call you?’ asked the girl.

‘No, it’s my real name but they don’t know that.’

‘I’m Laura,’ said the other girl, ‘but the clients don’t know that either. You got a pimp?’ she asked.

‘No!’ said Trina.

‘You’re joking, aren’t you? You can’t work this patch and not have a pimp. It’s way too fuckin’ dangerous.’

‘I’ve managed up to now,’ said Trina with her usual bravado.

‘I know someone you could work for,’ said Laura. ‘He well looks after us. I can introduce you if you like.’

Trina thought for a moment. It would mean having even less money to herself and she didn’t really like the idea of giving some of her earnings to a man. But then she reflected back on her beating at the hands of the other prostitutes and the difficult clients she’d had to deal with. She was tempted by Laura’s suggestion but didn’t know how she’d manage financially.

‘I can’t afford one. I’m already in the shit with money.’

‘How come?’

‘My flatmate pissed off and left me in a load of debt.’

‘Really? Does that mean you’ve got a room to spare?’ asked Laura.

‘Yeah.’

‘Where?’

‘Whalley Range.’

‘Oh, yeah. Well, it looks like it’s your lucky day then cos I’m looking for somewhere to live. How much are you charging?’

‘Half the rent of four hundred a month plus half the bills.’

Trina wished she hadn’t said anything. After all, she’d only just met this girl and didn’t know anything about her. But, there again, she was desperate. Although she’d been working long hours, she still hadn’t paid off all the debts or replaced all the things Shelley had taken. Laura seemed alright, and she was certainly a lot friendlier than the prostitutes she’d met in Whalley Range. And, surely, she couldn’t be any worse than Shelley?

‘OK,’ she said. ‘Do you want to come and see it? Oh, and you’d have to buy your own food as well.’

‘Sure. Is tomorrow OK?’

‘Yeah, about three o’clock.’

‘OK. Do you want to meet my pimp as well?’

‘Yeah, could do.’

‘OK, I tell you what, you give me the address of your place. I’ll come round about half four or five and then take you to the Rose and Crown about six o’clock. A lot of us meet in there before we go to work and my pimp’s always there. I’ll take you over to him.’

‘OK,’ said Trina, managing a smile. This girl didn’t seem too bad after all.

*

It was the following night and Trina and Laura were on their way to the Rose and Crown. Laura had already visited Trina’s flat and, after showing her round, they had both decided that Laura would become Trina’s new flatmate.

Trina had taken to Laura straightaway. She had a friendly, down to earth way about her and was easy to get along with. Trina could tell that, despite Laura having been on the game for a few months, she was still naïve in many ways. Having stayed on her friend’s sofas for the past few months she didn’t know much about running her own place and was still getting used to the adult world just like Trina was. Trina also realised that she had a far more dominant personality than Laura and she somehow felt that living with her wasn’t going to be a problem.

They soon arrived at the Rose and Crown and Trina followed Laura inside. It was an old pub with dated furniture and an interesting mix of customers, who Trina’s Aunty Tamara would have