He supposed it was all kind of sad, in a way, but if somebody decided to turn themselves into a disposable item, what did it really matter to him? And that was where some of the fleshly perks came in. Some pretty, uptown piece of ass who’d just gotten herself hooked on something would be cruising the riverfront, desperate to score but out of ready cash. He liked to catch them at just the right moment, when they’d lost most of their money and all of their self-respect, but still had their looks to trade on. Then he’d step in and do a little business of his own, fronting the bitches some cash in exchange for a nice blowjob in a secluded place, either a dark corner of an abandoned building or the back of his car. He liked blowjobs a lot, especially when he got them from some pretty uptown bitch who would’ve treated him like scum before she started on that long slide down into the gutter. That moment when a bitch on her knees first took his cock in her mouth was satisfying beyond words, even more satisfying than finally coming in her mouth and seeing the expression on her face if it wasn’t too dark. He always told them to swallow it all if they expected to get paid. A few did, but most of them couldn’t quite manage it, and then things could get very messy. If they did as he told them, he handed over the money he’d promised, usually with a five-dollar tip. If they just couldn’t, he still paid them anyway, but threw the money on the ground and didn’t tip at all. He always watched to see if they picked up the money, and they always did, even when they were still having the dry heaves.
If the bitch was pretty enough, he’d make her strip down before servicing him. How far he got depended on the circumstances and how desperate the bitch was. They usually got down to their underwear. Some of them got down to just their panties. He had fond memories of one, a long-legged bitch in her thirties with long dark hair and plump round tits who whimpered and complained about it the whole time she was taking her clothes off, but stripped stark naked for him all the same down in the basement of an old, long-abandoned factory. Enough light still filtered in down a stairwell for him to get a good look at her. It was a little chilly down there, and he could see her nipples get all puffy. She’d complained about that, too, until he flashed his badge and told her that if she didn’t shut the fuck up and do what he told her he’d haul her in for prostitution. After that, she even let him handcuff her before he made her get down on her knees in the grime and the dust and dirt. It was really, really nice when they got that scared and desperate. She’d even managed to swallow it all before she puked her guts up. He’d tipped her ten dollars, and never saw her again, even though he made a couple of tries to find her. Maybe after their date she’d decided to try kicking the habit. He didn’t know, and since he hadn’t even bothered to get her name he had no way of finding out.
“What the fuck are you smiling about?” Palmieri interrupted his reminiscences.
“Huh? Oh, sorry. Just remembered an old girlfriend,” Spooner answered. He sat up straighter in his seat, grateful that he’d lost enough weight that his clothes now fit him pretty loosely and his partner couldn’t see how aroused he’d become.
“Well, get back on the job,” Palmieri snapped. “Here’s our first stop.” She braked to a stop in front of a run-down adult video store that took ‘sleazy’ to a new depth. “Go on in, ask how things are going and pick up our cut. And get a move on! I don’t like sitting out here too long. Jerks come by and start propositioning me.”
Spooner looked at his partner. Even without the tall-heeled boots she usually wore she was almost as tall as he was; and the jeans she always wore always looked just a little less snug than body paint. She had great legs and a great ass, and her face wasn’t too bad either. It always put him in mind of an Italian actress. He couldn’t remember her name. He couldn’t remember the title of the film he’d seen her in either, but he remembered that face as vividly as if he’d seen it yesterday, instead of ten or fifteen years ago. It was no wonder johns tried to hit on her
“Yeah,” he grinned at her. “But you love it when you flash your badge at them and see them freak out, don’t’cha?”
Palmieri tried to keep a poker face, but she couldn’t. After a moment she was grinning back at him.
“Yeah, I do,” she nodded, chuckling. “I do like it. A lot. Now get your fat ass in there. I want to finish our route as soon as we can today.”
“Why the hurry?”
“I want to check out that blonde, Krissy. I’ve been thinking. I’d kinda like to help out our friend Tito.”