own. One of the few rooms with a bathroom. Interested?'
He walked in, studied the room casually. 'I'll tell you, I might only need it for a few weeks.'
'Okay by me. Forty bucks a week. You an actor?'
Wiley paused. 'Yeah.'
'Two weeks in advance. We get a lot of actors.'
'Okay.' He put his suitcase down. 'I'll pay you now. Just give me a receipt.'
The woman grinned. 'Wait for me downstairs. Apartment one. It'll take me five more minutes to finish cleanin' up. I'll give you a receipt and a key. You can leave your suitcase here. It's safe.'
Wiley left the suitcase where he had put it and walked downstairs. He tried the knob to apartment one. It was open and he walked in.
Trina was standing in the middle, of the room, wearing only a frilly bra and sheer panties. He hadn't been wrong about her body, and it was all hers.
'Oh, 'scuse me.' He started to back out.
The girl laughed. 'Hey, come back. What the hell, you look safe. I was just going to change. It's too hot for a-sweater and jeans.'
She disappeared into another room and Wiley leaned against the wall, his arms folded on his chest. When Trina appeared again, she had on a halter and shorts. She looked cute and cunning. She was attractive and seductive and she knew it. Her breasts were very sharp, her thighs and legs long and curvy. Her young belly was flat.
'Why don't you sit down?' she said.
He sat. It was a large living room with tired furniture. There was one picture on the wall showing a western scene: two cowboys and a cow.
'How much did she charge you?'
'Forty bucks a week.'
'You could have gotten it cheaper. You're good looking.'
'What has that got to do with it?'
Trina smiled mysteriously. 'You'll find out.'
Wiley decided to play along. 'Your mother's a good-looking woman.'
Trina jiggled hen shoulders and her heavy tits did a dance in the halter. 'Aren't we all?'
Wiley decided he was getting in too deep, too fast. He changed the subject. 'I understand you had some trouble in one of your apartments?'
'Oh. You read about, that, huh?'
He nodded. 'Yeah, a rape. Her name was Ginny Monet. Too bad. She was a nice girl. Let me use her apartment sometimes for… you know.'
'What do you mean, 'was'?'
'The rape kind of made her go goofy. You know, kind of off her nut. They say she don't talk or nothin'. She's in some private sanitarium. I guess her folks must have bread. She never got any, though. She was always behind on her rent.'
'What else do you know about her… and the rape?'
'What do you wanna know?' She walked to ward him, again making her breasts dance in the halter. 'And why? You some kind of pervert?'
Wiley was about to answer her when the door opened and Laura Fine entered. She looked at her daughter in the halter and shorts with distaste. 'Why don't you go to a movie or somethin'?'
Trina stood up and stretched. Her breasts almost popped out of the halter. Wiley couldn't help but stare. She walked slowly out of the room, swaying her hips in an exaggerated fashion.
'The name is Laura Fine,' the landlady said. 'Since you're gonna be here, even for a short time, you can call me Laura.' She made out a receipt and Wiley gave her eighty dollars. She looked in a dresser drawer and found a key. She gave it to him.
'You're a little old to be a strugglin' actor, ain't ya?'
He smiled. 'I have two careers.'
'Hey, you want a beer?' She seemed reluctant to let him go. 'I hope you didn't mind my-daughter, Trina. She's a bit wild.'
'She wasn't bothering me.'
'Well, your room is all cleaned up. If you want anything, just let me know. The rest of the renters keep to themselves pretty much, so they won't be botherin' you.'
Wiley nodded his head silently.
She moved close to him, closer than her daughter had. Wiley could smell her cheap perfume and see the darkness in the halter between the two huge breasts. 'Thanks for your help.'
'The girl in 303 is a whore. Says she's an actress, but she's a hooker. Watch out for her. 'Cause a good- lookin' guy like you sure as hell wouldn't have to pay for it.'
She was about to brush her huge tits against his arm when he thanked her again and moved into the hall.
He found Trina in his room-on his bed. She was on her side, one elbow supporting her upper body. The nipple of her upper breast was peeking around the halter.
'Kick the door shut,' she said.
Wiley kicked the door shut with the back of his heel.
'Lock it,' she said with a teasing grin.
He looked at her young and eager body, with its long legs and sharp breasts, and locked the door. He took off his jacket and tossed it on a chair.
'What's the idea?' But he already knew what the idea was. He still hadn't decided whether to play along or not. It was too bizarre. Her mother and father weren't exactly off in China somewhere. They were nearby and perhaps not the type to take kindly to strangers who seduced their daughter on such short notice.
'Can't a girl drop in on an old friend?' she said, tongue in cheek.
'What if your mother should drop in?'
'She'd have to wait her turn.'
Wiley grinned. 'You're a little hellcat, do you know that?'
'I know it'
'Do you usually greet the new guests this way?'
'Only the good-looking ones. Say, do you have a bottle in your suitcase? I could sure use a drink.'
'What if your mother smells whiskey on your breath?'
'She knows I take a nip now and then. She can't stop me. I know what I'm doing. I'm old enough.'
'I wonder.' He opened his suitcase and took out a pint bottle. He uncapped it and tossed it to her. Trina caught it and took a long swallow.
'You still wanna hear about the rape?'
'Yeah.'
'How much?'
'How about twenty dollars worth?'
'I don't want money.'
'What do you want?'
'Take your clothes off,' Trina said, flicking her shoulder.
The upper breast flopped bare out of the halter.
Chapter 5
'How old are you?'
'Does it make any difference?' She took another jolt from the bottle.
'Maybe. Maybe not.'
