in the morning when Tasha barged into Alessa’s bedroom.
“What happened last night?” Tasha demanded. “I could tell Harlin was mad. And he wouldn’t let me come over. What did you do to make him furious?”
Startled awake, Alessa struggled to take in what her friend was saying. Having slept for only three hours, she wiped the grogginess out of her eyes and sat up. “Harlin was mad because a guy asked me to give him a lap dance and I turned him down.”
Tasha sat on the bed and gently squeezed Alessa’s hand. “So what made him so angry? Why didn’t you tell him that you weren’t comfortable giving lap dances?”
Knowing how devoted Tasha was to her brother, Alessa picked her words carefully. “Well, I did, but he thinks I should do them anyway. He sort of insisted. He said it was part of my job.”
Tasha pulled her brows together. “Since when is it Harlin’s place to tell you what you can and can’t do? I’m going in there to talk to him,” she said, using sweeping arm gestures.
Alarmed, Alessa seized her hand and held her back. “No, you don’t need to. I appreciate your concern, but he’s right. I talked to one girl, and she said it wasn’t a big deal. She said she would teach me how to perform lap dances. Harlin wants me to make a lot of money while I’m there.”
Tasha hesitated. She had heard the rising panic in her friend’s voice and realized that her brother must have done or said something to frighten her. She loved him, but she loved Alessa, too. She didn’t want to pick a fight with Harlin, but she would if she discovered he had been bullying her. Tasha knew that Alessa couldn’t stand up to someone like him. Not because she was weak, but because she had never stood up to anyone in her life.
Later that afternoon, while Alessa was showering, Tasha found Harlin in the kitchen, eating eggs and waffles. As he always did when he saw his sister, he flashed her his charming smile. This time, however, things were different. Tasha could tell he was hiding something. So instead of exchanging their usual hug, she gave him a cold, piercing stare. Harlin could see she was fuming and wondered if Alessa had told her about the previous night.
Tasha sat down at the table opposite Harlin. “Tonight,” she began with grim determination, “when you drive Alessa down to Doubles, I want you to come back and talk with me. I can tell something is going on here, and it ain’t right. I don’t know what it is, but you haven’t been yourself for weeks.”
“I can’t make it tonight, baby,” Harlin said firmly. “I have things to do. I need to get some business for Alessa at the bar.”
Tasha lashed out at him. “The way I see it, Alessa is doing fine at the bar without you getting her more business. I don’t know what you’re expecting of her, and that’s what we’re going to discuss tonight.”
Harlin looked away. “Okay. You can come back once she’s gone. I’ll have Jake take her to the bar tonight.”
***
When Tasha arrived at Harlin’s house, his crew quickly made themselves scarce, under orders to go for a walk.
Brother and sister sat in the living room alone.
Tasha rested her elbows on her knees and leaned closer to him. “Okay, so what’s going on? I know you were furious about something when you called me last night and told me not to come over. All Alessa will tell me is that you want her to do lap dances. Why is that any of your business? I promised she would never be forced to do anything that she didn’t want to do. Now you seem to be making the decisions for her.”
“If she wants to dance at bars where she can make money,” Harlin answered, on the defensive now, “she needs to learn how to do a lap dance and stop being such an annoying prude! She’s in the sex business now, Tasha. That’s what this is about. If she flaunts herself up on stage like she does, then she better deliver the goods. Get it?”
“Oh, I get it!” Tasha exclaimed, her temper flaring. “You want Alessa to whore out for you. That’s what you’re telling me, right?”
Harlin thought hard before speaking. “C’mon, Tasha,” he said, trying to sound breezily casual. “It’s not like I’m telling her she needs to walk the streets. All I’m saying is that if she wants to move from Doubles to a bar that will let her make more money doing other things, she needs to practice.”
Tasha bounded to her feet. “I told you this girl has been through some really bad things in her life! She doesn’t want to be a hooker, Harlin. Not on the streets or in a bar. When you suggested that she work at Doubles, you said it was just dancing. And now you want her to be your prostitute? What are you now, a pimp?”
At that, Harlin sprang to his feet, towering over Tasha, but the menacing figure didn’t so much as elicit a blink from his sister.
“This is beyond you, Tasha. This is between me and Alessa. We have a business deal. She agreed to the terms, and now she needs to start fulfilling her part of the bargain. I’m not a babysitter, you know. If she wants to live here under my protection, she’s gonna have to pay. So you need to step off and let the two of us work this out. Alessa doesn’t need to be mothered. She’s a big girl who can make her own decisions.”
Tasha was so mad at him that she wouldn’t have cared if he were eight feet tall. Placing her hands firmly on her hips, she stared right back at him, not giving an inch. Her scowl deepened. “Screw you! You know she won’t stand up to you. You’ll get her to do whatever you want, and she won’t say a word about how things should be. I’m not stepping off, and I won’t let you hurt her. You’re being a bully. Mom always said you were never intentionally mean to people, only to those who provoked you. What has Alessa done to provoke you? Or wait . . . that’s right. This is just business! You get half of everything she earns. So the more she earns, the more money you make. I didn’t think money was so important that you’d be willing to betray your family and hurt Alessa—so you could turn a profit.”
Harlin scoffed. “When you turn a profit in the streets selling weed, you hurt people,” he countered. “You think when you sell weed to the teenagers around here, you ain’t hurting them? You are, baby sister. But you’re doing it so you can make money. You see, sometimes you need to go with the flow. You make money, and they get high. Ain’t no different with Alessa. She and I both make money, and the customer gets what he wants.”
Tasha turned to leave but stopped in the doorway. “The difference between you and me is that I’d never force anyone to smoke weed. They do it without me ever suggesting it to them. You, on the other hand, are forcing Alessa into prostitution. I want you to think about what you’re doing because it’s not something the Harlin I know would do.”
Growing tired of the argument, Tasha’s brother withdrew a small bag of white powder from his pocket. He sprinkled some on the coffee table in front of him, chopped at it, rolled a dollar bill, and snorted the substance.
Tasha’s mouth hung open. “What are you doing?” she yelled, outraged. “Since when do you snort dope? You’ve never done hard drugs. What’s going on?”
“It ain’t no big deal,” he said, looking up at her. “It’s a different high. That’s all. I only do it once in a while. One of my boys turned me on to it, and now that I have more cash flow, I can afford to dabble in it a little. You want to try some?” Harlin held out the rolled-up dollar bill.
Stunned he offered her drugs, Tasha stepped back. “No,” she said firmly. “I don’t want to try some.” Then her voice steadied. “Now I’m starting to see what this is all about. It all makes sense why you’re acting so weird. You need to stop doing this right now before it’s too late. Harlin, this isn’t you. You’ve always been the strong one. This stuff will screw up your head. Please promise me you’ll stop. Please?”
Harlin laughed at her. “I’m fine. If you want me to stop, kill the ragging, okay? I am who I am, and the dope don’t make me no different.”
Before Tasha left, she told Harlin she would be back when Alessa got home from the bar.
Harlin gave her a scornful look. “Alessa and I have business to discuss when she gets back here. I can’t have you here later in the evening because it will only distract us from getting our jobs done. You stay home tonight, and she’ll see you in the morning.”
Tasha spun around and stared at her brother. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly. “With you putting that powder up your nose, it’s more of a reason for me to be around. You better think long and hard about how you want this to play out. You have a lot to lose, and so does our family.”
