5. Beck

I had certain duties as the only child of the Madame. Yeah, I could have abandoned this place and left them to fend for themselves. Some of the men who frequented this place when I was a kid said being around all this was going to fuck me in the head, but you know what it did? I had a pretty healthy respect for women and hatred of men who abused them.

Some of the men who came from outside of Guttertown had the wrong idea. They came in here all swagger looking down on the women, but they were the ones who had to pay for sex. These were businesswomen profiting off of that, even the ones who had to come here because they were out of options. My mom took them in and took care of them.

I protected them when we were open, but I had errands when everyone was sleeping. There were the herbs to get, so no one ended up with a baby, restocking perfumes, creams, and ointments for the women. They gave my mom ten percent of what they earned to manage the house and pay their boarding and food. They kept the rest.

That ten percent also paid for what I was picking up today. It didn't sound like a lot, but the men of Guttertown kept their fucking mouths shut that they didn't pay the same rate as the rest of Nestran. The rest of Nestran wasn't going to admit they were frequenting Guttertown brothels, so they weren't discussing that my mom had tiers for them, too.

A merchant was going to pay more than a farmer, but the Barons were going to pay more than anyone. Guttertown women were onto them for the most part. They knew they'd stick around until their wife gave them an heir and then disappear. They'd make all kinds of promises they weren't going to keep.

Some still fell for it and thought it was going to be different with them. The Barons bought their sons here as a rite of passage and if none of the local women were falling for their shit, they'd pay for it and we'd be flush for months, sometimes the whole year.

I knew where I needed to go and was headed that way. I passed Neco Argent covered in blood and just gave him a nod. He nodded back. I didn't give a shit whose blood it was. Neco helped me look out for the girls. He might be a surly bastard who hated everyone, but he was actually a good guy.

And I was pretty sure he was a serial killer, but in a good way.

Neco and I couldn't be everywhere at once. Sometimes, the girls got hurt, and it got bad before we could get there and throw the man out. I'd banish them, but I'd hear talk their throats were slit.

I could have just thought they were shitty men who hurt women and someone outside of Nestran did the rest of us a favor, but a bag of gold and silver always mysteriously showed up in the girl's room the next morning.

It wasn't my mother, and it wasn't me. Neco had access, and he was the only person I knew who moved like a panther and could sneak around the brothel without waking me up. I might hate how things went down between Lance and Neco, but he had my respect for protecting the girls.

On my way to the shop, I also ran into Lance. I wished I could make it right between those two, but I feared the damage had been done. Lance was distracted and walked straight into my chest. I grabbed him to steady him.

Lance unnerved me sometimes. He was shorter than the rest of us, but still a respectable height. The rest of us were pretty bulky. Ollie got big on the farm and I trained to fight with Neco so we could protect the girls. Ronan liked to swim to clear his head.

Lance was skinnier than us with lean muscles. You shouldn't underestimate him, though. He could throw a punch and kick someone out of his tavern with the best of us. He unnerved me because he was just so attractive and I couldn't do anything about it because he seemed only into women.

"Where's the fire?" I asked, steading him.

Lance didn't rush. He moved with a preternatural grace, like a predator. He was the smallest of us but also the most calculating. Lance knew he wouldn't win in brute strength, so be bided his time and looked for weaknesses. He'd kicked my arse more than once and he didn't even know how to use a sword. If he was in a hurry, something had spooked him and Lance didn't get scared much.

"Mom has a cough. It's getting worse. If the Pale Plague is back, then Guttertown healers can't do anything. I'd have to contact my father and I don't want to do that."

"Come on. We'll shop together."

All the Guttertown kids who hadn't been claimed by a Guttertown man refused to talk about their fathers, even if they knew who they were. It was like uttering their name would invoke them like a curse. They used and abused their kids.

I was probably the only kid in Guttertown who hadn't been claimed who wasn't a Baron's bastard. My mom never told me who he was because she never told him. My mom handpicked a man who had all the qualities she wanted, saw him exclusively, stopped taking her herbs, and then dumped him when she got pregnant.

Mom always said she wanted a kid, but she didn't want the man who sired it. I never got mad about it because my mom was a strong, multi-talented woman and I never felt like I was lacking in anything.

Still, my momma didn't raise an insensitive arsehole. I didn't just shop for the girls and use my body to protect them. Sometimes, they just needed to vent. I did that, too. They wouldn't talk to the other girls because some of them gossiped, but I'd keep my mouth shut. Neco let them vent to him sometimes, but he only responded in grunts back, so they usually came to me. I could do this with Lance.

The Pale Plague swept through Nestran about forty years ago and killed a ton of people. It hit Guttertown the hardest because we were the poorest. The Barons had access to the best healers. Their healers figured out how to cure it and then basically decided who lived and died.

Guttertown was quarantined and left to fend for itself until the plague died off. Our healers tried everything, but if they found the cure, they weren't totally sure about it. The Baron's healers were also pretty unethical for healers. To this day, a healer only learned the cure for the Pale Plague if they were going to be employed by a Baron.

The rest of Nestran didn't know it and the healers that did liked their money and privilege, so they didn't slip it to anyone else. Nestran hadn't seen the Pale Plague since before I was born, but any time someone started coughing, people talked because that was how it started.

"We haven't seen the Pale Plague in a long time. It could just be a cough. There has to be a least one talented healer in Nestran that would help you. They might do it for money. If all else fails, you could get them sloppy drunk with your experiment in the basement and one of the girls will seduce it out of him. They're all about the community and if it got Guttertown a cure for the Pale Plague, they'd do it in a heartbeat."

"Pussy and booze is going to be our best bet."

I laughed.

"That's the spirit. We could probably topple the Barony and have Guttertown running Nestran with that."

"That's because men are idiots when it comes to their cocks."

"Except you. That girl you were with the night we all lost our virginity keeps asking when you are coming back. You don't get stupid like the rest of us."

Seriously, Lance had exceptional control. Everyone else in our group got stupid over pretty girls and pretty men. Never Lance, even though both seemed to love him.

"Because I don't think of women like a wet hole, Beck."

"Neither do we."

"I know. Think there's any truth to the rumor that elderberry and honey tea helps with the Pale Plague?"

"Dunno, but it definitely helps with a cough. If it was the Pale Plague, you'd be coughing, too. It's pretty contagious. Caitrin could have just caught something because some arsehole came to drink when they were sick."

"I guess. You're one of the good ones, Beck." Lance sighed.

I tried not to preen because Lance was my friend and I didn't think he'd like it.

"One of the girls swears by peppermint and marshmallow root tea for a cough. I know where to buy the marshmallow root, but you've got peppermint growing in your courtyard. Ollie's dad planted it for the tavern."

"Yeah. I've been using it in my experiments."

"You going to have us over to taste it when it's ready?"

Lance snorted.

"Yeah. You arseholes are my gauge for what the rest of Guttertown is going to like."

"The herbalist on the left has better prices than the herbalist on the right. They both have marshmallow root."

"The one on the right charges more because they aren't dicks."

I fell out laughing. That much was true, but you needed your wits about you in the Guttertown marketplace.

"The one on the right is nicer because they don't know shit and will probably poison you. Ilyn is gruff, but he knows his shit. The girls swear by him. And trust me, that's an endorsement you want."

It really was. They didn't just ask for herbs to prevent pregnancy or things to make them more beautiful. Sometimes, men brought disease into the house. Mom had a strict protocol for that. It had to be reported so we could trace it back to which man brought it in to ban him, then the girl couldn't work until she was treated.

And the Barons might have cornered the market on treating the Pale Plague and wouldn't tell anyone, but it was Guttertown who figured out how to treat it if you caught something in the bedroom. Ilyn could have been a healer. His father was, and he trained him, his brother, and his sister. Ilyn had a queasy stomach, so his brother and sister were healers and Ilyn became an herbalist. Ilyn's brother and sister sent their patients to him to buy what they needed, but if you weren't going to stick a festering wound in his face, Ilyn could help, too.

"So does Mom, but I went in there to get something for the pain after Neco broke my nose. He yelled at me and kicked me out."

Ugh. If I could fix that, I would. Lance's nose had been reset, but the relationship between Lance and Neco was shattered.

"You didn't walk in there with blood on your face, did you?"

"Well, yeah. It fucking hurt. I was more worried about the pain than the blood."

"That'll do it. Ilyn doesn't like blood or gore, but he loves a challenge. You're presentable right now. Ask him about the cough. You'll have a much different conversation."

"Thanks, Beck," Lance said, giving me a side hug.

We were all secure men who were big on hugging except for Lance. If you tried to give Lance a proper hug, he'd side step you for a side hug. Which was weird because he hugged Caitrin properly all the time.

"I have to hit Ilyn up for my order. I'll tag along."

"You're the best."

I always wanted to puff up and preen when Lance complimented me and it was going to lead to me blowing up this friendship and getting my heart broken.