New York.. The city I have dreamed of living in since I was old enough to start having dreams.. I was raised in an extremely small town. I'm talking, population 800 small. Last June I made the scary yet exciting desision to move to Brooklyn, one of the many huge and over populated boroughs that NYC has to offer. Not only did I just move to a huge city, I moved to this particular huge city with a new profession in mind. Escorting. One of the most dangerous things that a woman can choose as an occupation, let's throw a huge city in the mix there and you would think that I had a death wish. I had "friends"that were here "working", they called me that June and expressed that they had found somebody wonderful to work with, meaning, not a pimp. They said that you got to keep all but 200 dollars of your money. They did mention that the whole operation was a bit unorganized . After working with a pimp for a few months I knew what it was like to have all of your money taken and though "wow.. What a great person. Doesn't take advantage of woman in need and he gets a little something for helping us and we all go on our way." So, without a second thought I got on the Greyhound bus and started my journey to NY, and that's where my story begins.
I got to NY 4 or 5 hours later. Got off at a bus terminal on 42nd street, right in the heart of NY, and was stunned. I had never seen so many people, cars, billboards or tall buildings in my life. I believe that I spent a good 20 minutes just looking around and taking pictures. I called my friends and they directed me where to go.. Brooklyn.. After standing in line at a cab stand for a good 20 to 30 minutes I finally got into one. I told him I was going to Dean street in Brooklyn. About 45 minutes and 30 dollars later (the yellow cabs always overcharge people that have no idea where they're going) later I arrived on Dean street in what looked to be like the "not so nice area" of Brooklyn. There was a corner store across the street surrounded by young guys that looked to be up to no good, people sitting on their stoops drinking cheap alcohol from the bottle.. Need I say more? I called my friends to let them know that I had arrived and was down stairs. They came down, greeted me with a hug and helped me pull my large, black, overstuffed suitcase up the 3 flights of hard wood stairs to apartment 3B. When I entered it was pretty nice, a studio apartment, nice carpeting, newly renovated kitchen. It really wasn't bad, except for the absence of an air conditioning unit. Felt like it was 80 degrees on there. They introduced me to a large, scary looking woman. She was hunched over some Chinese food with the latest BET reality show that was on the television. She wasn't very friendly, just said hi and went back to watching what I call "trash television" and eating. My 2 friends and I sat and caught up for a bit, then one of them took me downstairs and outside for a smoke. As we were standing and talking a man pulled up in an old beat up black Nissan Maxima. He got out, greeted my friend and introduced himself to me. His name was Grayson, he had on business casual attire, long dreads, dark skin and he was slim and tall. I was impressed.. He was very professional. Well.. First time impressions of people are usually wrong and this case was no exception.
Months went by, thousands were made in and out of hotels around NYC and summer was turning to fall. My friends had moved on to better things but I was still living on Dean Street with Grayson and the woman I had first met, Tanisha. Tanisha had learned to absolutely hate me, for reasons that I still can not wrap my head around. One day everything was fine and the next I was being called names and having rumors spread about me. Typical catty woman stuff. It didn't really bother me all that much. Grayson and I became close.. I really learned to trust him. We were sleeping together on a regular basis, working together flawlessly, we looked out for each other in a certain kind of way.. Fall was approaching quickly and Tanisha moved out due to "personal issues" she and Grayson had. Tanisha and another girl had a loud argument which the landlord (she lived on the first floor) had heard and in consequence to evicted Grayson from the apartment. We had to be out by September. We found a place in Queens with Grayson's cousin. Grayson's cousin, Will, was a short Island man. He was very much a letch and I had no desire to be in the same room with him much less under the same
roof. Lack of another place to go forced me to have no choice but to move to Queens with Grayson
and his cousin. That is where it all rolled down t anywhere in the apartment. I'm not the cleanest of all
people but I am also not the worst mess maker on the planet. Grayson worked a 9-5 job and needed help getting things in order for the new business plan he had. He opened what is known as a Brothel.. An apartment full of girls that have sex for money in Queens. Due to all the running around I wasn't there that much due to running around like a chicken with its head cut off getting things settled while he was at work. When I was in the apartment I wasn't there for I wasn't able to clean up every spec of dirt I left behind me. I decided to just stay as far away as I could from Will. Even if it meant I had to lock myself in my bedroom while I was there.
September became October and the new business plan was about to be launched. Grayson hired two girls, one from California and one from Ohio to start at the house. One problem, the house was far from being ready to have people "work" in. It was an old house.. Everything needed to be torn out and be replaced by something new. So we had these two girls staying with us in Queens. The girl from Ohio was really nice and laid back.. Made good money and went about her business back in Ohio a month or two later. Now, the girl from California was super super loud, obnoxious and just all around ghetto. She made no money in hotels and no money doing Outcalls.. It was bad. So when Grayson decided it was time that she go home she attached herself to Will. I ended up with an obnoxious 3rd roommate that just perpetuated Will's obsessive behavior. I just shut up and went about my life as best as I could. As winter approached Grayson and I were starting constantly argue. What was 200 a night off of my earnings turned into 50 percent. He treated me like every other girl that he had just met. To make matters worse he started talking to Tanisha, the girl from Brooklyn, to "manage" the house. Not that she was ever much of a "manager" seems to me that all she did was pick fights with the other girls there and cause them to leave. Shocking to some.. But I expected nothing less.
Fall moved into winter. Everything was falling apart. At that point I was giving up 50 percent of my
money to a man I once thought was a decent person. I stopped trusting him so much and put my
guard right back up like it always had been. At this point a few different things had happened to me. I had been assaulted on a call in Brooklyn, I had been arrested in a Floral Park for the first time ever
and I had a decent amount of family issues and on top of it all he was still pushing me to work. He turned into some kind of pimp. I realized that it took "nice and decent" person I had met in Brooklyn 7 months to drop the act, only once he felt that he had full control, and show me exactly who he really was. A manipulative, heartless shell of a man. I started to get angry and started to argue back which he didn't like. He claimed he felt embarresed being yelled at by a woman. He threatened to physically harm me on two separate occasions but I was still there.. Still having sex with this man, still sleeping in the same bed with this man. I was total and completely manipulated and couldn't imagine working, or bring able to live ok, without him. My mind was a dark place of confusion and hurt. I started abusing Xanex,'alcohol and sleeping with different men to help me forget about Grayson. With every inch of my body I wished that I had never met him and found myself just wanting get away from him. After my arrest I had gotten a real job at a sporting goods store. Things calmed down then. Grayson claimed that he was happy for me and proud of me but later told me that if I "loved" him that I would continue to work for him and make him money. I kept saying no and let kept going to work. Until I realized that 8 dollars an hour wasn't going to help. So I went back working for Grayson full time.. He had gone back to the 200 per day and I continued to work at his house. A few months went by and everything was ok for the most part.
Winter started moving into spring. When I had met Grayson I knew that he was married and didn't really want to mess anything up with him and his family. He assured me that he was getting a divorce and that everything was totally over between him and his wife. So, call me stupid but, I thought it
was ok and slept with him for the first time. I later figured out that spring that I had been lied to. This
man slept with me in bed every night, had sex with me every night.. All while still promising his wife
a relationship. That spring he started spending more time back at his wife's in Brooklyn and
eventually moved out. A big part of me was relived that he was gone and some of my nightmare was
over and done with, but a big part of me was angry. Angry that he spent months in bed with me after I specifically asked if he was still trying to work on his married life. Angry with the fact that he just up
and left like I was supposed to expect it and that he never lied to me. We argued a lot.. Still. Even with him gone. I wanted nothing to do with him but I still needed a place to work, which is what kept me around him. Spring time came to an end and summer moved in. Things blew up with My roommates and I needed to get out of there.. Fast.. I found a place in Brooklyn. Grayson and I were on better terms at this point.. I didn't have the money to move so suddenly so he offered me the money to move in. I was hesitant.. I knew there had to be some catch. I was right, there was. He lent me the money to keep me at that house in Queens working day and night until I paid this money back and then some. I knew what was going on and demanded to go home. He claimed that I wasn't paying the money back fast enough, about 15 days later, and told me that he wouldn't work with me. So I was out of a job over money lent to me that I didn't want to take in the first place. I decided that I wasn't gonna be too upset about it.. I found a driver and started doing Brooklyn Outcalls. I was doing really well. I didn't have to see or deal with Grayson and his bullshit and I was able to make enough to start paying him back without having to pay the 150 dollar surcharge that he charged me to work at his gross and broken down brothel. I had one bad call that just really threw me.. I was assaulted and robbed in the basement of a project building. When the man let me go I went to the police station where they took me to the hospital. I called Grayson from the hospital and told him what had happened. To my surprise (I wasn't really surprised at all) he really didn't care basically told me to get over it and work. He told me to stop bitching about the 50/50 and become part of his "team" so
that bad things stopped happening to me. At that point, everything was stolen from me, my phone, my money, my cards.. Everything.. So I went back to work and sucked it up giving him the 50/50.
Well that lasted for a whole 5 seconds because I can't see why I should be giving a guy, a supposed
friend that supposedly cared for me 50% of my hard earned money. So I told him to forget it and I went home. A week or so later we got talking again and agreed on 60/40, him getting the 40, as long as I paid for everything myself, like the postings and what not, so it basically evened out to 50%. Again.. That lasted about 30 seconds. I was heading into work on the train and I get a text that said "forget work. Stay home." From Grayson. I was pissed that he didn't give me a reason and I was already half way there on the train. 10 calls and text messages later he finally gave me an answer. "One of the girls talked to one of the clients you said you didn't have and he told her that he did an hr date with you. You lied and stole from me." I said I didn't have that date because I didn't. I wasn't the type to steal his half from him and he knew it. I got this supposed clients number, texted him with my picture, asked if he ever had seen me or been to a brothel on Springfield blvd. he replied "no, I think you have the wrong number, I have no idea what you're talking about." I showed Gary and he still believed that I stole from him. I was really upset.. That night I went to bed, only to get woken up by my phone ringing for the 10th time at 2:30 in the morning from a private number. I picked up and it was some girl.. Telling me to kill myself and that I was worthless.. Saying all sorts of stuff that only Grayson knew about me. Grayson always had a habit of spreading peoples personal business around like a teenage girl in high school, but I never expected to hear the things his girl was saying to me. I shut the phone. I was pissed. I went onto craigslist and posted a nasty review of his brothel and went to bed. Big mistake. I woke up in the morning to Tanisha on the phone, saying something about the review. I laughed it off and continued on with my morning. Around 9:30-10:00 am I heard somebody outside calling my name, a man. I went downstairs and he said "I just talked to you on craigslist, are
you ready?" I looked at him like he had 12 heads b.c I hadn't talked to anybody on craigslist or put an ad up. I told him that and he shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Before I knew it I had 12 guys at my door step asking for me. Grayson had taken my address and put it on a craigslist ad saying "fat bitch looking to get fucked" I had to call the police to get these men to leave. Grayson informed me that one of his friends were coming to talk to me.. I was scared shitless. I packed my shit and left my own apartment. I felt unsafe and couldn't believe that he would put my personal address online for any man to just show up and have sex with me. He proved right there and the. That he never cared about me or respected me. He did that because some girl told him that I stole.. He did that because he THOUGHT I stole. It was scary for me to think "what would he have done if I actually stole."
This man has made my life a living hell. He has torn me apart emotionally and it is going to take me a long time to forgive, forget and move on. Even the people that you think you know and the ones that appear to be "nice" they aren't. In the line of this sex work every man involved in any aspect of the "business" is a scum bag. The only thing they care for is first and foremost your money, and the second most important thing, sex. In the long run all they will do is treat you like garbage every chance they get. Ladies, do yourself a favor and just don't go through what I went through, don't become a sex worker. It's a dark world of lies and manipulation. Don't look for safety and care in people like this like I did. Protect yourself against ment like Grayson and the web of lies and manipulation that him and men like him spin. From the minute you turn your first trick you will be trapped and hooked on the money. One night turns into every night... There are better options for you all. I have stopped being a sex worker. I will be moving out of New York on August first so that I can fully restart my life and forgive, forget and be a better, stronger person for everything that I have been through here in New York. I can only pray that consequences catch up with Grayson and every man like him and that him and other men never get the chance to hurt other woman the way that I have been hurt.
