Chapter 18
Julien
I’m leaning against the building to the motel, smoking a cigarette and keeping my eyes peeled for Tito in case he shows up, or maybe he’s got a guard scoping the area. I’m close by in case Romeo needs me. I have no idea what the dude looks like, but I’m sure he’s sketchy-looking.
I check my watch to see he’s been gone for about fifteen minutes. After about ten more minutes, I’ll go in and check on him.
There’s suddenly a crashing noise, like something’s breaking. My body instantly tenses. I toss my smoke and step on it as I press my ear to the building. There’s nothing else. No other noises. It could’ve been anything, but my instincts are telling me to check on Romeo.
I rush to the front entrance, open the glass door to an empty office. More noise and cold words draw me toward the back.
When I step into the studio apartment, I freeze as red sweeps across my vision. Tito has Romeo naked and handcuffed to the bed. When I see him punch my Romeo, all I want is Tito’s death.
Years of abuse have me wanting to cower and submit on instinct. I have to remind myself that I’ll be free of Holt soon enough. He can’t hurt me anymore. Romeo fucking needs me.
It’s all primal now. All rational thoughts are a haze. My mind is only filled with visions of Tito’s blood. Any fear I have vanishes, and in its place is pure rage, the same rage I felt when I beat the shit out of Holt.
I rush to the wooden block full of knives in the tiny kitchen and pull one out of its sheath. I head straight back to where Tito is about to rape my Romeo. Like fucking hell he is. Never again.
He hasn’t noticed me yet, with his back turned to me.
I raise the knife with two hands and come down hard on his neck.
The sickening feeling of it going through flesh and bone makes me want to throw up, but I’m too blinded by rage.
I stab him again and again. A guttural sound echoes in the room, and I realize it’s me, screaming.
When he’s no longer moving, I stand there, my chest heaving and my heart pounding in my ears. I suddenly drop the knife as anger morphs into panic.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck… What have I done?”
I quickly cover my mouth and rush to the bathroom.
I flip the lid up and empty my stomach of my earlier breakfast. My body is trembling and cold.
I raise my shaking, blood-covered hand, staring at it and trying to comprehend what I’m looking at.
The smell assaults my nose. It’s metallic and nauseating.
I want to throw up again, but I swallow back the acidity.
A bark of laughter startles me into action. I scramble and hide behind the half-opened door to the bathroom.
“It’s about fucking time someone offed that motherfucker,” he says. “You can come out now. I ain’t gonna turn ya in.”
All the adrenaline has worn off, and a sob escapes me. I wanted to save Romeo, but I’d never in my life believed for a second I’d be capable of killing someone.
I stand on shaking legs and step out of the bathroom.
A boy, who couldn’t be older than fifteen or sixteen, pulls Tito’s body off Romeo. His bleached hair is a soft pink, and his fingers are covered in tattoos, but I can’t see what they are from here.
“I killed him.” God, is that my voice? It’s raspy and shaky.
“Who the fuck cares? No one loved Tito. Get over it. You saved Romeo’s life, along with all the other boys, including mine. Tito doesn’t deserve your tears. But we need to hurry and clean this up. His fucking goons will catch wind soon enough.”
“Who are you?”
“Jinx, Romeo’s roommate. I’ll get the handcuffs off him, but don’t touch anything else. The less we have to clean up, the better.”
I shake my head to clear my thoughts. Focus. I have to get Romeo out of here. He’s the priority.
“Did you touch anything other than the knife?”
“I… I don’t know. The door, uhm, maybe the counter.”
The boy nods and helps Romeo sit up. “We’ll wipe any prints away, not that the pigs will care about some two-bit, abusing, pimp.”
“I killed him,” I say again to no one.
“If it wasn’t you, it would’ve been someone else.”
“Julien?” Romeo says, rubbing his temple.
I rush over to hold him, but Jinx raises his hand. “Don’t touch the bed.”
“I’m here, Cupcake,” I tell Romeo.
He cranes his head to look at me, mismatched eyes finding me. “Hey, Sugar. I’m so sorry. I think I fucked up my plan.”
My eyes water and my lips tremble. “It’s okay, baby. I’m just… glad you’re okay. Well, kind of okay. He hurt you, the fucking bastard.
Jinx stands and gathers Romeo’s clothes, tossing them onto the bed where there’s no blood. “Use Tito’s shower. We don’t want any more blood anywhere else, especially in our room.” He scans me up and down before nodding. “You’re about Tito’s size. You should be able to fit into his clothes.”
Who is this kid? He seems to have his shit together.
“What happened?” Romeo asks.
“Your prince charming here killed Tito. It was messy, but it did the job.”
“He’s… dead?”
“I’m… I…” No words can describe how I feel right now. I’m relieved Romeo is safe, but my hands are literally and figuratively covered in blood. You see death all the time in movies and TV, but taking a life for real… All I can think about is how it felt to sink the knife into his neck.
Romeo gets out of bed and rushes to me, pulling me into a hug and sobbing. I hold him back. That’s all I can do. “Thank you, Sugar. Thank you. You saved my life. The… the things he planned for me… I tried to lie, but he was so angry. I was so scared.”
With a deep breath, I shove aside my fears and disgust with myself and say, “He was hurting you. All I could see in my mind was hurting him back.”
A loud clap from Jinx has Romeo and me instantly separating, and my heart racing again.
“This is all touching, but get your crap together—both of you in the shower. Clean off and get dressed. Then we’re gonna wipe away any other traces of blood other than what belongs here, along with our ‘Sugar’s’ prints.
We gotta be quick and careful. After that, we’re going back to our room to grab whatever’s important, and you’re gonna take me out of here. ”
I realize he and Romeo are friends and roommates, but he talks like he’s thirty-six rather than sixteen.
“W-what if we come across one of Tito’s guys?” Romeo asks.
Jinx looks at me and nods. “We’ll get you cleaned up and dressed. If someone approaches us, Sugar has hired both of us to fuck. We’ll drag him to one of the spare rooms we use to fuck in if we have to.”
“They’re going to find a body in here,” I say.
“They will, and that’s why we have to be fast. We can save time by locking the place up and hoping they assume Tito left. Now fucking shower! I’ll keep watch while pulling out some clothes for you all. Go!”
Romeo takes my hand, leads me to the bathroom, and runs the shower. He seems so… together. I glance down at my hands, which are still shaking uncontrollably.
He stands naked in front of me and starts peeling my clothes off, putting them on the floor.
“How are you so calm?” I ask him.
Romeo looks at me with wide eyes and a frown.
“I’m fucked up in the head. I’m scared for me, scared for you.
Tito hurt me, and I’m dizzy from the blow to the head.
He had horrific plans for me that I won’t get into.
You don’t need to know.” He places his cold hands, crusted in blood, on my face.
“You saved my life. I’m fucking free now.
That’s all because of you. I owe you everything. That’s why I can function right now.”
He takes my hand again and pulls me into the shower, where he starts scrubbing the blood off me. My clothes took most of the hit, but I have a lot on my skin. Romeo’s back is covered in it.
As I come fully down from my adrenaline high, I’m shaking even more, and I start crying. “I don’t want them taking me away,” I say. “My plans didn’t include getting sent to prison for life.”
The panic is taking over, and I can’t think clearly. It’s hard to fucking breathe.
He places his hands on my face to force me to focus on him. “You won’t. I’ll protect you now.”
Then a sob escapes me, not only from his words, but because I’m a murderer now.
Romeo pulls me into a hug, and I hold on to him as if my life depends on it. I’m not sure why I even care about my life.
“Fuck me. Be inside me, please,” I blurt.
He steps back, jaw dropped. “W-what?”
“Help me get my head on straight, Romeo.”
“Ah, even if I wanted to, and we had time, I… I can’t get it up.”
I look down at my limp dick. “Oh… yeah, I guess I can’t either.”
A sudden pounding on the bathroom door startles us. “Tick-Tock, gentlemen!”
Ten days. If I can get through the next ten days without getting caught, I’ll be okay. Now, more than ever, I’m determined to go through with my plans. The thought calms me down a little and helps me breathe.
Once we’re fully washed, we come out of the bathroom and put on the clothes Jinx found for us. Jinx and I shove the bloody clothes into a trash bag after I grab my wallet, phone, and keys, and then scrub the bathroom. Meanwhile, Romeo searches for his paperwork.
“Grab my shit while you’re at it, Rome,” Jinx calls out.
Meanwhile, I’m doing all I can not to look at the dead body on the floor.
“Got them,” Romeo calls out, tucking the files under his arm.
The last thing we do is wipe down everything we touched as best as we can, but Jinx assured us that no one will really care that Tito’s dead. I’m not sure why I trust this kid, but I do.
Jinx grabs several phones owned by Tito, any incriminating paperwork, and the keys sitting on the front desk. We walk out, and he locks up. We all glance around, looking for one of the guards, but I don’t see anyone.
“Why’d you take all his paperwork? Don’t you want the cops to know what he is?” I ask him.
“Nope. This is to protect the other boys. The system will break them as much as Tito.”
“Fair enough.”
“Security is lax,” Jinx explains. “Tito has most of his boys beaten down and obedient.”