Chapter 19
Romeo
It takes us over an hour to get to the national forest. The area is mostly dry with bits of trees and shrubs. The mountains flank us on either side as we turn and head north. From there, it doesn’t take us long to get to the general store for groceries before we hit the cabin.
The place is small, but it seems to have all that we need for a couple of days. We grab snacks, sodas, pre-made sandwiches, smokes for Julien, beer, and shit for breakfast.
Julien takes over driving as we make the short drive to the cabin.
Jinx scoffs as we pull up to the place. “Bro, this ain’t no cabin. It’s a fucking house.”
“Whatever, man, it’s all they had around here, and it’s private.”
“Hey, I’m not fucking complaining. This place slays.”
The house isn’t huge. It looks almost like one of those mobile homes, but much fancier. It’s surrounded by desert mountains, trees, and rocks.
As soon as the truck stops, Jinx jumps out and rushes around to the back of the house.
“This is so cool!” he yells, his voice echoing through the mountains. “There’s a fucking creek back here! Holy fuck, there’s a hot tub! Dudes!”
Julien and I look at each other and laugh. “At least someone’s excited,” he says.
I take his hand and kiss him. “I’m excited, too.”
Julien saved my life. I’ve never been more in love and infatuated with him.
He’s released me from my suffering. I’ll love him forever if he lets me.
I try not to think about him leaving me behind.
He’s given me no indication he feels the same, but I hope he will.
I’ll do everything possible to keep him.
“I could fucking live here!” Jinx yells again as he rushes back to the front of the house.
Julien chuckles, “Well, enjoy it while you can. We’re not staying.”
He opens the lockbox, pulls out the key, and opens the door. Jinx is the first to rush in, running around like a crazy person. “This room’s mine!” he yells a third time from around the corner.
“The main room belongs to Romeo and me.”
The house is pretty big. It’s an open space, so all the rooms are in one big area, except the bedrooms. It has a fireplace and nice wooden floors. It also has pretty, but basic, comfortable furniture.
Julien heads back outside and returns a moment later with the groceries. I help put them away, then we grab our bags from the back of the car.
When we come back inside, Jinx is there, sitting on the kitchen counter and drinking a Coke.
“Adopt me, Julien. Pretty please.”
This time, Julien’s laugh is loud and deep. “I’m practically a kid myself, Jinx, but sure, you can hang with us for the next ten days.”
“It’s gonna be lit! What do we do after ten days?”
Julien pulls out the sandwiches, hands one to Jinx, then one to me, which is tuna on wheat. He also opens a large bag of potato chips.
“Well, the plan is to go all the way to the Grand Canyon. I want to hit a bunch of places along the way… for fun. You know, see the sights. Live it up while I can.”
My friend raises a brow and stares at Julien.
He likes to poke and prod into your life, like a nosy little bee.
I think that’s what a lot of us hookers do.
We have to know who the client is to protect ourselves.
We always have to adapt and regulate our johns’ emotions.
Sometimes we fail, and we get beaten for it.
Or they beat us anyway because it’s fun for them.
When I’d first met Jinx, he’d been rightly terrified, but he adapted quickly and tried to keep some of his autonomy and control, as much as Tito allowed, anyway.
He changed after that night, though. After I got beaten, Jinx kind of hardened.
“Let me guess, you’re some rich dude with daddy issues,” Jinx says. “He controlled every aspect of your life, so now, you’re going to party it up, hire a hooker, and fuck your brains out before college or something?”
Julien takes a large bite of his ham and cheese and shrugs. “Something like that.”
I huff at him. Why is he diminishing this? When he hired me, it felt so much more important than that. “What do you mean, ‘something like that?’ This trip is important to you. You’re not just some party boy.” God, Julien’s so much more than how Jinx described him.
My friend hops off the counter, flops onto the couch in the living room, crosses his ankles on the coffee table, and turns on the TV before taking a bite of his sandwich.
“Don’t look at me like that. Of course, he’s more than that.
I was just fucking with him. Dude, no one kills a pimp to save a hooker, Rome.
He cares enough about you to protect you. ”
My breath catches. I thought he was only protecting me, but I didn’t think about it like that. Does he feel more for me than I thought?
I glance at Julien, who doesn’t look at me and says nothing as he throws away his trash. My hope grows.
“What’s his story, anyway? He’s got something going on.”
“I wish I knew.”
It’s after nine when we get back to the house following dinner. There was a cute little restaurant close by where we had hamburgers and wings.
Now it’s time to look at my file. I’ve been putting it off, afraid of what I’ll find. I don’t know why. Tito told me I was bought, but what if I wasn’t? What if I were stolen? My biggest fear would be finding out my parents sold me or something. That’d fucking suck.
We head to the backyard, surrounded by trees, mountains, the stars, and whispering water in the background. Strands of lights, hanging in the trees, cast a warm glow around us. It looks like Christmas in the summer. It’s relaxing, and it helps put me at ease.
I sit on an outdoor cushioned couch as Julien lights a fire in the pit. The heat feels good since the evening is kind of chilly.
“Dude, what are you doing?” Julien asks.
I pull my eyes away from Julien to see Jinx getting naked and starting the hot tub. “What? I wanna soak.”
I cover my mouth and giggle. We’re not exactly a modest bunch, but Julien covers his eyes. He’s such a cutie.
He huffs at Jinx. “You know, I have an extra pair of swim trunks.”
“Oh well. Too late now.”
My friend sinks into the water once it’s hot and rests his arms over the rim of the tub. “Ahh, this is the fucking life, man. I could get used to this.”
Julien sits next to me with a bottle of liquor and takes a sip before handing it to me. I chug some back as he wraps an arm around my shoulders. I rest my head on him and tuck my legs underneath me, holding the file against my chest.
He kisses my head and says, “What do you think’s going to happen to the other boys at the motel?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully, they got out.”
“God, I feel guilty for leaving them all behind. I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly when we left. How many are there?”
“Six others.”
Jinx gets out of the hot tub, dripping wet. “I’ll take care of it.”
Julien covers his eyes. “Dude, get some clothes on.”
“You’ll live,” he says after grabbing his phone and making a call. “Hey, Tink. It’s Jinx. Get the boys out. Tito’s gone, man. You’re free.” Jinx listens to the other end and nods. “Cool, dude. Catch ya later someday. Call me if you need me.”
He hangs up and snags the bottle from where I’d put it on the table and takes a large gulp. After wiping his mouth with his wrist, he sets the bottle down and says, “The other boys got out. Foxy found Tito before the guards did. He ran back, and everyone packed up and left. Feel better?”
“Yeah, a little. What’s going to happen to them?”
Jinx shrugs and takes another sip of the tequila. “They’ll be fine, bro. We’re a smart, resourceful bunch. We may not be brave enough to run away, but we make life bearable most days.”
“As long as they’ll be okay,” Julien says.
“I’ll keep tabs on them.”
Jinx heads back into the hot tub, sinks into the hot water, and closes his eyes.
Julien snags the folder from me, and I curl into him. “Let’s see who you are, Romeo.”
“Maybe there’s nothing.”
“We’ll find out.”
To my surprise, I find copies of two birth certificates and one Social Security card.
I have the fake one in my wallet. The first thing I see is my name.
Aleksandr Sokolov. I was born on February 25th, 2007, at 2:37 pm.
I weighed six pounds and twelve ounces. My heart races at seeing my mother’s name: Polina Sokolov.
I sometimes imagined that I’d just appeared in the world without being born to anyone.
The fake certificate shows that I was born in Los Angeles, California. The second one says, “I’m… Russian? Holy fuck, I’m Russian. I was born in… I don’t know how to pronounce that… Shakhty. Where is that?”
“Wow, Aleksandr is such a cool name.”
“I don’t know how I feel about it. It sounds… foreign to me. I only know myself as Romeo. I don’t know what I expected, but I guess I thought something would be recognizable, like I would remember my mother’s face or something.”
“You were too little, Cupcake. No way you’d remember.”
Julien swipes his phone and pulls up the town where I was born. “It’s in southern Russia, near Ukraine. It’s an old coal-mining town, but it’s incredibly impoverished and riddled with crime. It explains why traffickers target children there.”
“Oh.”
“She was only fifteen, Julien. Who’s my father?”
I read on, but that line is blank. The American birth certificate has my name as Romeo Rivera, just like my social security card. All the fake documents look legit, but what do I know?
Julien pulls out some more paperwork. “It’s a letter, I guess, from someone who first purchased you.”
He hands me the papers, and I read them slowly because I’m not the best reader.
I get the gist of it, and I’m suddenly feeling sick and wishing I hadn’t.
My eyes water at the monstrosity of it all.
I knew it’d be bad, so I don’t know why this upsets me so much.
“My… my father is my fucking grandfather. He fucking raped her, Julien. His own daughter. He sent her to a special home for pregnant girls, where she was coerced into giving me up with promises of a better life for her and for me. So, she put me up for adoption. Instead of finding me a good home, they fucking sold me. Who knows if they paid her a dime?”
“The father probably arranged it and took the money. Then they shipped you to the US, where you were bought again by Tito. I’m surprised they kept all that paperwork.”
I shake my head, wipe away some fallen tears, and look at the other papers. “It looks like a legit adoption, but I don’t read that well, and I know nothing about legal shit. What am I supposed to do with this?”
“It’s why I haven’t read mine yet,” Jinx says. He’s been quiet the whole time, listening in, I guess. “I mean, it doesn’t change the fact that we were sold, bought, groomed, and raped. It doesn’t change the fact that we’re forced into prostitution.”
“So, you’re not gonna look?”
“I will. Eventually. Let me enjoy my freedom for a while. Fuck! It’s nice to be free finally.
Fuck Tito! He’s now in hell getting raped by demons for all eternity.
” He whoops, the sound echoing through the mountains, pulling a laugh from me, even through my tears.
It does feel good to be out of Tito’s chains.
As if he can read my thoughts, Julien wraps his hand around my wrist and pulls it closer to him. He runs his fingers over the tattoo before kissing my inner wrist.
“We’re all free now,” he whispers. “No one will chain us up ever again.”