Cumming Home
Chapter Nine
“We need to find Pepper’s son,” said Coco as soon as they got back to the van.
“Do you have a phone number?”
“She couldn’t remember it but she said their apartment building was on the thirty-four hundred block of East Vine Street, room 302.”
“Mom, I’ve kinda got my hands full.”
“I know.”
“It’s over a hundred miles away.”
“I’ll go too.”
“Andrea will climb the walls by the time we get back.”
“Not if you give her a dose before we leave. Please, he has no other family.”
“How old is he?”
“Old enough to be on his own, but not old enough to lose his mom.”
Colton thought back to how traumatic it was when his mother disappeared.
“Okay, we’ll do this.”
“Can we go now?”
“What about Andrea?”
“We’ll be gone six hours. I spent two fucking days locked in a bathroom. She’ll live.”
Colton filled up the van at the truck stop on the west side of town. He watched the Hispanic women idly standing around. They didn’t look like hookers but according to Coco they were. Members of their family watched from cars parked in the lot to make sure the Jon didn’t hurt their mother or sister.
Then four motorcycles rumbled under the gas pump canopy. The riders each wore the Suicide Saints’ Santa Muerte on their backs, with the axiom “Death Awaits.” No wonder Bernard gave Matt a pass.
“What are you thinking, sweetie?”
“Thinking we need more guns,”
“What?”
“Nothing. It’s a quote from a great movie.”
As they drove down the interstate, a trucker caught Coco sucking Colton’s dick. He rewarded them with a honk of the big rig’s air horns. Colton waved back, feeling pretty good. And Vine Street was easy to get to with the phone app. In no time, Colton parked in front of a seedy looking hotel.
“Why don’t you wait in the van, Mom?”
“It’s safer than it looks at least for right now and besides, if something bad happens, I don’t want to be out here alone.”
“Okay let’s go.”
The grime in the lobby was older than Colton, but someone had mounted a modern bulletproof glass behind a vintage wire screen.
“How long?” said a man with wiry hair and a dirty shirt.
“What?” asked Colton.
“Just one hour, sugar,” said Coco with a wink and an air kiss.
“Room 112, through there to your left past the ice machine”
“Got something on the third floor?”
“Whada-ya want? A view of the parking lot? Look sister, I don’t want to go up to the third floor to clean up after your skank ass. So take 112 or take a fucking hike.”
“112’s great,” said Colton, reaching for the keys.
“Forty bucks Romeo,”
“For one hour?”
“Fifty and I won’t call the cops.”
Colton only had twenty-dollar bills. The man in the greasy shirt took all three and sat back down in front of his TV show. Colton said something, but Coco pulled him away.
“This way, son. We don’t need any trouble tonight.”
“We are walking into trouble.”
“Yeah, but this is important.”
They took the stairs to the third floor. It smelled like old carpet, stale smoke, and fast food. Listening outside room 302, they heard video games. The catchy theme song of Harrio Brothers played as Colton knocked on the door. The music stopped, and Colton knocked again.
“I just wanted to tell you that your mom is okay,” said Colton.
He looked at his mother, shrugged his shoulders, and walked away. Torn, Coco stood by the door, hoping her son would be kind enough to wait a few seconds more. Then the latch rattled. A small, dark-skinned young man with straight hair and big eyes opened the door.
“She’s using again, isn’t she?”
“It’s not what you think, dear,” said Coco.
“She’s been gone a week.”
“We know.”
“Well, where is she?”
“That’s a tough question to answer. Can we come inside, sweetie?” asked Coco.
“I guess.”
Garbage and clothes cluttered the room.
“I’m Steve,” said the small man, easily a foot shorter than Colton, who was a small man himself.
“How old are you, Steve?”
“I’m nineteen. My dad was a famous jockey in Argentina. I’m actually two inches taller than him.”
“Where’s he now?”
“Dead. He lost a race, and they said he did it on purpose. So he got whacked.”
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” said Coco.
“It’s alright I was little. Mom came back to the United States to model. Then she started doing drugs instead.”
Coco had the benefit of knowing Pepper’s back story already, at least what Pepper could remember. She remembered having a son living in an apartment. She remembered returning to America to be a model, but it was actually a prostitution ring. Pepper had become a heroin addict that got clean just in time to be kidnapped.
“Would you like to come stay with us?” asked Coco.
“Mom?”
“He’s right lady, I don’t know you.”
Steve couldn’t believe what he witnessed next. Coco got on her knees in front of Colton and begged to bring Steve home. Amidst her pleading were promises of sexual favors and servitude.
“You already do that,” said Colton.
“I do. I know, son, I do all of that and I will forever be your whore. It’s just when I was gone I knew you had a home, a father, and a sister. Tonight Pepper will go to sleep, knowing that there is no one here for Steve.”
“Who’s Pepper? My mother’s name is Carla.”
“Your mother’s a sex slave and her new name is Pepper,” said Colton.
Steve looked down at the ground.
“So she’s not coming back this time?”
“That’s why I want you to come with us. You can visit her,” said Coco.
“Bernard will not go for that.”
“Who says he has to know? He likes you. He will probably let you have her for free.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Little Dumber Girl.”
It was like someone flipped a switch in Coco’s brain. With a blank look on her face, she stopped begging and sat quietly on her knees.
“What did you do to her?” asked Steve.
“My mom was a sex slave, too. The man that has your mom is the same man that had mine. That’s how come we know about Pepper and about you.”
Coco slowly nodded silently.
“Mom promised Pepper we would tell you she was alright. I saw her a few hours ago. She looked good, and she’s flying to a party somewhere in the world. She’ll fly back when she’s done.”
“I miss my mom.”
“Got friends, relatives?”
Steve shook his head.
“No, I don’t know any of my family in Argentina and mom’s family disowned her when she got hooked.”
“Look, I can talk to the man that has your mom… um, I dunno… see if you can visit, maybe. I won’t lie. I don’t think you’ll recognize her.”
“Are you offering me a place to stay?”
“That’s another matter. My father is going to shit. But if you want to, you can come home with us until we figure something out.”
Leaving was easy. Steve had nothing to pack but a phone with a cracked screen, a second hand video console with three games and two changes of clothes. It all fit inside a pillowcase.
“Rat Mother On, it looks like Steve is coming with us, after all.”
“Oh thank you son, mommy is going to make you one happy boy.”
Steve gave the couple a sideways glance.
“Sorry dude, you’ll just have to learn to roll with it,” said Colton.
The utility van had no windows in the cargo area and only two seats up front. Mother Coco insisted Steve sat in her lap. She held him close on the trip back to Indiana. It seemed to do them both good. Andrea was naked when she met them at the door, but quickly ran for cover as soon as she saw Steve.
“That’s my Aunt Andrea. She’s on the same drug that your mom, my mom, and my sister are on. Yep, naked women and sex, lots of sex, lots of naked women,” said Colton, babbling to himself as they went inside.
“Colton, dear, you should have called and told me we were having company,” said Andrea from inside the coat closet.
“Andrea, come on out. Steve’s going to be staying with us for a while. He’s gonna see you, might as well, just rip the bandage off,” said Colton.
“Luke will not like that, sir,” said Andrea, still in hiding.
“Where is dad, on Ho Row?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, he doesn’t need to find out about Steve tonight.”
“What about me, sir?”
“You’re still in the closet after I told you to come outside.”
Andrea stepped outside in high-heeled shoes. She styled her hair and made up her face, and behaved a little more subdued, replacing her usual manipulative demeanor.
“Andrea, I would like you to meet Steve.”
“Hello.”
“This is exactly what your mom is like now,” said Colton, pointing to Andrea. “She constantly craves the drug, but sex will give her a temporary fix. That makes her the perfect fuck toy.”
Andrea didn’t object to Colton’s crude comments.
“Stand up straight, spread your legs, good girl. Did you shave?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you want to fuck her?” Colton asked Steve.
“Huh?”
“No pressure. I have two women, and I’m too tired for a threesome.”
“Well, yeah, if it helps you out. I mean, if that’s cool,” said Steve.
“I’m sure being forced to service a stranger that looks so young would ring her bells,” said Colton.
He turned to his aunt and gave her a slap on her naked ass.
“You heard him, Auntie A. Fuck him and fix him something to eat.”
“Yes sir,” said Andrea with the fire of lust lit in her eyes.
“See ya when you get done,” said Colton with a wave, walking away with Coco under his arm.