Chapter 6 - Po Pimpin.

Justin and Hunter walked several blocks through mostly deserted streets as the rain began to gradually taper off. Their progress was slow because Hunter seemed to know every single person they did meet and stopped to chat with almost all of them. Justin didn’t understand a lot of what the Skinny Boy and his friends were talking about, and some of them looked a little intimidating, but he smiled and nodded to everyone who greeted him. He still wasn’t sure why they were all calling him ‘Stan, though. 

Eventually they made it to a slightly more populated part of town and turned to walk along the sidewalk edging a busy four lane commercial street. They passed by two used car lots, a seedy-looking Vietnamese restaurant, a tattoo parlor, and a liquor store before Hunter turned into the driveway of a run-down motel. The flickering neon light over the door to the motel office proclaimed this was the ‘_tarlight Motel’; the capitol ‘S’ at the beginning of the word didn’t light up, but that seemed even more appropriate judging by the motel’s surroundings. It was a typical two-story construction, with rooms on both levels, a balcony of sorts along the upper level, and three rickety staircases connecting the upper rooms to the parking lot below. Justin didn’t think it looked like a very nice place to stay, seeing as how the building was in need of a lot of repairs, the paint was peeling off the side of the building, and the parking lot was filled with broken down old cars and trash. Even so, it seemed like a very busy place, with people going in and out of several of the rooms and small groups of guests hanging out together on the balcony. 

Justin followed Hunter up the stairs and down the balcony towards the rooms on the far end of the top floor. As they passed by the other rooms, the doors to many of which were wide open, Justin got a glimpse of what the occupants of the rooms were doing. They were all doing boyfriend things. He wondered what kind of place this was where so much loving was going on, or why all these couples would come to such an unromantic place for their dates, but what did he know, right? He was new to the whole boyfriend thing himself. Maybe this was something boyfriends did? Maybe, someday, he and Brian could come back here and Brian could explain it to him; he supposed it could be fun to have one of their boyfriend lessons here . . . Maybe. If the motel people cleaned the rooms up a little better first.

Hunter went inside the second to last door on the top floor and, not having any better idea of what to do with himself, Justin followed his new acquaintance. Inside, the room was almost as run-down as the motel was on the outside. There were two king-sized beds lining the left-hand wall, a desk with built-in drawers along the right-hand wall, and a small table with two old chairs in the corner next to the door. One of the bulbs in the overhead light fixture was out, so it was kind of dim inside the room, but even in the dimness, Justin could tell the room was a mess. There were empty food containers lying all over, the trash can in the corner was overflowing, and there was clothing strewn over every piece of furniture. Meanwhile, the beds and chairs were occupied by half a dozen boys of every age, size, race, and build, most of whom were either naked or only partially dressed, all of whom appeared to be engrossed by the show that was flickering away on the screen of the television that was bolted into the wall above the desk. Justin wondered if Hunter had brought him to some kind of party, although he’d never heard of a naked party before. This was really a very strange motel.

Hunter didn’t seem to notice the fact that all the boys at the party had forgotten their clothing. He led Justin towards the desk where there was a small fridge, pulled open the door, and grabbed two cans of soda, throwing one to Justin. Justin managed to catch the drink and, since he was really thirsty, he popped the top and guzzled it down. Meanwhile, Hunter had dug through the detritus on the desktop and served himself two slices of the cold pizza he found there. Justin was hungry too, but the greasy, stale pizza didn’t look all that appetizing so he decided to skip it for the time being. 

As the Skinny Boy was busy eating, Justin peeked through the partially opened doorway into the adjoining room and was surprised to see a fat, balding, middle-aged man rolling around on the bed with a light-skinned black boy who looked like he was about the same age as Justin’s new friend, Hunter. Justin was so surprised that he just stared at the couple for a bit. He’d never watched other people doing boyfriend things like that - well, except for in the movies that Brian had shown him that he said would ‘inspire’ them - but he certainly hadn’t seen anything like that in real life. As he watched, though, he noticed that the boy didn’t seem very excited by what the man was doing. He actually looked a little bored, to be honest. That didn’t seem right because Justin was never bored when Brian did THOSE things to him. Maybe the man wasn’t doing it right? 

Justin was about to go in there and give the poor man some tips on how to correct his technique, according to the way Brian had taught him to do things, when an exasperated Hunter pulled Justin back from the door and pushed him down into an empty chair so he could continue the lecture he’d been delivering off and on for the whole trek to the motel. 

“Hugo is going to be super pissed at you, you know. Even with a knock on your head, I can’t believe you didn’t manage to turn even one trick while you were gone. Hugo’s gonna tear you a new asshole.” Confusion must have shown on Justin’s face a moment later; Hunter was implying it wasn’t some huge epiphany that he was more than likely going to get torn a new asshole? That didn’t sound like fun. It sounded like it would hurt . . . a lot.

“I told you before, Mr. Skinny Boy, I don’t know any magic and I’m not in the circus, so of course I didn’t turn any tricks. I mean, Just Brian showed me how to juggle once - even though he’s not very good at it - but I always drop all the balls. And that’s the only trick I ever tried to do. But that’s no reason to get mad at me or hurt me, is it?” 

Hunter let out a deep belly laugh, doubling over in what appeared to be pain judging by the way he was furiously wiping the tears from his eyes. “Boy, ‘Stan, you really are on a roll today. Maybe that little knock on the head did more damage than I thought.” 

Justin was about to tell him he really had no clue what the Skinny Boy was talking about, but they were interrupted when a new person came through the door. This new person did not appear to be pleased with what he saw, either, judging by the unhappy frown on his bloated and flushed face. The newcomer was a huge man - both tall and bulky - and Justin felt immediately dwarfed by him. Justin heard a couple of the boys answer the man’s greetings, calling him ‘Hugo’ or, in some cases, ‘Daddy’. Obviously, this must be the man Skinny Boy had been talking about; the one the other boy seemed frightened about meeting. Justin was a little confused by the way all the boys were acting towards the newcomer. Even Skinny Boy called the man, ‘Daddy’. Justin didn’t know how this one man could have so many children, though, especially when none of the boys looked anything like the Hugo man and they were all about the same age. It was clearly a very odd family. 

The man slowly approached the groups of younger men who were sitting around on the floor and lying on the beds, grunting out a terse comment to one or another as he passed, but not paying special attention to anyone in particular until he approached the chair where Justin was sitting. 

“Well, well, well . . . look what the fucking cat dragged in,” he drawled as he reached down and ran a finger over Justin’s shoulder, the digit ending under his chin and forcibly tilting the boy’s head upward so he was looking right in Hugo’s eyes. “You think you can just fucking come and go as you please, huh? You should know by now that you can’t even piss sideways without getting my permission first, boy.” 

Justin was more confused than ever. Did this man think that Justin was another of his sons? And even so, why did he think he could order Justin around like that? Because if he’d learned nothing else being with Brian, Justin had learned that he didn’t need anyone’s permission to go anywhere or do anything. No one had the right to tell him how to live his life, period. And why would anyone need to ask to use the bathroom? Justin wasn’t a baby who needed help to go potty. 

“Excuse me, Big Angry Man, but I don’t have to ask you if I want to go anywhere . . . You’re not MY daddy. And I definitely don’t need your permission to go to the bathroom either. Now, if you don’t mind, I really need to get back home to Brian.” Justin pushed Hugo’s hand away and started to get to his feet.

An audible gasp could be heard throughout the small space in response to the blond’s audacity in challenging the husky man. The group of young boys just knew something bad was going to happen to the kid if he didn’t shut his mouth pronto. Angry Man looked like he was going to yell at Justin for a minute, but then one of the boys who’d been sitting on the bed spoke up.

“Hey, ‘Stan, cool it man. It’s not worth getting your pretty little ass kicked just so you can prove a point. Just apologize and keep it moving, bruuh,” the tall, toned, caramel-skinned boy who he thought Hunter had addressed as ‘Trey’ commented from where he’d been lounging in the far corner of the room. “Hugo . . . Cut him a break, Daddy. I’m sure he didn’t mean it,” the boy pleaded, his warm hazel eyes reminding Justin again of just how much he truly missed Brian. 

Justin gave the boy a small smile before responding. “Thank you for your concern, Pretty Eyes, but I don’t have anything to apologize for. Angry Man is the one who should say sorry for being so mean to ME when I haven’t done anything wrong.” Then Justin turned to face the Angry Man directly. “So, no, I’m not sorry and I did mean it.”  

Hugo’s face turned a deeper shade of red and the veins in his neck began to visibly pulse with anger. “You better not be disrespecting me, boy, or I’ll whore your ass out to ALL of my worst buyers . . . You know the ones I’m talking about, right?” Hugo tilted his head towards a boy huddled on the floor at the foot of one of the beds who had a painful-looking black eye, a swollen lip, and several cuts marring his bruised cheek. “Ask Beauty here if you need a reminder about what happens to family that don’t behave right.” Angry Man laughed in a not-so-nice way that made Justin a little scared. “So, either you get on your knees and apologize right now, Baby, or you’ll be in the next taxi to hell.”

Justin knew what the word ‘whore’ meant - it wasn’t a nice word at all, but he’d heard it a couple times when he’d snuck in and hidden behind the couch and listened to the shows his mother watched late at night - but he didn’t know what Angry Man meant about doing that to his ass. Why were all these motel people always talking about each other’s asses, anyway? They were kicking asses, and tearing asses, and now whoring asses. Justin didn’t think it was right to be using that word all the time like that. It wasn’t a very polite word. Don’t get him wrong, Justin loved when Brian did things to his behind, but he still cringed whenever his boyfriend said the word. He certainly didn’t want to have any of these motel people doing nasty things to his behind, though. Only Brian got to do those things.

“No thank you, Angry Man.” Justin said, his voice was a little  shaky due to his nerves getting the best of him, but he still wasn’t going to back down. 

The boy Angry Man had called ‘Beauty’ whimpered a little when he heard Justin’s insolence. Justin looked over at the kid and noticed how scared he seemed. The kid also looked like he was in a lot of pain. No way was Justin going to allow something like that to happen to him, Angry Man or no.

Justin squared his shoulders and tried to remember to be brave the way Brian had told him he could be. “Brian is the only one who gets to do things to my behind - by the way, ‘ass’ isn’t a very nice word, you know - and I WON’T let you or your friends hurt me. I wouldn’t let you do that even if we were family, but we’re not. My only family was my crazy mother, and I didn’t like what she did to me either, which is why I kinda, sorta, killed her, although Ms. Attorney said it wasn’t really my fault cuz I wasn’t the crazy one and it was my mother that heard the voices, not me, and then Ms. Attorney made it so the hospital people had to let me go and told the police to let Brian go too and . . .” Justin realized he was running on, so he cut his story short and moved on. “My point is that I won’t let you hurt me, Angry Man. And I won’t get on my knees either - especially since this floor is way too icky, so I think I’ll just keep standing, although this is one time I really would prefer to have my shoes on - and I’m not going to apologize either since I’m not the one being rude.” Justin ended defiantly, but then ruined it all when he scrunched his nose up adorably and curled his toes as he again contemplated the crusty carpet touching his bare soles. 

The whole room fell silent, waiting anxiously to see what the Big Angry Man would do.

Hugo scrubbed an irritated hand over his face before turning so he could instruct the rest of the group and pointedly ignoring the insubordinate blond. He brusquely ordered the rest of the group to finish what they were doing, pretty themselves up for the night, and get the hell out. The boys quickly followed orders, kissing Hugo on the cheek and receiving an obligatory pat on the ass as they tended to their tasks. It didn’t take long since most of the boys were used to their Daddy’s mercurial moods and more than happy to get the hell out while the getting was good. 

As they were leaving, Hugo casually commented that they better bust their asses extra hard; they were going to have to work twice as hard to make up for the money he’d be losing because of their wifey’s lazy ass. Many of the boys gave Justin a dirty look as they walked past on their way out of the hotel suite. When Justin went to follow the last one out of the room, Hugo grabbed Justin’s shoulder and towed him back inside. Hunter hesitated in the doorway, but then Angry Man growled at him and even the Skinny Boy fled. Which left Justin standing there, alone, trying not to show any fear while the angry giant of a man stared him down. 

Hugo, meanwhile, was trying to decide what the hell he was going to do with his wayward boy. He usually didn’t put up with anyone in his stable defying him or questioning him in any way. It was bad for business. That being said, he’d always fancied himself more of a Finesser than a Gorilla, not to mention that he had a bit of a soft spot for Tristan. The boy had been with him longer than almost any of the others - hell, the kid had been practically a baby when Hugo had tempted him away from the shithole foster home he’d been parked in and turned him out for the first time - so Hugo felt even more paternalistic towards this boy than any of the rest. Plus, there was something about the way his blond beauty had stood up to him that made Hugo the tiniest bit proud.

Hugo had felt something was off with Tristan for a while now. He’d been watching the kid for the past week or so and noticed that Tristan had been acting distracted; he’d worried that the kid might be contemplating going renegade, which would be even worse for business than letting the kid have a night off. So he really wasn’t surprised when Tristan had acted up. The question was how to handle the situation without losing his prize worker or his reputation.

“Listen, Baby, I don’t know what’s gotten into you tonight, but I get it. You’re growing up. You’re testing your limits. I kinda respect that. You gotta be strong to survive in this game and if this is your way of showing me that you can handle yourself, I like it. Maybe, I don’t know, but I’m thinking you just might have what it takes to be my bottom. What do you say? You think you could help me keep the rest of this brood in line?”

Justin couldn’t help but laugh at the big man asking him to be his bottom. I mean, didn’t he already have a bottom of his own? Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to keep his pants up.

“Don’t be silly, Angry Man. I can’t be your bottom.” Justin snickered softly. “You already have one. In fact, it’s what’s holding your pants up. Besides, I don’t think it would be very comfortable having you sit on me all the time.”

A low laugh rumbled through Hugo’s chest and he shook his head at the boy’s antics. He decided right then and there that Tristan was definitely ready to be his bottom bitch, which meant no more road work for his beauty. Going forward, this was one commodity that was officially off the market. Well, within reason, of course.

“Don’t be a smartass, Baby. Take the offer and be glad I’m not tanning your ass for giving me lip,” Hugo warned, trying not to let on that this boy had him by the balls. “And you better not fuck up or I’ll change my mind and give you that beating you should have got for not bringing Daddy home your quota money.” Then the big man fished around in the inside pocket of his worn leather jacket and pulled out a small manilla envelope. “Here. You can start by taking this to Demarcus. He still owes me for the new merchandise I brought him last week. You give him this and make sure you wait around till he pays up. When you get back we can go over the books and I’ll start showing you how the business end of things works. Got it?”

“Say ‘please’ first, Mr. Angry Man, or I won’t help you,” an insistent Justin demanded, earning himself a sub-vocal growl from the pimp.

“Enough, Tristan. Get your ass in gear and get the hell out of here or I’ll give you a please . . .”

“Fine, but, what’s a ‘demarcus’?”