The Lion’s Mail Order Menage

“And that’s why I know that you’re smarter than you like to come off.  You see things for what they really are.  You see the underbelly of things and you understand a thing when you do it.  Maybe too much, I think.  It isn’t the thing you’re made for, this job.  Now don’t worry, that don’t mean I’m ousting you, I won’t ever do that. 

“But the day you ask to be let out is the day I let you go with tears in my eyes.  You need something better than all of this.  You deserve something different, hell, maybe even something straight up; something legit.”

It was a surprisingly touching sentiment from such a gruff, dangerous man.  It was more thoughtful than anything his own father had ever said to him.  That wasn’t really saying much, but still.  It felt like it should count for something.  It was a heavier moment that he and Geno had ever had together and on top of the things he had spent his day brooding over, it was hard not to let it drive him to question the things he had made out of his life.

It wasn’t really the life for him, this life of petty mafia crime, and he knew it.  He had known it for a long time, from the beginning.  He had known it even walking down those lonely docks, that same night he had ruined his father’s slippers and gotten one of the worst beatings of his life.  But leaving the life would mean leaving Tyler behind and then who would he be? 

He didn’t know how to exist without Tyler.  He was like his stronger half, the dominant brother in a pair of twins.  He felt like the decision he faced was like choosing between Tyler’s life and his own and that was not something he was willing to do.

“Cheer up, Caleb, it ain’t so bad.  You don’t have to make any kind of decisions tonight.  Nothing’s gonna happen you can’t handle in the next twenty-four hours.  Just something to think on, you know?  I just felt like it was something I needed to say.  And you know what else I need to say?”

“Jesus, no, I don’t.  Is it a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It’s not bad.  Don’t take life so seriously!”

“OK, what is it?”

“You need to get laid.”

“Ha!  What now?”

“You heard me.  You need to get laid.  You need a woman, bad.”