The Lion’s Mail Order Menage

Chapter 6

“So what’s the deal, Tyler?  What’s the story with you and Caleb?”

“Aw, it ain’t nothin, OK?  There’s no story.  Just brother sh*t, you know?”

“I hear you saying that but it don’t make me feel any better.  Brothers don’t fight this way, at least not in my organization.  I like my people to get along, especially the ones who came to me together, the ones who’ve known each other since birth.”

“But Geno, you don’t have any other people like that.  It’s only me and Caleb.”

“Exactly, which means it’s all on you two.  Think you can handle the pressure?”

“I can always handle the pressure.”

“That’s what I was hoping to hear.  So if that’s the case, tell me what’s going on.  And don’t try and bullsh*t me.  You know how I feel about that, don’t you?”

“It takes one to know one, right?”

“Exactly.  So how about you just give it to me straight?”

“Sure, you know I will, Geno.  Just tell me what you want to know.”

“I want to know what I’ve already asked.  I want to know what thing happened between you and your brother.”

“It was a bunch of crap, is what it was.  The kind of bullsh*t men get up to when they’ve had too much to drink.”

“You are a stupid drunk, I’ll vouch for that.”

“You wanna hear this story or not, Geno?”

“Careful.  Don’t forget who you’re talking to.  And yes, I want to hear the story.”

“Alright, so here it is.  I went to see my folks, which you know is always a mistake, and it was this time, too.  I left mad, mad enough to kill a person, and the only place I could think of to go was Caleb’s place.  I wasn’t sure if he’d have any booze because, well, you never know with him, so I picked up a couple of handles, you know?  Just to help take the edge off.”

“Right.  This all sounds like pretty normal stuff.  So tell me how it went from that to Caleb not showing his face around these parts for the better part of a week?”

“So I got to thinking how neither of us really had anybody.  How neither of us have anybody we could call our own.  I thought that was something I might like to change and I knew it was something I could find a remedy to, I just had to think outside of the box.  So that’s what I did, I thought outside of the box and Caleb went along with it, too, until the next morning when he was feeling sick and ashamed of himself.  All I did was remind him that he isn’t so far above the rest of us, not on his insides.”

“Aw, Jesus, I don’t like the way that sounds.  What is it you did to remedy your isolation, boy?  Tell me quick, before I lose my temper.”

“You know those sites?  Those sites for girls looking to come over to America?  They call ‘em mail order brides, right?  They’re just there for the taking, so that’s what I did.  I took them and they’re going to be here any day now.”

“God, you are a fool, aren’t you?  What were you thinking?”

“So you’ve got a bleeding heart about it also, is that it?  Can’t say I expected that from you.”

“This is your last warning,” Geno said in a low voice, the kind of soft voice that told people he was on the verge of becoming really and truly dangerous. “You need to remember who runs this place and who you are.  You’re special to me and you know it, but you’re getting close to crossing a line you don’t want to cross.”

“Yes, sir.  Sorry, sir.”

“Now, I don’t say it’s foolish because I have a bleeding heart.  As far as those wh*res are concerned, I don’t even have a heart.  But to do something that could draw attention to yourself in this way?  To bring total strangers into your home, into your business?  That’s what makes you a fool.  It isn’t every girl that’s cut out for a life like this, not every girl who understands this life.  Where are these broads from, anyway?”

“Russia.  They’re both from Russia.”

“Well, that’ll probably work in our favor.  At least you did that part right.  So what’s the deal?  You ordered these poor chicks and now they’re just supposed to come here and live with you?  They’re just going to come and share your lives?  Did you think about them being bad for business, maybe getting in the way?  Or did you just think about yourself?”

Tyler was pretty much speechless, which was something he had not often experienced.  There weren’t a lot of people he cared about impressing, but Geno was one of them.  He saw Geno as a sort of a stand in father figure for the sh*tty hand he had been dealt.  He was rough, but he was far more paternal than his own deadbeat father had ever been or could ever hope to be.  He had also been one of the only people Tyler had been willing or able to take direction from in his whole life and so to be so openly chastised felt like a slap to the face. 

It didn’t help that the concerns Geno brought up were unquestionably valid, nor that they were all things Tyler himself had not considered.  He liked to think that he was a much more clever person than people gave him credit for and it was of particular importance to him that Geno saw him as smart.  Doing things like this, things that were so clearly rash and ill conceived, that didn’t help his image with the boss one bit.  Knowing that made him angry and he didn’t know who to be angry at, so he just sat there seething, knowing that everything he was being told was something he deserved.

“Tyler.  You’ve never been a mute in your whole life.  I don’t think now is the time to start.  What do you have to say to that?  What are your thoughts?”

“I didn’t think of it.”

“What was that?  I couldn’t quite hear you.”

“I said I didn’t think of it, OK?  I didn’t think it through.  I just knew that there was something missing and I needed to fix it.  I needed to fix it for both of us.  Don’t you see?  Things ain’t never been easy for Caleb and me, never been good.  That’s why I came to find you all those years ago, so that I could figure out a way to take care of the both of us.