The Lion’s Mail Order Menage

Instead of dark, dank rooms with peeling grey walls and the sounds of women crying or cowering in fear, Caleb brought her to a bustling Italian restaurant, the smell of which made her stomach growl the moment she walked through the door. 

While some of the men in the room looked the part of scary gangster (the kind of men who showed up to break your legs if you didn’t cooperate or pay your rent on time), for the most part these people looked friendly. 

They were laughing and drinking and trading stories back and forth that all sounded just a little bit like tall tales to her.  In the center of them all, sitting at a large wingback chair made from a supple leather she could tell must have cost a fortune, sat the man she was sure was the center of it all. 

He had the look of a man who knew, without having to think about it, that his orders were going to be followed.  Undying loyalty.  That was what he expected.  Meena could see it in his eyes and she wondered to herself what would happen if his golden boy (who for some reason she knew must be Caleb) were ever to disobey.

But then the jolly, formidable man’s eyes landed upon them and he grinned a wide, inviting smile that couldn’t help but draw Meena in some.  She could see how he would be a surrogate father.  He was probably really good at it right up until the moment when he saw fit to administer punishment.

“Caleb!  Where the hell have you been, you slippery son of a bi*ch?  I’ve been waiting for you.  Get your ass over here, I want to meet your girl.”

“You ready for this?”

Meena glanced at Caleb, who took her hand briefly and squeezed it to let her know that it was OK, that he was there with her.  It was sweet, although he didn’t need to worry.  Charming men like this man Geno was one of the things she was best at.  It was something she had been well-schooled in and something that came in handy at times like this. 

She gave Caleb a little squeeze in return and then let his hand go, gliding forward to greet what was ostensibly her new Don.

“Hello, sir, it’s so lovely to meet you.  My name is Meena.  I’ve heard quite a bit about you.  I’m glad to finally put a face to the stories.”

“Ha!  The stories, huh?  Well, that doesn’t sound too good for me, now does it?  God damn, these boys got lucky now, didn’t they?  Nobody told me how beautiful you were.  Haven’t heard a word about that.  But hold on now, weren’t there supposed to be two of you?”

“Funny thing about that, Geno.”

And there was Tyler, appearing as if out of nowhere, answering his question with a smooth, slick voice that was meant to make it seem as if nothing at all had gone wrong.  Meena was still on the fence about that boy, but she was grateful to see him in that moment.  He seemed fully prepared to handle this prickly situation.

“Funny thing, huh?  Does that funny thing involve you two only getting one girl?”

“It does, indeed.  I can tell you all about it and what we decided to do, if you like.”

“Sh*t,” Geno said with a comical grimace that set the room to laughing, “no thanks.  I think I’d rather not know.  Just so long as it doesn’t get in the way or cause any problems.  And it’s not going to, right?”

Tyler looked up, first at Meena and then at Caleb, waiting for some indication of whether or not the conversation had taken place and what the outcome had been.  Caleb nodded once and Tyler looked back to Geno with a cocky, sure grin.

“Never.  You won’t even notice a difference.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe we need to show this little lady a good time, show her some of the sights.”

“I bet you do.”

The laughter in the room got even louder and Tyler made an extravagant bow to his adoring fans before coming to join Meena and Caleb.  She looked at him intently, trying to figure out how much of his bravado was real, wondering how in the world this arrangement was going to work with a man as over the top as this one.  But she didn’t have much time for her musings, not with Tyler in the outlandish mood he seemed to be in.

“So.  You two talked, did you?”

“We did.”

“And you’re on board, Meena?  You don’t find us repulsive for our request?”

“No, Tyler,” she said with a small, vague smile, “I don’t.  And even if I did, I’ve certainly encountered things far more repulsive than this.  I can assure you of that.”

“Well, good!  Then it’s settled.  Now we can get down to the business of enjoying ourselves.”

He turned, all set to go, and, if Meena were going to take a guess, get himself another drink.  But something made him stop and turn back towards them, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.

“And did you tell her the rest?”

“Tyler, come on, man.”

“No, it’s OK.  Did he, Meena?  Did he tell you the rest of it?”

“I have no way of knowing for sure, but judging by the look on his face I would say he did not.”

“Tyler, stop it.  You’re going too far now.”

“No, I don’t think I am.  She deserves to know everything.  Don’t you want to, Meena?  Don’t you want to know what we really are?”

Caught in the middle, Meena’s eyes shifted from one man to the other and then back again.  She knew that there was something more to these men, had known it right from the very start.  She believed she wanted to understand what it was, too.  Even so, when those careless words tumbled out of Tyler’s voice she felt a chill she simply could not explain. 

Once you knew a thing, she reminded herself, you could not then go back and unlearn it.  No matter how hard you tried, no matter how much you wished it to be so.