Mark would know them?His curiosity won outover his common sense and he let himself be led closer to thegathering.
“Father Mark,” one of the closest men saidapprovingly, and there was a buzz of greeting from the others.
“Dave,” Mark said in surprise.He looked atthe others.“Willis.Anders.”Mark still had no idea what was goingon, but he was no longer afraid.“All of you!It’s good to see youall!”
That was when the screen door of the housepushed open and a man stepped out onto the porch.He stoodsilently, watching, and even from a distance Mark could see thathis face was bruised and there was a bright white bandage stretchedacross his newly broken nose.
Lucas nodded in satisfaction and looked atthe gathered men.“You ready?”he asked.
“Lucas!”Mark caught the other man’s arm.“This isn’t…what are you doing?Is this…”
Lucas shook his head.“We’re not looking fortrouble,” he said firmly.“Just making a point.”
Mark wasn’t at all sure that this was a goodidea but he’d trusted Lucas this far and guessed he’d better do ita little longer.“No violence,” he said pleadingly.
“I hope not,” Lucas agreed.Then he steppedforward, crossing the lawn like a lion staring down a hyena.Theother men followed behind him and Mark let himself be swept up inthe pack, waiting to see what was going to happen.
“Hey, Mikey,” Lucas said casually when hereached the base of the porch steps.“How’s the nose?”
“Fuck you, Cain.”
“Tinker around?Or the other guy?The onewith the broken hand?”
“Is this a social call?”Mikey sneered.Markhad to give the man credit for courage, although after a certainpoint it had to start being called stupidity.
“It’slastcall.”Lucas stepped alittle closer.“Fun time is over.”He peered around the large manon the porch and called out, “Tinker?You should probably hearthis.Anybody in the house…you should hear this.”
The screen door opened slowly and several menabout the same age as Lucas stepped cautiously outside.Markrecognized two from the night before, one of them wearing a cast onhis hand just as Lucas had apparently anticipated.Another was thefriend, the one who’d come to the halfway house looking for Lucas,and Mark was pretty sure he saw a quick nod of acknowledgement passbetween the two of them.But then Lucas was back to business.
He spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear,but he was clearly aiming his words at the porch.“When I got outof jail, you guys wanted to hear stories about all the hard men Imet inside.Remember that?I didn’t give you details, but let metell you…they werehard.”He paused for a moment to let themfeel the weight of that word.“They were like nothing you couldunderstand with your bullshit bar fights and your patheticshit-smearing.They were…” He shook his head as if he didn’t havewords, then shrugged.“But they don’t stay in jail forever.Andwhen they get out, you know where some of them go?”He glanced overtoward Mark.“They go to this man’s halfway house, and he helpsthem find jobs and get their families back and be human beingsagain.”Now he half-turned to include the men behind him in hislittle speech.“They owe him, and they know it.It took about sixphone calls to get all these guys here tonight.It waseasy.I just told them Father Mark needed a favor and they asked me whenand where.That was all.”He looked at Mark now, obviously wantinghim to understand how simple it had been.Then he stepped closer tothe house and lowered his voice.“And now they know what’s goingon.Out of respect for Father Mark, they’re not going to beat theshit out of you tonight.They’re not going to burn your house downand smash up your car and cut off your fucking fingers.Nottonight.But you need to understand…Father Mark is under theirprotection.Anything else happens to him?Anything?”Lucas shookhis head sadly.“That’d be it.”
He held the moment for just the right amountof time before stepping back and shrugging casually.“So, notexactly a social call.Just letting you know how things stand.Letting you know it’s not a game, not anymore.”
Mikey looked at the men on his lawn and thenstepped forward a little.The other men on the porch watched him intrepidation as he stared at Lucas and hissed, “And what about you?These hard men protecting you too?”
Lucas snorted and took another step forward.“I don’t need anyone to protect me from a pussy like you, Mikey.You want to go?We can go right now, if you want.”Another stepforward and Mark could see the same icy expression that Lucas hadworn through the trial.The expression that said Lucas didn’t careabout anything and had absolutely nothing to lose.There was afrozen moment and then Mikey shifted his weight just enough todisengage.He was backing down without running away, and apparentlyit was enough to satisfy Lucas.“We used to be friends, Mikey.I’drather not see you get fucked up.But this needs to be over.Youunderstand?”
Mikey looked rebellious.“I want thesefuckers off my lawn, Lucas.This is bullshit!”
Lucas shook his head like Mikey was amisbehaving toddler.When he spoke again, his voice was dangerouslyquiet.“You understand.You’ve been warned.That’s all I can do foryou.It’s up to you, now.”He let his gaze widen to include theother men on the porch.“Your call.”
He stepped backward without looking away, andagain Mark saw the slight nod from the friend on the porch, the onewho’d come to the house.He looked almost pleased with thesituation and the acknowledgement seemed admiring, as if he wastipping an imaginary hat in Lucas’s direction.It should have beencomforting to know that Lucas had an ally, but instead Mark’s guttwisted unpleasantly.He didn’t like this man, didn’t like thehistory he and Lucas shared and the bond they apparently stillfelt.
It wasn’t jealousy, he told himself as themen eased back off the lawn like a receding tide.He wasn’t quitesure what it was, but surely not jealousy.He made his way down tothe sidewalk and shook a few hands, exchanged a few words, but mostof the men seemed content to have come, played their part, and thenleave without fanfare.Lucas stood at the side of it all,watching.
A siren sounded from somewhere not far awayand the pace of departure got a little quicker.Lucas jerked hishead back the way they’d come.“I need to get out of here,” hesaid.He checked his watch.“And I need to get home.I think thishas taken care of things, but I’ll walk you home to be sure, ifthat’s okay.”
Mark started walking, trying to sort it allout in his mind.He felt the same adrenaline rush as he had thenight before and he was beginning to understand how the sensationcould become addictive.It made it hard to think clearly, but maybethat was part of the appeal.They were down the block and aroundthe corner before he asked, “What about you?You’ll be okay?Itsounded like that guy…Mikey?It sounded like he might come afteryou instead of me.”
Lucas shrugged.“Probably not.He just had tosave face.”
“‘Probably’ isn’t good enough,” Markprotested.“We need to be sure.”
Lucas turned to look at him and almoststopped walking, then shook his head and started again.“There’s nosuch thing as sure,” he said, and he sounded surprised that he hadto explain something so obvious.“Maybe in your world.But in mine?Probably is pretty damn good.”He grinned suddenly.“That was cool,right?I mean, it was good that I brought you?I wasn’t going tobut you seemed kind of…kind of down about shit at work.Like maybeyou were wondering if it was all worthwhile, or something?”Hepaused as if suddenly doubting the accuracy of his perceptions,then shrugged.“Maybe not.But it seemed like something that’d becool to see.All those guys willing to stand up for you.Guys whoare grateful for what you did for them.”He seemed to have talkedhimself back into his usual state of self-doubt, and his expressionwas more tentative as he said, “I hope it’s okay.I guess maybeyou’d have been safer at home…”
They were taking a shortcut through a widealley behind a convenience store, a wood fence on one side, theconcrete of the store on the other, and a dumpster between them andthe street.Mark didn’t let himself think, just acted before hecould start doubting his instincts.He moved fast enough to catchLucas by surprise and pushed him backward, following as theystumbled a few steps and then thudded against the concrete wall.“Idon’t want to be safe,” Mark said, his voice quiet but intense.Hemeant it, just like he meant the kiss that followed the words.
It wasn’t rough like it had been the nightbefore, but it also wasn’t one-sided.Lucas snaked his head forwardas soon as he saw Mark coming and their lips met with evenpressure.Mark grasped Lucas’s head with both hands while Lucastugged at the bottom of Mark’s shirt, impatiently finding his wayinside, his fingers strong and demanding against the skin of Mark’sback.Mark was only too happy to comply with the order Lucas gave,letting himself lean forward then shuffling his feet in so theycould line up even more of their bodies.
