Tough Love

by David Horne

  Was that his way of saying he was single and available? Mark felt heat tickling the back of his neck. He had often wondered if Jack was single, but he had never openly asked. Mark was aware that Jack had been married before and his wife had died of cancer ten years before, but it wasn’t clear if he had anyone else in his life; Jack played things close to his chest when it came to his private life.

  Was he trying to tell Mark something? Mark gulped.

  “Does it get lonely on your own?”

  “Does it for you?”

  “I’ve got two kids running around here. I don’t have time to be lonely.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  They stared at each other. Was it suddenly a lot warmer in there? Mark could feel the sweat trickling down his back. Damn, Jack could make any situation hot, especially with the way he looked at someone like the way he was looking at Mark.

  You are so lucky the kids are in the house, or you would be getting jumped by now.

  “It...it can get a bit lonely on occasion. But I make do. What about you?”

  “Sometimes.” Jack glanced away. “I miss having someone around me. I like the quiet, but it can get suffocating. I guess that’s why I’m always at work.”

  Mark managed a slight grin.

  “You need to get yourself a girlfriend. Give you something to do, or someone.”

  “Or maybe a boyfriend. Not fussed either way.”

  Mark blinked.

  “You bisexual?”

  “Pansexual.”

  “Oh.”

  That was not quite the response he expected. Mark had never asked about Jack’s sexuality, but he did wonder if Jack was bisexual. He had been married to a woman, who had been lovely according to Josie, but from the way Jack looked at Mark he wondered if the door swung both ways. But pansexual?

  Mark realized he had been staring with Jack looking at him with a raised eyebrow. God, Mark felt like an idiot.

  “Interesting.” Now that sounded lame. “I never realized.”

  “Why would you? We don’t look any different to anyone else.”

  “I guess.” Mark managed a smile. “Although it’s nice to know you’re not fussy.”

  “If you float my boat, you’re in it.”

  Mark didn’t know what to say to that. His mouth opened and closed a few times with Jack giving him a heated look. Did he float Jack’s boat? Damn. Maybe he had a chance, after all.

  “Mark?”

  Mark jumped and spun around. Stevie was in the doorway, giving him a strange look. Mark hadn’t realized that the door had opened.

  “Yeah, Stevie?”

  “Did you say we were having dinner soon? Christy and I are getting hungry.”

  “Oh. Right.” Mark rubbed his hands on his jeans. Suddenly, his hands were sweaty. “Pizza or Chinese?”

  “Chinese.” Stevie made a face. “I need something to keep me focused. I hate math.”

  “That your homework right now?”

  “Sadly.”

  Stevie hated math. He was good at his other subjects, but when it came to numbers he couldn’t get his head around them. It was like his brain just didn’t want to work. Mark understood; he was the same with it. Which was why helping Stevie with his homework was a bit of a nightmare.

  “Want some help?” Jack asked. “I’m pretty good at math.”

  Mark stared at him.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. It would give me something to do while you’re ordering food.”

  “Thanks.” Stevie grinned. “I hope you’re better at math than Mark is.”

  Jack laughed and came around the counter.

  “I’m sure everyone’s better than Mark at math.”

  “Hey! Why are you ganging up on me?”

  Jack was still laughing as he passed Mark and headed towards the dining table. Their arms brushed and Mark felt the shivers go up his arm. He was sure the hairs on his arm were prickling. He watched as Jack and Stevie sat at the table, Stevie laying out his homework from the binder.

  “You...what do you fancy for Chinese?”

  “Anything as long as it’s hot.” Jack shot him a glance over his shoulder, his eyes glinting. “I’m sure you can find something that will float my boat.”

  That sounded far more sexual than it should have been.

  Chapter Three

  Mark was glad to be heading into work. Sort of. He loved his job, but it did leave him emotionally drained. It was no wonder most of his coworkers left after a couple of years; it just sucked the soul out of the people who worked in CPS. Mark had been there for six years now, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. The kids needed someone to be their voice, and Mark was happy to be that for them.

  They weren’t always bad children. If they were bad, it was often by circumstances. Although the ones who were bad and nothing had happened to warrant it were the scary ones. Mark wished he could help the parents, and there were parents who genuinely wanted to do whatever they could to have CPS sign off on them, and then there were people who believed they were being targeted for a myriad of reasons.

  Mark got exhausted doing that all day, but it was worth it. Especially when he got home and saw Stevie and Christy. They were worth doing it all again the next day.

  At least it was Stevie’s last day in suspension. Mark had already notified the school that due to their inability to stop the harassment by the other students, Stevie was moving schools and Mark was notifying the school board before launching an investigation into the bullying. It was far more rife than Mark realized when Stevie told him. As far as he was aware, the teachers did nothing about it. Stevie would be in a new school and in a better place; Principal Dockerty would not tolerate bullying at all.

  Thankfully, Christy’s school was a little nicer. Not completely, but she wasn’t being bullied. That would change once she got to middle school in the next year, Mark was sure. Christy was tough, but she wouldn’t be able to withstand what Stevie had gone through. Girls were far nastier than boys, Mark had found out. They could smile sweetly to your face while stabbing you in the back. The girls Mark had gone to school with had been very good at it.

  The only upside was that Stevie had something to do. Jack had offered to pay Stevie to do some odd jobs for him. He took the week off, much to Mark’s surprise, and said that Stevie could head over throughout the week to either work on the garden or help Jack out with a few DIY stuff around the house. Mark had tried to protest - he didn’t have to do all of that - but Jack was insistent. He said it would keep Stevie busy, and he would keep an eye on the kid.

  Mark hadn’t known what to say to that, but Stevie had looked delighted at the thought of doing something that wasn’t keeping him shut up in the house. And it did mean Mark could go to work and not rely too much on his mother. Amber Washington worked part-time, so she could watch Stevie occasionally, but she did have to work as well and Mark wasn’t comfortable leaving Stevie alone in the house all day. Last time he did that, Stevie had made a mess that Mark didn’t think was possible to make in such a short space of time. It was time he learned more about responsibility.

  And Amber lived two streets over from Jack, so Mark could drop Stevie off at Amber’s and he could walk over to Jack’s when he had had his breakfast. Amber was happy to be a taxi at the end of the day providing Stevie did the work. Jack would make sure of that.

  Mark didn’t know why he deserved to have Jack helping him out. But he appreciated it. At least he would be able to come home and not find it looking like a bomb had gone through it.

  Mark was whistling as he headed into his offices. There were no face-to-face appointments today, only paperwork. Mark preferred the paperwork side of it, especially when it made his desk look neat and tidy. His colleagues called him odd, but Mark was fine with it. Before Stevie and Christy came along, Mark would be at his desk until close to two in the morning if he wasn’t watching the time. Now he was able to organize his time better and get things done. Stevie and
Christy were old enough that they could look after themselves for an hour or so if Mark got delayed, but he rarely did that. Having someone at home made getting off his computer a little easier.

  Would that work if he had a partner to come home to? More than likely, but it would depend on the partner. Jack? Mark would be running home.

  He did wonder what Jack would say if he wanted something more than just friendship. There were some very obvious flirtations now, Jack coming over every day for dinner after bringing Stevie home. Mark was surprised but he didn’t stop it, although he wished they could really be alone. Having children close by and with very sharp ears could kill the mood. Mark didn’t want to explain that to his foster kids what he was up to. His sexuality was never raised with either of them, neither of them asking. Christy had asked him once why he hadn’t got a girlfriend and Mark just said that he was always busy. If they knew he was gay, they hadn’t mentioned it.

  Might have ended up rather weird for all of them if the kids caught him with Jack in that way.

  Mark pushed that aside as he stepped into the elevator. He didn’t want to go through all that right now, not when he was heading into work. It wasn’t a good idea to get an erection in this suit. And anything involving fantasies about Jack McGuire gave him an erection that was very hard to get rid of. Mark didn’t want to frighten his coworkers.

  Mark stepped off the elevator and almost ran into a woman pacing the lobby. He started to apologize and step around, only to find the woman clutching his arms.

  “Excuse me, I…” Then he saw who was in front of him. “Ms. Banfield. What are you doing here?”

  “I need to speak to you, Mr. Washington.” Tracey looked rather distraught. “Now.”

  “I don’t have an appointment with you.”

  “Please, Mark.” Tracey’s fingers dug into his arms. “I need to talk to you.”

  She didn’t look good. She was dressed in a simple red sweater and jeans, her hair held back by a red headband, all put together, but there was a wild look in her eyes. It was a look Mark had seen many times on addicts. She was high right now, or she was close to coming down from it. Mark was sure she was going to break sooner rather than later.

  If she tried to deny she was on drugs now, chances were nobody would believe her. Mark wouldn’t believe her. That court order to be drug tested and go into rehab hadn’t sunk in.

  And she wasn’t going to leave anytime soon. Sighing, Mark shrugged his arms away and beckoned her to follow him. The sooner he could get her out of there, the bigger. Tracey could be desperate now, but she had been very combative with her lawyer. Joe had said Tracey was just as horrid to her attorney, enough for them to fire her. That didn’t surprise Mark after the way he saw Tracey behave in court on Monday.

  They reached Mark’s desk, where Mark put down his laptop case. Then he indicated for Tracey to join him. Crossing the huge room that had been divided up into cubicles, they stepped into the empty conference room. Mark closed the door as Tracey paced across the room, her arms wrapped around her waist. She spun around so quickly Mark was surprised she didn’t fall over.

  “Mom called me. They’re going to send Lucas back to jail today.”

  “I was aware that he was having his parole hearing today.” Mark folded his arms. “I’m not surprised they revoked his release.”

  If they hadn’t, they were more stupid than Mark thought. No one in their right mind would let a child molester be around a kid.

  “But he’ll die in prison.” Tracey cried. “He’s not strong enough to face prison again.”

  Mark almost burst out laughing. He had seen the size of Lucas. He looked like he could handle himself easily. It was the other prisoners Mark was worried about if Lucas lost his temper. Apparently, he had one wicked right hook.

  “Lucas should’ve thought about that before he violated his parole. He was told that he couldn’t be around children, and yet you kept leaving your children with your mother while he was living there. Were you trying to get him back in jail?”

  “I didn’t mean anything like it!” Tracey now looked panicked. “Mom said it was okay!”

  “And you should’ve said no. You should’ve kept your kids while you had custody of them, not try and change the goalposts because you don’t like being told no.”

  Tracey bristled. Mark couldn’t keep up with her switch of emotions. It was like she had multiple personalities stacking up to come forward.

  “Lucas is my brother. Would you want me to turn my back on my brother?”

  “I would’ve wanted you to follow the rules of his parole so he could be back on the streets. Not being around children still applies even after that, but if you loved him enough you wouldn’t do that.”

  “Family doesn’t split apart, Mr. Washington.”

  Mark snorted.

  “Considering that’s what you did to your ex-husband and he was meant to be your family, that’s a bit of a hypocritical thing to say, isn’t it?”

  Tracey flushed. Her eyes narrowed.

  “Joe never liked Lucas. Said he was a creep. Lucas is not a creep.”

  She had to be smoking something really strong to believe that Lucas Banfield wasn’t a creep. Mark wondered how this woman was rational and a decent person like Joe said she had been when they first met and got married. Living far away from her mother had done Tracey some good, and she had been strong. But as soon as they came back around the same time Lucas got out of jail, it all went to hell.

  Lucas had to be the catalyst for Tracey’s downward spiral. Mark couldn’t see anything else. He was far more dangerous to Tracey than she realized. Jack had thought Lucas had fed Tracey drugs and she only became a decent person and got clean when he wasn’t around. Mark was inclined to agree with him.

  “Tracey, your brother is a convicted child molester. Four counts of it. You know the conditions of his parole. You were there when they were dictated to Lucas. Ever since he came back out, you’ve been defending him when before you refused to have anything to do with him.”

  “I always defended him!”

  “Not when you were living several states away. Joe commented that you changed when you guys moved to California. Something else is going on.” Mark looked her up and down. “I wonder if I took your socks off, would I find needle tracks?”

  “I’m not taking drugs!” Tracey almost screamed.

  “The dilation of your pupils says otherwise.”

  Tracey’s nostrils flared. Mark braced himself, half-expecting her to launch herself at him. Then Tracey squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

  “Nothing is going on with me. I’m just breaking free of a bad marriage. Or trying to. Now I can’t have my babies at all.”

  “You can have your children more than right now if you do as the judge recommended...”

  “No!” Tracey swiped a hand through the air. “That judge is a fool. I don’t need to do any of that shit.”

  “You haven’t got a choice, it’s court-mandated.” Mark was beginning to get impatient. “You don’t do it, you’ll never see your kids again. That’s written into your agreement. I’m sure your new attorney has said that as well.”

  Tracey snorted.

  “My new attorney. If my old attorney hadn’t switched around so much, I wouldn’t need to find a new one.”

  Mark bit back a retort. He knew the reasons for the changing of lawyers. Alex had ended up having a one-night stand with Joe, and now they were embarking on a relationship. His female colleague had then represented Tracey for her final hearing before firing her as a client. They wouldn’t touch her after her antics, and Mark couldn’t blame them. From the way Tracey had acted, she was lucky Alex hadn’t kicked her beforehand.

  He knew the custody agreement. Joe had primary and legal custody and Tracey would get restricted visitation which would be looked at again once she did rehab and parenting classes. They were ordered by the court and Tracey had thirty days to comply. From the way she was a
cting, that wasn’t happening.

  “Fine, then.” Tracey adjusted her sweater with a sniff. “They’ll come and find me when they’re eighteen if it’s going to be that bad. I know they’ll look for me.”

  “Don’t put all your hopes on that. And you shouldn’t put all that onto your children’s shoulders when you should be straightening yourself out.”

  “There’s nothing to straighten out.”

  They were going to go around in circles all morning. Mark had no time for that. He took a deep breath.

  “You, your brother and your mother did a very bad thing. Now you’re suffering the consequences. You want to be a parent? Do what’s best for your children and follow what the judge told you to do.”

  But Tracey shook her head.

  “Not a chance. I don’t need to do anything. I’m the mother, so I should have custody.”

  “Doesn’t work like that and you know it.”

  Tracey looked him up and down. Had she expected him to agree with her and promise to do something? She already knew that she was in serious trouble for filing false CPS reports on her ex-husband, so the fact she had shown her face here after that was pretty brazen. Mark’s boss had her put on a special list to not take any type of reports due to her being unreliable. Did she really think Mark would be on her side?

  Tracey’s mouth curled in a sneer. She was all over the place with her emotions again.

  “I bet you let Joe off all the time because you’re fucking him.” Her voice dripped venom. “I only found out yesterday that he was fucking my attorney. Did he do the same to you as well?”

  “Now you’re crossing a line, Ms. Banfield.”

  “Did he?”

  Mark glared.

  “No, he didn’t. And if you’re going to accuse me of anything further, you’re to leave the office immediately.” He grabbed at the door handle and yanked the door open. “Now, before I have you thrown out. I can easily call security to escort you down.”

  Tracey’s eyes flashed.

  “You’re a butt-fucking…”

  “Out! Now!”