Ties Stronger Than Blood

Chapter Five

"David, you're being a hog," complained Dwayne.

David passed the beer bottle back to Paul, saying, "You guys have what's left."

"Don't tell me Marko's being a good influence already?" Paul said, a hint of mocking in his voice. "Hell, Marko, you're not supposed to be reforming us--we're supposed to be corrupting you."

Marko smiled. "No one can truly corrupt anyone. They either abuse them, or the inclination was there to start with."

"Interesting attitude," commented David. "What about the serpent in the Garden of Eden?"

Marko shrugged. "Man isn't perfect. Eve and Adam walked into sin with their eyes wide open."

Paul was rolling the bottle between his palms. "I thought you said you didn't really understand all the stuff in the Bible."

Marko smiled. "I don't. No one does. If they claim to, they're either lying through their teeth, or fooling themselves. One thing I do understand is the concept of free will. In all things there is a choice to be made. You have to live with your choices."

Paul looked skeptical. "Not in all things."

Marko shook his head. "Not in the things that are taken out of your hands. People don't choose to be maimed or killed, but those are the results of the choices of others."

"Sometimes," David said, "after one of those incidents... you have to choose how you'll deal with it."

"Yes," Marko agreed. "Take my case. I lost my parents, and I was sent to live with someone I know sees me only as something she can use."

Dwayne spoke up. "The why do you stay?"

"Yeah," Paul chimed in. "Why not take off?"

Marko sighed. "I have my reasons."

Dwayne's voice hardened. "Well, I can't understand staying with someone who doesn't care about you, and just uses you." Until now, the boy had seemed genial, almost gentle. But now Marko could see pain and anger burning in his eyes. Paul reached over and rubbed his back soothingly. Dwayne shot him a quick, grateful look, but then turned his gaze back to Marko and repeated, "Why do you stay?"

Marko bit his lip. "It's complicated. I'm not the only one involved."

David sat forward, clasping his hands between his knees. "Someone you don't want to leave?" His voice was neutral, but Paul and Dwayne knew him well, and they picked up the apprehension in his tone. David didn't want for there to be anyone special in Marko's life.

Marko sighed. "I don't want to leave my grandfather alone with her," he admitted. He didn't see the tension go out of David's posture. "And there's my Uncle Gene. I did run away once, when I was thirteen. I went to Gene. He tried to fight her for custody. I was in a foster home for three months." He smiled sadly. "I didn't mind too much. To me, that was the closest thing to a normal life I'd had for years. But Gene lost. Ruth had about two dozen people willing to testify to her sterling character, and Uncle Gene... He's a musician. He plays in bars, and he's in a 12 step program. There was no way they'd let me go with him instead of her." He ran a hand through his hair and said bleakly, "She told me that if I ever did that again, she'd find some way to have Gene put in jail, so I wouldn't be tempted to run to him again. I believe her. She believes that it's all right to lie if you're doing 'God's work'."

"Huh," said Paul. "And who says what's God's work and what isn't?"

"She does, of course."

"I'm shocked," said David dryly.

Dwayne stood up. "Scuse me, all, but I have to go recycle the beer." He wandered a few dozen yards away, till he was nearly lost in the shadows, then stepped behind another cluster of piers.

Paul waited a moment, rocking back and forth, lips pursed. Then he stood up and said, "I'd better go make sure he doesn't get lost," and slipped off after the other boy.

Marko glanced at David. "I thought only girls went to the toilet together?"

David smiled. "They go everywhere together."

They heard a scuffling in the distance, then laughter and faint voices. The talk died down, then a soft moan floated on the cool air, and a breathy, "Paul..."

Marko swallowed, feeling a sudden sweep of warmth that had nothing to do with embarrassment. He glanced at David, who was watching him enigmatically. There was another moan, then a chuckle, and the sound of the nearby waves didn't quite cover up Dwayne's muttered, "Damn cocktease. We can't..." A murmur. "Paul, he's just over there. We..." The voice was suddenly muffled, and Marko was pretty sure it was because Paul had decided to silence Dwayne's protests by kissing him.

"Does it bother you?"

He looked at David. "Them... being together?" David nodded. Marko thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. They really care about each other--I can tell."

"Not going to condemn the sodomites to hellfire and brimstone?"

"You know, that's one part of the Bible I've been over a good bit." He shrugged sheepishly. "Teenagers will find the racy passages in any book, right? I've come to the conclusion that the Sodomites weren't so much punished for their sexual choices, but because they wanted to force themselves on the travelers who had taken refuge in the city. The culture was very, very strict about hospitality, and how you treated visitors back then."

"I can see that."

"But you know what gets me? The travelers, angels in disguise, are staying with Lot. When the men of Sodom come and demand to be given the strangers, Lot offers them his daughters instead, and I don't recall the angels making a big fuss trying to stop him."

David blinked. "You're shitting me."

"No. He figured it would be better to have his two virgin daughters gang raped rather than allow travelers to be molested. Now, I'd be against giving up the visitors, too, but I damn sure would have tried to think of another way around it. I think it was one of those 'I probably won't make you go through with this hideous sacrifice, but if you aren't willing to go through with it, then you don't love me' things."

"That's kind of twisted."

"That's why there are so many different interpretations of the Bible, and why they'll be debating long after we're all dust."

Marko's eyes had drifted back to the wooden columns that hid the two lovers *Yes,* he thought, *I know Ruth would call them queers, fornicators, Sodomites, sinners... But lovers is the right word for Dwayne and Paul.* Marko felt lonely most of the time, but right now, with another boy--possibly a friend--sitting just a couple of feet away--he felt lonelier than ever. He looked over at David again. "Does it bother you?" David raised an eyebrow. "No, I can tell that them both being guys isn't an issue. I mean..." He trailed off, unsure of how to say it--unsure if he should say it.

"You mean does it bother me that they're together, and I'm not with anyone?" David sat forward a little, studying Marko. "I'm not sure I should tell you this. I don't want to run you off, but if you hang with us, you ought to know how things stand." He paused, then said, "We're a little more outside the mainstream concept of sexuality than you know so far, Marko. Yes, Dwayne and Paul are a couple--I guess you could say they're mated, since the officious pricks don't allow same sex marriages. They're a couple, but they aren't always JUST a couple--sometimes we're a trio." He leaned back, waiting for Marko's reaction.

Marko digested this new bit of information. That was a revelation, no two ways about it. But did it bother him? No. The three boys fit together so seamlessly, each supplying the other's needs. While it was obvious that David had been telling the truth about Paul and Dwayne being bonded, he found that he had no trouble imagining that David could be a part of that. If David was to get up and walk over to that shadowy area, Marko knew that welcoming arms would reach out and draw him in. *But he's not a full part,* he thought. *He's still on the perimeter, looking in.* "I'm glad you have friends who are good to you, but it isn't the same as having someone, so I'll ask you again--does it bother you?"

"I'm happy for them. I wouldn't want it to be any other way between them. But... Yeah, sometimes."

Dwayne and Paul came back, their arms around each other, hands tucked in the back pockets of each other's jeans. "Sorry," said Dwayne. "Got, uh, distracted."

"Yeah," said Paul cheerfully, "but since we figured you two would probably distract each other, we... Ow!" Dwayne had popped him on the back of the head.

Marko blushed furiously. He hadn't been all that uncomfortable discussing sex with David. After all, he'd never really had a chance to talk out his feelings, and it was great being able to speak to someone who wasn't going to slap him silly while screeching about his immortal soul. But... him and David? He wasn't really surprised by the flash of mental images and the sudden surge of heat, but he was surprised by the intensity.

Marko had known he was attracted to men for years--since his early teens, when he'd begun having wet dreams. Ruth refused to believe that he had no control over waking up with a sticky mess, and had ladled out the punishment with a heavy hand, till John had taken him aside and explained what was happening, and how to avoid his grandmother's wrath. He'd quickly learned to sleep with a face cloth stuffed down the front of his pajamas. All he had to do then was rinse the cloth out early in the morning and claim it had been used for his shower. Marko had been puzzled by Ruth's insistence that he 'keep his mind off those filthy whores'. When he could remember a few snatches of dreams, they hadn't included any women. "I need to go."

Marko scrambled to his feet, and Dwayne said, "Way to go, doofus. You've run him off."

"No," Marko protested, "I really need to get to the bus before they come back to the hotel. If I'm not where I'm supposed to be she might make me sleep on the floor in her room."

David had stood up. "Doesn't trust you much, does she?"

Marko gave him a lopsided grin. "Should she? I'm here now, and she expected me to go right back to the motel, right?"

"But you're not doing anything," Dwayne protested.

"To her I am."

"How far is it? I'll give you a ride over," said David. Marko hesitated. "C'mon. It's been awhile since I had anyone else on my bike."

Now Marko looked interested. "You have a motorcycle?"

"Ah, now he perks up. Yes, we all do. You like bikes?"

"I love them. Oh, man, I want one so bad. My dad had one, and he used to take me riding all the time." His expression fell. "He got rid of it because he thought it would be more responsible if he had a car, another brick in the wall to keep my grandmother away from me. That was the car we were in when we got hit."

David looked at him sharply. "You better not be blaming yourself about that."

"No," Marko said softly. "I did, for awhile. Then I talked to John about it, and he said that the only person who's fault it could be was the truck driver's, and since he died, too, we'd never know if it was from negligence or if something went wrong. It's just that sometimes sad things happen in this world." The other boys all nodded, and each one had shadows in his eyes. Marko had a feeling that they were all well acquainted with the pain the world could inflict.

"So," David said, "Ride?"

Marko hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to think about the storm it would raise if Ruth saw him on a motorcycle with what she would consider 'a punk on the fast track to Hell'. But he was remembering the times he'd ridden with his father--head heavy with the helmet that was just a little too big, feeling the powerful throb of the engine, watching the pavement fly by, but feeling safe, because he was braced between his father's strong arms, and his father would never let anything hurt his boy. "Yeah, thanks. I'd like that."

The walked out onto the beach, then over to the parking lot. Marko admired the three bikes, all sleek, beautiful, and powerful. *Sort of like their owners,* he thought, watching the trio mount their rides. *And it's a good thing Ruth can't read my mind, even if she thinks she can, because those sort of thoughts would probably get me locked in a closet when I wasn't on stage.*

"Don't just stand there," David invited. "Climb on." Marko straddled the bike, settling his hands lightly on David's shoulders, and the other boy said, "Hell, man, I'll lose you at the first bump. Grab on!"

Marko shifted closer, till his chest was pressed to David's back, and slid his arms around David's waist. He locked his hands just over David's belly, and rested his chin on his shoulder. "How's this?"

"Oh, yeah--that's what I'm talkin' about. Let's go, boys. We wanna get Prince Charming home before the Wicked Witch of the East shows up and starts pitching great balls of fire."

Marko couldn't hold back his laughter as they rolled out of the lot and hit the street, accelerating into the night.