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Wiseguys: A New Kind of Family

Aaron Michaels

If Uncle Sid could only see the two of them now, he'd

be turning over in his grave. His little nephew Tony,
former wiseguy, being fucked up the ass by Sid's former
enforcer, Carter.

Tony had no idea why that thought crossed his mind,

especially not when Carter was fucking him up the ass,
and doing a damn fine job of it. The old man had hated
gay people, and Tony had hated the old man, so it all

came out even in the end. Better than even.

Behind him, Carter grunted. Tony was on his knees

in their bed, his hands fisted in the sheets. Carter's big
hands were wrapped around Tony's hips, rocking Tony
backward in time to Carter's thrusts forward.

They didn't fuck doggy style often. Tony liked to

watch Carter's face as he came, see those big brown eyes
go deep and dark with passion and tenderness, and know
that no one else had ever seen Carter like that. Muscle
man Carter, the guy Tony's Uncle Sid used to send out
to bust heads and collect the vig, had a heart twice the
size he'd ever shown anyone in the family.

Not that they could have been together back in

Jersey, back in the family. Wiseguys didn't tolerate fags.
Sid wouldn't even let a fag cut his nephew's hair. The
only one who'd tried hadn't been at the barbershop the
next time Sid's driver took Tony for a haircut. Tony
hadn't been old enough to understand, not back then.
He'd believed Uncle Sid when the man told him the
barber had left town for better opportunities.

Being together with Carter was the best thing that had

ever happened to Tony, and not just because of the sex.
Although, the sex was no small thing either. Tony had
already come. It never took long when Carter took him
from behind. Carter had a big, thick cock, and fucking
doggy style meant that big, thick cock was buried as
deep inside Tony as it would go. As soon as Carter
reached around and pumped Tony's aching cock, that
was all it took. Every damn time.

Carter pulled Tony back hard. His strong fingers

squeezed Tony's hips, and Tony knew he'd probably
have bruises, not that he cared. This moment -- the
moment Carter came deep inside him -- that was all that
mattered. Carter shuddered as he came, and damn, if it
wasn't enough to make Tony's own cock hard again.

The big man leaned forward over Tony's back.

Carter's thick lips left a wet kiss on the back of his neck.

"That's what I like," Carter said, his voice a deep

rumble Tony could feel as well as hear. "A little
unscheduled afternoon delight."

Tony chuckled. The deli they'd opened after they

decided to stay for a while in Idaho was closed on
Mondays during the off season. This wasn't the first
Monday afternoon they'd spent fucking each other.

"One of the advantages of being the boss," Tony said.

"We make our own hours."

A late spring snowstorm had blown in the day before.

That was one of the hazards of living less than a hundred
miles from the Canadian border, or so Norman had told
them. Norman ran a sporting goods store in town. Tony
and Carter had stopped a robbery in Norman's store
before Christmas. They'd just been passing through,
trying to decide what to do with themselves and most
definitely trying to stay off the radar of the rival family
who'd killed Uncle Sid and every lieutenant in Sid's
family -- except Tony.

After the attempted robbery, passing through had

changed to staying through Christmas, and then to
deciding to stick around for a while. Norman had turned
into a good friend. Sixty if he was a day, Norman never
seemed to mind that Tony and Carter were a couple. He
hadn't asked any questions about their background
either, even though it was obvious they knew what they
were doing around guns and bad guys. Norman had been
the one who suggested they re-open the town's old deli
after a talk one day about the places they'd liked to go as
kids. Getting baked ziti from an old Italian deli with his
dad back in Jersey was one of the few memories Tony
had of his father.

Carter pushed himself off Tony and pulled out. Tony

stretched out and rolled over onto his back. His cock
stood up at half mast. Carter grinned as he stared down
at it.

"You want me to do something about that?"
Tony knew his limits. "I always get hard when I feel

you come, but it's too soon for me."

"You don't got my stamina."
"Fuck you," Tony said, but with Carter it was an

endearment, not a curse.

Carter shook his head, still grinning. "Well, you let

me know when. I'll take care of it."

Just like he took care of everything. Carter had a scar

on his shoulder from when he'd taken a bullet meant for
Tony. Carter was the only reason Tony had walked
away from the hit that took out the rest of Sid's business
family.

Carter padded naked into the bathroom. Tony

watched him. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of the
sight of Carter's body. Carter had the kind of natural
muscle bodybuilders killed themselves trying to get. Not
that Carter didn't work out. He did all the heavy lifting at
the deli, and when that wasn't enough, he worked with
weights in the garage of their rented house. Tony did,
too, but he didn't have the body for heavy muscles. He'd
always been skinny, and he was still lean except for the
little paunch around his belly from eating Carter's
cooking.

That was another thing Tony's uncle had never

known about his enforcer. Carter was one damn fine
cook.

Tony was just starting to think his cock was ready for

round two with Carter when the doorbell rang. It took
Tony a moment to place the sound. Nobody came to
visit them here. Outside of Norman and his girlfriend
Bess, Tony and Carter had no real friends in town.

Carter brought a towel from the bathroom and threw

it to Tony. "You expecting somebody?"

"Nope."
Tony used the towel to clean himself off. They'd quit

using condoms months ago. Cleaning each other off in
the tub after they fucked had become part of their ritual.
Cleaning usually led to a much gentler session of
lovemaking. It was one of the ways they reconnected
after a long day at the deli. It wasn't such a bad way to
spend a Monday off either.

Tony pulled on his jeans and a sweater. Carter didn't

bother with a shirt. He followed Tony down the hall to
the front door in only his jeans. His gun was stuffed
inside the waistband at the small of his back.

The front door of their rental house opened directly

into their living room. They kept the blinds on the living
room windows tilted so they could see out but anyone
attempting to look inside would just see daylight
reflecting off the blinds.

Tony crept to the window on the side of the front

door. The window gave him a view of their narrow front
porch. Back in Jersey, it paid to be cautious when
unexpected visitors came calling. It was a habit Tony
never intended to break, not as long as the possibility
existed that someday Uncle Sid's enemies might track
him and Carter down to finish the job they'd started.

A dark-haired girl in her teens stood a few feet back

from the front door. She was wearing a bulky coat and
her head was tilted down, her hair obscuring her face,
but Tony recognized her.

"It's Julie," he told Carter.
Julie worked for them at the deli on the weekends.

Sixteen years old, and she busted her butt almost as hard
as they did. If they were still here come summer, when
Norman told them the town actually got busy with

tourists coming up from the cities to the south, Tony
intended to ask Julie if she wanted more hours.

Carter frowned. He took the gun out from the

waistband of his jeans and put it in the drawer of the
little table on the other side of the front door. "What's
she doing here?" he asked.

"Guess we'll find out."
Tony opened the door.
Julie looked up at him. She was a thin girl, not

particularly pretty, but good looking enough she'd have
had her choice of any of the wiseguys Tony had known
growing up. She always had a serious air about her, like
she knew life was rough and she could handle it.
Norman had told them Julie's dad had taken off and her
brother was always getting into trouble. Julie didn't
work for pocket change. She worked to help her mom
keep a roof over their heads.

"Hey, Julie," Tony said through the screen door.

"What can we do for you?"

"I... uh...." She shifted her weight, gave a nervous

look off to the side before she met Tony's gaze. "I want
to ask you guys a favor. I don't know anybody else I can
ask."

Back in Jersey, people were always coming to Uncle

Sid for favors. He'd grant them if it was in his best
interests. Favors were currency for guys like Sid. For a
moment, Tony's mind slipped into habits born of a
lifetime in the family, and he thought of what he could
get in return for granting Julie a favor.

But that wasn't how things worked in the rest of the

world. People out here did favors because they wanted
to, not because of what they could get out of it.

"Come inside," Tony said. "It's freezing out here."
It had been colder in January, but the unexpected

nature of the spring storm, coming as it had after a few

weeks of warm weather, made the snow feel colder
somehow.

Julie stamped snow off her boots before she came

inside. When she saw Carter standing behind Tony, shirt
off and no shoes, her cheeks flushed. "Oh, God." She
looked away. "I'm so sorry, I should have called first,
not just come over. I didn't mean to..." She waved a
hand in front of herself. "You're busy. I interrupted. We
can just talk about this later."

She turned to go. Tony touched her on the arm. "Why

don't you tell us why you're here." He didn't make it a
question.

"I'll..." Carter motioned with his head toward the

bedroom. "Go get a shirt."

Julie didn't look back at Tony until Carter had gone

down the hallway and into the bedroom. "I'm so sorry,
boss," she said.

Tony wondered if she could smell on him what he

and Carter had been doing. At the deli, the two of them
never kissed or hugged or were anything other than two
guys working together. It was no secret they were a
couple; they just didn't flaunt it at work. Maybe knowing
her bosses were a gay couple was one thing, and
realizing that meant they actually fucked each other was
something else.

"If we're making you uncomfortable, you can leave,"

he said.

"Uncomfortable?" Her eyes widened. "Oh, no, you

mean... like because you're together?" She shook her
head. "No, that's not it. I just have such incredibly bad
timing, you know?"

Tony got it. He knew some kids had trouble thinking

that their parents ever had sex. The closest thing Tony'd
had to a parent was his uncle. Back when Tony'd been a
kid, he'd gone on "fishing trips" with his uncle and

listened to the old man bang a hooker in the room next
door. Julie wasn't reacting like she was because Tony
and Carter were gay, but because they were old and her
bosses, and she never thought of them actually having
sex. So of course she'd never thought she might be
interrupting the two of them until she realized that's
exactly what she'd done.

"We all have bad timing now and then," Tony said.

He didn't smile at her. Tony didn't smile much except
with Carter. Another hard lesson from his days with his
uncle -- don't let people know what you're feeling. They
haven't earned the right. Carter had more than earned it,
a thousand times over.

Tony gestured at a chair in the living room. Julie took

the hint. She sat perched on the edge. Her face was
returning to its normal color, her embarrassment
wearing off.

"I got soda or water," Carter's voice boomed out of

the kitchen. "You guys thirsty?"

"Yeah," Tony said. "You want something?" he asked

Julie. She shook her head no. "Bring me a soda," he told
Carter.

Tony sat down on the couch across from Julie. Carter

handed Tony a soda and kept one for himself. Instead of
sitting down next to Tony, Carter leaned against the
wall. He'd put on a plain white t-shirt that fit him like a
glove. Tony wasn't sure it was much better than going
without a shirt, but it seemed to make Julie feel better.

"So what's this favor you need?" Carter said.
She gave him a quick glance, but when she spoke,

she looked at Tony. "My cousin's in the hospital," she
said. "He got beat up last night by a couple of kids in
school."

Tony and Carter shared a look. They weren't

wiseguys here. They weren't in the protection business

anymore. The thing with Norman had been a fluke, a
result of bad timing -- or good timing, depending on
how he wanted to look at it. Tony wasn't about to start
up that racket again.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tony said. "Is he gonna be

okay?"

Julie shrugged. The gesture was barely visible

beneath the bulky coat. "Yeah, he'll heal, but I'm not
sure he'll get better, you know?"

Tony understood that. He'd seen his uncle break a

man more than once. When a man was broken, even
though his injuries eventually healed, he was done. The
lucky ones disappeared into a new life. The rest ate the
business end of a gun.

"He's sixteen," Julie said, "and he got beat up because

these guys think he's gay."

An angry little ball settled in the middle of Tony's

chest, and he remembered the barber from back in
Jersey. The gay man who'd done nothing wrong except
try to cut Tony's hair.

"Is he?" Tony asked.
Another shrug. "Yeah, I think so," Julie said in a

small voice. "I mean, he hasn't come right out and told
his parents or anything, but I'm pretty sure he's got a
boyfriend or a boy he likes somewhere, and I've never
heard him talk about girls."

That didn't mean anything. Whether or not the kid

was gay, he'd been beat up because somebody else --
some homophobic somebody else -- thought he was.

"What do you want us to do about it?" Carter asked.
The question seemed to startle Julie. Tony figured it

wasn't because of the question, but because Carter was
the one asking it. So far he'd stayed out of the
conversation.

She looked back and forth between the two of them,

almost like she was waiting for Tony's approval before
she answered. He was the one who usually told her what
to do at the deli, so he guessed he understood. He
nodded at her.

"Talk to him, maybe?" Julie said. "I don't think he

knows how to stand up for himself. You guys don't take
crap from anyone. I don't think you ever have, at least
that's how I see you. He needs to know that it's not okay
for other kids to beat him up."

"What about his father?" Tony said. "Can't his old

man teach him that?"

Julie shook her head. "His dad's not here anymore.

It's just him and his mom, kinda like me and my mom,
only his mom's all religious."

What was it with the men in Julie's family? Did all of

them run out on their wives? On their kids?

"Your cousin, he might not want to hear what we got

to say," Carter said. "Or even that we go see him to say
it."

"Yeah, I know." Julie brought one hand up to her

mouth. She bit at the nail for a moment, then seemed to
catch herself. Must have been a bad habit she was trying
to break. "It's just... I really like my cousin, you know?
He's a nice guy, and you know how some people are
around here. You must know, right? I mean, even if no
one comes right out and says things to you, you have to
know. Right?"

Yeah, Tony did. Their little town wasn't so bad, but

the area in general wasn't what he'd call gay friendly. So
far no one had had the balls to say anything to either of
them directly, due in large part, no doubt, to the fact that
Carter looked like he could bust anyone's head without
breaking a sweat. A nice high school kid who didn't
know how to fight would make an easy target. He'd keep
being an easy target if somebody didn't do something.

"We'll go talk to him," Tony said. "No guarantees,

but we'll try."

Julie smiled at him. "That's great! Thank you." She

looked at Carter. "Thank you both."

She gave them her cousin's name and the room

number at the hospital. Tony had no idea what they
could say to this kid -- the toughen-up talks Uncle Sid
had given him mostly consisted of "shut the fuck up
before I smack you a good one" -- but they'd give it a
try.

It was the best they could do.

***

Julie's cousin was a small, thin, dark-haired kid

named Jason Stevens. He was in a semi-private room on
the second floor of the hospital. The other bed in the
room was empty.

"The kid's smaller than you were at his age," Carter

said, keeping his voice low so only Tony would hear.

They were standing in the doorway to Jason's room.

The kid was smaller than Tony had been at his age. The
hospital bed dwarfed him, and the bandages on his head
made him look smaller still, like he was a little kid. One
eye was swollen shut, and he had a butterfly bandage on
the opposite cheek. His bottom lip was split, and his left
arm was in a cast. Julie had told them Jason had a
concussion, and the doctors were keeping him overnight
for observation. She also told them that his mother had
to work and wouldn't be there to interfere if they went to
see him that afternoon. The kid was hooked up to
machines that beeped and hummed quietly, but he had
the room to himself.

"You know what you're gonna say to him?" Carter

asked.

Tony had seen guys beat up worse, but never a kid. If

Jason didn't learn how to toughen up, and toughen up
quick, he'd never make it out of high school.

"Nope."
Carter's mouth tightened in a thin line. "Thought so.

Why don't you let me take this one?"

Carter didn't really need Tony's permission, but he

waited anyway. In the old days it would have been a
sign of respect. Now it was just because they were
partners, and partners handled things together. Tony
knew Carter just wanted to make sure Tony was okay
with him taking the lead.

Tony nodded. Carter walked over to the bed so the

kid could see him with his good eye. Tony could see the
kid watching.

"You know who I am?" Carter asked.
The kid cleared his throat before he spoke. "Julie's

boss," he said. "At the deli."

The words came out slurred and stiff. The kid was

trying to talk without moving his mouth. His jaw might
not be broken, but it probably hurt like hell.

"I'm Carter, and this is Tony." Carter turned toward

Tony like he was making introductions at a party. "Julie
asked us to come by and check on you."

The kid's one eye narrowed. "Why?"
"Good question," Carter said. "Why do you think?"
The kid looked back and forth between the two of

them. "I'm not, you know. What Julie thinks. What those
kids called me. I'm not."

But he was. Tony could tell. The denial had been too

quick, too strident. This was a kid in conflict with
himself. If his mother was religious, he probably thought
he'd burn in hell for being gay, or thought that loving a
man was a sin, an abomination.

"Fair enough," Carter said. "I'm not gay either, but

that didn't stop me from falling in love with Tony over
here, ugly mug that he is."

"Watch your mouth," Tony said, but there was no

venom in his voice.

Carter half turned toward him, a broad grin on his

face. "He don't like me reminding him that he's not as
pretty as me," Carter said, then he turned back to the kid.
"He's not gay, either, but that didn't stop him from
falling in love with me."

It was true. Tony'd been with women back in Jersey.

If he was still there, he'd probably be married by now.
He'd never been attracted to any other man except
Carter, and Carter had never been attracted to any other
man except Tony. For whatever reason, they were the
perfect fit for each other. Tony had stopped questioning
whether that made him gay, but for a while he'd
struggled with the question. Carter never had.

"Well, I'm not," the kid said. "If that's the only reason

you're here, you can leave."

"How about instead of leaving, I tell you a story?"

Carter didn't wait for the kid to say yes or no. "It's not
about being gay or straight so much as about learning to
stand up for yourself."

"I'm a little old for make believe," the kid said.
"This ain't make believe. This is about my old man,

and it's something I ain't never told anybody, not even
Tony over there."

Tony blinked. He and Carter had been friends since

they were kids, and in all that time, Carter had never
talked to Tony about his father.

Carter took his jacket off and put it on the foot of the

kid's bed. He was still wearing the tight white t-shirt that
clung to his muscular chest and was stretched tight
around the thick muscles of his arms.

"I bet you think because I got all these muscles, no

one ever picked on me," Carter said. "Well, my old man
used to hit me when I was a kid. I didn't even have to do
anything, he'd smack me in the mouth, and if I did
mouth off, he'd use his belt. The buckle end. I wasn't
much bigger than you back then, and my old man was a
big guy. I had bruises and welts in places no one saw."

Tony had seen some of those bruises, the ones on

Carter's arms where it looked like someone had grabbed
him and shook him. Once, when Carter was reaching up
for something he wanted off a high shelf, his shirt had
ridden up, and Tony had seen a long bruise around the
side of Carter's ribs. A bruise that ended in a scabbed-
over welt. The scab must have been made by the buckle
on his old man's belt.

Tony understood now why Carter never talked about

his old man back in Jersey. Carter's old man wasn't a
made man. He was fair game for retribution from the
family. If Tony had known the extent to which Carter's
old man had beaten him, Tony would have made sure
the family repaid every lash of that belt on Carter's old
man's hide.

"One day I decided I'd had enough," Carter said.

"Everybody has a limit, and I'd reached mine."

"What did you do?" the kid asked.
"Turned myself into someone who doesn't get beaten,

and there's only one way to do that."

Carter waited this time for the kid to say something.
"How?" the kid finally asked.
"I worked at it," Carter said. "It wasn't easy, and it

didn't happen right away, but I learned how to take care
of myself. I'm guessing that's what Julie wants. For us to
teach you how to take care of yourself."

The kid lifted his casted arm. "I can't fight."
"Not yet," Carter said. "But you ain't gonna be in that

cast forever. I'm guessing the guys that landed you here,

they'll leave you alone as long as you look like death
warmed over, but once you're on your feet... "

Carter didn't need to finish. The kid got it.
"They'll send me right back here," he said.
"Unless you give 'em a reason not to," Carter said.
The kid's visible eye turned bright and shiny. "I tried,

you know. I hit one of them, punched him hard, and they
broke my arm for it. What's to stop them from doing it
again?"

"Until you're strong enough, we will," Carter said.

"When you're strong enough, I'll teach you how to get
stronger. How to stand up for yourself. It ain't gonna be
easy. You gotta earn it, ain't nobody gonna give it to
you, but I'll show you how."

The kid sniffled, but Tony had to give him credit. He

didn't cry.

"My mom won't like it," he said. "She tells me I have

to turn the other cheek."

That probably wouldn't be the only reason his mom

wouldn't want Carter teaching her little boy how to take
care of himself.

"How about we give you a job at the deli?" Tony

said. "You help out, people see you working for us, they
put two and two together. When you're not bussing
tables, you can work with Carter and let him teach you
what he knows so you can bust heads if you need to. My
gut says that once you learn how, you won't have to."

"She still won't like it," the kid said, "but I don't care.

Things aren't going to change at my school. I don't want
to end up in here again. Not like this."

"Good," Tony said. "When you get out, come see us

and we'll work out a schedule."

"Okay." The kid looked like the conversation had

taken about all he had out of him. His uninjured eye was
drifting closed. "I can't believe how much this hurts."

"It gets better," Carter said, his voice little more than

a murmur.

A moment later, quiet snores were coming from the

kid's battered mouth. Carter backed away from the bed.
Tony took one last look at their new employee.

"It's gonna get worse for him before it gets better,"

Tony said on the way to their van.

"Yeah, but it will get better. That's all that matters. It

gets better."

Tony wondered if that was what a young Carter had

told himself all the nights he worked to build up his
body into something that his old man didn't dare beat.

The snow was falling again, big white fluffy flakes.

Carter turned the defroster on in the van, and they sat for
a minute in the darkening day, waiting for the
windshield to clear enough to drive back to their house.

"I think someone owes me a bath," Tony said after a

minute.

This time Carter's grin was on the lascivious side.

"Oh, yeah?"

Tony smiled back, one of the rare smiles he kept for

Carter and Carter alone. "Yeah," he said.

Tomorrow they'd go back to work, and by next week,

they'd have a new employee. But for now, it was
Monday and Monday was their day off. Tony was still
feeling pleasantly sore from earlier. He needed the bath
to reconnect with Carter. Reconnect, and make love.

The kid didn't realize how great having someone like

Carter in his life was. He'd figure it out. Tony had an
ulterior motive for offering the kid a job. He wanted to
show the kid that men like Tony and Carter were just
guys. It didn't matter if they were gay or straight, what
mattered was that they were like every couple who loved
each other. They hadn't been able to do that when they
both were part of Uncle Sid's extended family. Back

then, Tony had never imagined a life that didn't include
Sid's family and all the restrictions that kind of life put
on him, but now here he was, respectable citizen, about
to go home and make love to a partner he loved more
than life itself.

Things did get better. Family didn't have to be what

Tony had grown up with in Uncle Sid's house or what
Carter had experienced with his old man. They were
living proof. Family could be what the kid made it,
including people who accepted him for who he was.
More than anything, that was what Tony wanted to teach
the kid. With luck, they might have a shot at doing just
that.

End

If you liked this book you might like: Wiseguys;

Wiseguys: Christmas in Idaho, the brand new High Ball
Wiseguys: Blast From the Past.

Wiseguys: A New Kind of Family

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Torquere Press, Inc.: Sips electronic edition / September
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