Full House

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

Full House

ISBN #
978-1-907280-65-8

©Copyright Carol Lynne 2009

Cover Art by April Martinez ©Copyright 2009

Edited by Claire Siemaszkiewicz

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved.
 
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing.
 
Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2009 by Total-E-Bound Publishing 1 The Corner,

Warning:
 
This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers.
 
This story has been rated
Total-e-sizzling.

Poker Night

FULL HOUSE

Carol Lynne

Dedication

For Claire, Marek and Sophie.

You’ve all sacrificed a lot to give authors a chance to do what they love.

Thank you.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Coke:
 
The Coca-Cola Company CORPORATION

Chapter One

Tired and dirty, Marco parked his pickup in the driveway of the small two bedroom house. He grabbed the cooler on the seat beside him and headed inside after a long day of work.

What he’d hoped would be a relaxing night shattered as soon as he heard the arguing. “Shit.”

It seemed his brothers were always fighting lately. He unlocked the door and stepped into the living room. Nicky was pinned to the floor by Bruno, his much bigger brother. The two of them were cussing and screaming at each other.

Marco glanced around the room. “Where’s Maria?”

His brothers were too busy yelling to even hear him. The feuding siblings took a back seat momentarily in Marco’s mind as he strode through to Maria’s bedroom and opened the door. He didn’t immediately see his baby sister until he opened the small closet.

Maria sat on the floor, her arms wrapped around her legs.

“Come here, baby girl.” He reached down and pulled Maria up and into his arms. “It’s okay. It’s just what brothers do. I’ll take care of it.”

“Dad called,” Maria informed him. She buried her face against Marco’s neck.

Marco hugged his sister. “Is that what Bruno and Nicky are arguing about?”

Maria nodded.

Marco carried the frightened girl over to her small twin-size bed. “I’ll go find out what’s going on, and then I’ll start dinner. Hamburgers on the grill sound okay?”

Maria nodded, again. She reached out and grabbed a pink stuffed bear that was starting to fall apart.

With a kiss to Maria’s forehead, Marco went back out to the living room just in time to see Nicky throw a punch. Although Nicky’s fist didn’t land squarely, it did manage to clip Bruno’s jaw.

“Break it up!” Marco screamed, lurching for his brothers.

He wrapped his arm around Bruno’s neck and pulled him off his younger brother. “Stop it.” He pointed a finger at Nicky. “Throw another punch, and you’ll be sorry.”

Although Marco wasn’t big, years of laying brick had given him enough upper-body strength to intimidate both his brothers. They broke apart, but continued yelling at each other.

“He’s going to see Dad,” Bruno spat.

“He’s our Dad and he misses us,” Nicky countered.

Marco held up his hands. “Shut up!”

His brothers quieted, but continued to give each other dirty looks.

“Now, when and why did Dad call?” Marco asked. They hadn’t seen Eddy De La Santo since he’d stolen the money Marco had set aside to put a new roof on the house.

“About an hour ago. He said he was in town and wanted to come over,” Nicky explained.

“In town? Where the hell’s he been?” Marco knew no good would come from letting his father visit.

“In Santa Clarita with some woman.” Bruno stood and crossed his arms over his chest. At seventeen, Bruno was the biggest of the De La Santo’s and often used his size to intimidate his fifteen-year-old brother.

Marco took off his T-shirt and wiped the sweat from his face and under arms. He didn’t want to refuse Nicky a visit with their father, but he wasn’t comfortable having Eddy in the house. “Why don’t you call him back and tell him you’ll meet him at a restaurant, my treat.”

Marco turned to Bruno. “If you don’t want to see Dad, you don’t have to. I’ll go tell Maria the same thing.”

Bruno nodded and Marco left the room. He knocked on Maria’s door before entering. “Feeling better?”

Maria nodded. “Why do they have to fight all the time?”

Marco began picking up dirty clothes and stuffing them into the hamper. “They’re teenage boys. It’s to be expected. Please don’t let them upset you.”

“But what if one of them gets so mad they leave?”

He walked over to sit on the side of the bed and put his arm around his baby sister. “I know things haven’t been easy, but just because Mom and Dad left, doesn’t mean your brothers will too. I mean, they’ll leave at some point, but that’s what adults are supposed to do. Bruno will be eighteen next April. I can’t make him stay here after that. Men of that age want their freedom.”

“You didn’t.”

I didn’t have a choice.
Marco bit his bottom lip. “How could I possibly leave you three? I love you.”

Maria hugged Marco around the waist. “I love you, too.”

He kissed the top of his sister’s hair. “Nicky’s going to dinner with Eddy. Do you want to go?”

Maria shook her head.

Marco didn’t blame her. All she knew of their father was drunken days and nights. “Okay. I’ll go fire up the grill.”

Walking back through the living room, Marco addressed Nicky. “Did you feed Rufus?”

Nicky shook his head but didn’t take his eyes off the television.

“Well, get up and do it.” Marco sighed. He was so tired. He knew the time had come for some rule changes. There was no reason the kids couldn’t help him out. Dinner should already be on the table by the time he got home. He’d tried to talk to his brothers about it before, but they’d played off his requests and nothing had changed.

He opened the fridge and took out a package of hamburger. It was starting to look a little brown so he made sure to smell it after opening the plastic. It was close, but Marco thought they’d be okay if they ate it. He’d have to make sure the burgers were cooked well instead of medium the way his family preferred them.

After making up seven patties, Marco grabbed the plate along with the salt and pepper shakers and headed out back. As soon as he pushed open the screen door, Rufus barrelled into him, trying to get at the platter of meat.

“Rufus!”

While trying to save their dinner, Marco was thrown off balance and fell over the top of the large German Shepherd.

“Fuck!” he screamed as his knee hyper-extended. He collapsed on the ground as Rufus dove for the meat. His hands balled into a fist as he tried his best not to pass out. From the way Rufus was eating, Marco wondered if the dog had been fed at all that day.

The back door opened and Nicky came to stand over Marco, bowl of dog food in his hands. “Shit. What happened?”

Marco narrowed his eyes at the fifteen-year-old. “Your dog knocked me over to get to something to eat. Now I’ve not only lost dinner, but I’ve fucked up my knee.”

He started to let it go, but exploded again. “Dammit, Nicky! You’re the one who begged me for a dog. If you can’t be bothered to feed Rufus, I’ll find him another home.”

Nicky set down the bowl and helped Marco up. “I got up late. It was either take care of the dog or miss the school bus.”

Marco tried to balance on one leg as Nicky helped him back into the house.

“You gonna be okay?” Nicky led Marco to the couch.

Marco swung his left leg onto the cushions beside him and began to massage the sore knee. “Get me a bag of vegetables out of the freezer,” he ground out between clenched teeth.

“What happened?” Maria asked, coming into the room.

“I hurt my knee, sweetheart, but I’ll be okay.” Although he’d said it, Marco knew better. He’d done the same thing a few years earlier at work and it had taken a couple of weeks to heal. Normally it wouldn’t be that bad, but in his line of work, he was either kneeling or climbing on scaffolding.

“Maria, can you look under the bathroom sink and see if that old elastic knee brace of mine is still in there?”

Maria’s big eyes rounded. “Umm, it’s not there anymore. I thought you were done with it, so I cut it up to make my bear a black mini-skirt.”

Marco took the bag of frozen mixed-vegetables and placed it under his knee. Leaning to the side, he pulled out his wallet and handed Bruno a twenty dollar bill. “Take my truck to the drug store and get me another one.”

Bruno, who’d been slouched in the old recliner, grabbed the money. “Cool. I’ll be back.”

Marco rolled his eyes as his brother started to leave. “No speeding.”

Bruno turned around and rolled his eyes. “I’m not Nicky.”

“Wait!” Marco suddenly remembered their dinner was gone. He handed Bruno some of his emergency money he stashed in another compartment. “Pick up some burgers for us.”

“I’m going to eat with Dad,” Nicky informed him.

Marco looked through his wallet again. “You’ll have to eat cheap. I’ve only got another twenty left.”

After his brothers left the house and Maria went back into her bedroom, Marco laid down on the couch. He’d just given away all his cash. What the hell was he supposed to do for gas until Friday? Hopefully Kent wouldn’t assign him jobs too far away. If he was conservative with his driving, he just might make it.

* * * *

By the time Marco arrived at the construction site, the inside of his cheek was raw from chewing it. The pain was horrendous and he knew he had no business working. Unfortunately, he didn’t have disability insurance and when he didn’t work, he didn’t get paid, which wasn’t an option when you had four mouths to feed and a mortgage to pay.

He found the closest parking spot he could and got out, retrieving his tool bag from behind the seat. As hard as he tried to walk like nothing was wrong, he caught his boss’ eye.

“I need a word with you in the office.” Kent pointed towards the mobile single-wide trailer.

All Marco could see was the six steps it took to get inside the damn thing. He dropped the heavy canvas bag at his feet. “Can’t we just talk here?”

Kent
narrowed his eyes. “Why’re your eyes all bloodshot? Do not tell me you’ve come to work with a hangover, or did you just stay up all night?”

Marco felt like laughing in Kent’s face. What would his boss think if he knew the real reason Marco hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night. Besides his sore knee, Nicky had been nearly inconsolable when he’d come home from supper with Eddy. Just like Marco and Bruno knew he would, Eddy had tried to hit Nicky up for money. It had taken Marco hours to calm his brother down enough to go to bed.

Marco’s normal bedroom was the living room. Usually the couch wasn’t so bad, but with his hurt knee it had been almost unbearable. “I promise I was home all night, and I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since the last poker game.”

Kent
put his fists on his hips and glared at him. Marco could tell his boss didn’t believe a damn word he’d said. “Just tell me what you wanted to talk to me about.”

“That customer you did some work for down south has asked for you again. He wants to put a brick wall around the patio and outdoor fireplace you built for him.”

Marco cursed silently. His biggest fear had come to be. “I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? I pay you to lay brick and keep the customers happy. The guy’s paying you a compliment by asking specifically for you. Just do it!”

Although it did make him proud the customer had been so pleased with his work that he asked for him again, Marco wasn’t sure how he could swing it. One thing he did know was he couldn’t afford to piss Kent off to the point of getting fired. He tried one last ditch effort. “I still have another three days before I finish up here.”

“Forget about it. I can have Clarkson do it.”

Santa Cruz
was over an hour away and that was with no traffic. He’d have to not only figure out where to come up with the gas money, but he’d have to make some modifications at home.

Without another word, he nodded his acceptance of the situation. Putting his weight on his good leg, he bent and picked up his tool bag. “Do you want me to check in every day?”

“Of course.”

Marco turned and headed back to his truck. He could feel Kent’s eyes on him and tried not to limp. By the time he swung his bag in the truck bed and got behind the wheel, he felt close to tears. There were times when his life sucked, and this was sure as hell one of them.

As he pulled out, he tried to think of what to do. He’d never in his life borrowed money from his friends, but he honestly didn’t see any other choice. Reluctantly, he pulled the phone out of the holder attached to his belt and called the one man who knew about his situation.

“Pilato Promotions,” Angelo answered.

“Wow, that’s a pretty impressive name you’ve come up with.”

“It was Moody’s idea.”

Marco grinned. There was something about Angelo and his lover that always made Marco feel good. He thought it had something to do with the fact the men seemed so different yet managed to make a relationship work. Secretly, it gave Marco hope that one day Kent would notice him.

He tried to figure out the best way to ask Angelo for what he needed. Everything in his head came out lame, so he finally blurted it out. “I need to borrow some money. Kent’s just assigned me to work on a job in Santa Cruz, but I don’t have enough for gas. I get paid on Friday, so I can get the money back to you then.”

“How much you need?”

“Seventy-five should do it. I’m really sorry, man.”

“Don’t be stupid. Why do you have to pay for your own gas anyway?”

“It’s just an upfront cost. Kent usually reimburses us if we have to go out of the city on a job.”