Three

Lance woke up at eight-thirty the next morning and hopped out of bed. He was ashamed for sleeping so late on his first day of work, but it had been so long since he had been able to enjoy an undisturbed night of comfortable sleep in a real bed. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a tshirt and opened his bedroom door. There wasn't a sound in the hallway, except for a few snores from a couple of bedrooms down the hall. Lance went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, then pulled on his work boots and tried to go down the stairs as quietly as possible.

When he entered the dining room, he was surprised to find it empty. He followed his nose to the kitchen, where a large woman was frying bacon. She turned around in surprise. “Hi, there. You must be Mr. Lance.”

“Mr. Lance?” Lance said blankly. “I'm just Lance.”

“I call all the boys Mister, honey, you're no different.” The woman smiled. “I know what you're here for. Sit down at the table, honey.” She pointed to the large kitchen table. “We won't be seeing any of the other boys before noon, but Mr. Joey and Lonnie will be down soon.”

“Thank you,” Lance said shyly. “Do you need any help?”

“Heaven's no, honey, but thank you. Why don't you help yourself to some coffee and juice there?” She pointed to a counter. Lance poured himself some coffee and sat down. “It's good you're up early. It's gonna be another hot day, and you'd better get most of your work done before lunchtime.”

“I think I'll just be looking things over for most of the morning,” Lance replied. “Finding out what kind of tools I might need, things like that.”

“Well, Mr. Joey's been talking about fixing this place up for ages now, and since you're here, he might actually do it.” She plunked down a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon. “I'm Mrs. Lansing, by the way.”

“Thank you, ma'am,” Lance said gratefully, reaching for the syrup.

Lance was into his second helping of pancakes when Joey finally ambled into the kitchen. “Lance, good morning.”

“Good morning, Mr. Fatone,” Lance said, trying not to talk with his mouth full.

“I see Mrs. L already got you hooked on her cooking, huh?” Joey gave the woman a smacking kiss on the cheek. “She's an angel. And you can just call me Joey, okay? Everyone else does.”

“Okay,” Lance said. “Uh, I was planning on looking around to see what's needed…like tools and things.”

Joey waved a hand in the air. “Make me a list. Everything we have is in the shed.”

“Uh, how early am I allowed to work?” Lance asked. Joey stared at him. “I mean, um, I don't want to waken anyone with hammering and such.” Lance blushed.

“Oh, that. You just hammer away, Lance. I'm afraid that one of these nights we'll end up having one of our big parties and that will keep YOU awake, so don't think twice about it.” Joey dug into his pancakes. “This is the ONLY way to start the day,” he said with his mouth full. Mrs. Lansing slapped his shoulder.

“Your mamma taught you better than that,” she said. She thought for a moment. “We're having a party on Friday, remember?”

“Already?” Joey groaned. He sighed and looked at Lance. “I'm selective about who I allow to spend time in this house, Lance. Not just any riffraff off the street, understand? The nights are usually quiet, but profitable.” Lance nodded and begged his skin not to turn red. “However, to keep people interested, every three weeks or so, I have an open house, if you will. Anyone can come, if they have the money. I hire some of Lonnie's brothers and cousins for extra security…and sometimes we need it.”

“I see. Well, if I can help in any way,” Lance said, standing and taking his plate to the sink. “Ma'am, that was the best breakfast I've had since I can't remember when,” he said truthfully. She turned pink.

“Well, thank you, honey.”

“I'll just go on out there, then,” Lance said, nodding towards the shed. Joey nodded in return and kept on eating. 

“Hey, there, Handyman,” a voice called. Lance turned around and wiped his brow. He hadn't done any hard work, but the shed and garage were dusky and hot. He was out in front of the shed, going through a box of tools he had found.

“Oh, hello, Justin,” Lance said, leaning against the shed. “How are you?”

“Good. Just got up. I saw you, and thought you'd like this.” Justin handed Lance a thermos. “Mrs. Lansing's best lemonade.”

“You ARE a sweetheart,” Lance said gratefully, taking the thermos and opening it. “Mmm…cold…” Lance grunted as he took a huge swallow.

“How long have you been out here?” Justin asked.

“Since nine,” Lance replied. He looked up at the sky. “It's what, one, maybe?”

“One-fifteen,” Justin said. “You've been busy.”

“Yeah, well, there's a lot to do, thank goodness,” Lance said. “I can use the money,” he admitted.

Justin flashed his grin. “You could come work inside.”

Lance turned red under his already red skin. “I don't think so.”

“I'm just kidding, Lance.” Justin gave him a kind smile. “Really. But we DID do good last night.”

“That's, uh, that's good,” Lance stammered, looking down at the toolbox.

“Lance, have you ever…you know?” Justin asked softly. Lance looked up sharply, but Justin didn't look like he was making fun of him.

“Uh, no. I just…kissed a few…but, uh, no,” Lance whispered.

“That's okay. We get TONS of virgins in here…and some of them are SO sweet,” Justin sighed. “You really end up wanting to treat them good, ya know?” Lance didn't reply. “Lance, if you ever want to, uh, you know…”

“I don't have the money for you,” Lance said softly, wishing the ground would open. “And Joey said…”

“Oh, Joey.” Justin waved his hand in the air. “He'd understand. You're sweet, Lance. You just think about it.”

“I…I don't think so, but thank you just the same,” Lance said, not believing he was even talking about it. Justin laughed.

“And polite. Well, I'll get myself outta your way. You take it easy.”

“Okay, thanks. And thanks again for the lemonade.”

“You need a refill, you call, okay? I'm right inside the living room, and the window's open,” Justin said over his shoulder. Lance nodded and looked down again, still in shock that a prostitute had propositioned him…for free.

Four