Waiting for Mark

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1The Sunset Club, Wednesday afternoon before Easter

“You can’t fire me, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Jay said with belligerence.

Bobby stepped up. “From what I understand,” Bobby turned to Reggie and Mark, “two witnesses watched you take money to let an unauthorized person into the club while the club was closed. That sounds good enough to be fired for cause. If I ever see your face within ten miles of here you’re not going to recognize yourself for a long, long time.”

“I’ll make sure Ricky charges your little prick with assault.” Jay threatened Keith while walking to get his things.

Reggie stepped up. “What he said about your face, and I’ve ten guys that have Bobby’s back.”

Mark said, “Make that eleven.”

“You’ll pay for being a snitch, Mark. I know where you live. This incident isn’t over.” Mark’s face turned white. Jay slammed the door as he left.

“God, what have I done, he’s a badass. He fights with a knife. I’ve seen him.” Mark shook his head.

Reggie walked over to where Mark was standing. “You’ll come and stay in the apartment attached to my house. I won’t bother you. Jason is just around the corner, and Bobby is two miles down the road. If you get into trouble, call Jason and Zach. They’re a minute away.”

“I don’t have any furniture.” Mark seemed a bit ashamed that he was twenty-six and hadn’t accumulated anything of worth.

“It’s furnished, just like your place in Deal. All we have to do is move out your clothes and personal things. Right, guys?”

The other waiters and bartenders nodded in agreement. Mike walked in. “What’s going on here, why isn’t anyone working?”

“We had to take out the trash,” Bobby told him.

Reggie put his arm around Mark’s shoulders. “You’ll come to my house after your shift. I’ll give you my GPS with the house pre-programmed into it. That way you can work tonight, stay at the apartment after your shift and move your things in the morning. I’m sure the other guys will help. I won’t be there to bother you. I work in Princeton during the day.”

“Okay, Reggie, but I pay rent, and this doesn’t mean I’ll date you or anyone else.” He mumbled the last part of that statement and went back behind the bar.

Keith grabbed hold of Bobby and whispered, “Oh he’ll date him all right. You soccer champion guys are nothing if not persistent.”

Bobby faced Keith. “Kiss me, big guy, and then let’s go home, we have a wedding to plan.”

* * * *

Wednesday evening

Reggie Mitchell ran his fingers through his auburn hair, hazel eyes watching Mark shake as he tried to dry the bar glasses and put them on the shelf. Earlier that day, Mark had stood up to Ricky, Keith Anderson’s ex and did his friend and former soccer teammate, Bobby Michaels, a solid. Reggie was already in love with Mark, but what Mark had done for Bobby, even though he was afraid of Jay, made Reggie love and respect Mark more than he thought possible.

Too bad Mark didn’t feel the same way. Mark was skittish. Reggie had been patient. As usual, Reg sat on a stool at the end of the bar. He looked down the expanse of the counter with concern. Mark was shaking with fear judging from the expression on his face. Reggie thought they took care of Jay earlier. He wondered what was wrong. Mark came over to check his drink, still trembling. He stood in front of Reggie.

“You volunteered earlier this afternoon to rent me the apartment you have in the basement. I can’t take it. I’ll bring trouble with me.”

“Jay? The guys and I will make sure Jay doesn’t bother you. What problem could you possibly have, besides Jay, we can’t easily take? What else could there be that would deter me from renting you an apartment?”

“Jay just called,” Mark said in a small voice.

“That son of a b***h…What was Jay doing calling you? Did he threaten you?”

“He didn’t need to, I made some bad choices when I was eighteen. I had a biker boyfriend. He’s an acquaintance of Jay’s. That’s why Jay first got me the job here. I ran into Jay two years after Billy went away. What Jay and Billy didn’t know was that I sent him there. “

“Where is there?”

“Rahway State Prison…”

“Why did he go to prison?” Reggie was curious. This was a part of Mark’s life he knew nothing about.

“When Billy was brought up on charges and convicted for armed robbery, he went to Rahway. He served seven years out of a fifteen-year sentence. Now he’s out and looking for me. He says I belong to him. Jay has threatened to tell him where I am..”

“Does he know that you gave the police the information that got him arrested? Why else would he be looking for you?”

“Because I was young and stupid and let him abuse me, thinking that it was okay in the beginning, because he always apologized and said he loved me. I was used to getting the s**t beat out of me. My mother did it on a regular basis.”

“f**k…” Reggie’s face set in anger. The idea of someone abusing Mark made his blood boil.

“I stayed with Billy for a year. He beat me regularly and toward the end he kept me prisoner. I couldn’t get away. The last beating I took almost killed me because he said I looked at someone else. If it weren’t for a neighbor calling the cops, I would have died. If he finds me again, he will kill me.”

“Why?”

Mark wiped the bar in front of Reggie and then he whispered, “They treated me like I wasn’t there. I was bleeding in the corner when the others came and they discussed their plans for the heist. I would have died there on the floor if the neighbor hadn’t called the cops and the EMTs after the bikers left the condo. She knew better than to call before they took off. The police arrested him for aggravated assault and battery.”

“But you said he went away for armed robbery,” Reggie said, his face scrunched up in anger because of Mark’s pain.

“I wouldn’t press charges, I was too afraid. However, I told the cops from my hospital bed about the heist. They didn’t even check to see if I was still alive when they left, not Billy or even one of the others.”

“If you told them about the robbery, why didn’t you press charges for the assault?”

“I didn’t press charges for assault so he couldn’t figure out it was me who told the police about the heist. What if he hadn’t been convicted? He would know it was me.”

“So if he didn’t know it was you, why would he come after you?”

“He wouldn’t know I told the police about the heist. The police were waiting for him at the pawn shop. I was still in the hospital and didn’t press assault charges, so I didn’t get the blame. However, he’s angry at me, for not visiting him in jail, for disappearing.” Mark broke the glass he was polishing.

“Let me help you before you get cut.” Reggie picked up the larger pieces and got a wet paper towel to wipe up the splinters.

Mark continued. It was like he had to vomit the rest of the poison out of his system.

“He wrote angry letters that got forwarded to my Post Office Box, threatening me. That’s how I know that just by disappearing I earned a beating that will kill me. He said if I wasn’t with him, he would see to it that I couldn’t be with anyone.” There was a hitch in Mark’s voice. “He’ll torture and slaughter me and everyone else I care about. I’m putting all of you in danger.” A lone tear dripped from the corner of Mark’s eye down his cheek. He wiped at it furiously.

“Why is he out after only seven years?”

“His father was a politician and the family had influence. The fact that he went to jail at all was a miracle. He asked for a bench trial, the kind with no jury. That was so his father could buy off the judge.”

“The prosecutor let them do that?” Reggie’s fist tightened.

“The prosecutor could do nothing. The judge couldn’t let him off completely, the police caught him and his crew in the act, but I’m sure money changed hands for the reduced sentence and probation.”

“Couldn’t the prosecutor look for a new trial?”

“Not if he was convicted at the bench trial and the prosecution can’t ask for a stiffer sentence, that’s totally up to the judge.”

“How the hell did the judge justify the sentence?”

“At the sentencing I heard that the judge placed most of the blame on Billy’s crew saying that Billy was misled. They got stiffer sentences. Billy was the mastermind. But rich people don’t get justice, they get preferential treatment. If I weren’t such a coward, I’d have pressed the charges for assault. They couldn’t have ignored my injuries,” Mark said bitterly.

“How old were you when all of this happened?” Reggie was incensed that someone threatened Mark. He thought of Mark as his. He’d been working on getting a date with Mark for almost two years since well before his friend Jason and Zach, the co-owner of the Sunset with Keith, even met.

While Reggie was stuck in his thoughts, Mark had continued…

“I was almost eighteen when we got involved, nineteen when they put him away. The last time he beat me I had four broken ribs and a broken arm. One of the ribs almost punctured my lung. The bruises so dark they didn’t go away for months, and a concussion. My eyes were so blackened, I couldn’t see out of either of them for days.”

“Didn’t you try to get away?”

“He kept me locked in a room with a guard. Once I asked him why he wouldn’t let me go. He said, ‘once something belongs to me it stays mine until I throw it away.’”

“He sounds like a real prince. I gather you stopped trying to escape.” My baby has been through so much, it’s no wonder he’s afraid to love.

“I couldn’t get away while he was free, he hardly ever left me alone but as soon as they arrested him, and I got out of the hospital, I ran. He’s out now, and now Jay’s going to tell him where I am and he and wants me back. Jay made sure he told me that he called Billy. I’m afraid. I’m going to have to run again.” Mark shivered as if he were cold.

“This doesn’t make any difference. The apartment is an ideal set-up for you. You have friends nearby. I also have a buddy in the local police department. Nothing will happen to you at my apartment.”

“You think I’ll be safe?”

“No one can make that guarantee, but the house has an excellent security system installed and I’ll arrange for either Zach, Keith, Mike or me to follow you home every night.”

“You’d do this for me?”

“I’d do this for anyone of my friends.”

“Okay.” He looked away from Reggie. “I can’t tell you who I’m more afraid of, Jay or Billy.”

Reggie turned Mark’s face to his. “Look, you got into this situation trying to help Bobby. That makes it the guys’ business. Don’t worry with their help, you’ll be okay.”

“Who are the guys and why would they do that for me?”

“The guys are the Ocean Township Champion Soccer Team of 2010, Bobby, Jason and the rest of my team and a couple of guys who graduated before us. I’m sure Jason or Bobby mentioned them. You’re Bobby’s friend and mine. Besides, you did Bobby a solid.” Reggie put his arm around Marks’s trembling shoulders and gave him a brief squeeze before quickly moving his arm away, not wanting Mark to think he was taking liberties.

Mark c****d his head. His voice finally broke on a sob. “I can’t stay where I am, it would be too easy to get to me and Jay knows where I live…and work.”

“He doesn’t know where I live, and here, at the club, we can guard you. When do you want to move in?” Reggie’s first instinct was to protect. He wanted Mark in his basement, like yesterday.

“I don’t have much.” Mark sniffed.

“Whatever you need, we’ll get.”

* * * *

Oakhurst, Second Thursday in April before Easter

For the first time in the two years, Reggie had hope. Although Mark still maintained he wouldn’t date him, Reggie, hoped that proximity would do what persistence couldn’t. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. The remodeling was finished. Reggie was surprised it took only a month and a half. Now he would have Mark downstairs in a beautiful apartment with rent so cheap, he wouldn’t want to leave.