“Andrew, my son, it’s been far too long since you’ve come to see me.”

The man on the line is trying to sound lighthearted but I hear something I can’t quite place in his voice

“Father, it’s been far too long since you’ve called me.”

“That’s probably true.”

I motion to Johnathan to bring the boxes in without me. He’s been watching me since I took the call and the finger he gives me when I start to turn away from him tells me he’s not nearly as happy as I am that my phone rang.

Walking into the kitchen, I ask, “What’s going on?”

“Well, I think it’s high time you came back to confessional, son.”

“How soon are you thinking?” I ask as I look back to the living room where Amy is holding back Abigail from jumping all over Johnathan.

“When can you get here?” he asks.

“An hour.”

“See you then, son. Don’t forget your tidings though,” he says before disconnecting the call.

Of course the fuck wants to hear my sins and get paid to do it.

Turning towards the group in my living room, I smile at Johnathan. “You look like crap, man. Like you haven’t slept in a week.”

Giving me the stink eye, he says, “You know I haven’t. After this, I’m getting a bottle of tequila and drinking myself into an oblivion.”

“You have such lofty ambitions for the evening, buddy.”

“What do you mean lofty?”

“Well, I was thinking that you should hang out here for a bit. Take a load off your feet.”

“What do you mean by lofty, Andrew? And I would rather… Why would I want to stay here... No. Flat out no.”

Frowning at us both, I can see Amy isn’t crazy about Johnathan staying here any more than he is.

“I gotta go to church for a bit. Father Coss needs to see my smiling face,” I say to Johnathan.

“Fuck,” he groans as he turns towards the door.

“Hey, language!” Amy shouts then turns to me. “What do you mean you have to leave? Church for you?!”

Nodding my head, I turn from her and head up the stairs. I can feel her stomping up the stairs behind me, following me into our bedroom.

“You can’t just leave us here with him!”

Turning my head back to her, I say, “You’re just as safe with him as you are with me.”

I’d rather not leave her if I didn’t have to, her or Abigail. But I don’t get that choice, work is work.

When Father Coss calls it’s usually a good idea to go. He’s like Simon in some aspects, the old man has his fingers and ears everywhere. When he calls for confession, you attend.

Walking into the bedroom closet, I start stripping off my clothes.

I pause for a moment when I hear Abigail shrieking excitedly and then Johnathan bellows, “Watch my toes, you little goblin!”

Amy looks torn between interrogating me and finding out what’s happening downstairs. “Why are you leaving us with him? He looks like a gorilla stuffed inside a suit.”

Laughing, I have to agree. “Yeah, he does.”

She is about to start in on me when I shove my jeans and boxers down in one push. Her little gasp from behind me brings a grin to my lips.

Straightening back up, I turn to her. My cock is soft at the moment but her eyes are stuck there. Her cheeks turning bright red.

“Wha… Where...What are you doing?”

Feeling the hint of a rise, I flex my groin muscle at her. My cock bobs and she rips her eyes up, staring me in the face. “What in the world are you doing?”

“Getting dressed. Like I said, I need to go to church.”

“But… What does that mean?”

Pulling a pair of slacks out of a drawer, I step into one leg then the other. “I need to go talk to a man about something.”

Not bothering with underwear, my cock is still dangling out as I pull on an undershirt then a dress shirt. Tucking the shirts in, Amy has to tear her eyes away from my cock again.

“Keep staring at it and I might let it bite you.”

Rolling her eyes, she says, “Look, I’m not comfortable with Johnathan. I don’t like any of this.”

Walking past her with my socks and shoes, I say, “Look, Amy, it’s only a few hours at most. Be a good girl and you’ll be fine.”

Those words silence her. I know she hasn’t accepted her life yet. She hasn’t come to the realization that things have changed so completely that she’s in a completely new world. One where there are rules in place to keep her safe. But she needs to know her life is in jeopardy and by that extension so is Abigail’s.

I can’t allow her to do something stupid to endanger either of those.

“Amy, be a good girl. I will keep you and our little princess safe. The world outside of my door is not a safe place for you now. Until I say otherwise, you should do the smart thing and listen to me.”

Her eyes are wide when I mention Abigail, her mouth opening like a fish. I don’t think she caught the whole safety thing when she says, “She is not ours, you can’t just take us like this and make us yours.”

Shaking my head, I stand from the bed. I’m ready to head to the church. I don’t want to leave them alone like this so soon, but life is about doing the things you don’t want to do.

Striding to her, I wrap my arms around her waist before she has a chance to fight me. Leaning down, I kiss her mouth. Not gently this time, like when we were in the kitchen.

No, I kiss her like I did last night in the dark.

I’m not asking for her submission; I am taking what’s mine by right. She’s mine and she will submit.

My lips meld against hers and she fights me even now. I’m not sure if I would be so happy if she easily gave in. Thankfully, she doesn’t.

Her hands come to my chest to push me away, but I keep at it. My hands pull her waist roughly to my rising cock. The hard flesh pushing against my pants and into her stomach.

It takes minutes, not moments, to get her to respond the way I want. At first, she does so tentatively, like it’s her way of just getting it over with.

When I press her against the door, lifting her up, my cock pressing against her pussy and grinding hard against her, I start to feel the response I want.

Panting as I pull away from her lips, I turn my head to the side to latch onto her neck. I’m not leaving a hickey. No, I give a quick hard bite and her squeak is all the confirmation I need to know I got what I wanted.

“Why did you bite me!?” she huffs out at me, her breath as labored as my own.

“Marking what’s mine.”

Setting her down, I leave her staring at me like I’m a crazy man as I leave the bedroom.

Stopping Johnathan as he unloads the last box from his SUV, I ask, “What trouble did you encounter at the apartment?”

“Five guy surveillance. Two of which will not be a problem again. They weren’t the best the Russians could have used to watch her place so we didn’t have any problems. Exiting was a breeze and we had no followers. It was as we thought though. They were watching and waiting for her to come back. They had their snatch and grab stuff ready to go.”

Nodding my head, I say, “Alright, I’ll be back in a few hours. Contact me if you need anything or should something arise. Anything else, let me know when I get back. Fucking keep an eye open though. I don’t like the Russians being involved in any of this.”

“You and me both, brother.”

Bumping fists with me, I head to my car.

* * *

Sitting in the parking lot of Father Coss’ church, I press the number on my phone for Simon. He’s the guy who is pretty much the head of intelligence for us.

“Andrew.”

“Simon, got a call from Father Coss. Wants me to come in for confessional.”

“Interesting. Did he give any indication of why?”

“No, but he wanted it sooner rather than later,” I say.

“Understood, call me back when you’re done.”

Disconnecting the call, I open the door and get blasted by a gust of rain and wind. Fuck, it’s going to be a chilly night.

The church I enter is one of those big old castle looking types. It’s been here since Garden City was in its infancy and it hasn’t really changed since. All around the church and its parking lot are modern buildings, large glass looking behemoths. But they can’t top this church’s imposing look.

Going through the wide double doors, I shake off the rain in the entrance. Looking out to the rows and rows of pews, I see people of all walks of life sitting or kneeling in prayer.

Father Coss is up front, speaking to a couple of elderly women. When he spots me he gives me a slight nod of his head.

Heading to the left, I go straight to the confessional booth to wait for the grizzled old man. He has the look of an old drill sergeant, not the kindly look you’d think a priest would have.

Sitting down in the booth, I lean forward to close the curtain.

I once asked Lucifer what the good father has him talk about during these ‘confessional’ times.

I can’t forget the look he gave me when he said, “I don’t go to him. He comes to speak with me.”

When the old man enters the other side across the partition, I say, “Father.”

“It’s good to see you in church again. You haven’t been around in a while. I thought you might have forgotten where it was.”

“Ha!” I chuckle. He knows I wouldn’t be caught dead inside of one of these boxes if it wasn’t for the information he has for us.

“Laughing will only take you further from God, Andrew,” he says in a tired voice.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve already been forgotten by the old man. No sense in getting into his bad graces now.”

“Andrew, I’ve told you before…”

“Father, let’s bypass the rhetoric.” Reaching through the small panel in the back of the box, I slide the envelope full of cash his way.

“As you wish, but if you ever want to talk… Anyways, let’s see what you brought me.”

The ruffling of cash as he counts it makes me want to burst out laughing, but I know from experience if I do that I’ll have to pay more.

Keeping my mouth shut, I wait for him to finish up.

“It makes this old priest happy to see the youth of today taking care of the church,” he says, then quietly murmurs to me. “You guys have been making some waves around the city for a while now. Any chance of you letting things die down?”

“Soon enough, I suppose, but we still have things to take care of.”

“How many more bodies am I going to say last rites over before… He’s satisfied?” he asks with that same tired tone.

He didn’t use to always sound so tired and weary, but I think he’s getting tired of living in a city like Garden City. This place will either make you or chew you up and spit you out.

“If I had that answer, Father, we wouldn’t be here. He… isn’t happy, and when you make him mad it’s a long road to hell.”

We are speaking of Lucifer of course, my boss. The man is the true power in this city, so when someone fucks with him it’s a bad day for everyone.

Looking through the partition, I see Father Coss make the sign of the cross.

“There is word of something big going on, Andrew. Not on your side though. The deaths of the Yakuza have made things unstable all over the city. There was a vacuum left there and it’s starting to look like the Russians are filling the void.

“What’s the big thing happening?” I ask.

“That’s the problem, Andrew, there aren’t any whisperings of what’s happening. Just whispers of big people moving in. Tough men with dark names. The wives and mistresses of the Russians are in the dark as much as everyone else except the highest of their group. Normally, I would just pass this on to you guys and keep my peace here. But…”

He doesn’t finish, and for the first time in a very long time, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I feel like I have the crosshairs of a sniper right on the back of my head. If this church wasn’t made neutral by all the gangs, groups, and mafia in our city, I would be falling to the floor with my gun out, trying to make my way out of this building as fast as possible.

“Fuck,” I grumble to myself.

Normally I would be reprimanded by the old priest for using such language in the house of God, but he just sighs.

“The body count for this could be very high, Andrew. I need you to get to Lucifer and the Spider. I need you to warn them and try to get them to find some way to come to peace with the city. I’m not sure we will survive the bloodshed of whatever is going to happen.”

Father Coss stands up from the benches and leaves the confessional booth before I even have a chance to say anything back.

Sitting there for a moment, I try to organize my thoughts. Things are happening now outside of our scope of knowledge. Big things that could spell a shit ton of trouble for us.

Shaking my head, I stand up.

* * *

Outside, in the safety of my car, the rain starts coming down in hard waves. The wind pushes one way then the other. If the weather is matching the stirrings of the city, we might be in deep shit.

Fuck me sideways.

Dialing Simon, I try to gather my thoughts in the moments before he answers.

“Andrew, what was he wanting to talk about?”

“Shit, Simon, that’s the thing. There really isn’t anything to talk about beyond whispers. Whispers that have the old man terrified.”

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“He’s scared. Says something big is in the works on the Russian front, but he doesn’t know what. Nobody is talking about it. Seems only the higher-ups know anything and they are tightlipped. Not even the mistresses are talking. One thing he said though… Said some guys are coming into the city with really bad reputations. What that means, I don’t know, but it could be heavy hitters or well… anything.”

There is a long silence on the phone and I can only fill it with my own. Watching the rain slash down on my windshield as the world outside goes from night to day with the crack of a lightning bolt.

“That’s the reporting we have as well. Lucifer has you coming by tomorrow for dinner, I’ll be there too. We’ll talk more then.”

“Alright. I’m going to check in with some of my contacts. See if I can find something out. Have a good night, Simon.”

“You as well.”

I don’t immediately drive off though. My brain is running too fast right now. Little connections are struggling to be made but I can’t get the picture to adjust right.

Something out there is getting ready to happen and whatever it is… it’s big.

* * *

It’s close to ten when I pull into the garage. The house appears to be subdued from the outside, only a couple of lights are on. When I walk in, Johnathan is sitting on the couch, watching the local news.

Amy and Abigail are nowhere to be seen.

Smelling pizza in the kitchen, I hunt down the box before I go in to see him.

“How’s the old man doing?” Johnathan asks.

Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “Worried as fuck. Something’s going on out there and he has no clue what it is. Whatever is going on is big, the Russians are planning something.”

“Fuck me,” he growls as his head falls back. “I just fucking got back from one shit storm to this.”

Nodding my head, I say, “Go home and get some rest. But do me a favor, reach out to your friends around the city. See if you hear anything out of ordinary, something sounding just a bit off.”

Looking at me for a moment, he says, “Will do. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I finish off my slice of pizza as I hear him leaving the house. A moment later his SUV starts up.

Shutting down the lights and locking up, I head upstairs to the bedroom. Looking around the room, I see that it’s missing the one person who should be there.

Walking down to Abigail’s room, I look in and see Amy curled up on the bed. Walking into the room, I gently slide my arms under Amy’s legs and back and lift her off the bed.

At first, she pulls herself tight into my arms, burrowing her head into my chest. It’s a long moment before she looks up with wide eyes. “Wha…?”

“I’m home, baby, let’s go to our bed.”