Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 20:10:11 -0400
From: Dale Wright <bwicub@hotmail.com>
Subject: "The Lottery Winner" Chapter 54

Hi everyone...

In order to accommodate people who are asking me about notification lists,
I've finally created an YahooGroup (Gods, Yahoo is like the Borg!)  to do
so: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dale_writings

******

As always, Gabriella is my main cheerleader.  Mark has also been great.
I've even inspired him!  Check out his story "Blind Date", it's also here
in the Boyband section.

I love email, so feel free to drop me a line with your thoughts on the
story.

My story is hosted on another website.  Here's it is:
http://railwayshoes.net/hosted

It's partway down the site, just look for "Lottery Winner".  There's lots
of other great stories there so check them out.

DISCLAIMER: The names of the people are fictional (well, except for the
members of the group).  This is a fictional story that came right out of my
own mind. I have no knowledge if any member of N Sync are gay or
whatever. That being said, please enjoy the story and remember-- write
me!!! (Especially write me if you're a member of the group! GRIN)

Thanks guys and gals,  Hope you like it.

Dale


--THE LOTTERY WINNER...Ch 54--


Mark felt his stomach slam into his Doc Martens.

"Slept with Lance?  What do you mean?  I didn't sleep with Lance."

Chris crossed the threshold.  "Bullshit.  Please don't insult my
intelligence by lying to me."

Mark couldn't tell what Chris was thinking; he closed the door and went to
the living room.  "Come on in Chris... let's talk about this."

Chris went and sat in the living room... and waited.  A few minutes later
Mark came in and sat.  "Chris, I don't know what to say."

"Would you sleep with me?"

Mark did a double take.  "Pardon me?"

"Come on Mark.  I'm cute.  You're cute.  What about it?"  Chris reached
over and groped him.

"CHRIS!"

Chris grinned.  "MARK!"  He then unzipped Mark's pants and stuck his hand
inside.


Dale and Joey pulled up in front of Mark's house, and went to knock.

"Hm.  No answer."  Dale rang the bell again and knocked.

"Try calling him."

"Good idea."  Dale hit the speed dial on his cell phone.  He heard the
phone in the house start ringing.  It rang six times before the machine
picked up.  He hung up partway through the recording.  Then redialed the
number.  After listening to mark's message Dale left one.

"Okay you bitch.  You call me sounding all Sylvia Plath and now you're not
answering the phone.  I'm officially upset.  Call me."  He hung up the
phone in disgust.  "Come on Joey, we're going home."

Joey smiled.  "Yes dear."

They were partway home when Joey thought of something.  "You know if you're
really worried about him you have the key he gave you."

Dale sighed.  "I know.  But if nothing is wrong I'd never forgive myself
for invading his space."

"I'm sure Mark would understand... you're a friend and you're worried."

"I couldn't do it.  If he doesn't get back with me in a couple of hours
THEN I'll use the key."


"Chris we shouldn't be doing this... oh my god that feels good.  Wait!
No..."  Mark shuddered as he felt himself start to cum.  Chris began
moaning as he ran his tongue around the head of Mark's cock.  After about a
minute of swallowing, Chris came up for air.

"Damn Mark.  You always shoot that much?"

Mark pulled away slightly.  "Usually."

"Great."  Chris stood up and unzipped his pants.  "Now you do me."  When
Mark hesitated, Chris walked up to him and began tapping his lips with his
dick.  "Come on Markie, open wide."

Well, Mark held true to his ideals for a few seconds, but his horniness
gave him away.  As he took Chris into his mouth he heard his phone ring.
He knew it was Dale and there was NO way in hell he was going to answer it.


Mark woke up around ten in the evening.  He rolled off the couch where he
had apparently fallen asleep.  He staggered into the kitchen to get a drink
of water.  He saw the button on the answering machine was blinking like
mad, so he hit the button as he headed to the fridge.  He grabbed the
Gatorade bottle and began drinking as the first message played.

"Okay you bitch.  You call me sounding all Sylvia Plath and now you're not
answering the phone.  I'm officially upset.  Call me."

Mark spit Gatorade all over the fridge.  He lunged for the phone and was
dialing when Dale walked into the kitchen.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Mark tried recovering.  "Dale!  Sorry about earlier.  Wasn't feeling good
so I took a nap and ended up sleeping most of the night.  Hope you're not
mad."

Before Dale could reply they both heard the beep of another message.

"Mark.  It's Chris.  Thanks for earlier.  Talk to you later dude."

Before Mark can even think of something to say to Dale the machine beeps
again.

"Mark, it's Lance..."

Mark dropped the Gatorade bottle and threw himself on the machine.  He shut
it off and smiled at Dale, and then fell over onto the floor.  Apparently
phone tables aren't meant to hold the human body... who knew!

Dale laughed.  "Are you okay?  You didn't break anything did you?"

Mark groaned.  "I'm starting to wish I did.  Okay, out with it."

Dale helped Mark up.  "With what?"

"Let me have it.  I know you want to."

Dale took a kitchen towel and held it to Mark's forehead, which had a small
cut on it.  "Mark, I have no idea what you're talking about.  Why are you
freaking out on me?"

Mark pasted a smile on his face.  "I'm still not feeling too well.  I think
I'm going to go to bed.  Can you let yourself out?"

"Um.  Okay.  Call me tomorrow though.  Something's up, I can tell."  The
friends hugged and Dale went to let himself out.  Mark went and sat back
down on the couch, letting out a sigh of relief.


"So is he okay?"

Dale closed the door and went into the living room.  "Yeah, he was there at
home.  Said he'd fallen asleep."

Joey paused the Playstation game to look at Dale.  "You think he was
lying?"

Dale thought about it for a minute.  "I don't think so...  I guess if
something is up he'll tell me eventually."  Joey was going to get up but
Dale went and sat on the floor behind him.  Dale wrapped his arms around
Joey and kissed his neck.  "How's your game going?"

Joey grinned as he got comfortable in Dale's arms.  "Better now that my
lucky charm is here."  Joey kissed Dale then started the game back up.  He
began playing for a few minutes when he felt Dale nuzzling his ear.  He
grunted and kept on playing.

After a few minutes Joey felt Dale stop nuzzling his ear, and he was going
to say something when he felt Dale kissing his neck and working back up to
his ear.  Joey was doing fine until he felt the feather-light touch of
Dale's fingers working up his side and massaging his chest.  Joey's
character on the game died, and he didn't even care.  He dropped the
controller and took Dale in his arms.

Dale smiled as Joey's lips touched his.  "Sorry, did I interrupt your
game?"

"Shut up and kiss me Mister Wright."  Joey's hands went to the sides of
Dale's face as Dale went backwards and lay on the floor with Joey on top of
him.  Joey straddled Dale, passionately kissing him.  As he broke the kiss
he grinned at Dale.  "Do you know how unbelievably fucking cute you are?"
He kissed Dale again, and ran his hand down and slipped it into Dale's
pants.

Dale pouted.  "Just cute?  Darn, I was hoping to get at least 'ravishing'
or 'fuckable'."  He grinned at Joey as he said it.

Joey laughed.  "Oh, you're definitely ravishing, and you should know damn
well how fuckable you are."  Joey growled softly as he leaned down and
nuzzled Dale's ear.  Dale laughed as Joey's goatee tickled him.  "Come on
Dale, let's go to bed.  We've got a busy day tomorrow."

"We do?"

"Hell yeah.  We're practicing all this week for your demo."  Joey grinned
as he pulled Dale up and led him to bed.  As he watched Dale strip for bed,
Joey wondered at how lucky he was.  As Dale got into bed Joey pulled him
into his arms and kissed him soundly on the lips.

"You're in a good mood Joey."

Joey grinned as he kissed Dale again.  "Of course I am.  I've got the man
of my dreams in my life, in my bed, and in my heart."  Joey's kiss got more
insistent as he slid his tongue between Dale's lips.  After a few minutes
of kissing, Joey came up for air.  "Love you baby."  The two men snuggled,
and fell asleep.



Mark was whistling as he got off work.  He hopped into his jeep and turned
on the cell phone.  He was just leaving the parking lot when the phone
began ringing.

"Hello?"

"Mark, buddy.  It's Lance.  You on your way home?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We're here waiting for you."

"We?"

"Yeah, Chris and I."

"WHAT?"  Mark wasn't paying attention to the road, and he ran a stop sign.
The phone went flying from his hand as the airbag deployed.


Lance heard Mark say "WHAT?" and then the scream of tires braking and then
the bending of metal.  The phone went dead.

"HELLO?  MARK!"  He looked at Chris, his face drained of all color.  "We
have a problem."


"Joey, would you think me weird if I told you that was fun?"  Dale grinned
as he and Joey left the recording studio and were heading to Dale's car.

Joey smiled.  "You had fun?"

"Oh my god yeah!  I've never sung with a band before.  And these guys are
so good!"  Dale started the SUV, but instead of pulling out he just sat
there talking to Joey.

"Of course they're good, they're our touring band.  If they weren't good
then they'd be attacked by the legions of kids who're at our shows."

"So, how'd we sound today?"

Joey squeezed Dale's hand, then leaned over to kiss him.  "You were
wonderful baby.  I was sitting there listening to you sing, and watching
you.  You looked so happy when you were singing.  I'm glad you're pursuing
your dream."

They held hands as Dale pulled out and headed home.  They were making small
talk but stopped when they saw Chris' PT Cruiser sitting in the driveway,
Lance and Chris leaning against the rocker panel.  Joey was the first one
out of the SUV.

"Hi guys.  What's up?"

"Have you guys heard from Mark?"

Dale came up to the group.  "Not since last night.  Why?"

Chris and Lance exchanged a look.  Finally Lance spoke.  "We think he was
in an accident."  He then explained what had happened earlier.

Joey turned to look at Dale.  "Didn't Mark say he'd put you down as an
emergency notification on his id card?"  Dale ran inside to check the
answering machine.

*BEEP* "Hi.  It's Mark.  Geez I feel like a total dork.  Could you come to
University Hospital and get me?  I was in an accident.  I'm at the ER."

"So did he call?"  Dale turned around and saw Lance, Chris and Joey
standing in the door.

"Yeah, he did.  I'll go get him."

"We'll come with!"  Chris and Lance spoke up almost at the same time.  Joey
looked at the two of them for a few seconds, then said he'd go too.

The four friends piled into Dale's SUV and took off.  Joey tried calling
Mark's cell phone, but it just rang busy.  After about twenty minutes they
pulled up to the hospital.  Dale told the three N'Syncers to stay in the
car to not cause a scene and then went into the waiting room.

Mark was sitting all alone, with a bandage over one eye and what appeared
to be two black eyes.

"Mark?"

He smiled weakly.  "Hi Dale."

"Are you okay?"

Mark tried shrugging, and a pained look crossed his face.  "Think so."  He
stood up and began walking out, but stopped when he noticed Dale wasn't
following.  "Hello?  Ready to go..."

Dale sat down.  "So, what happened?"

"Good god Dale.  Do we really have to go into that right now?  In fact, no
we don't.  Take me home please."  Mark whirled around and headed out.
After a few seconds, Dale followed.  Mark was standing right outside the
door.  "Where'd you park?"  He wouldn't meet Dale's eyes.

Dale pointed in the direction of the car, and Mark walked quickly over to
it.  He got into the back with Chris and Lance without saying a word to
either of them.  Dale got behind the wheel and felt Joey staring at him.

"Where to Mark?"

"Just take me home."  Mark immediately closed his eyes and wouldn't talk to
anyone.  Dale got in and started the engine.  Joey looked at him, and
gently took his hand.

The drive to Mark's house was silent.  When Dale pulled up Mark got out
without a word being uttered.

"Bye Mark."

Mark turned around and smiled sadly.  "Good night Joey."  He then turned to
glare at Chris and Lance, then went inside.  Dale drove back to the house,
and Chris and Lance left almost as soon as they pulled up.

Dale didn't say anything until he and Joey were inside the house.  "Do you
ever feel like you don't know what's going on with your friends?"

Joey laughed.  "Baby, you've met most of my good friends... you know damn
well what that answer is."  He took Dale in his arms and kissed him on the
cheek.  "Whatever's going on with Mark he'll resolve.  If he tells you,
then great for him; if he doesn't then all you can do is still love him and
support him as a friend."  He smacked Dale's ass.  "Now let's get something
for dinner, I'm starved."

Dale smiled.  Joey always knew how to get him to smile.


The rest of the week passed uneventfully.  Dale was working daily with Joey
and the vocal coach on the songs he was doing for the demo.  The band had
laid the backing tracks so they were all set for Saturday.  Dale felt
himself getting more and more nervous as the days flew by.  He tried
ignoring the butterflies in his stomach and concentrated on rehearsals and
spending time with Joey.  Mark hadn't been in contact with him, and the two
messages he'd left for Mark hadn't been returned.

After the rehearsal on Friday, Joey was grinning like a maniac.  "Dale,
you're gonna sound so damn good tomorrow!  What do you want to do tonight?"
He wiggled his eyebrow at Dale and began giggling maniacally.

Dale had to smile at that.  "Joey, I'm too damn nervous about tomorrow to
fool around.  With my luck I'd end up throwing up all over you."

Joey grinned.  "Baby, I've been there.  Don't worry about a thing, you'll
do outstanding."  Joey pulled Dale tight and after a few minutes of
nuzzling him planted a kiss on the lips.  "How about a nice relaxing
evening at home tonight?"




Saturday morning Dale was lying in bed, Joey's arm around him.

"Dale?  You awake?"  Joey rubbed Dale's chest softly.  "Baby, you ready for
today?"

Dale grunted and turned over to face Joey.  "Well... I feel like I'm gonna
throw up.  Is that normal?"

Joey pulled himself up onto one shoulder to look down at Dale.  "Dale, what
have I told you all this week?  You have no reason to be nervous.  I
believe in you."  Joey smiled then leaned in to kiss Dale.  "Now, go brush
your teeth... you've got morning breath."  He winked at Dale, who giggled
then hit him with a pillow.

"Oh ho... pillow fight?  I should tell you Mister Wright, No one has beaten
me at one yet."  Joey grinned, but instead of reaching for a pillow he
began tickling Dale.  In seconds Dale was laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh shit Joey, stop please!  I gotta pee.  You're gonna make me piss all
over the bed!"

Joey stopped.  "Well, I'll stop then baby.  I'm not into watersports."
Joey got out of bed, pulling Dale after him.  "Come on sweet thing, we're
gonna shower."  Dale smiled as Joey undressed him and led him to the
bathroom.  Joey got the water warm, but not too hot, and pulled Dale gently
into the shower.  He began humming as he washed Dale's hair and lathered
him with soap.  "Lean back Dale, we have to rinse you."  Dale obeyed him,
and once he was rinsed he pulled Joey into a firm hug.

"My turn."  Dale smiled and gave Joey a kiss.  He then grabbed the loofa
and began scrubbing Joey.  He stood in front of Joey to wash his hair, that
way he could kiss him while he worked.  Once Joey was all rinsed the two
lovers kissed.


"Dale, don't even think about what's going on in the other room... this is
just another singing session.  You know the timing and the words.  You'll
do great.  Ted and Jimmy are going to be your engineer and producer today."
Joey smiled as he put on the headphones and plugged in to listen.

Dale took a deep breath as he put on his headphones.  "Okay Dale, we're
gonna run through the songs in the order we've used before.  You ready?"

"Yeah."

He heard three tones in his ear and then the backing tracks for 'Rock DJ'
started.  His intro came... and he didn't start.

Jimmy stopped the track.  "Dale?  You okay?"

Dale shook his head.  "Yeah, sorry.  Go ahead and start again."

Jimmy looked at Joey, who smiled and nodded.  "Okay."

Dale heard the tones again, and started singing on cue.  He sang like he'd
never sung before.  When he was on the downward chorus of the song he
opened his eyes and looked over at Joey.  Joey was swaying to the beat,
grinning like a maniac.  Dale sang the final refrains to be faded on in the
final cut, and held the final note until Jimmy signaled him to cut it.

"ALRIGHT DALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Joey ran up to him and pounded his back while
hugging him.

"Easy Joey... I have a couple more songs to sing today."

Joey was grinning ear to ear as he went back to his stool.

"Okay Dale.  That sounded great.  Anything you want to change?  If not,
we'll move on."

"It sounded okay to me Jimmy, let's go on."


"Holy shit!  It's six o'clock already?"  Dale had been taking off his
headphones when he noticed the time.  "We've been in here almost ten
hours?"

Jimmy and Ted grinned at each other.  "Yeah Dale.  Didn't you see us pay
for the pizza delivery a few hours ago?  We were starving!"

Dale stretched, and then massaged his neck muscles as they began tightening
up.  "Oh my god.  I'm beat.  But I think I did it.  But won't six songs be
a bit much for a demo?  That's almost an EP isn't it?"

"It's not that big of a difference Dale.  Most demos have four or five.  If
there's six it's not a bad thing.  You have songs with a wide range of
timing, so what you're doing is just showcasing your ability."

Dale smiled.  "When did you get here Lance?"

Lance sat back in the chair, "About three songs ago.  I have to admit
Dale...  I'm impressed.  You sound pretty good.  There's some things that
can be worked on, but it's nothing too major."

Joey was out of his seat.  "What do you mean?  He sounds great Lance!"

Lance laughed.  "Do you hear me disagreeing?  Stop being so damn stubborn
Joey.  I'm not talking as Dale's friend here, I'm talking as a
producer/manager.  There's a couple of small things that should probably be
worked on.  Now you take Dale out of here and go to dinner... we're going
to do the finishing touches on the engineering of the demo.  Come back in a
few hours, we should be ready for a final listen."

Joey and Dale talked to the guys for a few more minutes, then Dale's
growling stomach made them both laugh.  They said their goodbyes and went
in search of dinner.

"How about Chinese food Dale?"

"That sounds great.  Can we eat at home?"

Joey stroked Dale's cheek as he drove, then whipped out his cell phone to
call for a food delivery.  They got back to the house a few minutes before
the food.  Joey made a picnic on the floor in the living room, and put on
some music playing softly.  They fed each other Chinese food, giggling
quietly.  Joey took a piece of General Tso's chicken in a set of chopsticks
and fed it to Dale, then leaned down to kiss him softly.

"I love you baby."

Partway through the dinner, they pushed it aside and curled up on the floor
with each other, just enjoying being near each other.

"Dale?"

"Yeah sweetie?"

"Wanna watch Powerpuff Girls?"  Joey pulled himself up and grinned.  Dale
laughed and nodded.  They soon were caught up in an episode of the cartoon.
They were laughing hysterically when the phone began ringing.

"So start talking already."

"Hey Dale.  You guys want to hear the end result?"

Dale felt his stomach drop into his feet.  "Um, er.  Um..."  Joey noticed
Dale's discomfort so he came and got the phone.

"Hello?"

Lance was laughing.  "Dale's nervous about his new effort.  Do you want to
bring him to hear the end result."

"How's it sound Lance?"

"Truthfully?"

"No blondie.  Lie through your teeth."

"Dork."

"Blonde."

"Virgin!"

Joey laughed.  "Yeah, you know damn well that's not true!"  He reached and
took Dale's hand in his.  "So talk blondie."

"He sounds outstanding.  I'm taking a copy of the demo with me over to
FreeLance this week.  I'm sure Johnny'll want one too."  Joey gave Dale a
thumbs up sign, and pulled him into a one- armed hug.

"Now... get your furry Italian butt over here."  Lance hung up the phone.

Joey giggled at that, and took Dale's hand to pull him into a hug and kiss.
"Come on.  Time for you to hear what everyone else does."



"Now Dale, when you listen to it try to ignore the fact that it's YOU
singing.  It's just another CD that you're listening to.  Okay?"

Dale shrugged.  "Okay.  Let's hear it."

Lance reached up to the mixing board and flipped a couple of switches.  A
few seconds later music started coming out of the speakers in the recording
studio.  Dale began moving to the beat, and was surprised when he heard
himself come out of the speaker.  He turned to look at Joey with a look of
wonderment on his face.  Softly he whispered to Joey...  "Is that really
me?"

Grinning, Joey nodded.



As the singing slowly faded out on the final song... Dale felt a surge of
pride.  He'd done it.  He'd finished something that had started on a whim
in Baltimore with Annie.

And dammit, he sounded good!

The sound of clapping hit his ears, and he blushed as he looked around him,
and everyone was clapping their hands.  After a few minutes, when they'd
stopped... Dale finally found his voice.

"Okay.  Now what?"

Lance smiled.  "Now, we use the master tracks and make a few CDs to
distribute.  Mark said he'd do the cover art and bio sheet for us."

The smile fell off Dale's face.  "He did?  Oh, I didn't know that.  When
did he tell you this?"

"Last night."

Dale and Joey exchanged a look.

"So when will you be seeing him again?"  Joey tried sounding nonchalant as
he asked the question.

Lance looked at his watch.  "In about two hours.  Late dinner.  Why?"

"Oh no reason.  Just wondering what's going on with him.  He hasn't
returned any of Dale's calls."

Lance looked lost in thought for a minute.  "Hhmm... Dunno Joey.  I can ask
him tonight."

"That'd be great Lance."

Lance stood and stretched.  "Okay Dale.  I'm taking a CD with me to
Freelance tomorrow.  Do you think you'd be available for a showcase in the
next week?"  He grinned as he asked that.

Joey giggled like a fiend.  "Yes he's available!"

"Joey!"

"Hush Dale.  You're available."  He caught himself before he kissed Dale.
"Okay, I'm going to take Dale for food.  Thanks for the help on this guys!
You're all wonderful... and I'll make sure to name my kids after you."
Joey grinned as he pulled Dale after him as he left.

Joey and Dale left and headed back home to spend time with each other.
Lance spent about two hours after they left working on Dale's demo and a
couple of things that he'd put off for FreeLance.  He was just getting into
his Forerunner when his cell phone started ringing.  He smiled when he saw
the caller-ID.

"So how're you?"

"Are you coming over here?"

"Yeah.  Be there in about ten minutes."

"Okay.  See you then."


*RING* *RING*

"Hello?"

"You coming over here?"

"I can."

"Good.  Please come over.  Can you be here in ten minutes?"

Chris looked at his watch.  "Probably more like twenty."

"Okay.  See you then.  The door'll be open, so just come on in."


Mark hung up the phone, and stared at it.  He'd thought long and hard about
what he was about to do.

About fifteen minutes went by, and his doorbell rang.  He went to answer
the door, and let Lance in without saying anything.

"Hi Mark.  How's things?"  Lance went to kiss him, but Mark pulled away.

"So, how'd Dale's session go?"

"Oh he was outstanding!  That reminds me.  Did you get the artwork and bio
done for the CD?"

"Yeah, hang on I'll get it."

Mark went to his office, and pulled out a paper copy of the artwork and a
zip disk that had the files stored.  He felt Lance's hand on his ass.

"Please don't."

Before Lance could say anything they both heard Chris downstairs.  "Hey
Mark!  I'm here."

"Mark.  What's Chris doing here?"

Mark walked away.  "I invited him."  He left the office and headed out to
the entryway.

"Mark!"  Chris pulled Mark into a hug and was all set to kiss him when he
saw Lance.  "Lance?  What're you doing here?"

"I asked both of you here."  Mark handed the papers and disk to Lance and
went to stand by the door.  "I wanted to talk to you about the whole 'let's
boink Mark' thing that's going on."  Mark looked into the eyes of both
Chris and Lance.  "You did know that both of you are sleeping with me
right?"

Chris looked at Lance, then back at Mark.  "Well yeah."

Mark was suddenly confused.  "What?"

Chris and Lance both started talking.  "Why wouldn't we know about it Mark?
It was both of our idea."

Mark felt all color drain from his face.

"Get out.  Get out now."


"So do you believe me now Dale?"  Joey smiled as he pulled Dale into his
arms and tenderly kissed him.  Dale returned the kiss, then popped a piece
of strawberry into Joey's mouth.

"I will admit... now I almost believe you."  Dale giggled as Joey's hand
caressed his cheek.  "I still can't believe I actually did it.  I used to
dream about seeing my name on a record."

"You did?  Aw... that's so cute."  Joey used a remote control on the coffee
table to turn on the stereo.  He pulled himself from the floor and held his
hand out for Dale.  After Dale stood Joey pulled him into his arms.  The
two men began slowly dancing to the music.  As they danced around the
living room, Joey began kissing Dale more intensely.  Soon Dale was up
against the wall, Joey's hand in his pants as they kissed.

*DINGDONG*

Joey kept kissing Dale... massaging his dick the entire time.

*DINGDONG**DINGDONG*

"Goddammit!"  Joey pulled away from Dale and went to the door.  "Go away!
We're busy."

*DINGDONG*

Joey growled as he looked over his shoulder at Dale.  Dale had readjusted
his pants and went up to stand behind Joey.  "Who is it?"

Joey peeked through the peephole.  "It's Mark."

"Really?  Well, open the door."

Joey opened it.  "Hi Mark.  What's up?"

"Hi Joey... Dale."  Mark started crying.

Joey grabbed Mark and pulled him inside.  "Dale, go get Mark something to
drink.  We'll be in the living room."  Dale went to get Mark something, and
came back to see Mark bawling on the couch.

"Mark?  What's going on?"

"Dale, I've never been so frustrated in my entire life."  It was like a
switch had been thrown.  Mark stopped crying and began walking around the
room.  He told Joey and Dale everything that'd been going on with Lance and
Chris.  He held nothing back.

"I have NEVER been treated this way by anyone.  I've had it.  I gave Mister
Bass the artwork for your demo.  Can you do me a favor and make sure that
he and the others leave me the fuck alone!"  Mark began storming towards
the door when Joey called his name.

"What about me?"  Joey stuck out his lower lip and pouted.

That made a flicker of a smile cross Mark's face.  "Not you two.  I still
like you.  I just need to be away from the situation that those two
bastards put me in."

Dale went and hugged his friend.  "I'm so sorry Mark.  I'm still here for
you."  Dale and Mark hugged, then Dale walked him out to his jeep.  Dale
didn't say anything to Joey until he'd come back and locked the door for
the night.

"Joey?"

"I know Dale.  Believe me... I know."  The two men kissed.  "We'll deal
with those two tomorrow.  I want a quiet night with you in my arms before
all hell breaks loose."  Joey led Dale upstairs and they went to bed.