Then I lean into Sem a little and say, “I have to use the bathroom before we go.”
Sem nods and presses his hand to the small of my back, leading me through the crowd toward the men’s restroom. He watches me walk inside, leaning against the hallway wall to wait for me.
I do my business quickly, avoiding some stares from curious men, but no one bothers me. But then again, there’s always one.
As I’m washing my hands, I hear it.
Of course. Someone just had to go and ruin this night for me.
“What the fuck you doing here, boy?” a man says gruffly. He’s tall and wide with a scraggly beard nearly obscuring his mouth and a tattered t-shirt stretched over his round belly. He smells like beer even from where I stand a few feet away, and I wrinkle my nose at the stench.
“Taking a piss. What did you think I was doing in the restroom?” I reply with as much snark as I can muster. I dry my hands quickly and try to move around him because leaving is the best way to de-escalate this situation. But he reaches out his dirty hand, and shoves me in the chest. I stumble back and plop down on my ass. The floor feels moist and sticky under me and I cringe, my heart thundering in my chest.
“You don’t belong here, you fucking dirty queer,” he slurs.
A few people are staring, some looking disgusted at…God, maybe they are looking atmein disgust and not the bigot swaying on his feet. No one moves to help me so I pull myself up and try again to duck under his thick arm to get to the door, but he latches onto me roughly once more.
I try to yank my arm away, but his grip tightens on me, his fingers digging into my skin, and now I’m afraid.
“It’s fucking unnatural,” the man spits, and some of it lands on my hand.
Some of the onlookers are filing out the door now, leaving me alone to deal with this dickbag. But then a stall door bangs open, and another man approaches, looking at the two of us and assessing the situation.
“Shut your ignorant mouth,” the unknown man says sternly, his eyes narrowed on dickbag. I don’t know him, but he’s standing up for me. Okay, so maybe not everyone here sucks.
“You okay?” he asks me.
And I shake my head, swallowing roughly.
“You with him…you a queer too?” the smelly man asks, and before anyone can say another word, I’m dropped from his grasp and he’s thrown back against the tile wall.
He hits it with an audible grunt, and Sem is there, looking like an avenging god, clutching onto the man’s neck with both hands. His thick fingers flex so tightly that the man’s face turns purple.
The man who stood up for me nods and then leaves. But we’re drawing a new crowd now and some have their phones out, filming everything.
“Oh my god,” I breathe as Luke casually strides in next to Sem, leaning against the wall like this is some kind of movie matinee. And not a violent shakedown.
“Bro, come on. Squeeze a little tighter,” Luke says, looking at his nails. Sem grunts, and the muscles of his arms strain as he literally lifts the man up, his feet dangling off the ground. My eyes widen at the raw power of it. I’m impressed, intrigued, a little repulsed and, if I’m being honest, a lot turned on.
“Open that ugly mouth a little. Let me get his tongue,” Luke says casually and then grabs onto the man’s chin, tugging it down. “Think I can rip it out with just my fingers? ‘Cause, I think I can.”
“Do it,” Sem grunts, and the man looks like he’s going to pass out. The veins in his eyes burst as he gasps for breath. “He touched what’s mine.”
The man begins to tremble, his eyes widening, and I can’t do anything but stand there and stare. Because Sem just claimed me while choking a man to death.
And I like it.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“Oh shit,” Luke says with a scoff as he glances down. “Piss yourself, man? Really? Do you have no shame?”
Sem looks at the man’s wet pants and releases him so quickly that the man slumps onto the ground, choking and pawing at his neck.
“Disgusting,” Sem spits as the man coughs and wheezes.
Luke pushes off the wall and steps next to Sem. “How about we bring him back to the yard and show him how a hydraulic press works. Never done it with a body before.”
Oh my god.