Five #2
My phone rang, and it was my friend Wade, calling to get me to join him and some others at a club downtown.
It was still relatively early, not even midnight, so I told him I’d be there and caught a cab.
It made little sense to leave a gay club to go to a straight one since I was, after all, gay, but I didn’t really care, and it didn’t really matter.
I needed to put some space between Ben and me, and Detective Kage and me, and being across town from both of them sounded like the greatest idea ever.
I didn’t feel like dancing and I really wasn’t good company, but I sat with my friends Eddie and Parker, and the three of us watched Wade and Gretchen dance while we drank.
And drank. My only interest was in getting as much alcohol into my system as was humanly possible, and my friends were in complete agreement with me.
An hour later I was past the point where I could walk or talk or do anything but lean my head on my hand and people-watch.
I squinted really hard when I saw Detective Kage weaving through the crowd behind a line of people.
I closed one eye, opened it, and then tried the other, just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
What the hell was he doing at another club I was at?
He saw me and turned to lean in close to the women beside him before crossing the room to my table.
It looked like he yelled when he stopped to stand over me, but I couldn’t hear a word over the pounding remix of a song I knew but couldn’t name.
I waved up at him, and the scowl was instant.
That he could maintain his level of intensity was amazing, the energy it took more than I could fathom. I put my head down on my folded arms.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, his breath warm on my ear, his knee bumping mine before his thigh as he slid into the booth beside me.
I didn’t answer.
“Get your head up and look at me.”
I rolled it sideways but didn’t lift it.
“Tell me what you’re doing here.”
“You first.”
He growled, which sent a flush of heat over my skin. “My friends wanted to go dancing.”
This was by far the biggest revelation of the night. “Do you know how?”
And I thought the look couldn’t get any darker.
I chuckled. “Sorry. You better go.”
“I want you to go home.”
I shrugged. “Somebody’ll take me home, Detective, don’t you worry.”
He stared at me a long minute before he got up.
“Jory!”
I lifted my head then so I could see my friend Eddie.
“Jory, c’mon, Wade’s gettin’ his ass kicked in the bathroom.”
“Only at a straight club,” I muttered as I got up slowly to follow him. “This kinda shit never happens at a gay club.”
I trailed after Eddie, zigzagging through the crowd, keeping up a running commentary about how if we were in a gay club, the word “bitch” would have been volleyed back and forth and then everyone would have walked away.
At straight clubs, however, fists flew instead of insults about what you were wearing.
Eddie went through the door, but before I could follow, a heavy hand clamped down on my shoulder. When I turned my head, Detective Kage was there.
“Lemme go. I gotta—”
“And you’re gonna do what?” he snapped at me, shoving me aside, pinning me to the wall. “Don’t move.”
“Wait, I gotta help my—”
He pressed his hand hard against my chest, and I could feel the cold cement through the thin fabric of my spandex T-shirt. “He’ll be right out. Don’t you fuckin’ move.”
I nodded, and he threw open the door and disappeared inside. Not even a minute later Eddie came out, trailed by Wade, and finally Detective Kage.
“Thank you.” Wade sighed, pressing some paper towels against his bottom lip as he stared at the police officer. “Really.”
Detective Kage nodded before his eyes flicked to me.
“Jory.” Eddie laughed nervously. “You didn’t tell me you brought backup.”
“I didn’t know I had.”
“Once Detective Kage flashed his badge, he scared the shit outta those guys!”
“They deserved it,” Wade groused, balling up the bloody paper towel in his hand. “That asshole’s been hittin’ on Gretchen all night, and he saw she was with me—what the hell?”
“Never follow a guy into a bathroom,” Detective Kage warned him.
“Unless you’re in a gay club,” I countered. “And you’re invited.”
“Because,” Detective Kage said loudly, trying to keep the conversation serious, “you never know where his friends are. There were four other guys in there.”
Wade nodded. “I’ll keep it in mind, Detective.”
“Thanks again,” Eddie said quickly.
“Yeah, thanks, man,” Wade chorused, grabbing hold of the front of my T-shirt and tugging me after him. “Let’s go get something to eat and—”
But I was yanked backward out of my friend’s grip. I felt like a rag doll pulled in two directions at once.
“Jory ate already. I’ll take him home. You guys go ahead.”
They would have argued with me. They didn’t argue with Detective Kage. They both hugged me good night, I got the guy-clench times two, and then they were gone. I stood motionless as Detective Kage walked around in front of me.
“Thank you for saving Wade.”
He didn’t say a word, just stared down at me.