Chapter 21 Murry #2
Aspen waited until we’d all gathered around him before hitting repeat on the video someone had sent him.
It took a moment before I realized who the camera was trained on, then Sean turned his head enough for me to see him fully as he approached a long-haired man seated at a bar I immediately recognized as Chase’s, a little goth club on the edge of town.
The object of Sean’s desire wore a leather jacket over a black chain link crop top, with matching skintight leather pants and high-heeled, chain covered boots I would have loved to have in my own closet.
The tips of his hair were dyed bright purple, and he swirled a thin straw around in his drink as he watched a music video playing on the television above, completely engrossed in it before Sean tapped him on the shoulder.
The guy eyed him up and down, sneered, and turned back to the video. His words, "fuck off, creep," came through loud and clear.
“Rude much,” Sean replied. “I was just trying to ask if you were the guy I’m supposed to be meeting here.”
“He said, ‘Fuck off, creep,’” a large guy at a nearby table echoed, standing up to show just how tall he was.
“Nobody was talking to you,” Sean grumbled as he backed away from the man.
“Well, he was talking to you,” another voice boomed, then a shadow stepped into the light, right behind Sean, who jumped when he accidentally backed into a massive chest. “And they both told you to fuck off.”
Sean whirled around to see that the man behind him was even bigger than the man who stood to his right.
“Get the hell out of here, asshole, and don’t come back,” a woman said as she stood to box Sean in.
Meanwhile, the long-haired man at the bar with the wicked boots had swiveled around on his barstool to glare at Sean.
“If I’m being rude, it’s because you’re the asshole who likes to stalk people and make threats about how he can do whatever he wants because his daddy is a cop,” the man announced.
“You probably don’t recognize me from the last time you approached me in a bar; my hair was much shorter then, but that didn’t stop you from grabbing it when I tried to walk away from you. ”
“I bet he recognizes me,” a man said as he stepped from the shadows.
He had long hair too, like Raleigh’s and Aspen’s when he wore his down.
“He got grab happy with me on the dance floor at Lace’s and wound up getting his ass barred from the place for acting like a lewd octopus.
He threatened to file assault charges on me after I smacked him across the face for putting his hands where they didn’t have permission to go. ”
Holy shit, the dude had a type, and it was clearly captured on this video.
“He swore he was going to tell his daddy that I was threatening and harassing him after we went out on the worst date of my life, and I blocked him on social media and wouldn’t return any of his calls and texts,” another guy said as he stepped up beside the man Sean had bumped into.
“I saved every one of them too, as proof that he was the one harassing and threatening me.”
Sean kept turning his head every which way, searching for the exit, only no one moved to provide him with one.
“After this goes viral, and I promise you it will go viral, you will never be able to get a date in this town or any town close to here ever again,” the long-haired man with the purple tips declared before throwing his drink in Sean’s face.
“I just hope your daddy sees what a fucked-up piece of shit he raised. Now get the fuck out of here!”
The camera caught the perfect close-up of Sean sputtering and swiping at his eyes as people finally made a hole for him to pass through, the biggest man even pointing the way as Sean stumbled around.
No one laid a hand on him, and the video didn’t stop rolling until the door closed behind him and everyone let out a cheer.
We were all laughing by then, especially Raleigh, who hugged Aspen.
“Holy shit, how did you pull that off?” Raleigh asked as he turned Aspen loose.
“All I can say is that I might have spread the word around to some folks I knew, just to see how many people were as sick of Sean’s shit as we were,” Aspen replied. “The rest I will keep to myself. Like I told you in the shop, plausible deniability is your friend.”
“Got it,” Raleigh said.
Aspen winked at him as Daddy shook his head, still chuckling. “You know I love how your devious mind thinks,” Daddy said. “Which is why I endeavor to stay on your good side.”
“Why, does he leave black licorice jellybeans places when he gets vengeful like some people we know?” Raleigh asked, cutting me a look.
“I wish,” Daddy said, “those were at least easily disposed of.”
He cut me a look too, while I just swayed side to side, shooting them innocent bunny eyes until Aspen wrapped an arm around me.
“Don’t you listen to a thing they say, honey; black licorice jellybeans are a brilliant first strike.
Now let’s you and me plan out a few follow-up strikes if they don’t learn from the first one. ”
“Oh no, no, no,” Raleigh said, catching my hand and tugging me out of Aspen’s clutches. “No plotting a fate worse than black licorice jellybeans.”
“Yeah, seriously,” Daddy said, boxing me in on the other side. “Especially after what we just saw. You keep your devious thoughts to yourself! Don’t even think about corrupting our sweet, innocent little bunny.”
Raleigh snorted, which got Aspen rolling as another burst of laughter erupted from him.
Even Daddy started chuckling when he realized what he’d said because we all knew that this bunny had bite when someone provoked him.
In a perfect world, it would never happen again, but there were too many idiots running around loose in the streets for me to ever drop my guard completely.
Instead of dwelling on the inevitable, all I could think about was that Raleigh and I had two more protectors in our corner, men who’d expanded our small family and filled it with adventures we’d never even dreamed of.
The leap of faith we’d taken when we’d signed those contracts had been rewarded in the form of a daddy who loved us equally, and a new friend cared enough about us that he’d rallied friends to help shame the bastard who’d made more than just our lives miserable.
If that wasn’t love, wasn’t family, I didn’t know what it was.
And I didn’t want to find out, either.
More from The Lactin Brotherhood…