by Robin Hart
“You doing okay man?” He said. “You look tired.”
“Finals.” Justin said.
“I didn’t know you were in school.”
“I know. No one ever guesses. Probably I look more like a model than an engineer.”
“You’re studying engineering?”
“Yup.”
“Nice.”
“Don’t change the subject. You weren’t concerned about me. You are concerned about Nicole though. I need to know what’s going on if I’m going to help. And you know the other guys listen to me.”
Justin sort of knew how the guy felt. Molly was kind of his Nicole, and ever since he’d left her, he’d felt a little lost. He wished he’d done something better, so he could have been in the situation Sean was in, able somehow to look after her. He knew if given the same opportunity, he’d be acting just as nutty as Sean.
“The guy.” Sean said. “His friend works out at my dojang.”
“Kay.” Justin said, looking like he was only half listening.
“Well I guess maybe not that good a friend, because he came to warn me about him.”
“He what?” Justin sat up, pushed his hair behind his ears. “About what?”
“Says the guy’s bad news.” Sean said, feeling familiar adrenaline rush back at the memory of the conversation.
“What kind of bad news?” Justin said. Goose bumps rose on his arm. He didn’t like where this was going.
“Apparently.” Sean breathed in, wondering if he should really say something that might be completely untrue but would prevent Justin from seeing the guy in any reasonable way, just like he couldn’t. “Okay first of all, this isn’t confirmed, so we can’t just jump on the guy till we know. It’s all hearsay.”
“How much do you trust this student?”
“Enough that he wouldn’t mess with me. But beyond that he’s not very mature. I don’t know that I trust him enough to know truth from rumor.”
“And what did he say?” Justin’s face was hard, and no longer looked girly. Sean could see the same tightness he was feeling reflected in him, sort of a rigidity stemming from resisting adrenaline. He felt bad that Justin would be sharing in the unpleasant experience of feeling able to neither fight nor take flight, despite very badly wanting to do one or the other.
“Apparently he put the last chick in the hospital.”
Justin remained silent. Sean looked to the side, then out towards the door. Justin followed his gaze and seemed to follow his thought process.
“And he’s coming here?”
Sean nodded.
Justin sighed. “I’ll think of something. We need to get out there in case they come in.”
“Yeah.” Sean said. “My thoughts exactly.”
Sean frowned and leaned against the bar. Justin nudged him.
“Dude you need to relax. Mingle, or something.” Justin shoved him forward, out of the shadows and into the main room, where the eyes of a dozen women lit on him with amusement. “Earn your keep.”
Sean glared back at his betrayer, but straightened his tie and walked forward, smiling at the most innocuous looking group of girls. Now to try and remember names. He looked around the group and the faces swam and blurred before him. It wasn’t because they were customers, it was because he was generally bad with faces and names, mainly due to his long running obsession with Nicole.
“Sean where have you been?” One of the women, a short redhead with pretty, artificial cherry red hair that was cropped at her chin, said. She looked up from her game of scrabble. “We’ve missed you, right girls?”
A chorus of nodding ensued. Sean looked over his shoulder and mouthed ‘help me’ to Justin. He would know all the names. He was the pro here.
“Sorry, been busy with my other job.” He said.
“Yeah.” Justin said, sidling up beside him. “He’s a karate master in his other life.”
Sean glared.
“Aw, you aren’t?” Another woman, a curvy brunette with boy-short hair said. She pursed her lips and looked up at him with playfully sad eyes. “Cause that would be hot.”
“No.” Sean sighed. “I’m not in fact, a karate master.” He was a Tae Kwon Do master. Well, soon would be anyway. Not that any of these women would understand the difference between master and teacher most likely. Then again maybe he was being unkind, after all, he had a second life that no one here knew, couldn’t they as well? No, they were all too short. Tae Kwon do meant being tall, so that your leg could reach farther than your opponent’s, so that you could hit them before they hit you. Kind of like his sparring with Ben would depend on his wit being able to disarm his opponent before his opponent could disarm him.
Unless Stephen had been mistaken, in which case, he couldn’t really call Ben his opponent.
“Sorry, but Sean has been gone so long he’s probably terrified to ask your names.” Justin said.
So Justin made casual introductions and the two of them settled in to watch the scrabble game without much offense on the parts of the women.
Sean was more aware than ever before of the door only ten feet away, directly in front of them, that could open at any time. The hairs on his neck did a tiny salute each time he thought he heard footsteps outside the door, even though he figured he was probably insane for thinking he could hear that with all of the chatter in the club.
The Brunette, who was called Sam, laid out the word ‘slut’ on the scrabble board, and the other women laughed and commented on its appropriateness.
Justin countered with the word ‘man’ in front of it, and an argument over the veracity of his word ensued. Sean could not have cared less. If he had to vote, not that anyone asked him, he would have said that while manslut might not be in the dictionary, if it was, it probably had Justin’s name next to it. On another night he would have enjoyed getting a rise out of Justin by telling him just that, but tonight, all he could think about, see, and hear was the door.
Finally, while he was glazed over and scolding himself for not being able to pay attention to anything but the door, he saw it move almost imperceptibly, then open all the way. First he saw Nicole, her face bright, her eyes captivating in smoky eye shadow, her curls gelled into perfect ringlets in a halo around her face. Cheekbones that caught the light, full lips that were glossy, coffee perfection. She was wearing a little black dress, something he’d never seen her in. It was sexy, going to her knees, with sleeveless top that draped in front, and a black belt around her waist. She looked so good. It made him ten times angrier when her date appeared behind her through the door.
Forget the fact that the man possibly beat women, which could be fiction. But the fact that he had gotten Nicole to dress up sexier, more feminine than she ever had for him? Unforgivable. Sean wanted to give him a taste of his increasingly faster tornado kick. Sean wished they were Neanderthals and could duke it out for her love. For the right to see her in the black dress. Sean felt a light tap on his sleeve and finally realized Justin and the girls had been trying to get his attention.
“Come on Sean, you have to be the tie breaker. Manslut, good or no?” Dawn, the one with black hair, asked.
“Yeah. You call it.” Justin winked at Sean and sat back with arms folded.
Sean pulled his eyes away from the door.
“I guess Justin would be more of an expert on man sluts than me.”
Sean was already moving his eyes up to look at the door when he felt himself roughly shoved off the couch.
“What the-”
Justin stretched out his legs on the couch where Sean had been sitting and frowned at him. “This is my couch, therefore only my friends can sit here. Friends do not include people who call me a manslut.”
“Who other than a manslut, would use the word in scrabble?”
“Ouch.” Justin said. “What an insult to Samantha, whose word I merely supplemented.”
“I’m not offended.” Samantha said. “You can sit on our couch if you want.”
Sean lo
oked at the couch, which already seated three women. Justin had one more on the couch by him on the other side of his legs.
“I don’t think there’s room.”
“I can sit on your lap.” Cheri, the redhead said. “You can sit here.” She stood, and he realized that if he wanted to blend, this would be a good way. At least he trusted that he could control himself with a woman on his lap if it wasn’t Nicole. He sat, and the woman sat on his leg.
“Good thing there isn’t much room in here, eh Nic?” A man said, and Sean looked up to see Ben standing over them, his arm around Nicole. “Mind if we take that armchair?”
Sean looked at Justin, who looked a warning glance to calm down back at him.
Justin nodded to Ben. “Make yourself at home.”
“Thanks.” Ben sat, and tried to pull Nicole onto his lap, but she merely sat on the arm of the chair. “Aw…come on.”
“No thanks.” Nicole said. “I don’t want you to have a dead leg by the end of the night.”
“Thoughtful of you.” Ben said.
But Sean felt sure that he didn’t mean it. He felt oddly as if he could see little looks of malice or displeasure on Ben, but they were quick flashes seen only between otherwise charming expressions, and Sean felt sure he could just be imagining it.
“Nicole, introduce us to your friend.” Justin asked. Ben seemed to be staring at him. Sean didn’t blame the guy. Seeing Justin for the first time was a bit confusing. The man wasn’t threatening so much as man-pretty. It kind of messed with your head.
Ben’s head turned to survey the women with disinterest then turned to Sean. Their eyes met. Ben’s face seemed to turn a shade paler as their eyes locked, though Sean didn’t know why. Unless he could convey with only his eyes that he would readily kill the man if he hurt Nicole in any way. That he wouldn’t hesitate to rain down on him with crushing force if he broke her heart. That he would end him if he broke anything else…on any woman for that matter.
Ben turned back to Nicole as she whispered something in his ear. They laughed, and Sean felt the muscles in his thighs tense up under his hands.
“Something wrong?” Cheri asked, turning his face to hers.
“No.” He said.
“Relax handsome.” She said. “He’s got nothing on you guys.” She leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Who brings a guy to a club like this anyway? One that’s not gay, I mean.”
Sean flushed, embarrassed for Nicole and a bit angry, but was able to at least piece together Ben’s nervousness. A quick look around the room showed that Ben was easily out of his element here. The men here were all varying shades of gorgeous, and tall, and built. Ben was pale, average height, average looks. Pointy nose. Smallish eyes. And his clothes, which were probably pretty preppy outside of the club, were completely eclipsed by the fashions of every other man in the room.
Sean supposed by the pallor he’d inspired in the other man that he was probably the most intimidating. Good.
“And that’s Sean, I mean John.” He heard Nicole say, and looked up to see her finger pointed at him. Ben’s eyes locked with his again, their only distinguishing feature a slight coldness that Sean met with heat. This wasn’t casual for him.
“Which is it?” Ben said. “Sean or John?”
“John.” Nicole said, fidgeting. “Right?”
“Can’t you even remember your friend’s name?” Ben said, laughing.
Nicole’s head dropped a couple degrees and Sean could have stood up and slapped him for it. But Cheri on his lap made that a bit difficult.
“They sound similar.” Justin said. Nicole looked at him and smiled.
“We’ve missed you around here Nick.”
“I missed you too.”
“Other people call you Nick?” Ben said. “I thought you hated it.”
“I do.” Nicole said, trying to stay atop the arm of the chair. “That doesn’t stop them, just like it doesn’t stop you I guess.”
Sean vowed not to call her Nick again.
Chapter 13: Consequences
Nicole wanted to leave. Making Sean jealous was not turning out to be worth another date with Ben the douche bag, as Sean called him. He was petty, and he kept criticizing everything she did. From her order at dinner (he had thought her order gauche, though she was pretty sure he was actually just mad she had ordered for herself), to the length of her dress. For someone she had only been out with twice, she found him annoying and controlling. She was starting to think the story Sean told her wasn’t that crazy. She was glad she was here with the guys, but worried about what would happen when she left with Ben. She couldn’t stand the embarrassment if she had to admit she was wrong and ask Sean to help her, even though she knew he’d be happy to.
She’d hoped to just watch a bit of manly jealousy and prove that Ben was totally harmless, if a bit slimy, and call it a night. Instead, she felt like she was being crushed a little more each moment, like a leech was sucking her life force out. A leech named Ben.
She knew she wasn’t being fair. She turned to watch Sean in his seat, looking more comfortable than she would have guessed with a pretty, short redhead in his lap. He turned and smiled to her, then turned back to his party. She loved the way his shirt fit. Loved his tie and the way it matched his eyes. Next to Ben he looked even larger, even more handsome. But the key was that Sean was a good man. And Ben, as Nicole was observing from the way he treated everyone from the waitress, to her friends now as he sneered at them, was probably not. Some kind of transitional upgrade from the other men she’d dated, but not all the way there yet.
“Sorry if my date smells like fish.” Ben said, and Nicole looked up at him with tension in her face she could feel between her eyebrows. Oh no, that crease was going to be so deep by the time she was old enough to forget all of this.
The rest of the group stared at Ben in various states of mouth hanging open, eyebrows raised, narrowed eyed shock.
“She insisted on ordering the tripe, even though I warned her that at Tony’s it’s particularly fishy.”
Nicole’s cheeks burned and she was grateful for her beautiful dark skin and fantastic wine blush that would keep her embarrassment to herself. She looked down at her legs, then over to Sean’s face, only raising hers slightly to do so. She nearly toppled off the side of her chair when she did. She had intended to just look up at him quickly, for a second or two, but when she saw his expression, she couldn’t look away. His mouth twisted up at the corner, his eyebrows pressed in a deep v shape with the same crease between them that she was currently wearing. But his blue eyes were extra blue, vivid, and narrowed. Perhaps there was a certain redness to his face in its tensed state that made them appear bluer. The green also stood out. A vein stood out on his forehead at either side of his temples. And he seemed to be chewing his own teeth and staring at Ben.
She felt familiar warmth that she was beginning to associate with Sean’s presence spread out to her fingertips and toes. She felt more aware of him as a man. She felt uncomfortable about it, like she was attracted to her brother. She reminded herself she didn’t have any. Why was it so hard to let a man shift from friend to lover? She still wasn’t sure she was ready to.
“I like my date to order whatever she feels like.” Sean said. The redhead on his lap, who Nicole wanted to kick off and finish off with a boot in her butt smiled up at him. Ben looked less amused.
“I guess then they can’t blame you if it tastes awful. Even if it does make them smell.”
Nicole glared at him and wondered if watching Sean get angry was worth dealing with Ben all night. Probably just because he felt so intimidated here, surrounded by the other men who were taller and more attractive.
“Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom.” She said, standing and looking towards the dressing rooms.
“You want me to go with you?” Cheri asked, and Nicole hated herself for being previously mean to her in her head.
“Sure.” Nicole said. Cheri stood up and walked with her, and one
of the other girls, one with black hair with purple streaks, stood up as well.
Sean kept his eyes on Ben, who was watching the women walk away. Justin shifted nervously on the couch. Sean was glad that Justin was sitting between them. Someone who was somewhat neutral in all of this at least. When Ben turned back to the group, he slumped back in his chair casually.
“What kind of club is this anyways?”
“Didn’t Nicole tell you?” Justin asked.
“No.” He said. “She just said it was an exclusive club for members.”
“I guess she didn’t want you to know then.” Justin said, smiling. “I guess, as her friends, we’ll leave that to her.”
“Are you saying it’s not a normal club?” Ben looked hopeful at the prospect. Probably because then he could go back to thinking he wasn’t below average attractiveness and stature.
“No, I’m not saying that.” Justin said. He leaned back with his arm over the back of the couch, looking almost feline, long and golden and relaxed. Sean knew it was probably his own style of intimidation. “I’m saying that I don’t think this is the type of place where we take kindly to people insulting our friends. Even in jest.”
Sean looked at Justin and nodded his approval. He watched Ben like a bear watches a fish in the river that it hasn’t figured out how to catch.
“You haven’t said anything.” Ben said, leaning forward on his knees and touching his fingertips gently together in a tented way. “You sure like to look at my date though.”
Sean narrowed his eyes on him and looked back to check if the women had already gone into the restroom. The blonde friend was sitting on his other side and was completely interested in talking to Chuck, who sat on the floor cleaning up the most recent scrabble game. The best word had been ‘supermanslut’, apparently.
“Are you retarded?”