Oblivious to the attention on them, theman he’d been kissinglooked straight at Rory and said, with a weird inflection on his words as though they held some hidden meaning, ‘Well met, friend. May I accompany you home?’
‘Fuck no,’ Rory gasped, shoving him away.
Theman he’d been kissingseemed stunned. ‘No?’
‘Get away from me, you stupid cunt.’ Rory shoved him again, throwing his weight behind it. Theman he’d been kissing(god, oh god, he needed a better name) was harder to move than Rory anticipated. Those muscles weren’t just for show. Rory took a big step back, just to be certain he’d put distance between them.
‘Don’t you know me?’ theman he’d been kissingasked.
The attention of Graham and his mates was excruciating. They tracked the stranger then swung to Rory.
‘Fuck off, mate,’ Rory announced loudly. ‘Of course I don’t know you. I thought you were a girl.’
Which was a ridiculous claim to make, because aside from the long hair there was nothing remotely feminine about theman he’d been kissing. The fucker radiated the kind of alpha-male aura that Rory despised: he seemed to be looking down onTheLoch-Up’sentire clientele like he was above everyone in it.
Rory gulped a large swig of his pint and turned back to Graham’s circle, glaring at any of them to say something—anything.
‘Thought the cunt was a girl,’ he repeated. Sara winced at his use of the C-word and Rory’s self-consciousness went into overdrive. That was his dad’s voice coming through. The curse had been tossed so casually at Rory over the years, sometimes it slipped out when he felt backed into a corner.
The rest of the circle exchanged glances, but luckily the desire for shitty banter won out over genuine scrutiny.
Graham clapped him on the back. ‘Ah, you fuckin’ dafty. Don’t go stealin’ the men from under me.’
‘Yeah, Graham’s meant to be the only cocksucker round here!’ chimed in his mates, tasteful as ever.
‘Fella’s blind. Get yer eyes checked.’
‘Nah, get him some water. Man can’t handle his drink!’
A round of guffaws smoothed Rory’s nerves a little. He could handle being the butt of a joke for a while. It was just a mistake. Anyone could make a mistake.
No one cares,he told himself, wondering why he was struggling to shake it off. Was it because his mind was already conjuring the slurs that would pour out of Ol’ Doaty’s mouth if he ever got wind of this? Rory pushed down a sickly rising tide of anxiety.No one cares.
He made a show of spilling his drink to seem drunker than he was.
‘Hooo, get a load of ’im!’ one of them hollered. ‘He’ll be snogging my granny next!’
‘If she’s as good as your mum, I’ll have a go,’ Rory slurred back, to raucous laughter. The group descended into jeers at one another and an escalating slew of ‘your mum’ jokes that Rory felt was the perfect opportunity to duck out. He caught Graham’s eyeand pointed at his empty glass before heading in the direction of the bar.
Rory found himself weaving more than he felt he ought to as he struggled to move through the crowd. Perhaps he really was drunker than he thought. It had been a while since he’d last had a proper drink. Maybe it wasn’t impossible that tonight’s three pints had simply hit him like a freight train, and maybethatwas the reason he’d gotten blindsided by theman he’d been kissing. Everyone experienced weird boners once in while, right? Right?
Rory’s thoughts were swimming by the time he reached the bar. Like his brain was going all gooey and something in his insides was churning like the aftermath of a really bad curry.
Before Rory could catch Ava’s eye behind the bar, the worst happened. Theman he’d been kissingslid into the space next to him.
‘I do not understand why you pushed me away,’ said the attractive son of a bitch.
Rory’s body went into meltdown. He was suffering the weirdest fizzing sensation, as though an electric current was passing between him and theman he’d been kissing. Rory couldn’t tell if he was turned on or going to throw up, but whatever it was sent his head spinning and his whole being off-kilter. It was as if the guy’s physical presence was the cause.
‘Go away,’ he tried to say, but it came out as an unintelligible string of syllables. Rory groaned and leaned on the bar for support—but missed and slipped down it instead.
The strong arms of theman he’d been kissingcaught him. They tried to place him back on his feet, but Rory couldn’t hold his balance and fell right against the guy’s chest.
The man he’d been kissingpatted Rory’s hair and gently tilted his head back to meet his eyes again. ‘Do you hear me, friend? Are you all right?’
Rory’s mouth gaped open and closed, but the fizzing current drowned out any hope he had of answering.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ This was a new voice, tinged with worry. ‘He looks ill, Your Highness.’
