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It was a queer feeling, seeing him so close. The last time we were face to face, he still had a youthful sheen of beauty to him. Now, he looked like every cliché, over-the-hill bible thumper from my youth. A bit too thick around the middle. His dirty-blonde hair was now just a dusting of fluff, thinning and sparse. Wrinkles like canyons spread across his forehead. He looked as if he’d been marinating in hatred and hurt for twenty years.
Gray turned to me. “Get back up there. Right now.” His voice was desperate. There was a protectiveness in it. The protectiveness I had hoped for all those years ago.He had me.Trevor growled as I walked forward. Gray stood in front of him, trying to separate us like a human shield.
“Thought you said it was just you working tonight? You lying to me now?” Trevor said.
“Half-pint, please. Get back in the office. Let me handle this.” The fear in Gray’s voice was unmistakable, but he wasn’t backing down. Every second that passed filled me with fear, but I pushed past it. I knew that if I was going to heal—if I was ever going to reclaim what Trevor had taken from me that night—it wouldn’t happen by hiding.
“I was wondering when we’d get a chance to catch up,” I said, feigning far more confidence than I had inside of me. I walked around the checkout lane, circling away from him. “I hear you’ve been keeping tabs on me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Always happy to find I have admirers.” I reached above the rows of candy bars and picked up a lighter.
“Are you back here for him?” he asked, nodding his head in Gray’s direction.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” As I walked past Trevor, his eyes narrowed, and he readied himself to lunge, but Gray stepped in front of him, his arms spread wide. I walked toward the charcoal grill display by the sliding doors and picked up a bottle of lighter fluid.
Trevor’s voice was rough when he spoke. It sounded like he’d swallowed a handful of gravel in the parking lot. “If you touch him, if you lay one finger on him, I’ll—”
“Christ, were you always such a drama queen?” I walked in front of Gray and pressed my hand to his chest. Darting my eyes between my hand and Trevor, I smirked. “Hey, Trev? I’m touching him.” Once I was between them, I held the lighter in front of Trevor, dropping it into his shirt pocket. Before he could get a word out, I shoved the bottle of lighter fluid against his chest and held it there. “Here you go. In case you want to pick up where we left off.” Inside, I was shaking, but I refused to let it show. To let him see me as broken parts crudely stitched back together. He didn’t get that win.
Trevor slapped the bottle out of my hand. When it hit the floor, the cap broke, sending liquid spilling across the tile. He took a step forward. Reaching into the front pocket of my smock, I gripped the glass shard from the broken picture frame.
“Kent,” Gray said, pointing down at my smock. Blood was seeping through the fabric, raining down on the floor. Lighter fluid and lifeblood mingled on the linoleum, creating stunning swirls of clear gloss and dark red slashes.
I arched an eyebrow at Trevor. “Did it make you feel good, tying me up? Making me beg? Did you feel big and strong? Did you feel like a man?”
He took another step forward, driving his finger into my chest. “Careful, Half-pint. Might have to make a little trip over to your house tonight. Have a little talk with your momma about them manners of yours.”
“You touch my mother and it’ll be the last thing you do.”
Gray wedged himself between us and snarled at his brother. “Dang it, Trevor, just go. You made your point. Just go home.”
Trevor took another step forward, and I was fully certain that he was about to end me right then and there. I pulled the blood-soaked shard of glass from my smock and held it out at him.
“You touch me again, you touch him again, I’ll fucking end you, Trevor.”
Trevor snorted. “Is that so? What are you going to do? Slit my throat?”
“I’ll make sure every soul in that church of yours knows what you did. Mom will back me up. Dottie knows about it, too. Elmyra somehow knows everything about everyone, so I’m sure she’s in the goddamn loop as well.”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice shaking. “I’m sure everyone’s going to believe a faggot and a bunch of old bitches.”
“Don’t you fucking talk about them,” I growled, jabbing his chest with the glass until he winced.
“Yeah? And what are you gonna do about it? You think anyone in this city gives a damn about the prodigal queer? You think they’re going to take your words for gospel?”
“They’ll believe me,” Gray said, his eyes still focused on my blood spreading across the floor. The words took me by surprise. His hand pressed against the small of my back, his fingers tightening around my hip. “I’ll tell Momma and Daddy. This ends tonight. You’re going to turn around, and you’re going to go home. It’s over.”
Trevor backed away slowly, his jaw slack. “Like hell it is,” he said. He stumbled back, his eyes remaining locked on me until he finally made it past the sliding doors. As soon as he made it to his car, I let out a roar. I turned around and lunged at Gray, pulling him in for a big bear hug.
“Thank you. Thank you for that.”
“I’m sorry it took me so long to stand up for you,” he said, his mouth only inches away from my ear. He pulled away, taking my hand in his and inspecting the cut. “You hurt yourself.” When he looked up at me, there was a look of concern so heavy I thought it might just shatter me. “It’s deep. I think you might need stitches.”
I stared at my hand. There wasn’t any pain. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was still riding a wicked adrenaline high, or if I’d severed the nerves. Gray picked me up, his hands lingering against my ass as he set me on the end of the counter at register one.
“I’m going to grab some bandages and alcohol. Just stay right here, okay?” He walked toward the sliding doors and flipped the switch, locking them. Spinning around on his heel, he walked to the health and beauty aisle. When he returned, he had an armful of supplies. Enough bandages and antiseptic to treat an entire army.
