by Lexi Archer
Brandy stuck her tongue out. They’d settled into a lightly adversarial relationship. Sort of like brother and sister. It was a hell of a lot better than it could’ve been. Brandy could’ve kept up with the whole looking down her nose thing. Next to that having her being slightly confrontational with my new boyfriend was a relief.
“Come on you two. Play nice,” I said.
“Did someone say something about playing nice?”
I wheeled around and grinned. Held my arms out for a hug. “Tiffany! So good to see you!”
Tiffany wrapped me in the hug. There was another friendship that I hadn’t quite expected to develop, but I’d take it. Tiffany turned out to be a pretty cool person to hang out with, and it was always a good idea to be on the good side of the person controlling the room. Something that some of the other girls I worked with had never learned.
“I’m surprised to see the two of you out here tonight,” Tiffany said. “I figured you’d be back at one of your apartments fucking like rabbits.”
I blushed at that and Isaac reached out and lightly punched Tiffany on the shoulder. “Come on. No jealousy here little lady.”
Tiffany stuck her tongue out at Isaac. “Jealous my ass.”
“You want me to fuck your ass?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.
I laughed right along with them. I was also surprised at how quickly we’d settled on language that would’ve made any HR manager in the company turn pale as they always sounded like the sort of things that would land the company with one hell of a sexual harassment lawsuit.
With us it was just playing around. Mostly. I had a feeling that if Isaac were ever to really take Tiffany up on one of those offers she’d jump at the chance. The thought was interesting, to say the least. I’d done stranger things.
“So how about that group today with the screaming triplets?” Tiffany asked, switching from dirty talk to shop talk.
“I couldn’t believe it,” I said. “At least we got some time off while I had to go change dresses to get the puke off.”
“Yeah, and that entire break was because you were changing and not because loverboy snuck off with you, right?” Tiffany asked.
I blushed again and that was all the answer she needed. I suppose that was pretty obvious the way we snuck off and were gone for awhile. Isaac said he was helping me change, something that could’ve gotten us in trouble if someone came into the costume room while he was busy “helping,” but that had been risky and fun.
Risky and fun pretty much summed up everything we’d done since we started hanging out together and constantly fucking.
“Excuse me,” a voice rang out through the crowd. “Excuse me. I’m coming through here. Would you people please get out of my way?”
My good mood was ruined as soon as I heard that voice. I exchanged glances with Brandy and her eyes went wide. That was the last voice either of us wanted to hear barreling through the crowd towards us.
“What the hell is he doing on this side of the party?” Brandy asked.
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to deal with him any more than you do,” I said.
Isaac was right there next to me with a concerned look on his face. Tiffany appeared on the other side of me and she looked just as concerned. It was like the two of them could read minds or something.
“What’s wrong?” Isaac asked.
“There’s trouble coming this way,” I said. “And I need you to promise not to do anything stupid.”
“Stupid? What are you talking about?”
“Stupid like what you pulled that first day when that guy started getting a little too handsy with me,” I said.
“Hey, I don’t remember you complaining about that at the time,” he said.
William’s voice was getting closer and closer. What the hell was he doing over here? He should be on the other side of the party with all the actors and not over here doing whatever the hell it was he was doing. Could it be that he’d gone through all the princesses and now he was consoling himself by working through girls from the other side?
Considering the way he acted that first day in the commissary I seriously doubted that was the case, but stranger things had already happened this summer.
“That’s not what I mean,” I said to Isaac. I didn’t have much time now. “I don’t want you to do something that might get you hurt or fired. That’s it. I still love what you did that first day, but this is different.”
Isaac shrugged. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try to keep it under control.”
I suppose that was the best I could hope for under the circumstances. To be perfectly honest there was a not insignificant part of me that would’ve enjoyed watching Isaac deck William, but that would also get him in trouble and I didn’t want that at all.
No sooner had he said he couldn’t make any promises than the crowd parted and William stepped through. His head moved back and forth as though he was searching for something, though the search came to an end and a broad smile split his face as soon as he saw me standing right in front of him.
Damn it. That meant he was looking for me. I really didn’t want him to be looking for me.
“They said you were over here hanging out with the peasants, but I never would’ve thought it was true until I saw it with my own two eyes!” William said.
“Who are you calling a peasant asshole?” Tiffany said.
She took a step forward as though she was going to fight him. Of course at the same time she was looking him up and down appreciatively. Hey, the guy might be a first rate asshole, but he was a first rate asshole who looked damn good. Especially tonight in a tight fitting T-shirt that showed off just how built he was. It was a miracle Tiffany was able to keep it together at all in the face of all that hotness.
She needed to keep it together though. This was just what I didn’t need. I told Isaac to keep it under control and then my handler lost it. I really didn’t want to lose Isaac for obvious reasons, but it was hard to find a good handler and I didn’t want to lose Tiffany either.
“Easy there Tiff,” I said.
“That’s right. Keep the rabble under control. Let them know who’s boss,” William said.
“Say that one more time and I’m going to deck you asshole,” I said.
“My my,” he replied, taking a step closer to me as that smile grew positively rakish. “You are full of energy tonight. I think I like it when you’re like this.”
“Watch yourself buddy,” Isaac said.
I glanced over to my boyfriend. His fists were clenching and unclenching and he looked very similar to how he’d looked that day when he took on the guy. That he could take on William there was no doubt. He told me all about his time in martial arts which explained why he carried himself so easily around guys who were so much bigger than him. The problem was the park frowned on fights here, and if he started it that was as good as kicking himself out of the summer program.
I desperately didn’t want that to happen. I turned on William.
“What are you doing over here? You’re not welcome,” I spat.
“Not welcome?” he said. “Why I’m always welcome over here. They’re the ones who aren’t welcome on our side of the party. You have to figure out how this works, because you seem to be confused lately.”
“The only one who’s confused is you. I don’t know why you’re over here, but I’m not going to get with you, so fuck off,” I replied.
William shook his head. “Melody, Melody, Melody. I came over here just to see if the rumors were true. I don’t want anything to do with this half of the party, even if there are a few reasons that were far more interesting than I would’ve thought.”
At that he looked Tiffany up and down. Really looked her up and down. I’m talking the kind of look that probably had her wondering if she needed to have a cigarette when she was done even though hardly anybody around here smoked.
“You have fun out here with the peasants,” William said. “In the meant
ime you know which half of the party I’ll be at if you’re ever in the mood for a real man.”
Isaac surged forward at that last jab and the only thing that stopped him from rearranging William’s face was that I managed to throw my arm out at the last minute and stop him. Barely. I think it was because it was me doing the holding rather than any strength I had, which wasn’t much, that kept him from finishing the job.
“Who the fuck does that asshole think he is coming over here and insulting us like that?” Isaac asked.
“Yeah, trying to ruin our good time,” Tiffany said.
Though it didn’t seem that he’d completely ruined Tiffany’s good time. She was blushing. There was no way she could’ve missed the way he stared at her. I felt for her. I really did. I was fully aware of how hot the guy was and the effect he could have on you even if you hated him.
Not that I was going to let that get to me. The prick.
“Just ignore him,” I said. “The asshole is going back to his side of the party and that’s that. It’s not like we can do anything about it.”
“Oh yeah?” Isaac said. “I’m not going to let him talk to you like that. I’m not going to let him talk about me like that.”
“Isaac,” I said, a warning tone coming to my voice. At least I hoped it was a warning tone. Not that it did much good. I saw the look on his face. He was pissed off. This wasn’t the calm and calculating Isaac from that day when the guy attacked me. No, this was angry Isaac.
He was always so calm and easygoing. I didn’t want to think about what he’d be like when he was angry. Still, at the same time there was a part of me that was getting hot and bothered all over again by the whole alpha male routine he was pulling.
Damn.
So I didn’t resist much when he pushed again and made his way through the crowd following William. I could see the crowd parting around him up ahead, but it didn’t look like he’d made it out quite yet. People kept stopping and staring. The guys stared as though they wondered what the hell he was doing there and the girls stared because that’s what girls did with a guy like that.
Only there was one guy who stared at him with murder in his eyes. Isaac. And all I could do was follow along and hope that the damage wouldn’t be too bad.
Damn it. Why was I so turned on?
11: Confrontation
Isaac:
This was a bad idea. A stupid, bad fucking idea. The sort of idea that could easily turn my face into pizza when he was done wiping the concrete with it. And yet there was no way I was going to stop.
No one talked to my girl like that and got away with it. Especially not this guy. I recognized him all too well. He was the one from that fateful first day in the commissary when he made that poor asshole look like a miserable idiot in front of everyone.
I figured I was striking a blow for everyone by taking on this asshole. I wasn’t just dealing with some prick who didn’t talk to my girlfriend the right way. I was dealing with a prick who thought he could walk all over people just because they didn’t work in the acting program.
Besides, it’s not like I promised Melody that I was going to behave myself. I didn’t say anything when she made me promise. I figured that wasn’t breaking a promise. Not exactly.
“Hey, asshole!” I shouted to be heard over the music. I’m not sure if it worked. The guy kept walking. Then again I suppose he might just not be able to hear me. I plunged forward through the crowd. I wanted this to happen before he got back over to his territory.
Some guys might think that the other princes weren’t good in a fight because they were always prancing around the place and were more interested in dating each other than the princesses. I knew from hard won experience that sexual orientation didn’t make someone any less badass. Especially with those dancer types. They could be scary strong.
Best to confront this asshole when he didn’t have any friends around who might be able to help him.
“Asshole! I’m talking to you!”
That time I got his attention. I felt someone touch my shoulder. A light touch. That was probably Melody. Probably trying to keep me from doing something stupid. Bless her for trying, but sometimes you had to defend your girl’s honor even if she seemed annoyed that you were doing it.
I shouldered off her touch and walked up to the guy. He’d stopped and turned around and was staring at me like someone might stare at an insect. He glanced behind me to Melody and I saw something there for a moment. Something I’d seen on plenty of guys when they got a good look at her. Lust. Desire. The painful need to be with her.
I felt a bit of satisfaction at that. He might want to be with her, but I was the one who was with her. He could eat his heart out, because he wasn’t getting with her. Even if the idea of him getting with her was going through my mind in just about every way they possibly could get with each other. Even if I felt myself getting half hard thinking about it.
Damn it. Not now. I didn’t need to deal with this right now. Not when I was about to fight the prick.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“I called you an asshole,” I said.
The guy stopped and moved his neck from side to side like someone in a movie getting ready for a fight. Maybe he was. More likely the pencil dick had seen people doing that in the movies and since he wanted to be a serious fucking actor or something instead of playing a prince at an amusement park he’d picked that up because it looked intimidating or something.
If he thought that was going to intimidate me then he had another thing coming.
“Isaac,” Melody said. There was a warning in her tone, but I didn’t listen. I was too pissed off.
“You need to get your boy toy here under control,” William said. He looked at me and scowled. The music washed over us and a circle appeared around us of people still moving, but at the edge of that circle they were all turning inwards as they realized something was about to go down.
“She doesn’t keep me under control, asshole,” I spat. “And you don’t talk to her like that.”
The guy laughed. I really wanted to pop him in the mouth then and there, but I resisted the urge. I wasn’t going to throw the first punch. Let him do that and get in trouble if the cops got called.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t above goading him into taking that shot at me so I could get in a little bit of self-defense wailing on him.
“You’re serious about this little man? You really want to do this?”
I bristled at the “little man” comment, but I figured he was doing the same thing to me that I was trying to do with him. It’s not like he was much bigger than me. He had a little bit of bulk, but I’d be willing to bet he didn’t weigh much more.
I figured it would be easy enough to take him in a fight. The way he carried himself screamed that he didn’t know what he was doing.
“Why don’t you turn around and go back to your princesses. You fit in well there,” I said. “And don’t come back over here again. We don’t want your kind around here.”
William looked around in disbelief. He seemed to realize for the first time that the crowd surrounding him wasn’t exactly friendly. I saw someone move to the front and realized it was the guy from the first day. The one this asshole had humiliated. He looked more pissed off than everyone around.
Yeah, this wasn’t a friendly crowd at all. I’d be willing to bet most people here saw his performance that first day and remembered. There was murder in all their eyes.
“You’re lucky your friends are here to protect you little man,” he said.
He glanced around at everyone one more time, but it was obvious from the sour expression on his face that he didn’t want any part of getting into the middle of a fight. Which was fine with me. I’d rather not risk my job and get park security involved anyways. I was more afraid of them than the cops, and since the park was technically the local government around here anyways it meant they were one and the same.
The punch came from nowhere. Or at
least it would’ve come from nowhere if I wasn’t used to sparring with people. I reacted on instinct more than anything else and ducked out of the way as the people around us gasped but didn’t make any move to save me.
Not that I could blame them. If I was up against a guy this massive and I didn’t have any training then I might have second thoughts about getting into a scrape too. As it was he’d picked the wrong person to dance with, and it was time to teach him a fucking lesson.
I grabbed his wrist and pulled down. He went off balance and his face went right towards my knee, but I stopped at the last moment. He looked almost comical staring down at my knee mere inches from his nose. I’d used his mass against him and he wasn’t expecting it. I’d pulled him down within an inch of losing his job for the summer.
Or at the very least he would’ve been demoted to work with all the other peasants for the summer. From the look in his eyes he knew it, too. It was kind of funny to see him panicking like that.
“That’s right,” I said. “I could’ve ruined your summer. Doubt there are many people who want to hang out with a handsome prince who’s had his nose busted in by one of the peasants.”
Everyone around us laughed. It was as though the spell was broken. They were looking at him for what he really was now. An asshole who got off on bullying people. Like all bullies he really wasn’t all that threatening when someone stood up to them.
“You picked on the wrong person today asshole,” I said.
I lifted him up and shoved him towards the crowd. He stared daggers at me, but he also didn’t seem to be in much of a mood for a fight. Which was fine with me. If he kept it up then I might have to really hurt him rather than just teaching him a lesson.
The prick.
“This isn’t over,” he said.
I looked around at the crowd surrounding us and back to him. “Sure as hell seems that way to me.”
Everyone laughed again. This time they were louder. When he turned to step through nobody moved out of the way either. The guy he’d humiliated was right there and he actually shouldered the asshole as he tried moving into the crowd.
