Call me kitten (boyxboy love) ✓

46. Sober and violent

I woke up to Ash shaking me and at first, I had no idea where I was.

"Wake up, we're so fucking late," he urged, and I was on my feet so fast that the world spun around me.

In a daze I looked at my phone and cursed out loud. Nine in the morning and my workday started an hour ago, not to mention Ash who started at six-thirty. It was a mystery to me how I had been able to fall asleep that hard, but whatever the reason, we had to get to work fast. Going out into the hallway, I saw Nathan in the kitchen making coffee and I stopped.

"How do you feel?" I asked and ignored the insistent tugging Ash did on my sweater.

"My eye feels a lot better," he said smiling. "Thanks for staying with me."

"Just call if you need anything," I said.

"Come ooon," Ash whined, and I caught up with him at the elevator. "I'm in big enough trouble with my boss as it is."

It was only on the bus to work that I noticed Ash foul mood. At first, I had just thought it was because we were late, but now I wasn't sure. Had Nathan told him something that made him upset?

"It wasn't the guy I thought it was," he muttered when I asked him. "Nathan didn't recognize him at all when I described him."

Right then I realized that it had been damn lucky that I had actually convinced Ash to spend the night at his brother's place. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten this information and would have beaten up the wrong guy. But that the real assailant now was unknown made me uneasy.

"You wanna go there tonight to see if you can get any more information?" I asked. "Did Nathan tell you anything about how he looked?"

Ash nodded.

"I have more to go on now. But are you ok with me leaving you again? I... don't want us to fight again."

"I'm coming with you," I proclaimed. "If you find him, I want to be there. At least as moral support."

"Moral support?" Ash giggled and seemed to relax. "What the hell do you think will happen?"

I rolled my eyes and pressed my palm against his knee.

"Your personal cheerleader, then?"

Ash's eyes glinted in excitement, and he shot me a devious smirk.

"Watch yourself, or I'll get even better ideas about your outfit."

As soon as Ash showed up at our table at lunch Chris asked how Nathan was doing. I wondered how much information Ash wanted to give Chris, but the only thing he said was that he was going to look for the person responsible at the bar that Nathan had gone to. Chris got excited and volunteered as a wingman, because he always was there for his friends as he said. Ash had grinned at him and asked if he really was ready to sit at a gay bar for an unknown number of nights, and Chris's enthusiasm had faltered somewhat. But he repeated that he would be there with us in mind.

No matter how sure I was that Ash would handle himself in a fight I still got nervous. The closer to nighttime it got, the more awful my fantasies became. What if the guy was huge? What if he was some form of martial arts pro, or had several buddies with him that backed him up? Ash had said that Florian would come too, but even if Florian was a pretty muscular guy, he would only be there as a witness, as he was a devout pacifist. Would I have to help? I didn't even know how to fight. The only consolation was that my boots had steel-toe caps, so kicking someone in the crotch was always an option. If I had the guts to do it. That was the main issue.

Pink Robin was a larger club than Cupid's Den and seemed really popular judging by the long queue outside, even if the night was young. When I had tried and failed to hide my discomfort when looking at the waiting line, Ash just smiled and went past the line up to the doorman. We were let in immediately.