The man’s Grindr name, SeraPhiend, wasn’t like the typical ones on this app, and his profile, although mostly blank, seemed fine.
“Yes,” he typed back. He was only five miles away it seemed. “Come over and I’ll have you on your knees, praying to me.”
All right, so this guy wasn’t playing around. That didn’t sound like a bad proposition at all. I had a feeling this guy was hung like a stallion, too.
I went to type back but stopped, interrupted by loud shouting just outside. Someone was yelling for help, their voice sounding desperate and strained. I didn’t bother wasting another second. I might have kept up a “give no fucks about anyone” attitude, but that was only a facade. Underneath that, I strived to help anyone I could, especially when someone desperately needed it.
I tucked my phone back in my pocket, thanked the guy who’d helped me, and ran outside. I spotted the source of the shouting right away. A woman stood underneath a stop sign, and she was trying to pull back her purse from the hands of a hoodie-wearing thief. “Let go, you fucking asshole!”
I didn’t see this ending well. If a man was that disconnected to try and rob a woman in pure daylight on a busy street corner, then he might have been crazy enough to do something else. I had to intervene.
“Hey!” I shouted as loud as I could and ran toward them.
The woman looked to me for a flash of a second. It was enough for the thief to snatch the purse from her hands. He took off in a run, the purse swinging wildly in his grip.
Air whizzed past me as I took chase. Again, I didn’t have a second thought about it. This shitbag had ruined this girl’s day, and now I was about to ruin his. It was only fair.
Jesus Christ, what else is today going to bring?
If only I knew the can of galaxy-sized worms I opened the moment I gave chase. I was triggering a chain of events that would forever change my life in ways I never even thought possible.
If I had known what was coming, then… well, I wouldn’t have done anything any different.
2
Rocky Hudson
The sidewalk pounded against the soles of my sneakers as I ran through the busy Miami street, dodging girls in their brightly colored bikinis and guys in their tiny tank tops. I managed to only get a few “hey, what the fucks” hurled my way as I barreled past, my attention focused straight ahead, on the only man at the beach wearing a sweater and jeans, a purse wildly swinging in his grip as he ran.
“Stop!”
It was useless. Shouting at a fleeing thief to stop was about as useful as shouting at a waterfall to dry up. I knew that, but still, it was worth a shot.
“Stop!”
Okay, that one was just for fun.
The man continued to run, turning down into an alley between two small boutique hotels. The vacancy sign flashed neon pink as I ran by it, straight into the cramped alley. The smell of trash hit me across the face, as strong as a physical blow. There were large dumpsters lined up against the walls, all of them open and reeking like pure death.
More importantly, though, the motherfucker I’d been chasing down for the past ten minutes was nowhere in sight. The alley ended in a tall brick wall, impossible to scale. There weren’t any doors or windows either, so the man couldn’t have snuck into one of the buildings…
I eyed the open dumpsters, their dirty green lids looking like laughing mouths. Taunting me.
Or helping me.
The one on the far left caught my attention. I spotted movement. Like a cat hunting down its broken-winged prey, I stalked toward the garbage. The closer I got, the louder I could hear labored breathing. He must have been trying to catch his breath, which had to have been impossible being buried underneath fresh and ripe trash.
I reached the dumpster and readied myself. This guy was cornered. Either he could act like a timid dog and submit, or he could act like a rabid dog and lunge.
“All right, the game’s over. Get the fuc—oh shit!”
Something jumped out of the trash, but it wasn’t the thief I’d been chasing. Instead, a crazy-looking black cat leaped into the air, claws outstretched and hackles raised. It landed gracefully on the other side of the alley and looked to be as scared as I felt. Another sound made me turn from the cat, toward the entrance to the alley.
“For fuck’s sake.”
I took off running, the man with the stained white sweater now turning onto the street, the dark green purse still in his hand.
There was a bus, its door wide open. I could tell he was running toward it. If he made it, I wasn’t sure I’d been able to catch him. I ran harder, pushing my body to the limits. Smoke rose from the bus’s exhaust as the thief was only a few feet away. I wasn’t about to give up. I kept running, almost on him.