Jerk

The guy’s face is contorted with a mixture of amusement and indignation as he gives my scrawny new pretend-friend half a glance. “He could barely push ten pounds. He was playing with the machine. I actually want to use it.”

“I don’t care how much he does, nor how much you do. You don’t own this gym. We have just as much a right to be here as you do.”

“Fine, he can finish his so-called ‘set’ then, no need to cry and bitch about it.” He rises from the machine, giving each of us a look. “This isn’t a playground. Some of us take this seriously, you know.” He slowly struts away. “Fucking whacko,” he mutters over a shoulder.

I have barely a second to recover from the anger still bubbling in my chest when the skinny guy steps in front of me. “You really didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“You really didn’t. But it was cool. But also terrifying. But mostly cool. My name’s Jonty, by the way.”

I turn to him. “Jonty? I’ve never met a Jonty.”

“It’s short for Jonathan, actually.”

“I’m Rome. Short for Romeo.”

“Oh.” He thinks it over. “I’ve never met a Romeo. Except for the Shakespeare one. I mean, I didn’t meet him, obviously, he’s fictional. I just meant—”

I cut to the chase. “You have to stand up for yourself, Jonathan. You can’t let assholes like that walk all over you. You were at this machine first. You were in the middle of doing curls.”

“It’s fine, really. He was—oh, you called me by my full name, just noticed—That guy belongs here, okay? He’s here all the time. Maybe he’s preparing for a bodybuilding competition or something. I don’t really know what I’m doing anyway,” he jokes, chuckling.

His joking and chuckling only makes me angrier. “Of course you know what you’re doing. You know how this machine works. You’re not an idiot, are you?”

He blinks. “N-No.”

“No, you’re not. You let him shove you off of this machine, shoving you out of your own kingdom. While you’re on that machine, you’re king of the castle, Jonathan. Fuck that guy. Don’t let that happen ever again. No one has power over you except yourself.”

“I … Well, I mean … He didn’t shove me, per se. He didn’t even touch me, actually.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Jonathan, our friendship isn’t off to a great start.”

He blinks. “Friendship …?”

Just then, I catch sight of someone quickly approaching me in my peripheral. I barely have time to turn before the body slams against mine, then pins me to the wall. The movement is so sudden, it takes me a second to realize what’s even happened.

Then I look into the face of my assailant.

Oh. It’s Joey.

Fucking perfect.

“I’m gonna say this once,” he growls in my face, low and threatening. “Stay away from Danny.”

I notice the muscled dude I just scared off the bicep machine is behind him, watching this unfold.

Great. I guess they’re friends. I poked the bear’s buddy, and the bear realized who I was, and now I’m pristinely fucked.

“You hear me?” Joey grunts, his body somehow pressing even more firmly against mine. I don’t know if that’s a belt buckle, a phone, or a hard dick I’m feeling against my thigh, but it’s there, and it’s suddenly all I can focus on. “If you ever make a move on my boyfriend again, I’m gonna do a lot more than just shove you against this wall.”

I stare into his raging, charcoal eyes. My face tightens.

I just realized I’m missing a key ingredient that any normal person would have in this situation: fear.

“Sorry, Joey,” I say, “but I’m confused. Are you trying to threaten me … or turn me on?”

Joey’s eyes flash indignantly.

His buddy behind him gawps at me.

My new friend Jonty doesn’t know what to make of any of this, his face as expressionless as a towel.

Joey steps back from me, eyes darkened with disdain. “You heard me loud and clear,” he says, apparently deciding to ignore my taunt. “Stay away from my boyfriend or else your ass is mine.”

“Again, still can’t tell.”

“You’ve been warned,” he growls, shaking his head, then he storms off. His buddy lingers for a second, and I swear I see the tiniest hint of amusement on his face before he follows Joey, the two of them heading to the locker room.

And as I watch them go, my own anger fades, traded instantly for guilt. After all, I did kiss Joey’s boyfriend. Intentionally. With ulterior motives. And none of that makes me proud.

Joey has every right to be mad at me.

But does he even know I kissed his boyfriend? Or does he only know I went out with Danny? What exactly did Danny tell him?

Jonty appears in front of me suddenly. “Now that, I would classify as a shove.”

I squint at him. “What?”