The group laughed.
Having heard enough, Cecil got up and let his anger ride him as he stormed over. “Hey, assholes, your stupid is showing. Why don’t you shut your fucking mouths before I do it for you?”
The glares thrown his way would have frightened largermen. But Cecil hadn’t really felt fear until the meathead who started everything stood up.
Getting in his face, the meathead growled, “Really, now? How do you expect to accomplish that?”
The man grabbed Cecil’s right wrist and squeezed. Apparently, using his size to intimidate him hadn’t been enough, or maybe Cecil’s lack of reaction had bothered the man.
When he didn’t flinch, Meathead looked very confused. The man was probably straining what little brains he had trying to figure out what was going on.
Honestly, while the grip was tight, it didn’t hurt much. Cecil was used to worse. Such little force didn’t even come close to meeting his pain threshold.
Even if it had been overly painful, he wouldn’t have shown it. Cecil would never give these men the satisfaction. He could be pretty stubborn when he wanted to be.
Cecil once kept a smile on his face through a whole beating just to piss his father off. That had ended in a lot of broken bones. It had been the first and last time he had done it—the pain hadn’t been worth it.
His father—hah, these men were just like him. Using their strength against someone who had no hope of fighting back. But Cecil had never shown his father fear, and they wouldn’t get it either.
He did have to stop himself from stepping back when the rest of the guys stood. They were all huge, and all looking pretty homicidal.
Cecil may have been in deep shit, but he didn’t regret saying something. They could talk about him all they wanted, but no one talked about his friends like that.
The thought made him smile—he had friends…
“Are you listening?” The meathead shook him.
Oops, had the man been talking? Did he care? Not really.
Meathead had probably been threatening him. But he could play that game too. Threats were usually all he had to protect himself anyway.
Cecil made his smile unbearably sweet. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear a word you said. I was too busy wondering what you guys could possibly be able to do to me.”
Meathead squeezed tighter. “What? Listen here, you dirty little thief?—”
“Ah, ah, ahhh, you really shouldn’t be doing that. What do you think Sin would do if he found me bruised and bleeding?” By the last word, his tone had turned venomous.
Cecil grinned smugly when the big guy paled and instantly released him. But it was too late. Arcadian skin was very delicate.
He pulled his sleeve up, showing a rapidly forming bruise, and tsked. “You really should think a bit more before you act.”
While the others remained silent, Meathead started to stutter some nonsense.
“Please, don’t bother. It’s been nice talking to you guys. Well, it hasn’t, but I’m done doing it. From now on, I would appreciate it if you kept your bullshit tucked away. I’d rather not have to talk to you again. Maybe stick to building blocks or something similar that is closer to your level of intelligence.” With that, Cecil held his head high in triumph and walked away.
But when he reached his room, Cecil couldn’t stop his shoulders from sagging. Dejectedly, he walked over and sat on the bed.
Shit—this definitely was not going to make anyone feel warmer toward him.
A dirty thief…is that what they all thought? What the hell had he been supposed to do?! Starve?! Would that have been acceptable to them? It’s not like Cecil had had many options back then. No one would hire a ten year old!
Fuck them for judging him! The men he’d turned to back then had deserved to get robbed, they had been disgusting perverts.
Cecil bit his lip. He supposed he had no excuse for continuing when he had gotten older. However, he hadn’t done anything wrong recently…wasn’t that worth something?
He flopped back and rubbed his face. Gods, they thought he was stealing from them. What the hell would he do if they told Sin? Who would Sin believe? His brand-new lover or people he’d known for years?
He hoped to never find out the answer to that question.
