“Noted.” Though Calum had recognised the trait in Lee before. “Does it work?”
Lee’s sardonic grin faded. She reached for her vodkas and downed two in a row. “Not really, but it was all I had for a long time, till Brix gave me a tattoo machine.”
They’d made a considerable dent in their drinks in the short time they’d been sat down. Calum got up and nodded towards the bar. “Hold that thought.”
He loaded up again and returned to Lee. “Tell me how you met Brix.”
“How every outsider around here met him—on my arse at the side of the road. Brix is a fucking magnet for waifs and strays. I was sleeping on the beach at Fistral Bay when he bought me a cuppa.”
That was Brix. Calum had never seen him walk past a London tramp without putting his hand in his pocket.
“He collects us like his hens,” Lee went on when Calum said nothing. “He gave Lena half the shop when her and Kim were about to go under. Stopped Kim from offing himself, I swear.”
“Lena and Kim are definitely together, then? I get mixed messages from them.”
“They are together, but I think they both have other people too. They live on that commune out near the farms. Into all that free love and stuff.”
“Oh.” That explained the vibe Calum hadn’t quite been able to decipher between Kim and Lena. For the most part, they seemed more like siblings than lovers, so Lee’s explanation made a weird kind of sense. “What about Jory? Brix save him too?”
“Yup, from whatever weird shit he was up to before he came to Blood Rush. Brix saved us all, and I’m glad of it. Means no one looks at me like I’m a skank.”
“Ah, that’s why none of you looked at me that way either. Used to it, eh?”
Lee shrugged. “We’re used to Brix taking care of people. I’ve never seen him with anyone quite like you, though.”
Calum wondered if that meant she’d never seen Brix with a bloke, but pushed his inappropriate curiosity aside. This wasn’t about him, or even about Brix. “How did you end up in . . . Newquay, was it? That’s where Fistral Bay is, right? But you don’t sound Cornish.”
“I’m from Derby,” Lee said. “Shitty dead-end village near the Peak District. Got run out of town when I told my dad I wanted to transition. It was the last straw for him after I’d been outed as the village gay boy.”
Calum snorted. “Bet you weren’t the only one.”
“Yeah, but it was obvious with me. I was never exactly masculine, you know? I might as well have worn a sandwich board and rung a bell. I couldn’t believe how shocked my parents were when I told them. I’d lived with it so long in my head, it didn’t feel weird anymore.”
“How old were you then?”
“When I told them I fancied boys?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I was fourteen when I got caught watching gay porn online. My dad beat the shit out of me and convinced himself it was a phase, and I never admitted to being gay, which made it easier for him to push it under the carpet. I like girls too, though.”
“Me too.” Calum gulped ale to disperse the lump in his throat. His own parents had never truly understood him, but they’d accepted his sexuality with barely a blink. He couldn’t imagine his mild-mannered father reacting with anything more than a quiet nod. “What happened next?”
“Nothing for a year or so, then all the gender stuff started fucking with my head. Something clicked, then I read about gender dysphoria on the internet. It was like seeing my soul on my computer screen, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It wasn’t that I wanted to dress like a girl—I was a girl, you know? I went to my GP, but they wouldn’t help me until I turned eighteen, and even then, they kinda forced me to tell my parents.”
Grim dread took hold in Calum’s gut. He knew where Lee’s tale was going, and by now she seemed to speaking to herself as much as him.
“My dad threw me out on the spot. Said I’d done it on purpose to embarrass him. I can remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I sat on a table outside the post office all day, thinking he’d calm down, but then the village lads came after me with bats and pipes. He’d paid them fifty quid to chase me to the coach station in the next town over.”
“Jesus.” Calum blew out a breath. “How long ago was this?”
“Three years, give or take. It took me a month to wash up down here in my sister’s neck of the woods, though. I tried London first, but it wasn’t for me.”
“It ain’t for everyone.” Looking at Lee now, Calum saw the faint clues he’d missed before—her tiny Adam’s apple and the straight lines of her body.
Lee downed the last of her vodka and picked up Calum’s pint. “Brix is a good boss and a good mate, by the way, in case you were worried about how working for him is going to affect your friendship. He cooked me dinner every night for a week when I had my appendix out.”
“No, I brought you dinner every night. Never said I’d cooked it all.” Brix appeared at Lee’s shoulder and eyed the detritus of the drinks Calum and Lee had put away. “Seems like I’ve got some catching up to do. Your sister’s here, though. Want me to take her Rocky?”
