Tony took one of my hands in his. “I can at least keep this one warm.”
I leaned in and kissed him. “Thank you for coming out to dinner with me. It was the perfect way to start over.”
We’d just passed by the subway station when I heard a man shout, “Fucking faggots!” Two other male voices echoed his sentiment.
I froze, but Tony gently drew me close and kept us moving. “Just keep walking,” he murmured. “Most of these assholes are all talk.”
The sound of multiple footsteps behind us did not bode well. My chest tightened, and my heart raced. Tony took firm hold of my arm and hurried me around the corner. He led me to the recessed doorway of a closed restaurant. “Stay here and have your phone ready to call 911.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked frantically. “There’s three of them.”
“I know. I’ve had worse odds.” He took off his leather jacket and handed it to me. “Hold this. Put it on if you get cold.”
I grabbed his arm. “Tony, I don’t want you getting hurt while I hide here like a child.”
His expression softened. “I know you don’t have any experience fighting. I’ll be able to focus better knowing you’re safe.”
I sighed, knowing he was right. “Please be careful.”
He gave me a quick kiss. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I got this.”
Before I could object further, I heard the three men round the corner. Tony stepped out of the doorway and onto the sidewalk, where he stood with his arms crossed over his chest. Even in the shadowed light from the street lamps, I could see the latent power in his large body. I didn’t know why I’d never noticed it before. Maybe because he was always so gentle with me.
The assholes stopped short when they saw Tony standing alone on the empty sidewalk. “Where’s your boyfriend?” one of them sneered.
“None of your business,” Tony replied.
“We’re making it our business,” one of the other men said. “We don’t want fags in our neighborhood.”
“You should watch your mouth,” Tony said calmly.
“Yeah?” the leader snarled. “What are you gonna do about it?”
My boyfriend lowered his hands to his hips. “I guess that depends on you. You can just turn around and go back to whatever hole you live in.” He shrugged casually. “Or you can take your chances with me.” Why was that so sexy?
They laughed. “There’s three of us and only one of you. Your little boy toy ran away.”
Tony shook his hands out. “You talk a lot.”
My heart went into my throat when the three men rushed Tony. The first man to reach him threw a wide punch that Tony easily dodged. He grabbed the thug’s wrist and twisted his arm behind his back far enough that I heard the sickening pop of a dislocated shoulder. Tony shoved the now-screaming man into his oncoming friends, who were sent stumbling backward.
The first guy fell to the ground and stayed there, holding his shoulder and moaning. Enraged, the remaining two came at Tony, screaming slurs and epithets. One managed to get in a hit to Tony’s jaw, but he used the other man’s momentum to throw him off balance, adding a kick to the side of his knee for good measure. That guy joined his other buddy on the ground.
The third attacker, the largest of the three idiots, kept his distance from Tony, his hands clenched into fists in a defensive position. “Not so brave when the odds are even,” Tony taunted.
“You fucking f…”
Tony’s fist lashed out, catching the man full in the face. “For the last time, shut your fucking mouth.”
The man stumbled back but didn’t fall. He lunged back in, fists flying, trying to wrap his arms around Tony to take him to the ground. He got one arm around Tony’s waist, but Tony twisted out of his grip, hooked his leg around the other man’s, and swept it out from under him. Like his buddies, the last man ended up on the ground. He didn’t try to get up.
Tony stood there, breathing heavily, his hands on his hips. “You done now?” he growled. None of the men answered. Instead, they started scooting backward, away from him.
As I watched the scene before me, I realized I wasn’t panicking. At all. Normally, I’d be having a full-blown panic attack seeing someone I cared about in a fist fight. But at the moment I felt…calm. That was the only word I could put to it.The only reason I could come up with was that I knew Tony could handle himself. That had to be it.
I ventured out of my hiding place, still holding Tony’s jacket. “Are you okay?”
He rubbed his jaw. “I’m good. Nothing an ice pack can’t fix.” His gaze fell on the men who were still trying to pull themselves off the ground. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and snapped their picture, the flash blinding me for a second. He turned his phone to show them the result. “Within twenty-four hours, I’ll know who each one of you is. If you decide you want to get cute and bother my boyfriend when I’m not around, nothing will save you from the hell I’ll visit on you. You feel me?”
