I was still struggling to shove back the sudden and powerful feelings of inferiority when Cal and Theo appeared. Cal was still far enough away that I wasn’t sure if he heard the slur, but Naomi sure fucking had.
“I’m sorry… Did you just call him the ‘F’ word?”she asked. She didn’t even sound angry. She sounded like she literally couldn’t believe he’d made a comment like that.
Cal and Theo had now joined the conversation, and my face was burning so hot that I was worried my cheeks might melt off.
“Ah. Kenny. Nice to see you’re still a bigoted piece of shit. How’s your nose? Looks a little crooked to me,” Theo sneered, shoving her hands into her pockets and shooting Kenny a sly smirk.
Cal was frowning, his gaze bouncing between the four of us.
“Kenny… why does that name sound…”
I saw it the moment he figured out who Kenny was, and suddenly, his pupils blew. I watched him instinctively reach for his gun, and once again, I was grateful I had talked him out of bringing it.
Immediately, I grabbed Cal’s arm, pulling him back into me.
“Shh, angel. Please don’t. He’s not worth it,” I murmured into his ear, but I was worried he might already be too far gone. He had that cold, dead look he got on his face when his demons were whispering to him, and I was suddenly very worried he would be going home in the back of a cop car.
Kenny’s grin widened as he took in the intimate way I grabbed Cal’s arm. He opened his mouth, and I cursed a god Ididn’t believe in for making this man so incredibly stupid that he couldn’t recognize the fact he was staring death in the face.
“I knew it! You ARE a faggot! HAHAHAH! What are the chances your mom squeezed out two abominations? Jesus, I’m pro-life and all, but your dad probably should have worn a rubber.”
Cal jerked out of my grip so fast I wouldn’t have been able to hold him back if I tried.
I was already trying to think of what I would say to the police when Naomi started cracking up laughing.
The sound was so unexpected that even Cal stopped moving. We all turned to look at her in surprise, but she could barely breathe; she was laughing so hard.
“Holy shit, is thisreal!?”She gasped.
She stepped toward Kenny and pokedhim in the stomach as if checking to make sure he wasn’t a hallucination.
“Am I getting punked?” she asked, sobering slightly but looking around as if checking for hidden cameras. “I mean, I’ve seen bigots and stuff on TV, but I didn’t realize people like you were actually just out in the wild, walking among us. Christ, you’re like a cartoon character.”
She was staring at him in awe.
“It’s like seeing a chimpanzee at the zoo…poor things. They don’t know any better, do they? They’re just not asevolvedas we are.”
We all looked at Kenny to see what he would say.
He was frowning at her, clearly confused. I think he could tell she was insulting him, but he wasn’t bright enough to figure out exactlyhowshe was doing it.
Theo leaned in to mutter in Naomi’s ear. She was smirking at Kenny while she spoke, looking sly as a fucking fox.
“Ah, yes. The common bigot is more rare than they were in my day, but they’re still around. In my experience, the homophobic ones are usually super gay themselves.”
Naomi’s eyes widened, and she nodded in mock seriousness, still examining Kenny like she was a scientist and he was an interesting new specimen she had just come across in the field.
“Do you thinkthisone is gay?” she whispered.
Kenny sputtered.
“What!? I’m not gay! I’m here with my pregnant wife!” he bellowed, and Naomi looked shocked.
“Oh my gosh, does she know?”
“Does she know what?”
“Does she know that you’re gay?”
