Except then, the hands roaming his body and prodding between his ass were gone. The stall door banged against the wall again as Mr. Aoi was yanked back. Theo did turn around at that. There was a lot of shouting and flailing limbs. Mr. Aoi was clearly outraged by the rough treatment. The other guy, who had a hand fisted in the back of Mr. Aoi’s suit jacket to haul him out of the bathroom, also looked furious, but his was a cold fury.

The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Theo alone with a dripping tap and the shadows. He bolted up and yanked his pants back on so he could stumble after them.

The whole loft had gone quiet. Everyone was turned in their seats. Some stood poised to jump into action if needed, but Ken waved them away. He was up on his feet, approaching as Mr. Aoi finally freed himself from the aggressor’s grip. Mr. Aoi was still rampaging in a mix of his native language and English. Ken put a hand on his shoulder, made a sympathetic face, and then turned to the other man.

“Hello. May I ask what happened?” Ken looked the aggressor up and down. He was young, probably around Theo’s age, although his height, bulk, and the sheer number of tattoos on his arms and neck made him seem older.

“He was in the bathroom assaulting one of your other guests.” The man’s arm swept wide, and his finger, along with everyone’s eyes, landed on Theo. A chill ran down his spine, dragging with it his heart and all the blood from his face. Ken’s eyes narrowed, darkening with anger. Theo’s hands began to shake as a sweat broke out on the back of his neck.

“What makes you think he was being assaulted?” Ken turned his narrowed eyes back to the man.

“Isn’t he your –” he cut himself off and held up two hands, lips pressed thin. “That doesn’t fucking matter. He was in there telling him ‘no’ and ‘stop.’ Sounded pretty clear to me.”

“Is that so?” Ken’s eyebrow lifted as he looked to Theo for an explanation.

“He ripped my stockings,” Theo said quietly.

“Did he?” Ken strode forward. His eyes were black now, showing no emotion at all. With no hesitation, he backhanded Theo. The sharp crack of his rings cut Theo’s cheek. The clap of skin against skin pierced the base from below. The force of it knocked Theo to the side, but he did not try to clutch his face. Instead, he allowed the sting to buzz and blood to flow freely under the scrutiny of all those watching.

They loomed over him like shadows stretching long as the sun sank, eyes bright in the strobe lights. Some of them grinned. The darkness between their glinting white eyes and teeth crowded closer and closer. Circling to violence like sharks at the first scent of blood.

Ken buried his hands in Theo’s hair, shoved him to his knees, and lifted his face for them all to see.

“Your poor stockings,” he mocked. “He could have ripped you a new asshole, and you would have screamed for more, but you complained about something like him ripping your stockings? Shallow slut.”

“What the fuck?” the aggressor spat.

“Don’t you get it?” Ken let go of Theo’s hair with a harsh shove. “He’s a slut. Was bending over and spreading it for our esteemed guest here because he loves it. He was just being a brat about his stockings getting ripped. Isn’t that right? Theo, why don’t you apologize to Mr. Aoi for all the trouble and show this young man how much you want Mr. Aoi’s cock?”

Theo’s face burned, but he was on the ground among the black shadows between everyone’s legs. They urged him forward, shuffling across the gritty loft floor toward Mr. Aoi’s legs. His eyes remained lowered out of shame that no longer belonged to him until he pressed his cheek against Mr. Aoi’s crotch. Then he flicked his eyes up to look at Mr. Aoi’s face.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble,” he whispered. Then he nuzzled the line of the man’s cock through his slacks, allowing himself to glance at the man who’d pulled them out of the bathroom. He should not have. The look of revulsion on his features made Theo’s insides clench with embarrassment. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out through his nose. He stuck his trembling hands between his folded thighs to still them.

The quivering vibration of footsteps crossed the floor as the man stormed out of the loft. The uneven staccato was an odd accompaniment to the measured base from the speakers below. A hand wrapped around Theo’s arm, dragging him to his feet and toward the steps.

“Get him downstairs to a car.” Ken shoved Theo toward a guard. “I’ll bring Mr. Aoi as soon as things are smoothed over.” He stuck a finger in Theo’s face. “Then you’ll finish the job you just fucked up so badly.”

The guard led Theo through the club to the front entrance, shoved him out the door, and left him on the sidewalk while he went to speak with the valet. Theo tucked his hands into his pockets and avoided glancing at the line waiting to enter the club and all their stares.

Above him was a cacophony of summer bugs, released by the muggy heat to throw themselves with vital effort at the streetlight. The light itself buzzed angrily as well. Theo winced and looked away. The man leaned against the brick of the building, smoking a cigarette. They stared at each other.

“Is all that real?” he asked. “What Ken said? That it was your choice?”

Theo was the one who got up and walked into the bathroom. He bent over the toilet seat.

He shrugged.

“I thought you were Ken’s boyfriend or whatever.” He brought the cigarette to his lips but paused to add, “He doesn’t seem like the type to share.”

“Ken isn’t my boyfriend.” Theo giggled. “He’s my sire. Like a vampire, except he’s a demon. He can do whatever he wants with me.”

The man sucked on his cigarette, then blew the smoke out, scrutinizing Theo all the while.

“So, he told you to sleep with that guy?”

Theo shrugged again. “Maybe. Why are you worried about it? Are you interested?”

He just smoked some more instead of responding. When Theo began to approach, his eyes flicked over his body only once. His frown deepened when his gaze landed on the untied laces of one of Theo’s boots, jumping and clacking against the concrete sidewalk with each step. But then his eyes returned quickly to Theo’s face. Like everyone, however, he traced the line of his long legs to his belly to his throat to get there.

“We could get out of here, you know,” Theo purred. “Together.”

The man’s lip curled. “Cause you’re a slut, right? Give it up for anyone, eh?”

The streetlight above them flickered out, casting the area around the club's entrance into darkness punctuated only by the neon purple sign above the club door. Along with it flickered out the strange novelty, edging toward relief, that Theo felt the moment this man pulled Mr. Aoi off him. He took a shaky step back.

The car pulled up to the curb, and Mr. Aoi exited the club with perfect simultaneous timing.

“Fuck you too,” Theo grinned at the man, gave him a two-fingered salute, then turned his back to go join Mr. Aoi.

Even though that should have been the end of that, he dreamed that night of an angel standing bright among the demons swarming him in his sleep. When he woke from the dream, there were tears on his face. He wiped them away, wetly laughing at himself, and turned onto his side to face away from Mr. Aoi, who slept on the other side of the hotel bed. But he could not go back to sleep, staring at the room's dark corners until the sun bathed them in gray morning light.