Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time Jaime was in this kind of situation. But this time he didn’t care what happened one way or another. If Steve wanted a fight, Jaime would give it to him.
“Better than you.”
“You spineless…”
“What’s going on in here?” Randy shouted.
Steve looked like he might take a swing at Jaime even with Sempai Randy standing right there.
“Nothing.” Steve released Jaime and grabbed his bag.
Steve pushed passed Sempai Randy and left.
“Are you all right?”
Jaime nodded. A few more bruises didn’t matter. He was a fool to think he had found a place he belonged. People like Steve were the reason he preferred to keep the different sides of himself separate. Somehow, Tyler had brought them together and made Jaime feel like a whole person, not just someone living his life one slice at a time.
“I’m fine.”
He finished changing in silence and left the dojo before Sarah could ask him what was wrong.
* * * *
A week wasn’t nearly enough time to get back to normal, but it was all Tyler was going to give himself. He even met Erica on Saturday, as he had promised. It was a lot better than moping around his apartment, which was about all he’d been doing for the last three days. He steeled himself as he walked through the dojo doors for the deadpan look he knew he would receive from Jaime.
Tyler bowed at the door and took a tentative look around the dojo floor.
“Konichi-wa, Sempai.” The class addressed him.
Jaime was not among the students on the dojo floor. Tyler contemplated waiting until Jaime came out of the changing room before he went to dress even though it might make him late for class.
“We have a problem.” Randy walked up to Tyler and motioned toward Sensei Melissa’s office.
Tyler’s heart skipped three beats, and he fought the urge to run. Insanely he assumed that somehow Sensei Melissa had found out about Jaime and him.
“What’s going on?” Tyler tried to steady his voice.
“There was a problem between Steve and Jaime after class on Wednesday.”
Tyler let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Through the window of the office that looked onto the dojo floor, he saw Steve on the edge of his seat as he argued with Sensei Melissa. His red face contorted from the effort of keeping control of his voice. Only muffled tones escaped from beneath the closed door. Sensei Melissa sat stone-faced on the other side of her desk, listening. While Steve got increasingly agitated, Sensei Melissa remained impassive.
The rest of the students skillfully looked busy, warming up for class even though the walls of the office only dampened Steve’s rising voice. Jaime was still not out of the changing room. It was suddenly very important Tyler knew he was all right.
“Tell me what happened?” Tyler turned back to Randy.
“I thought you were going to talk to Steve before class so I didn’t say anything to him about the grading,” Randy said. “After class, I was going to talk to him myself. He was getting pretty rough in class. By the time I got to the changing room, he had Jaime pinned against the lockers and looked ready to take Jaime’s head off. When he spotted me, he took off. Jaime wouldn’t tell me what was said, but I don’t think Steve was trying to pick him up, if you know what I mean.”
“Was Jaime hurt?”
Randy shook his head. “He looked pretty shaken up, but otherwise okay. You know Jaime. He didn’t want me to tell anyone about it.”
Of course, he’d say that. The last thing Jaime ever wanted was to make waves.
“I told Sensei Melissa,” Randy said. “I almost wish Steve had been stupid enough to try to hit Jaime. If Jaime didn’t take him out, I would have been more than happy to teach Steve a few moves he hasn’t seen yet.”
Tyler wouldn’t mind taking Steve to task himself. He might not like Jaime, but there was no excuse for roughing up another student because he was jealous.
“Maybe I’ll hold off changing.” Tyler kept an eye on Steve to see if he’d lose it.
They lingered near the door to Sensei Melissa’s office just in case. Tyler had no doubt Sensei Melissa could take care of herself. She’d been among the few women who’d started taking karate in the eighties when there were few rules and lots of broken bones. Her husband once told them her nickname was Bone Crusher. After a few sparring matches with her, Tyler knew exactly how she earned it. His ribs hurt for weeks, but he had loved every chance he got to spar with her. As her only black belts, Randy and he took their job seriously, making sure she didn’t have to deal with unruly students.
Suddenly the door of the office burst open, and Steve charged out.
“I’m not training with a fag.”
All the students looked up from their warm-ups with opened mouths. Tyler didn’t have to see Jaime to know he would be staring at the floor and wanting to fade into it. Tyler stepped between Steve and the dojo floor. Steve wasn’t going to get past him. Randy stepped beside Tyler with an equally imposing stance.
“I will only ask you to leave once.” Sensei Melissa emerged from her office right behind Steve.
Steve hesitated. He was surrounded on three sides with only the exit left open.
“Fuck you all. You call this a dojo? Run by a woman. Training fags and pricks?”
Randy and Tyler moved at the same time, each grabbing one of Steve’s arms. They hauled him out of the dojo without ceremony and stood in the doorway as he fumed before he spat on the ground and walked away.
“What an asshole!” Randy said as they headed back inside.
Sensei Melissa was addressing the lined-up students, minus two of Steve’s testosterone brothers. Billy and Ed emerged from the changing room, their gi bags in hand, and stormed out of the dojo.
“Bunch of pussies.”
Randy and Tyler followed them out of the dojo
