“Yeah, I should do that.”
Tyler didn’t have to think twice about it.
“Where are you going?” Erica asked, but Tyler was already out of his seat and walking away.
As he neared Jaime, he tried to focus on what he should say instead of what he wanted to say. There really wasn’t any reason Jaime couldn’t come back to class since Steve and the testosterone brothers were gone. Tyler was confident he could reason with Jaime because Tyler wasn’t about to let him get away again.
Jaime turned away from Tyler before Tyler could reach him. As he started to walk, he abruptly stopped in his tracks. Tyler followed Jaime’s gaze to see Steve stalking toward him. Without hesitation, Tyler moved through the crowd to get between them, but Jaime had already redirected his course toward the door. A confident grin spread over Steve’s face that Tyler’s fists itched to wipe out of existence. Instead, he followed Jaime out of the bar. As much pleasure as it would give Tyler to hit Steve, it would do nothing for Jaime if he wasn’t willing to stand up for himself.
“Jaime, wait up.” Tyler yelled as he spotted the man heading toward the parking lot.
For a moment, Jaime looked surprised to see him.
* * * *
Jaime’s night had gone from oh, shit to not this shit in a minute. His plan to avoid Steve brought him face to face with the second to last person he wanted to see. It had been weeks, but nothing could prepare Jaime for seeing Tyler again. Jaime had seen him a couple of times around town, but he had avoided any direct meeting.
“What do you want?” Jaime asked with a sigh.
“You can’t keep running from what scares you.” Tyler closed the distance between them. Jaime wasn’t sure if Tyler had seen Steve or he was talking about himself. “You let him chase you out of the dojo, out of the bar. When does it stop?”
Jaime’s expression hardened. Of course everyone in the dojo would know why Jaime quit, but it was a little late for Tyler to start playing Sempai again.
“You have no right to talk to me about facing fears,” Jaime said. “What I do and where I go is none of your business.”
Tyler grabbed Jaime’s arm and wouldn’t let go even when he tried to pull it free.
“Let go of me.”
“No.”
Tyler seemed hell bent on teaching Jaime some kind of lesson, but Jaime was in no mood. He wasn’t about to let someone force him to do anything.
“You left the dojo because of Steve, right?” Tyler’s grip was strong enough, Jaime considered using an evasion technique to get away, except that would just remind Jaime of their time together. “I saw the look on your face when you saw him coming at you in the bar. This won’t end until you stand up to him. If you keep running, it will only give him more power over you.”
“What does it matter?” Jaime pulled again to get free, but Tyler’s grip was secure. “As long as I stay out of his way, there isn’t a problem.”
“Except that it keeps you from doing what you love,” Tyler said. “I know you love practicing karate. Even after Sensei Melissa threw him out of the dojo, you still left, why?”
Jaime’s eyes focused on Tyler’s feet. Part of him did feel ashamed for giving up something he loved because of someone else’s narrow-mindedness. Sensei Melissa had promised him no one would ever hurt him in the dojo. Steve was gone. But what happened when the next Steve joined? Jaime couldn’t find the strength to fight for something that had meant so much to him, because it would mean being reminded of what he’d lost with Tyler twice a week.
“You don’t know what it’s like,” Jaime said. After all the time they had spent together, he couldn’t hide behind his wall with Tyler. “For every guy like Steve who is an ass about someone like me, there’s always three more who think it and just don’t say anything. How long before someone else didn’t like training with a fag?”
“Sensei Melissa will deal with those students.” Tyler tried to assure him.
“She will lose students because of me. What makes you think she wants me around? “
“Those aren’t the kind of students we want in the dojo,” Tyler said and relaxed his grip. “They are ruled by their fears and aren’t ready to face them.”
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
This time when Jaime pulled his arm, Tyler let it slip from his grasp.
“You can’t stand the idea of anyone knowing about us.” Jaime looked Tyler square in the eyes as he spoke.
Tyler’s mouth dropped open, he seemed at a loss for words.
“Isn’t this sweet?” Steve and two of his friends from the dojo were about fifteen feet from them. There was no doubt they had heard at least some of the conversation.
Adrenaline surged through Jaime’s body as Tyler stepped in front of him. Tyler looked ready to fight for Jaime, but the odds weren’t in their favor. Jaime wanted to run, but he wouldn’t leave Tyler to face the three of them alone. Maybe he could take two, but not three of them.
“You boys run out of beer money?” Tyler took a defensive stance at a forty-five degree angle, his hands open and raised. “How about I buy you a round?”
Jaime had been in enough of these situations to know that de-escalation wasn’t going to work. Guys like Steve and his friends got off on an unfair fight. They had probably had enough to drink to even consider attacking Jaime and Tyler. Alcohol fueled courage, no doubt. If not now, then when they least expected it. Jaime took a step toward Tyler to let the man know he wasn’t alone in this fight.
“Maybe after we have a word or two with Jaime.” Steve smirked.
“You got something to say to him, you can say it inside.”
“I don’t think so.”
