22 One of the Worst Evenings of His Life

What the hell just happened here? Where did his boss come from? And why did he hit Greg? And why the hell is he talking back to David like that?

"Look, Mr. Maiden..." David tried to somehow grasp the situation.

"Later! Now we'll deal with this bird."

Meiden finished speaking by lifting Greg up, and as soon as the boy stood wobbly on his feet, he slapped him in the face again.

"Stop it!" yelled David unable to believe what is happening. "What are you doing?"

"Exactly what you should have done," he announced with frighteningly icy calm and swung at Greg again.

"Please stop! This is none of your business!" David stood between the men shielding Greg from another blow. Greg was barely able to stay on his feet. He laughed bitterly.

"A jealous lover to the rescue, eh?"

"Shut up!" David only turned his head slightly in his direction. Then he growled warningly: "Mr. Maiden..."

The Norwegian looked at him with eyes full of cold passion. These were the eyes of someone who is ready to kill a man. However, he made no move. For a moment they measured each other with their eyes - the icy green-eyed blond and the resolute blue-eyed brunet. If the air between them had sparked even a little more, lightning would have flashed across the area turning it to ashes.

Meiden was truly terrifying. David, however, for some reason knew that he would not attack Greg anymore. He was right.

"You're drunk," the Norwegian stated and took hold of David's shirt collar. "I'll drive you home" he pulled him and moved toward a yellow car visible nearby.

David decided it was better not to defy him - not for the sake of his own safety. He feared that if Meiden stayed here a while longer, a bloodstain would be left of Greg. It was better to separate the two, especially as people alarmed by the commotion began to gather.

But David didn't like Meiden leading him around so obsequiously, as if he were an unruly shithead.

"Let me go! I'll go myself!" he growled.

The Norwegian actually let go of his shirt, but pushed him forward, as if afraid that David would disappear somewhere along the way. To David, this situation reminded him of something.

The farther they were from the scene, the angrier David became. When he stopped worrying about Meiden bludgeoning Greg, he remembered the Norwegian's words directed at him.

"You had no right to speak to me like that!" he opened the door of the yellow car, which was clearly cut off from the grenade of the night. "And if you don't know it yet, I'm honest. And it's because of you that I got myself into this situation."

The Norwegian held his door. Standing in the darkness of the night, he leaned over David.

"Because of me?"

"And who started groping me and..." David's eyes were blazing with indignation as he drove his gaze into Meiden. It was this indignation that made him unable to speak further.

"You're drunk," the Norwegian slammed the door and moved toward the driver's seat.

"I may be drunk, but I'm telling the truth. It's all because of you! After what you did to me, you have no right to judge me!"

Meiden took a seat behind the wheel.

"Just because of what I did to you, you let yourself be groped by the first better boy?"

"After all, I let myself be groped by you!"

The Norwegian clenched his jaw. He started the engine. David was so furious that he turned his head away.

Fucking hypocrite, he thought. He lunged at me, made me ejaculate and now he's pretending to be a saint. First he does something like this to me and then he resents seeing me with another.

"I'm sorry." David twitched hearing these words. "But if you felt like having sex with a guy, you shouldn't do it with the first better one. It could have ended badly for you."

"I felt like...?" he opened his mouth without being able to say anything else. Meiden was probably just as mad as Greg. Three seconds passed before he was able to howl through clenched teeth. "I didn't feel like having sex with a man. Not yesterday, not today!"

"I'll drive you home," repeated the Norwegian and took off in his sports car.

God, he really is a fucking hypocrite, stated David clenching his teeth. He knocked Greg down today and yesterday he did almost exactly the same thing with me. What a rotten personality!

The landscapes outside the car window changed quickly and after literally a few minutes the Norwegian stopped his car in front of the gate to the Krosny property. David got out without a word and also silently slammed the door of the insanely expensive car. He was so furious that he almost wanted to cry.

Without turning around once and not paying attention to whether Meiden had left or was still standing at the gate, he walked into the house.

He had just experienced one of the worst evenings of his life.

***

Philip heard only snippets of conversation, something along the lines of "really a love triangle?", "are you kidding, David Krosny with a guy?" and "jealous lover? But seriously a guy?". This was enough for him to guess that something scandalous had occurred involving David. He clenched his teeth in an effort to remain calm. At this point, panic caused by fear for his cousin would not help him.

Philip took out his smartphone to call his cousin, but all he found out was that he was out of network range. Damn! He looked around searching for David with his eyes, but couldn't see him anywhere. Where the hell is his cousin?

He asked this question to some passing boy he knew by sight.

"David? He got into a car worth a million dollars and drove off with some guy."

A million-dollar car? Some guy? Could it have been Meiden? He was the only one who came to Philip's mind, because where would another rich man come from here? But why would a Norwegian who practically never went outside his property come here for?

It had to be Meiden, though. David had no reason to get into anyone else's car.

"And all the fuss?"

Another boy smiled unpleasantly.

"It seems that some townspeople wanted to pick up your cousin. A tug-of-war ensued and a third person interfered. The one with the expensive car. David went with him. The rumors are already starting to take on a life of their own."

"Damn!" How could Philip even let such a situation happen? "But no one was hurt?"

"That city boy got hit in the face. He'll have a decent bruise, but nothing else."

"And David...?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders.

"He looked a little drunk, but nothing else. Nothing serious happened, so no one called the police, but if the guy David went with..."

"No, it's cool, I guess who it is. He's a decent guy," he announced although he himself had doubts about Meiden's character. "He moved in next village."

"Oh, if so. That's what I thought, that David is unlikely to have overbought a rich patron."

"He is rich, but by no means a patron. As a matter of fact, David doesn't even like him." Or at least that's what Philip thought, inferring from his cousin's earlier complaints. But if Meiden was the guy with whom David tried a new pastime, and if he was the one who saved him from being attacked... "Does anyone really think David could be with a guy?" he laughed derisively. "What an imagination! After all, he has been up to his ears in love with a certain girl for years. He would never in his life risk losing a chance with her for some adventure."

"Right, he's not that stupid. Don't worry about the rumors. People will quickly forget."

Let's hope so, thought Philip. David's body may not have suffered tonight (thank God) but his reputation could take a beating. If Berenice hears about this adventure, she may start imagining things out of the blue and David will indeed lose all chances with her. His cousin will not forgive Philip for this. And even now, to tell the truth, he could be seriously pissed at him. If that was the case, he was absolutely right.