Bayard Stanton rolled his
eyes as he followed his friends into some backwoods bar they had come across
on their drive through the countryside. He thought it was stupid to stop but
Jace insisted, said he was thirsty or some such shit.
"It's just a bar, Liam,”
Jace argued. “They can't keep us out."
Bay was pretty sure they
could. This place wasn’t the absolute end of the earth but it was damn close.
He was pretty sure they were in the middle of inbred central.
"You think not?" Liam
laughed, sounding very nervous. "We're in redneck hell, Jace. Not only can
they keep us out, they can tar and feather us. That is what they do in these
backwater towns, isn't it? Tar and feather people?"
Bay snorted when Liam
glanced back at him. "Normal people, maybe. Queers like us?" Bay shook his
head. "They string us up, and like, throw lawn darts at us or something."
Liam’s eyes rounded.
"Oh please," Jace
replied. "This is a public place. We have as much right to be here as anyone
else."
"Honey, I hate to break
this to you but we're not anyone else." Bay snickered. "We're loud,
flaming, flamboyant, queens.” He waved a hand toward one of his friends.
“Hell, the eyeliner on Rue's face alone could get our asses kicked."
Jace frowned.
Rue blushed.
Bay laughed. Jace was
constantly going on about Rue wearing eyeliner. He'd have a coronary if he
ever learned that Rue got the eyeliner from Bay.
"Jace, honey, if someone
looked up gay in the dictionary"—Bay said as he gestured between them
all—"they'd find a picture of us."
"We're not that bad,"
Jace insisted.
Hell, yes, they were.
"Jace, what color is my
shirt?" Bay asked as he plucked at the silky material with his fingers.
"Azure blue, why?"
"And Liam's?" Bay
continued.
"Chartreuse."
"Uh huh," Bay said, "and
what type of piercing does Rue have?"
Jace glanced back at Rue,
grinning. "Guiche."
Bay planted his hands on
his hips. "Honey, face it, we're GAY!"
Jace laughed.
A blush crept up Rue's
face again.
Unless someone was blind
and deaf, they'd see that all four of them were clearly gay. They talked gay,
they walked gay, and they looked gay. They were the stereotypical gay men
society so often associated with gay men. Loud bright colors, makeup and
piercings, even the effeminate body movements, they had it all, in spades.
Christ, two of the four
of them had little sequined purses under their arms.
"Okay, so we're gay. So
what? That doesn't mean we don't have as much right to be here as anyone
else," Jace said as grabbed the door handle to the bar. "Besides, maybe we can
teach those hicks a things or two about fashion and makeup."
Jace was laughing as he
opened the bar door and took a step inside. He came to a screeching halt at
the scene before him. Bay plowed into him from behind, Liam and Rue running
into his back. When Jace's laughter slowly died away, Bay glanced beyond his
friend for the reason.
In this instance, he knew
they were in deep shit... again.
The place was filled with
a sea of rough, muscle bound, jean clad, cowboy boot wearing, beer drinking
rednecks. They were everywhere, as far as the eye could see. And more than one
of them were drool worthy.
Most, if not all of them,
had beers. A few men sat around booths around the room. Several were playing
pool. There were even a few that seemed to be just hanging out at the bar.
Loud country music could be heard…well, almost everywhere.
It was really loud.
The place basically
looked like every backwoods bar that Bay had ever envisioned…pool tables, beer
and peanuts, country music, and rednecks. Bay doubted there was a gay man in
the bunch. No one was stupid enough to go into this place if they were
gay…except the four of them.
Bay didn't like the grin
he saw crossed Jace's face. He knew it meant trouble. He loved Jace, really he
did. They were best friends, but Jace always seemed to be dragging the four of
them into one scrape after another.
Jace didn't much care
that the four of them stood out like warts on a thumb. Jace wasn't ashamed of
the fact that he was gay, that he loved men. He didn't care if his demeanor
made some people uncomfortable. He was who he was and he wasn't going to
change that for anyone, not even a room full of rednecks.
Bay loved that about his
friend.
He also hated that about
his friend.
"Come on in, boys." Jace
giggled "There's eye candy as far as the mascara wearing eye can see."
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