Jealousy of Monica aside, I thought I looked pretty good the next time me and Kanesha headed out. And so did she.

True, neither of us had expensive ruby earrings – I could maybe afford them, but I was saving the money for more important things. “So, let’s hope we don’t get interrupted this time.”

“We’re always going to get interrupted. That’s part of the fun.” She looked at me. “Just dinner, though. Let’s not tempt fate.”

We headed to the same southern place we’d enjoyed before. Relaxation, good food, the person I most wanted to be with. Who didn’t care that I wasn’t as gay as she was. However you wanted to put it.

The gay and lesbian association still seemed not to want to properly include me. I’d even pointed out there was a B in LGBT, to no avail.

So, I had nothing to do with them and just relaxed with my girlfriend. And for once, we didn’t get interrupted. We made it all the way home, despite stopping to kiss more than once. And getting heckled for it on the Metro.

I was pretty sure we wouldn’t have been yelled at as much if we were straight. It didn’t even bother me. It was the way of the world and it was better than it sometimes was.

Didn’t bother me at all. We made it home, and Mike wasn’t there. He was working – sometimes cops worked a lot, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d slept, if he slept, at the office. As long as he didn’t try to put collars on any more werewolves, we were fine.

Yeah. A good date, a good night, a good…that’s about as far as it was going to go.

Well, I thought it was a good morning. When you have to be at school at 7, you miss things like the arrival of the mail.

And when you have to turn your phone off on pain of bad things happening, you miss any kind of notification from your family. Kanesha was in the same boat, so we were both surprised to see Thruor meeting us at the gate.

“Thea, what’s up?”

“We gotta get home.”

I nodded. She hadn’t brought the bike, but she set off at a quick walk. I glanced at Kanesha – her lips were set.

“What’s going on?” I tried again.

“Legal problems.” She tightened her lip.

“What happened?

Her lip tightened further. “There’s been a complaint against Mike. Excessive force.”

“What? We know…”

“I know it didn’t happen, but he’s been suspended without pay. I think it’s a setup.”

I could think of plenty of people who would want to do that to us.