Page 70 of Cross the Line

“What the fuck is with everyone grabbing me tonight?” Alec grumbles, turning around and glaring.

“Damn, you’re pretty even when you’re mad.” The guy laughs again like this is funny and suddenly, Alec doesn’t want to dance with him anymore. He doesn’t even want to look at him. “I bet you’re pretty on your knees. You wanna come back to my place, baby?”

“No.”

“Don’t be a tease,” the guy sneers, tugging on Alec’s belt loop hard.

Alec slaps his hand, annoyed when he doesn’t remove it. “I said no, asshole.”

“Yet your mouth kept saying yes to drinks.” He smirks, pressing himself against Alec as if buying Alec drinks is somehow permission to ignore his firm no. The guy rocks his hips and he’s hard, because of Alec, for Alec, and bile rises in Alec’s throat because this is not what he wants. The fuzzy haze in his brain is not so fun anymore. “You like that, don’t you? You like pretending you don’t want this.”

“Fuck you,” Alec grits out, yanking himself back so hard he falls to the floor with a painful thud.

Someone yells and the people around them move as someone very large and strong shoves them out of the way. That someone drops to his knees, moving in front of Alec and, oh, Alec knows this very large someone.

“Alec,” Theo whispers. “Are you in trouble?”

“I’m not in trouble. I am the trouble, Theodore.”

It’s such a lie. Alec is in trouble. He’s in so much goddamn trouble. He’s so tired of having to hold back and pretend he doesn’t want to be touched or have attention, because guys think it means more. Even worse is that he’s desperately, painfully still in love with Theo and the lights are too bright and the ground is spinning, and he’s never felt more out of control, but he can’t say that. He can’t say any of that.

“I think it’s time for you to go home,” Theo says.

“I can take him home,” the handsy asshole offers.

“Over my dead fucking body,” Alec slurs, flipping him off. “I wouldn’t go home with you if you were the last man on earth.”

“Cocktease.”

Alec jumps up, fully intending to yell at the dickface some more, but the ground spins and he stumbles sideways, ending up on the ground again. He squints, watching Theo lean in close. He can’t hear what Theo tells him, but the guy looks pissed.

“Keep him. He's more trouble than he’s worth,” the guy says before turning to walk away.

“I’ll fucking fight you,” Alec yells from the ground. He’s not sure how he thinks he can fight if he can’t stand up, but that’s beside the point. He’s offended, god damn it. He’s also got major ick from being groped against his will. And he’s kind of sad, but he’s not entirely sure why, and the corners of his eyes are leaking just a little bit.

“Calm down,” Theo tries, a hand on Alec’s shoulder.

The tears go from sad to angry as Alec swats his hand away, unsure why he’s so mad. “No one in the history of fucking anything has ever calmed down after being told to calm down.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t want to calm down!” Alec yells, grabbing onto Theo and using his body as leverage to stand up.

“Alright.”

“You can’t make me,” Alec huffs, shoving his bony finger into one of Theo’s soft, squishy pecs. He doesn’t argue and that just makes Alec madder, although why he isn’t sure. He feels a bit like a deregulated toddler. There are so many emotions and he can’t figure out which one he’s actually feeling. “You can’t make me,” Alec yells again. “Do you hear me, Theodore?”

“Yes, Alec.”

“Why aren’t you arguing?”

“Because you’re drunk and emotional.”

“I am not emotional. Fuck you,” Alec snaps, climbing to his feet. He turns, intending to run away, but stumbles.

“Careful.”

“I’m fine,” Alec says to no one in particular, pushing past the crowds of people staring to get to the door. Suddenly the club is too crowded and hot and loud, and if Alec doesn’t get outside, he might suffocate.

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