Chapter 5

“You’re a worthless piece of shit.”

Arliss was too stunned to do much as the guy wet his finger and slipped it up his butt. He then withdrew it and crammed the twenty up his ass, almost beyond where Arliss could reach it. He grabbed Arliss’s arm almost painfully, pulling him close enough that he could smell the guy’s sour breath, and whispered, “You’ll just clean the shit off of it, won’t you? Just like you clean the shit off all the guys’ dicks that go up your diseased ass…you fucking whore.”

Arliss felt like an electric jolt passed through him with the pointed cruelty of the words. For several moments he just stopped, doing something he had never done. He lost the smile, the painted-on expression of having fun, and simply stared at the man, wondering why he had picked him to be the target of his cruelty.

And then, like the trouper he was, the mask slipped back into place. Arliss smiled once more and continued down the bar.