Chapter Six

Looking across the table at Ashley, Kim said. "I'm so glad Emily's parents convinced her to go home with them. I was terrified that she was going to go back to her house."

"Me too," Ashley agreed and motioned for the waitress to come to their table. When the waitress approached, Ashley said, "Bring us another round."

Kim looked around the bar. It wasn't as big as some of the other clubs in town, but it had a dance floor and enough seating to accommodate a good-sized crowd. Ashley and she usually only came here to see the drag show, but tonight they both needed to have a few drinks and wind down after spending most of the day at the hospital with Emily.

"You know, I'd seen Kenton a few times in Knoxville, but I didn't realize he was the same Kenton who had married Emily until we moved over here," Ashley said. "Damon told me he was his cousin's husband, but I didn't make the connection."

"I can't believe Damon, and he are friends," Kim said. "Damon seems like such a nice guy, and I thought he was gay."

The waitress brought their beers. Ashley paid her and then took a drink from her bottle. "I thought he was, too. I still think he's bi. And, what's weirder than that, I think he and Kenton are lovers."

"What?" Kim almost spits out her beer.

Ashley nodded. "I've seen looks that have passed between them and occasionally I've walked in on a fight that I thought was a jealous lover’s quarrel."

"Really?" Kim shook her head. "That is weird."

"They do a lot together or did. Damon hasn't been hanging out with Kenton as much as he used to. In fact, one of the fights I'd walked in on was about Damon going to Atlanta without Kenton or his wife, Carol," Ashley said.

"Carol's a piece of work," Kim said with a laugh. "She is so uptight."

"Emily told me that Carol thought Damon had been having an affair with me for over a year." Ashley laughed. "She almost choked on her drink the night I went to that party of Kenton's, and I was telling Emily about you."

"If she only knew you, she would know how wrong that accusation had been," Kim said, grinning at Ashley.

"I know, right?" Ashley laughed again.

"You know, something that just occurred to me," Ashley said. "I had met Kenton a few times over this deal, and he'd never said anything about Emily. I wonder if he realized that I used to be a good friend of hers."

"Maybe not," Kim said. "He sounds like he's pretty self-absorbed. He probably didn't pay any attention to who her friends were, and she apparently hasn't had any since she's been married to him."

"It's so weird," Ashley said. "I never expected Emily to end up with someone like him. She was always very outgoing. I hate it that he's beaten her down so much."

"Well, hopefully now she'll get away from him and start a new life," Kim said.

"Yeah, I hope so. I'm going to run to the restroom." Ashley got up. "Don't let anyone take my seat," she said with a wink and squeezed Kim's shoulder as she passed her.

Kim took another drink of her beer and scanned the room to see if she saw any of their new friends there. She didn't, but what she did see took her completely by surprise. She saw a man who looked exactly like Damon Butler. Ashley had just said she thought he was bisexual and here he was in a gay bar. She took another drink and watched for him to appear again. Maybe he'd come over and say hi, but she doubted it. He probably didn't want anyone to know he was here.

When she saw him again, he was headed to the back of the bar talking animatedly on the phone. Kim hated to get up because she knew they might lose their table, but she wanted to see if he was hooking up with someone. She looked toward the bathrooms. Ashley wasn't on the line outside so she must be inside, which meant she'd be back in a few minutes. Hopefully, Ashley would get back before someone claimed their table, but she was going to follow Damon. She had done a few investigative journalism photo shoots with some journalist friends and Damon being here had all the makings of an interesting story. At the very least, she would find out if they had guessed right about him.

She went toward the back of the bar. Damon was standing by the back door yelling at someone on the phone. She wanted to get close enough to hear what he was saying without him seeing her. She followed a couple heading toward the dark part of the bar, keeping just behind them. Damon had his back turned to her. She finally got close enough to hear his conversation.

"You are a piece of shit! I can't believe you were fucking my wife and me! No wonder she was constantly accusing me of having an affair, she was having her own affair."

Whoever was on the other end was shouting on the phone. She could hear that it was a man, but she couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Fuck you," Damon shouted. "I should have known better than to believe you. You were never going to leave your wife, and you were expecting me to leave mine. You were just using me like you use everyone!"

Damon paused to listen again and then said. "You aren't man enough to come here to talk to me. You are just a pussy piece of shit."

Kim did hear the other man say. "I'm on my way." She rushed back to their table where Ashley was looking around for her.

"Where the hell did you go?"

"You are not going to believe who is here," she said, grabbing Ashley's hand. "Come on; we have to get out of plain view. There's getting ready to be a scene."

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked, grabbing their beers.

"Damon is here," Kim said, pulling Ashley into the shadows alongside the wall almost to the back of the bar. "He was fighting with someone on the phone which he accused of screwing him and his wife. Like whoever it was, is having an affair with Damon and his wife, Carol."

"Are you shitting me?"

"Nope," Kim said.

Damon had gone to the bar and ordered a drink. Kim and Ashley had a clear view of him, but if he turned in their direction, he wouldn't be able to see them.

They didn't have to wait long until a man stormed in the bar and straight up to Damon. Kim and Ashley both gasped in recognition. It was Kenton.

"Oh my God!" Ashley said.

Kim said, "We need to get closer so we can hear what they are saying."

They couldn't hear the conversation but the two men were clearly arguing. Kim took Ashley's hand and pulled her closer to Damon and Kenton. Suddenly, Mario stormed into the bar.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Kenton demanded.

Damon turned on Kenton, "Are you fucking him too?"

That caused Mario to pause for just a moment. He stared questioningly at both of them and then turned to Kenton. "If you ever hurt Emily again, I'm going to kill your stupid ass."

"Oh, little servant boy has a crush on the master's wife," Kenton taunted.

Mario punched Kenton hard in the face, causing Kenton to stumble backward. The bouncers were immediately on Mario and pushing him toward the door. Mario shouted over the shoulders of the bouncers. "I mean it, motherfucker. You better never put your hands on her again."

Kim and Ashley looked at each other. "I wonder how he knew Kenton was here," Kim said.

"That's a good question," Ashley agreed.

Damon and Kenton went back to arguing. During the commotion, Kim and Ashley had gotten close enough to hear tidbits of the argument.

"I can't believe you listened to her. You know she's a fruitcake," Kenton was saying.

"Why shouldn't I believe her? You've fucked every other woman in the state, why not my wife too?"Damon said. "And she's not the one who told me, Junior did."

"Junior is a punk. He's just trying to cause problems between us."

Ashley looked at Kim with a raised eyebrow and mouthed, "Wow."

"Carol confirmed it, Kenton," Damon said. "She said you two have been fucking for almost a year."

"She's lying," Kenton said. "And why would you be talking to Junior about our relationship? Are you trying to get me fired?"

"He was the one who approached me," Damon shouted. "He knew all about us. He knew about the parties, the bars, and the women you've been screwing."

"Bullshit. Why did he approach you and not me?" Kenton demanded.

Damon blushed and looked away.

"He wanted you?" Kenton growled. "That little son-of-a-bitch. Did you fuck him?" When Damon didn't answer, Kenton grabbed the front of his shirt. "You did. You fucking little fairy whore." Kenton shoved Damon backward. "I'm done with you."

Damon came back at him and grabbed the front of Kenton's shirt. "You are never going to be done with me. You try to push me by the wayside, the way you have with your other little bitches, and I will go straight to Walter and Emily."

Kenton punched Damon in the face. "You tell Emily and Walter, and I will kill your motherfucking ass."

The bouncers came over and separated the two of them and told them they both had to leave.

Kenton stormed ahead of Damon but stopped to speak to a very handsome young man. The young man smiled and took Kenton's arm. Kenton turned and grinned wickedly at Damon, who launched himself in Kenton's direction, but the bouncers held him back. The bouncers held on to Damon until Kenton had left the bar's parking lot. "Keep your lover's spats out of here," one of the bouncers told Damon as they escorted him out of the building.

The fight had caused several people to gather around the bar so they could watch and now everyone was slowly going back to what they had been doing before. Kim took Ashley's hand. "Let's get out of here." She looked toward the door and noticed a skinny guy staring at her. He looked vaguely familiar. She turned to have Ashley look at him to see if she knew the guy, but when they both looked back, he was gone.

“Wow, that was totally weird," Ashley said when they got into the car.

"Yes, it was," Kim agreed. "Are you going to tell Emily about it?"

"Of course, I'm going to tell Emily about it," Ashley said. "And if Kenton has been going to the sex clubs, he's probably using Ecstasy, or some other club drugs and several of them cause people to be violent. That would explain his behavior toward Emily the other night."