Coda 03 -The Letter Z

in the chest, almost knocking him down. “Get your hands off him!”
    Jonathan caught himself on the next table, a few steps away from Angelo. He recovered quicker than I expected, standing up straight and taking a step toward Angelo. “It’s really none of your business—”
    “You kiss my boyfriend, and you think it’s none of my fuckin’ business?”
    “I figured you had an open relationship,” Jonathan said smoothly, taking another step toward Angelo. “After watching you on the dance floor—”
    “You sure as fuck didn’t see me kissin’ anyone!”

    “Oh,” Jonathan said, and for the first time, there was a nasty edge to his voice. “Is that where you draw the line?”

    “Fuck you!”
    Zach had finally recovered enough to intervene. I hoped he would diffuse the entire situation. Instead, he put his hand on Angelo’s shoulder, and said the worst possible thing. “Ang, you’re overreacting,” he said quietly, and I could have strangled him. How could he be with Ang and not know better than to say something like that?
    “I’m what ?” Angelo yelled, turning on Zach. “Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me? Your ex-boyfriend is stickin’ his tongue down your fuckin’ throat, and I’m overreacting ?”
    Zach had realized his mistake about half a second after the words were out of his mouth and was trying to back-pedal. “That’s not what I meant—” but Jonathan interrupted him.
    “So it’s okay for a complete stranger to give you a hand-job on the dance floor, but Zach can’t even kiss somebody if he wants to?” “I didn’t want to,” Zach said, low but firm.
    Angelo ignored Zach. He turned on Jonathan, his face dark and furious. Angelo may have been half a foot shorter than me, but if he had turned that look my way, I would have backed up a step. I think almost anybody would have. But Jonathan stood his ground.
    Next to me, Jared hissed, “Do something,” and pushed me toward them.

    “We had a good life, Zach,” Jonathan said. “We could get that back. I know we could.”

    Zach started to protest, but Angelo didn’t give him a chance. “He’s with me !”
    Jonathan looked at Angelo. The look of disdain on his face was painful to see, and the malice in his voice when he spoke again was even worse. “What do you have to offer him?” he asked. “Somebody to bag his groceries?” He stopped for a second, and I was thinking maybe we had dodged the bullet. But then he said what I knew he had been thinking all night. He flipped his hand dismissively at Angelo and said with a sneer, “You’re nothing but an easy lay.”
    Nobody better ever say that Angelo is slow. I was only a step away from him, and he still got in one good punch before I managed to grab him. Bouncers were moving in on us from every direction, and Ang was fighting me hard. It was all I could do to hang on to him, and the string of profanity coming out of his mouth was enough to take the paint off the walls.
    Jonathan looked triumphant, holding a cocktail napkin to his bleeding lip. Zach looked stunned. Jared just looked annoyed, and so did the bouncers.
    “We’re leaving,” I said to them, before they could tell us they were kicking us out.
    Angelo had turned his rage from Jonathan to me, and I barely managed to get him to the door. Jared was right behind me, pushing me, and Zach and Jonathan were somewhere behind him, still arguing. We spilled onto the sidewalk in a heap. As soon as I loosened my grip on Angelo, he pushed me away. But to my surprise, he didn’t take a swing at me, or make a move toward Jonathan. Instead, he turned his back and started walking down the sidewalk, away from us all.
    “Angelo, wait,” Zach called, and started to go after him. I put my hand out and shoved him back, a little harder than I meant to. I heard Jared’s quiet voice saying, “Matt, don’t,” but I ignored him. “You’ve done enough,” I said to Zach.
    “Don’t you see, Zach?” Jonathan said. “You can’t possibly believe—”
He stopped talking when I stepped up to him. I intentionally stepped in too close. He was smaller than me, and it was easy to bump into him enough that he had to take a step back. I glared down at him. “You better shut your fucking mouth, or I’ll shut it for you.” Maybe he wasn’t so stupid after all, because he did what I said. “You two,” I was still looking at Jonathan, but Zach and Jared knew I meant them, “go back to the hotel.” Zach started to protest, but