Angel and the Assassin 3: Sins of the Father by Fyn Alexander Page A

halls. I’m getting a room in a house with other students. I can’t
    wait to be out from under my parents’ thumbs.”
    “I’m not allowed to take a gap year or do anything except what I’m told.”
    Jack shrugged. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? A daddy to tell you what to do.”
    It was true. That was exactly what he wanted. Maybe he wasn’t a good slave after
    all. “I guess.” He chugged his beer and got a couple more. The bar was starting to get
    busy, and when they got up to dance, Angel was unsteady on his feet. “Did somebody
    put something in your drink? “Jack asked when Angel stumbled into him.
    “I haven’t eaten anything since lunch, and then I chugged two beers in quick
    succession.”
    Jack took his arm. “We should get out of here and get you some food. There’s a
    kebab shop down the street.”
    “He was so mad. He was so disappointed in me.”
    Casting up his eyes, Jack said, “Are you going on about Big Daddy again? Forget
    him for a while. Come on, let’s go.”
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    “Let’s get another beer first.” At the bar, they ordered two more beers. Jack held
    his while Angel chugged half of his in one go, looking around at the mixed crowd,
    mostly men, but among the younger set, their own age, there were girls as well.
    “Have you ever thought about going with a girl?” Jack leaned forward to scream
    in his ear. With the increasing crowd, the volume of both conversation and music had
    elevated.
    “Are you kidding?” Angel said. “I’m gay, for Christ’s sake.”
    “Sometimes I think I could go for one of those really boyish girls.”
    “Not me.” Angel finished the remaining beer.
    “Can I get you another one of those, mate?” The man was in his forties or possibly
    fifties. Partly because Angel was drunk and partly because he had a hard time telling
    how old older people were, he wasn’t sure. The dude was definitely older than Daddy.
    “Oh yeah? What do I have to give you?” He made himself sound deliberately
    cocky, like he’d done this a million times before.
    “Anything you feel like giving.” The man ordered more beer and gave one to Jack
    as well, who looked a bit uneasy about taking it. When the man was distracted, he
    whispered in Angel’s ear. “I don’t like older blokes. They make me nervous. Your
    daddy makes me nervous. Let’s go before he expects anything back.”
    Angel tipped his head back and drank most the bottle.
    “Take this with it,” the man said. He handed Angel a pill and gave another to Jack.
    Angel popped the pill, washing it down with the remaining beer.
    The flashing lights on the dance floor, which Angel usually loved, were
    scrambling his brain in his drunken state. He couldn’t think, and he was very
    uncoordinated, which was kind of good and kind of scary at the same time. He didn’t
    want to think about Daddy because Daddy was upset with him, and he didn’t want to
    think about his future because it was too complicated. Being drunk was a relief, but
    he’d better not do anything he would regret later.
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    At first he thought the hand on his arm was Jack, and they were halfway across
    the dance floor when he realized it was the dude who had bought him the beer. Now he
    was steering him down the passage and into the washroom. “I have to go home.” Even
    to Angel, his voice sounded strange and slurred.
    “Yeah, you can go home afterward, kid.”
    “After what?”
    Two men already in the washroom left when they entered. The flashing light was
    replaced by a harsh fluorescent light that blinded Angel’s sensitive eyes momentarily.
    The pounding music was muted by the closed door. Suddenly he was alone with a man
    stronger than himself, and he was too drunk to use his self-defense moves. The reality
    of what he was doing began to set in.
    “I made a mistake. I want to go,” he said. The man pushed open a cubicle door
    and shoved him inside, locking