“Hey,” a deep voice said.
I jerked my head up. “Oh um. Sorry, I know I’m not supposed to be in here,” I mumbled.
“Well,” the stud said with an amused grin. “My assumption was that once you come to Throb to dance, you are already out of the closet.”
I scoffed and wiped my eyes on my sleeve. “I guess. I just needed a moment.”
The burly leather stud crouched next to me. I blushed. He was buff as hell and smelled like leather furniture and whiskey.
“What’s wrong?” He asked softly.
I pulled my knees closer. “I know I’m not super attractive or super ripped, but someone said something mean to me – ‘oh, see John, this club is going downhill. They are letting ugly people in.” I sighed.

The leather daddy crinkled his brow. “That was very rude. If you see those guys again, tell me. My brother runs security. He’ll take care of them.”
I looked at the floor. “Wow, thanks.” I sighed again and hiccuped. “I think I should just go home. Clearly this isn’t the place for me.”
The leather daddy scoffed. “Nonsense. Those guys were probably just super insecure. And let me tell you something – we all want to feel like we’re beautiful, but if everyone was ‘beautiful’, as we define it, then no one would be. Everyone would be average.”
I blinked at him. “Ah?”
“What I mean is-” the man paused, collecting his thoughts. When he shifted, his leather pants creaked. “Is that you see a lot of the same model face around here. And it’s boring. I actually had been looking at you all night because you have such an interesting face. It’s so elven.”
I blushed super hard. “Oh my god,” I said. “…Really?”
The man nodded. “My name’s John, but everyone calls me Strap.” He offered a meaty hand. I shook it. “And you are…:”
“Hayden,” I replied softly.
“What kind of scene are you into Hayden?”
Strap asked.
“Well um…your kind, hopefully,” I admitted.
Strap grinned. “Come on, let’s go dance. Make those boys jealous right?”
I managed a smile. “I’d like that.” Strap pulled me up and put an arm around my waist. “Come on, let’s go have some fun.”

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Captions are fictional.