Chapter 3

I followed behind Tom into our usual haunt, but I stopped walking for a second in surprise when I saw a minotaur sitting at the bar with four other young human women. From her top and skirt I assumed that it was a ‘she.’ Her fur was a brownish/reddish hue with a noticeable lightening that started at the top of her muzzle, ran under her chin and down her neck. She also had darker brown hair on top of her head much like a human would have. It was pulled back in a bun. A pair of small horns sprouted from either side of her head extending out a few inches each before turning up for another couple inches. When she noticed me our eyes locked for just a moment, but it was long enough to see that they were a dark brown. It was hard to tell through the small, round, gold-rimmed glasses she was wearing, but it looked like her pupils were strange horizontal ovals. After only a moment I continued walking and she turned back to her friends.

“Hey, boys,” called out Trisha, a tough looking, middle-aged woman who owned the tavern and worked the bar most Fridays. “Go ahead and sit wherever. I’ll send one of the girls your way.”

“Thanks Trish,” I replied with a wave. The two of us sat down at a nearby booth.

“Woo! Weekend, here we come!” Exclaimed Tom, eliciting a wry chuckle from me.

“Yep ... another two days of video games,” I replied dejectedly.

“Hey, that doesn’t sound too bad!”

“Yeah, but I’ve already played through my entire collection at least twice, and there’s nothing else out that even interests me!” I retorted.

“Man, you need it find yourself a girl...” I snorted.

“Yeah, you first!”

“I think I might have found one already...” I cocked an eyebrow.

“Really...?” I asked slowly.

“Yeah ... I just haven’t built up the nerve to go talk to her yet!” He glanced up at the bar.

“So, who’s the lucky girl?” I teased because I couldn’t tell which of the girls he was looking at. Before I could keep bugging him four dangerous guys in their mid-late twenties walked in. They were covered in tattoos and were wearing leather jackets. I recognized one of the patches they all had as from a biker gang that was known to cause trouble. They were a little out of their territory, but that certainly didn’t mean that they weren’t willing start something. Glancing toward the bar I saw that there were only three available seats and I hoped they’d just leave.

“Let’s just find another place,” one of them suggested. I waited and watched closely, hoping the rest would agree and just leave.

“Nah, watch this,” one of the other replied with a smirk, just before he started walking straight over to the bar and my heart sank.

“Hey, if this goes badly, you gonna back me up?” I whispered to Tom.

“What?” He asked, clearly confused.

“You got my back?” I asked again, glancing over toward the bikers. His eyes shot open.

“You’re crazy!”

“Well?” He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

“Yep,” said Tom curtly, clearly hoping that wasn’t going to end up in a brawl. I stayed seated, but listened intently.

“Hey, cow. You’re in my seat!” Taunted the biker that was walking up. One of the other bikers rushed to his side.

“Hey, what are you doing? She’ll break you in half,” he said just barely loud enough that I could hear it.

“No she won’t...” He turned back to the minotaur, who was now looking in his direction. “Yeah, you, that’s my spot.”

“I’m not a cow,” she replied quietly in a low, but feminine voice. From the way she pulled her arms around herself and lowered her head it was clear that the taunt bit deeply. I got up and quietly crept toward the jerk.