“Why are we going to a gay bar?”
“Because it’s the least likely place somebody will recognize you.”
Maya shrugged. “If you keep the lesbians away from me, I’m game.”
“Deal. Just don’t keep the cute guys away from me.”
“As if I could.” Maya looked Thomas up and down. He was a formidable specimen of the male kind, and the way he filled out his leather pants was distracting to say the least. Thankfully, she had her heart set on Gabriel; otherwise, she would be in serious trouble falling for a gay man.
“Thanks. That’s nice of you to say.” Thomas seemed surprised at her comment.
***
Half an hour later, she and Thomas squeezed through a throng of people to get into the Q Bar in the heart of the Castro. He used his body to drag her behind him through the crowd which miraculously parted to let them through. The bouncer barely looked at them before he waved them in.
Maya voiced her suspicion. “Did you use mind control on—”
He cut her off. “Don’t use those words. Call it ‘skill’ while we’re in public.”
She nodded, doubting anybody had heard her in the crowded bar where the music blared and everybody tried to shout over each other. “Did you use your skill?” she asked instead.
She knew she didn’t have to shout. Thomas could hear her just fine, as she could him. In fact, she noticed how she was able to tune in and out of conversations at will.
“I didn’t have to. The bouncer knows me. I don’t waste my skill where it’s not needed. It takes energy. If you use it to excess, it exhausts you. Only use it when it’s necessary. And never on one of our kind.”
Maya nodded. “Yvette told me already.”
“Good. Then you’re forewarned. Very few of us can avoid a battle and pull their skill back once we’re attacked.”
Curiosity overtook her. “Can you?”
Thomas gave her a serious look. “Too personal a question. I’ll pass.”
“Sorry.” She turned toward the bar, not wanting to see his reprimanding look.
With a hand on his shoulder he turned her back to him. “There are things each of us keeps close to his heart—you’ll understand one day. We all have things we won’t talk about. Just like you do.”
Maya’s breath hitched. What did he know about her? For a few moments, she felt frozen in time.
“Maya, I can’t read your mind, so relax. I have no interest in knowing what you don’t want anybody to know. Someone else might though.” He winked and grinned. “Now let’s start with our little lesson; otherwise, I might be accused of just using you as an excuse to go out.”
The tenseness in Maya’s shoulders eased, and she smiled back at him. “You mean you weren’t?”
“If you tell Gabriel that I was, I swear I’ll tell him you forced me.”
“You’re a nice guy, you know that, Thomas?”
He tossed a look to his right, then his left. “Don’t say that so loud, woman. If that news spreads, I’ll never get another date around here.” He frowned in mock anger. “Nice guys don’t get laid.”
“Okay, then, teach me.” Maya was curious now. If she had to embrace her new life, she would make the most of it. And if this meant she got some superpower, then even better.
“Good. Here’s what you do. See that man nursing his drink in the corner? He’s shy. I want you to make him get up and walk up to that dark-haired hunk at the bar and put his hand on his ass.”
Maya looked at the man Thomas was referring to. He sat in the corner, his lids lowered as if he was ashamed to be here. Every so often, he led his beer glass to his lips and sipped. She felt sorry for him. He clearly didn’t feel comfortable. Then her eyes drifted to the dark-haired man at the bar. She looked him up and down. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Thomas. He’s got no chance.”
“That’s precisely the point. That’s why you will help him. You’ll plant the confidence in his mind so he can walk up to that guy and ask him out. You’ll control his mind to think he has a chance.”
Maya shook her head. “How?”
Thomas looked straight into her face. “Look inside yourself. Concentrate on your heartbeat. Then concentrate on the man in the corner and tell him what to do. Send your thoughts out to him. Try it.”
She took a few deep breaths, then tried to shut out the noise from the bar. She’d done yoga before, so she tried to remember what it felt like to center her body and calm her mind. A pleasant warmth filled her body. “I feel warm.”