Read Men of London 05 - Cross to Bare for Free Online

both black and gay had made it fairly necessary when he was younger.
    The youth shot up to his feet, aggression oozing out of every pore. He clutched the roof bar as the train wobbled from side to side. “Shut it, you wanker. Nobody was talking to you. Don’t you have a bloody plantation to work on or something?” He grinned, obviously thinking he was being witty. The old lady gave a loud snort and started rummaging in her large, rather tatty handbag. People’s murmurs grew louder and around him, eyes looked down at the floor or the copy of the Metro , not wanting to get caught up in whatever might be coming.
    Brook rolled his eyes. He should be so used to this by now. “No, you ignorant brat. Why don’t you sit the hell down and shut your mouth? People here are trying to get home. They don’t need your crap.”
    The brat scowled and reached inside the pocket of his sweatshirt. Brook tensed and readied himself, wondering if a knife or something equally dangerous might come out. He wondered exasperatedly why this was happening now, in a closed space, with so many people. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut. But his father had taught him better manners than that.
    Brook didn’t get a chance to do anything after all. No sooner had the young man pulled nothing more innocuous than a mobile phone out of his pocket than all hell broke loose. The youth screamed as the smell of oranges flooded the air. His phone dropped to the floor of the carriage. The old lady cackled in glee as whatever she was spraying at him lodged in the youth’s eyes. The other passengers stared in horror, some getting up and moving along out of the area.
    Some of the mist hit Brook, whose eyes immediately began watering. The young man must have been in a lot of discomfort as he’d taken the brunt of whatever it was.
    “Teach you to bad-mouth your elders, laddie.” the woman screeched as she emptied whatever was in the can into the air. “My chemist friend gave me this for such a situation.” Brook was valiantly trying to remove the can from her grip but she held on for dear life and he didn’t want to hurt her bony fingers.
    “You crazy bitch,” the youth screamed as he frantically rubbed at his face. “What the hell is that stuff? You’re gonna make me go blind.”
    “Well, you should have minded your manners, then,” she spat at him. Brook managed at last to wrestle it from her as the can ran out, fizzling to nothing more than a pathetic drizzle over his hand. The train slid into the station, stopped and the doors opened. No one got on other than a portly station security officer who stepped into the train, stared at the can in his hand, then at the youth then at the chuckling old lady.
    Brook took a deep breath. He didn’t want to get the old lady into trouble but he also didn’t fancy being arrested for assault with a spray can. Luckily, the decision was made for him.
    “Arrest that bitch,” the young brat screamed, as he tried to wipe the crap out of his face and eyes. “She made me go fucking blind.”
    The security guard sighed heavily and leaned over to pluck the can out of Brook’s fingers. “No, she didn’t,” the guard muttered. “It’s only orange essence in a can. The effects will wear off but it stings like hell before then.” He turned to the grinning woman. “Cally, you promised me you wouldn’t do this again. Now I’m going to have to have you come to the office and speak to the boss again. He’s going to be well angry with you.”
    Brook crouched down and picked up the youth’s phone. The guard gestured them all off the train onto the platform. Brook didn’t quite know what was expected of him so he followed them. The train doors closed and it left. Onlookers on the platform gazed at them curiously.
    “He started it.” Cally pointed at the youth and pouted, her pale face set. “He was being damn rude to this gentleman here. Racist and plain nasty. He deserved it.”
    “Yep, maybe he did,” the