“I don’t see what my gender has to do with it,” he said, winking, and glancing downward.
“It has everything to do with it,” Susan answered, nodding in the direction of the door and placing the dagger back in his hand. He rolled his eyes and proceeded towards the door, his shoulder brushing Susan as he went.

Joseph shut the door behind him completely and bent over to tug on his shoelaces. He used the right boot to slide off the left one, left toe against the right sole and strode down the hall barefoot, shouldering off his jacket and shirt, gritty pants, leaving only a pair of cutoffs as he slammed open the double doors and flinched against the sharp chlorine in the air.

His gritty bare feet slapped lightly against the wet concrete deck as he inched towards the lifeguard chair. There was no way to climb up the back, so he mounted the right side, as the man was hunched over in that direction. He shuddered as he recalled James, whose hair he had tried to simply pull and cut.