Manchester · Chapter 5

Torin Arman

Torin Arman likes an audience. An appreciative one is lovely. Someone visibly scandalized will do.

At eighteen, Torin has the good clothes, good education, and easy confidence of someone who grew up expecting a few doors to open for him. He’s generous, affectionate, and quick with a joke. Since he can usually laugh at himself, it can take him a beat to realize someone else felt the sting.

Canal Street

Torin knows his way between the bars of Manchester’s Gay Village by heart. Tonight every one of them is dark. He’s walking down the middle of Canal Street in a coat he can’t remember choosing.