The Problem Client

by K P Maxwell

  “Don’t change the subject,” he mutters, and Sebastian snorts.

  “You’ve got it bad,” Sebastian says, really digging in now that he found something that gets under Damien’s skin. Damien’s sure he’s tilting his head up in that mocking way that he has, as if he’s not already so much taller than any of the rest of them. Even Damien has to look up at him to talk to him.

  There’s no good way to continue the conversation from there, and Damien’s tired of talking to the annoying pastry chef anyways, so he lets it lapse into silence and tries to finish the dishes as fast as he’s able to.

  He really hopes one of the new people will take this job. The less time he spends in the kitchen with too-observant, too-irritating Sebastian, the better, he thinks.

  Chapter Three

  The café closes at 5 every evening, although sometimes Damien lets particularly desperate-looking students stay in the attached lounge area until he’s completely finished cleaning the main café entrance. Cleaning can take anywhere up to an hour or so after closing, and he doesn’t mind a few people hanging around until then. Melanie’s in a terrible mood by the time she gets back from her appointment, though, and half-growls at him to close up right at 5 today so they can have a staff meeting. After she stalks off back towards her office, which is in the general direction of the kitchen, Damien makes his way into the lounge area, leaving Liam to continue the cleanup effort behind the counter.

  The lounge area is separated from the main café entrance by a door that they usually keep shut, and the room itself extends back past the kitchen area so it’s over twice as large. Melanie’s decorated it with bookshelves, plants, and long wooden library-style tables, with a few couches and benches along the walls. It can be reserved for meetings or events with catering included, which is very popular in the summer. Today, there are still a few people lingering in there as Damien starts pulling the shades down over the huge storefront windows.

  “We’re closing,” he says apologetically, and receives a few nods and shuffling of belongings. Once everyone else has cleared out, though, there’s still one head of suspiciously bright orange hair asleep on folded arms on one of the long tables. There’s an open laptop beside the man, an empty plastic cup with ice still melting, and a plate covered in crumbs next to that.

  “Daniel,” Damien says, making his way over to the other man and pushing on his shoulder. The man’s lanky upper body is folded onto the table in a way that can’t possibly be comfortable. “That means you, too.”

  Sebastian’s friend Daniel blinks bleary eyes up at him. “Huh?” he asks.

  Damien points towards the door that leads back into the café. “Out,” he says. “Melanie wants to have a staff meeting.”

  “Aw man,” Daniel says, finally sitting up and closing his laptop. He stretches his arms in the air, and his back cracks. Damien winces in sympathy and continues straightening some of the chairs that surround the wooden table.

  “Seb was supposed to meet me after work today,” Daniel complains.

  Damien shrugs. He doesn’t really understand how Daniel puts up with Sebastian. Daniel seems like a genuinely friendly guy, and the complete opposite of someone like Sebastian. Daniel’s only apparent fault is that he perhaps spends too much time working remotely from the café’s Wi-Fi. He’s an ever-present fixture in the lounge. He even has this spot staked out so often that regulars know to leave it alone, and he usually just sets his laptop up here for the entire day, rarely leaving the building. Damien’s pretty sure that Sebastian sneaks him pastries and sometimes even whatever Sebastian’s made them all for lunch, and he knows for a fact that Liam rarely ever charges Daniel for the drinks he orders. Melanie doesn’t seem to mind, though, and that’s all that really matters.

  The only real problem with the situation is that Daniel does not know about their extracurricular activities, so to speak. Of course, there’s the obvious reason that it’s terribly illegal, but Damien also thinks that Sebastian just doesn’t want Daniel to know about that side of him. Curious…

  Damien has his suspicions on that front, but who is he to say. It’s hard to tell what Sebastian is thinking most of the time, but he does seem to have a particularly soft spot where Daniel is concerned.

  Damien follows Daniel out into the café and watches as he gives one last glance towards the kitchen area before heading out the door. Damien locks up the front doors, pulling down the shades on the windows in here as well. Liam’s in the back by now, helping Sebastian clean the kitchen most likely, and Damien’s eyes sweep across the café one last time to make sure everything is in its place before letting himself relax for a second, leaning back against the café’s doors.

  When he closes his eyes, he can see his problem client’s face. That jawline. The ever-present stubble. He feels heat spread throughout his body, and he imagines he can still feel the places where the client’s fingers gripped his hips roughly. He forces his eyes open again, pushing the thoughts away. Not the time or place. But who is he kidding? It’s never the time or place. It’ll be nearly a week before he even sees the man again. Six more nights, luckily none of them with other clients. Not anymore.

  Melanie pushes open the door to the lounge area, peeking her head out and giving him a jolt of surprise. The lounge area connects to a hallway with keycard access to the back of the building and the kitchen area, so Melanie must have snuck in behind him after he left. A strange expression crosses her face when she sees him, but she doesn’t ask what he’s doing in the empty café with the doors locked behind him.

  “Go grab the others,” she says instead, her earlier mood seeming to have calmed somewhat. “We’ll meet in here today,” she gestures at the lounge area behind her.

  He nods, heading back to the kitchen area to get Sebastian and Liam. He can think about his problem client another time.

  Damien pauses in the doorway to the lounge with Sebastian and Liam trailing behind him. Two all-too-familiar men are chatting with Melanie as she shows them around the lounge area. It’s been over a month since he last saw them, but the two clients that he had for the threesome are both just as attractive as he remembers.

  Liam’s pushing past him, eager to get a look. “I wanna see!” he says, and Melanie turns to greet them.

  “Meet Jake and Kaz,” she says, as Sebastian walks by Damien as well, finding a place along the wall to lean against a bookshelf. Quiet as always.

  “Jake Fletcher,” the shorter of the two says. He grins widely at Liam and stretches out his hand, winking when their hands touch. Liam’s face immediately turns pink.

  Kaz waggles his eyebrows at Damien in a completely unappealing way. “Sup,” he says. “Kaz Miller. I believe we’ve met.”

  Damien rolls his eyes. Smooth. Real smooth. He offers his hand to shake as well. “We’ve done more than that,” Damien says, because he might as well. There’s no use tiptoeing around the fact, especially in their line of business. Jake laughs out loud at the comment, and Kaz gives him an appreciative look.

  Kaz has messy black hair and hazel eyes, and he is about the same height as Damien, although definitely more muscular. He and Jake both look like they spend a lot of time at the gym. Jake is shorter with broader shoulders, but not nearly as short as Liam. He has a similar build to Damien’s favorite client, Damien thinks appreciatively. Jake’s hair is bleached with dark roots, and his eyes are light brown. Damien definitely has a type, and Jake fits that type well. Jake’s eyes meet his own, and Damien shivers thinking of the night he spent with the two of them. Delightful.

  “You guys showed us such a good time, we had to come back for more,” Kaz retorts, and there’s something flippant in the tone, like he’s not really taking himself all that seriously, but Jake nods in unironic agreement and smiles widely again.

  Damien can’t help but laugh finally, and Liam’s still smiling brightly at them both. Sebastian watches coolly from his place along the wall, and both of the new hosts give him very interested looks as well. He rai
ses an eyebrow in greeting, and if anything, Kaz’s smile grows wider.

  Melanie clears her throat. “Alright boys, save it for later,” she gives Kaz a warning look, and he smiles innocently in reply. “Anyways, Jake and Kaz are moving in today, and they’ll be starting with clients next week.”

  “They’ll also be working for the café,” she continues. “Kaz here is going to help around the building, maintenance, errands that sort of thing, and Jake’s going to be helping in the kitchen,” she says.

  She points at Sebastian, “You’re going to train Jake.” Sebastian looks like he bit into something sour at that, but he nods.

  “And you,” she says, pointing to Damien. “You’re going to show Kaz the ropes. Tell him how everything works. I want him to be able to help run this place, like you do.”

  Damien inclines his head. “A new assistant?” he asks.

  “Nah,” Melanie says, waving her hand. “You’re probably still going to do most of that. More like, errand boy.” She grins showing too much teeth.

  “Is that it?” Sebastian asks finally after several beats of silence. “Can we go now? I have a prior engagement.”

  Melanie frowns at him, and waves a hand dismissively. “That’s fine,” she says. “Tell Daniel I said hello.” Damien is happy to see Sebastian’s cheeks turn a little pink at the comment. Sebastian must not have any clients today either, he thinks, and he watches the blonde man slip out of the room with a wave.

  “Damien, you can show them upstairs,” Melanie says, handing each of them a keycard that will allow them to open the secured doors that lead up to the other part of the building. “I have some work left to do down here.”

  Damien nods, turning towards Jake and Kaz. “You guys have everything?” he asks, and both of them grab some duffle bags from the floor. Melanie wasn’t joking when she said they were moving in tonight, it seems. He wonders if they’ll bring more stuff another day, or if this is everything.

  Melanie heads back to her office, as Damien shows Jake and Kaz how to use the keycards she gave them to access the back stairwell and elevators up to the second and third floors of the building. Liam follows along behind like some sort of excited puppy.

  Once they get into the elevator, Damien presses the button for the second floor. The elevator opens into a small hallway, and then there’s another set of doors with keycard access to get into the living space that they all share. Damien waves his own card and the door unlocks.

  “What? No magic?” Jake asks, and Kaz snorts a laugh. Damien ignores them both.

  “I wondered the same thing!” Liam says in solidarity, and Damien has to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. Of course he did. Damien holds the door open, gesturing for everyone to go in.

  Kaz whistles lowly on seeing the furnishings. Melanie really went all-out when she designed the place. There’s a huge L-shaped leather couch and lavish rugs in the living area. A flat-screen television on the wall that Sebastian has hooked up to a gaming console for some competitive video games that Damien has no interest in. Even a few plants, which Damien likes to try to keep alive as best as he can. The living area connects directly to a gorgeous, recently upgraded kitchen, with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, the works really. Even though clients never see this part of the living space, Melanie’s made sure it would be a luxurious experience for the hosts to live here as well.

  “The floor is split into personal rooms that are available for us to live in and hosting rooms,” Damien explains. Jake wanders down the hallway that Damien points to and peeks his head into one of the available personal rooms.

  “They’re are all about the same,” Damien continues, but Jake’s already throwing his duffle bag into the room.

  “Want to grab the one next to mine?” he asks Kaz, and Kaz shrugs, making his way in that direction.

  “Nice! Private bathrooms!” Kaz calls out after a moment.

  Damien admits that he’s forever grateful for that. He’d hate to have to wait on the shower or deal with Sebastian first thing in the morning. Sebastian probably just wakes up gorgeous in all of his blonde glory, but Damien requires some heavy-duty hair products to achieve his signature look, and he’d rather keep that a secret.

  Once they’ve claimed their personal rooms, Damien takes them over to the other side of the building, through the kitchen area.

  “There’s a separate area over here that’s more like a study,” he says, showing them briefly. There are two computers set up on desks, along with bookshelves that actually do have books in them, although Damien hasn’t personally seen either Sebastian or Liam read any of them. There’s also a table in the center of the room. They really don’t use the study that much, although sometimes Damien hangs out in here for a change of scenery.

  “And then over here are the hosting rooms,” he continues, taking them further down the hallway where there are several more doors.

  “The rooms are totally soundproofed,” he says. “Probably magic,” he adds, for Jake’s benefit, although he’s actually not sure about that. It could just be really good engineering. He swipes a keycard again, and then holds it up. “You need one of these to access the hosting rooms. Your cards should work on all of them.”

  He pushes the first door open. “They’re sort of themed,” he shrugs. “You can pick whichever one suits your taste for the evening.”

  The room beyond is one of the ones that look like a luxurious hotel suite. It’s his personal favorite style. There’s another one that’s nearly identical to this one, but this particular room has a lot of fond memories. It’s where he meets his favorite client, and it’s the room he ended up in when he first stumbled upon the café a few years ago.

  It’s also the one that he met Kaz and Jake in. Kaz gives him a knowing look, and Damien smiles sweetly back as if he has no idea what Kaz could be thinking about.

  “I’ll let you check them all out on your own time,” Damien says, shutting the door. “I think that probably ends the tour. There’s also the third floor upstairs, but that’s where Melanie lives, and there’s usually no reason to go up there.”

  Jake nods enthusiastically, already swiping his keycard on another door. It opens to a room that’s more BDSM-themed. “Sweet,” he says, laughing. “There’s a little bit of everything in here!”

  “How do the doors work?” Kaz asks finally, and Damien shrugs.

  “The ones that the clients use? I honestly don’t know,” he admits, and Liam shakes his head in agreement.

  “They’ll appear when you’re in the room and taking clients. They know which room you are in. So you don’t have to worry about that. Sometimes you’ll know in advance who your client is going to be, sometimes you won’t.” It sounds so sketchy when he says it like that, but in the several years he’s worked here, he’s never had a single problem. The doors are magic in every sense of the word. They judge people based on their intentions before they let anyone through.

  “So it’s really just magic?” Jake says, sounding awed, and Damien nods.

  “Magic, pure and simple,” he agrees.

  Kaz looks skeptical but he doesn’t ask about it further. And Liam is looking at Jake with unabashed interest by this point, so Damien starts turning to leave.

  “Let me know if you have any questions,” he says. “We’ll go over more tomorrow, and again before you start taking clients.”

  And with that, he leaves them to explore on their own. Whatever it is that they’re planning on exploring.

  Chapter Four

  Damien settles into one of the couches in the shared living space on the second floor later that evening, hot chocolate in hand and laptop set up to watch some reality TV. He’s only a few minutes into the first episode of a new show when Kaz walks in, right out of the shower and completely shirtless, red gym shorts slung low on his hips, showing off clearly defined abs.

  “You interested?” Kaz asks, when he sees Damien looking, and Damien nearly spits out his hot chocolate. He sets t
he cup down quickly.

  Kaz laughs, a grin slowly spreading across his face. “Is that a no?”

  “I’m busy.” Damien gestures at his laptop. Because the answer is not exactly no, but Damien also doesn’t think it’s a particularly good idea.

  Kaz shrugs, sitting down on the couch next to him, sprawling out in an irritating way. “What do you do for fun around here, then?”

  Damien raises his eyebrow at him. “Seriously? Go bother someone else.”

  Kaz shakes his head, grinning. “Nah, you’re my keeper now, aren’t you?”

  Damien sighs. He’s not wrong. Damien should probably be trying to keep the other man company or something.

  “Where’s your other half?” Damien asks, instead, honestly curious. It seemed like Kaz and Jake were some sort of mismatched set.

  “Dunno,” Kaz shrugs. “Maybe getting to know the cute barista.” And the way he says it makes it obvious that he thinks they’re probably doing a little bit more than talking, if that’s where Jake is.

  “You aren’t together?” Damien asks, “Like… partners?”

  Kaz laughs, “No way, man!” He shakes his head. “Nah, we’re just friends.”

  “Who like to...” Damien trails off, remembering the night he met the two of them and shivers. It was a quite pleasant experience, all told.

  Kaz grins, “Sure, why not? You had fun, right?”

  Damien is intensely glad that Sebastian chooses that exact moment to open the door leading into the main area from the elevator lobby area. Sebastian nods at them in greeting, eyes lingering briefly on Kaz’s gratuitously uncovered chest.

  “Are you moving on already, then?” Sebastian asks, and it’s directed at Damien, as if he’s continuing their conversation from the kitchen much earlier that morning.