by K P Maxwell
By the time he gets to the 24/7 gym that’s not too far from his condo, Eli’s already waiting out front and smiles that huge smile of his at Ty. He’s taller than Ty and not quite as bulky, but still muscular. Dark brown eyes and skin. Black hair and a little bit of a beard, both kept trimmed short. Eli’s also got a charm about him that Ty could never manage. He makes you feel like you’re the only person in the room when he talks to you, and people genuinely seem to want to be in his company.
Ty, on the other hand, is the kind of guy that makes people a little nervous, and he’s not above admitting that he likes it that way. It does a hell of a lot of good in his line of business.
Eli punches Ty on the shoulder in a friendly gesture, “How’s it going?”
Ty grunts in return. He’s had a rough morning. He couldn’t sleep last night, and then overslept this morning. He can’t get Damien out of his head. And he knows he really fucked up this time. He’s gone about this whole thing all wrong somehow, and now everything’s in Damien’s court, and he doesn’t know how to convince the brat to just –
Well, he doesn’t really know what. And maybe that’s the problem. What does he want from Damien? The wolf inside him knows what it wants, but Ty can’t put that sort of pressure on Damien.
He definitely takes too long to reply, because Eli’s giving him a considering look as he opens the door of the gym. “That bad, huh?” Eli asks, and Ty lifts a shoulder in a shrug. He’s not sure he wants to talk about it.
Eli also works with Melanie on the side and knows all about Ty’s… problem with Damien. Eli checks up on the hosts at Café Seuil. Runs tests for them and that sort of thing. Eli doesn’t see any of the hosts there in a client capacity, though. He just has a knack for getting himself involved in things that he probably shouldn’t, so Mel asks him for help with shifters who need medical attention but can’t go to a regular hospital for whatever reason, along with her own personal business. Ty’s more capitalistic when it comes to these matters, but it seems that Melanie and Eli are fine with the relationship as it is. Eli has a sort of blank check when it comes to Melanie, and Ty wonders when he’ll cash it. And what it will be when he does.
Ty appreciates that Eli doesn’t press him any further about his bad mood. They’ve known each other for such a long time that Eli knows when to just leave him alone.
They make their way into the gym, putting their personal belongings in some lockers, and heading towards the weight room.
“You’re going over there this week, right?” Ty asks a little later, as he’s spotting the other man. Eli's doing bench presses, and he sets the barbell down on the rack, sitting up. He rubs his gloved hands together and shakes his wrists out.
“Where? Melanie’s?” Eli asks, and Ty grunts in recognition. Eli knows him too well sometimes, maybe. Eli stands up, gesturing at Ty to take the bench. They switch places.
“Yeah, this afternoon, actually,” Eli says. “She’s got those two new guys, wants me to check up on them again since they’ve been working for a few weeks.”
“And Damien?” Ty asks, and Eli shakes his head.
“You know I can’t talk about him, man. Doctor-patient confidentiality. Now lift.”
Ty lifts the weight, feeling the strain in his back and arms in a good way. He scowls at Eli's reply, but he knows the other man is right.
He lifts a few more times in silence before Eli says anything further.
“You did something stupid, didn’t you?” Eli asks, his voice quiet, and Ty looks up at the other man ruefully. He lets the bar go back onto the rack with a clank, sitting up, stretching out his neck.
“How’d you know?” he grins at Eli, but it’s a mechanical motion, more teeth than anything. Even the workout isn't helping to improve his mood. He wonders if Damien’s really going to reject the offer. And then what?
Eli smacks him on the shoulder. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s hit the bags. It’ll make you feel better.”
Ty shrugs. “Not going to make me talk about it?”
Eli shakes his head, “You’ll talk when you’re ready, Balducci. Just be careful, okay?”
Ty is a little surprised at the warning, but he nods. He thinks he’s already long past the being careful part, unfortunately. But Eli doesn’t need to know about any of that.
Eli is immediately suspicious when Ty brings up Damien after being in such a bad mood all morning. He can’t stop thinking about it on his way to Café Seuil. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt if he poked around… just a little.
Eli usually meets with the hosts in one of the empty studio apartments on the third floor that Melanie has furnished with some basics. Since the café’s closed on Sundays, Melanie arranges for him to drop by when his schedule is free. Today she wants him to check in on her two newest hosts. He had done all of the usual tests on them before they started working at the Café, but it’s already been a month, and part of his job is giving them the opportunity to ask questions that they might not be comfortable with asking Melanie herself. Their line of business is unusual to say the least.
He’s not scheduled to meet with Damien today, but he knows the other man is usually at the café, even on Sundays. He doesn’t seem to leave the place much. Eli’s interactions with Damien have all been the sort of friendly, distant interactions he has with many patients. Damien doesn’t know that Eli knows Ty, and Damien definitely doesn’t know that Ty won’t shut up about him.
Eli has been worried about Ty, ever since he started seeing one of Melanie’s hosts in that capacity. Ty usually sticks to one-night stands, that sort of thing. So for him to become so focused, so intense over one person… it was disconcerting in the least. It unveiled a side of Ty that Eli’s never seen in all thirty something years of knowing the man.
Eli parks in an empty spot on the street near the café, glad that it’s close to a residential area where the parking doesn’t get too crazy, even with the brunch crowd. Portland’s obsessed with brunch.
He presses a button on a keycard panel by the side door to ring the bell, and Melanie’s voice filters out of the box, slightly distorted. “Head on in,” she says, and there’s a click as the door unbolts.
Melanie’s office is just down the hall, the door next to the entrance to the kitchen area, but the door’s open, and a tall, lithe figure is waiting inside, along with Melanie.
Damien.
If it isn’t the cause of Ty’s troubles himself.
Melanie smiles a half-smile in greeting, and tilts her head towards the host. “Do the works on him as well,” she says, and Eli’s a little surprised, because he tested Damien recently.
So unless there was some cause for concern, or perhaps some other factor… He hopes this doesn’t have anything to do with Ty. He feels something in his jaw twitch at the idea but he holds his smile firmly in place.
“Sure thing,” he replies, meeting Damien’s eyes. “You want to go first?”
Damien inclines his head in a nod, and makes a motion as if to say, lead the way. Melanie holds out a keycard for Eli to use temporarily while he’s here.
The route to the studios on the third floor is familiar. Eli feels oddly uncomfortable riding in the elevator alone with Damien, though. The other man seems lost in his thoughts, so Eli doesn’t press.
The third floor looks like any other apartment building, with a long row of doors. Once they get to the studio apartment that Eli uses for these visits, Eli falls into doctor mode, asking the usual questions. He notices a few fading bruises on Damien but nothing too out of the ordinary. He doesn’t think Ty would hurt the other man, but it’s possible one of Damien’s other clients had. There are frankly too many possibilities of what could have happened. He just needs to ask.
After the consultation and the blood draw for STD testing, Eli hesitates. It’s now or never, he thinks. He pulls off his gloves, and clears his throat.
“You’re, ah – Ty’s your client, right?” he says.
Damien looks up at him, obviously confused, and E
li raises his hands apologetically.
“I’m sorry, I’m crossing so many personal and professional lines right now,” he says, feeling a little panicked at the look in Damien’s eyes. He fumbles with his wallet and pulls out a business card. “But – would you have a drink with me? Hear me out?” He hands the card to Damien. It has his personal cell phone number on it. It’s the one that he gives to his special clients. The ones who aren’t able to go to a hospital. Shifters and other things. “Before you see him again, that is.”
Damien looks up, something like shock replacing the confusion in his face. There’s a long pause before –
“Are you… propositioning me?” he asks, and Eli barks out a startled laugh at that.
“No, no. No way, Ty would kill me,” he says, and the thought is truly absurd on every level. Mostly because he thinks Ty really would kill him. At this point, he’s surprised that Ty hasn’t personally tracked down and torn to pieces every man that’s ever looked sideways at Damien.
Damien looks down at the card again.
“So you know him,” Damien says, flipping the card over in his hands, eyes narrowing. “Personally.”
Eli nods, feeling apologetic to spring this on Damien. Especially after all of the tests he’s done on the other man in the past. Eli winces. Maybe he didn’t think it through how awkward this could be.
“Yeah, we sort of grew up together,” he admits, and looks away at that.
“Has he always been this much of an idiot?” Damien asks, suddenly, and Eli’s eyes snap back to meet Damien’s again, and he finds that Damien is amused. His words ring so true to Eli that Eli has to laugh.
“Ah, I knew he’d done something stupid, the way he was acting this morning,” Eli says finally. “What did he do?”
Damien shakes his head at that though, still smiling slightly. “Just the most absurd thing imaginable,” he mutters, but it sounds nearly… fond.
Damien meets his eyes again. “Yes,” he says. “I mean, yes, I’ll meet you. Tonight?”
Now Eli’s terribly curious. “Sure,” he says, feeling relieved. “My next shift is tomorrow, so I’ve got time tonight.”
“Good, let's do dinner then,” Damien says, and they make arrangements for Eli to pick him up later. Damien leaves the studio to get one of the new hosts, and as Eli watches him leave, he thinks that he can already see what Ty likes in the man. He’s looking forward to getting to know him more tonight. And, of course, to hear all about Ty’s latest blunder.
Chapter Fourteen
Eli takes Damien to a seafood place downtown that’s so expensive that Damien wouldn’t even usually go there for happy hour. Damien feels underdressed, even in dark wash jeans and a button-up, but Eli's also wearing jeans, and he smiles reassuringly when Damien expresses his discomfort.
“The food’s good here,” he says as they walk in. He holds the door open for Damien and gestures for him to go first. “Besides, it’s Portland. No one cares.”
Damien didn’t grow up in this area, so it’s still bizarre to him sometimes how casual the Pacific Northwest can be. Seattle was similar, but Portland seems to take it to a whole new level. He’s seen people wearing gym shorts in the kind of restaurant that they’d need to wear slacks at in other parts of the country. They sit at a small table in the bar area of the restaurant, which makes Damien feel a little bit better, and he tries not to cringe at the prices on the menu.
“Seriously, I’ll get it,” Eli says, when he notices Damien’s hesitation. “Think of it as a bribe for talking to me.”
Damien laughs a little at that. “I guess,” he says, glancing over the menu again. “But I feel like I’m the one getting the info on Ty here.”
Eli looks thoughtful. “We’ll trade info,” he decides. “Ty didn’t tell me what he did, but I could tell it was something stupid. And if you’re willing to tell me your side of the story...”
Damien nods, setting the menu down. “Okay, okay. Just order something for me then,” he says. If he chooses for himself, he’d just pick the cheapest thing, and he’s sure Eli would know that was what he was doing. “Surprise me.”
Eli smiles in an utterly charming way at that. “You got it,” he says. “We’ll go with a couple of small plates, so you can try a few things.”
When the waiter arrives to take their order, Eli asks for drinks and food for both of them. Damien can appreciate that sort of decisiveness in a man, and Eli's appealing in his own way. He has this sort of intensity about him that’s different from Ty’s but interesting all the same. This would almost feel like a date, if not for the topic of their conversation, Damien thinks wryly.
Once the waiter leaves, Damien starts to try to explain the situation with the contract in general enough terms that he hopes a casual listener wouldn’t pick up on the fact that Damien is literally a sex worker.
“Ty wants to buy out all of my other contracts,” Damien says, and Eli must get the gist of it, because his eyes widen at the implication. “An exclusive deal, that sort of thing.”
“Wow. Exclusive?” Eli asks, looking impressed. Damien thinks it’s amusing that this has been everyone’s first reaction to the news.
“It seems like he just expects me to accept it,” Damien continues. “The money involved…” he shakes his head. The waiter brings their drinks then, and Damien waits to say anything else, thanking the waiter when he gets his own glass. He raises his eyebrow when he notices it’s a peach-colored cocktail, and Eli laughs.
“Just try it,” Eli says, sipping his own. “And anyways, I think that’s just Ty’s misguided way of showing affection.”
He sets his drink down. “Ty doesn’t know how to express his real feelings so he just thinks he can use money to solve all of his problems,” Eli explains.
Damien frowns at this, staring into his drink. “His affection?” he asks, doubtfully. He doesn’t think that could possibly be true. But then part of him thinks about the way that Ty looked at him the last time they met for a session. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t know,” Eli shrugs, “Because he likes you? And I’m tired of hearing him talk about it? He’s an idiot, but I think he really cares.”
Damien snorts. That sounds… plausible, at least.
“I don’t know him at all,” Damien confesses, and Eli nods.
“You don’t, but I do,” Eli says. “I know it’s not much,” he shrugs again. “But Ty’s a good guy. Underneath all that other stuff, at least.”
Damien thinks he’s seen that side of Ty, too, and wants to see more of it. The food comes, and they talk about other things for a while, and Eli orders more drinks for them.
“I’ve sort of been leading him on,” Damien admits finally, after their plates are cleared, and Eli raises an eyebrow at him looking wary all of a sudden. Damien’s had a few of the cocktails by now, and he has the overwhelming urge to tell someone what he’s been doing. Someone other than Sebastian or Melanie at least.
Damien shakes his head at Eli’s look, holding up a hand and nearly knocking his glass over. “No, no, not like that,” he says, and steadies the wobbling glass. “I mean, I don’t really have any other clients anymore, but Ty thinks that I do.”
The alcohol’s making him feel alternately drowsy and amused, so he laughs, and Eli looks at him like he’s the idiot, and that makes him laugh, too. He didn’t really intend to tell Eli about this part when he agreed to meet Eli, but he might as well.
“Aren’t I a terrible person?” he asks.
Eli shakes his head, eyes amused. “No,” he says. “I think you’re perfect for each other actually. But I think you don’t need any more of these.” Eli reaches over and grabs Damien’s drink, drinking the rest of it so Damien doesn’t.
“Although I think Ty’s going to be pissed when he finds out,” Eli adds when he’s finished.
Damien snorts. “That’s part of what makes it so great,” he says, and Eli laughs out loud at that.
“You can’t tell him about it,
” Damien adds, worried all of a sudden.
“I won’t,” Eli says, and Damien’s immediately relieved. Eli seems like a trustworthy sort of person.
“You are possibly the only person on the West Coast who finds it amusing to annoy that man,” Eli says, and then after a pause, “No, I take that back. You and Melanie.” He smiles at Damien, and Eli really is charming, Damien thinks. Damien needs to find a host to take care of him sometime.
“Why do you work for Melanie?” Damien asks, changing the subject entirely. Eli's face changes a little at that, something sad. He shakes his head.
“Melanie’s also a good person. Under all that other stuff,” he says, mirroring what he said about Ty earlier, and Damien thinks that’s true, too, but he can’t help but wonder how Eli knows that.
Eli pays their bill, and walks Damien back to the car. As he’s driving Damien back, Damien has a moment to think that Eli had just as many drinks as he did, but it didn’t seem to affect him at all. He looks over at the other man, curiously, but before he thinks of what the question is, exactly, that he wants to ask, they’re already back at the café.
“You need any help?” Eli asks, and Damien shakes his head as he’s getting out of the car.
“Nah, thanks for dinner,” Damien says, and Eli grins at him.
“Anytime,” Eli says. “Good luck with Ty. Let me know if I need to beat some sense into him.”
Damien snorts a laugh at that, but just waves goodbye as he heads to the side door to swipe his keycard. If he’s honest with himself, he’s been increasingly worried what Ty’s reaction would be if Damien told him the truth at their next session, but talking with Eli has helped a lot. He smiles to himself as the door unbolts, and he heads back into the café.
When Damien finally gets up to the second floor of the café, Kaz and Jake are pressed way too closely together on the couch playing video games. Damien pushes his way onto the couch next to them.