The Problem Client

by K P Maxwell

  Liam’s devastated when Damien announces the news. He, Jake, and Damien are sitting at the kitchen counter, while Kaz makes them all breakfast. It’s Monday morning, and they are all up ridiculously early in order to get the café set up for the week.

  “You’re like, the glue,” Liam says, waving a hand in a vague gesture. “Like the thing that holds us all together.”

  Kaz looks up from the eggs he’s making to stare at Damien. He has a tray of bacon in the oven, and Damien hates it when they cook it like that, because the entire living area ends up smelling like bacon for days, but he has to admit that he’s glad Kaz cooks for them sometimes.

  Jake’s already been up for a while, after helping Sebastian get stuff ready in the kitchen, and is alternating between watching Kaz cook and staring at the bacon in the oven hopefully.

  “Isn’t Melanie the glue?” Damien asks, using Liam’s own terminology, and Liam shakes his head.

  “No way, you also keep Melanie together, too,” Liam says, and Kaz nods.

  “I haven’t been here for very long, but it seems like she’s going to lose her shit if you leave,” he says, stirring the eggs. They’re starting to fluff up nicely and look nearly done.

  Damien frowns at Kaz’s statement. “That doesn’t mean I can stay here forever,” he says, and Liam nods.

  “I understand,” Liam says, and he launches himself off of the stool he’s sitting on towards Damien, wrapping Damien in a hug. Jake laughs, hopping off of his stool as well, to wrap his arms around both of them, and Damien eventually feels Kaz join in as well.

  “You’re going to burn the food,” Damien says, laughing and his eyes feel watery.

  “Nah,” Kaz says, taking a step back and slapping him on the back. “I took ‘em off the burner already.”

  “We’re going to miss you,” Liam says, as he also squirms his way out of the middle of the hug, and Damien splutters.

  “I’m still going to be around!” he says, staring at all of them. He didn’t really expect this kind of response. “I’ll still be coming into the café during the week. Melanie convinced me to.”

  Liam shakes his head, sounding suspiciously sniffly. “It’s not the same,” he says.

  Jake punches Damien in the shoulder lightly. “Good luck, man,” he says, and Kaz nods as well.

  Kaz goes back to the pan of eggs and runs the spatula through them again, making sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Then he turns around to grab some plates. “Order’s up,” he says, setting the plates next to the counter, and leaving them to serve themselves as he pulls the bacon out of the oven.

  “You’re going to miss out on this, man!” Jake says, mouth already half-full of bacon, and Damien laughs. He supposes he will. He’ll probably miss out on a lot of things. But he’s really looking forward to starting a new life, and he thinks this is going to be a step in the right direction. With Sebastian’s warnings bouncing around in his head from last night, he is a little worried, but it will all work out. At least he hopes it will.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Damien’s last week living at the café is over before he knows it. Ty brings over some empty boxes for Damien on Saturday at the end of the day after the café’s already closed up, and Damien goes down to the side door to pick them up.

  “Do you need any help packing?” Ty asks, as he helps Damien move the flattened boxes into the elevator lobby area.

  “Nope,” Damien shakes his head frantically. Ty’s still never seen his room, and he’d like to keep it that way. It’s so different from Ty’s own space, the way that Ty lives. He feels like he’d be incredibly mortified for Ty to see it.

  Ty just laughs though and pulls him close for a rough kiss. “You sure?” he asks against Damien’s mouth. “I could stay over.” There’s a suggestion in his tone, but Damien figures they’ll have enough time for that tomorrow.

  “I should really spend time with the guys,” he says, and Ty nods, pressing in for a kiss again.

  “Alright,” Ty says gruffly as he pulls away, but then his body stiffens suddenly. He’s looking over Damien’s shoulder. Damien turns his head back to see Kaz standing behind them, arms crossed, watching.

  Kaz tilts his head up in greeting when Damien makes eye contact with him, and Ty’s hands grip Damien’s hips even tighter. Damien tries to push Ty away, but it’s like shoving against a brick wall. He laughs. “Let me go,” he says, and Ty’s gaze snaps back to him, releasing the grip on his hips as if he didn’t realize he was doing it.

  “Wolf,” Kaz says, in greeting, walking towards them. Ty bristles at the word.

  Here we go again, Damien thinks. These two seem like they just can’t get along. There’s some joke in there about cats and dogs, but this doesn’t seem like the time for that sort of thing.

  “Cat,” Ty replies, voice low and predatory, and Damien rolls his eyes at the both of them.

  Damien leans in, whispering in Ty’s ear, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” It’s a promise, and maybe a bit of a warning. He doesn’t want to see these two argue tonight. His nerves are already a little on edge with the idea of moving out of the café.

  Ty nods, looking back at Damien again, eyes softening. “Alright,” he says. He takes a step back, rubbing his hand over the back of his head. “Sleep well.” He leaves with one last backward glance at Kaz.

  Kaz raises an eyebrow at Damien after Ty’s gone, and Damien shakes his head. Maybe Ty will stop some of this territorial crap once they’re living together, but it’s probably too much to hope for. Damien has to admit that sometimes it gives him a bit of a thrill to see it. Tonight’s just not one of those nights.

  Kaz makes his way over to the boxes, picking up the largest part of the stack of them. “Hit the button for me,” he says, not giving Damien a chance to argue about it. Damien’s tempted to roll his eyes at him again, but it will be easier to get the stack upstairs with two people, so he hits the elevator button and grabs the rest of the boxes.

  Once they get them all up to the second floor and propped up against Damien’s bed, Damien just stares at them, feeling a bit overwhelmed all of a sudden. He should have started this sooner, he thinks frantically. He’s going to be up all night at this rate.

  “You want help?” Kaz asks, hovering in the doorway still, and Damien thought that he didn’t, thought that he could do this by himself, but now he’s not so sure. He doesn’t even own that much stuff. It’s mostly just the memories, he thinks. He nods, pretty sure Kaz can see the panic in his eyes.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” Kaz says, confirming Damien’s suspicion. Kaz immediately makes a beeline towards the cardboard boxes and grabs a roll of packing tape that Damien had brought upstairs earlier in the day. “Here, let me build a few of these for you, and you can start looking through your clothes and decide if you want to keep everything.”

  “Thanks,” Damien says softly, making his way over to the closet, opening it up. It’s mostly full of uniforms, black button ups and black slacks, because he rarely wears anything else. Seeing them all lined up in this context… it’s weird. This has been his life for a while now. All he’s known, really. He can barely remember his past self. The ambitious, overachieving law student who burnt himself out after only a year. Damien’s been at the café much longer than he was even in law school for. That time, those memories… it seems like it happened to someone else entirely.

  Kaz finishes slapping some tape on the bottom of a box and snorts when he sees the contents of Damien’s closet. “Wow, don’t get out much?” he asks, and Damien shakes his head, laughing a bit as well.

  “I guess not,” he says, voice rough. Kaz picks up the empty box, bringing it over to Damien.

  “Well?” Kaz says, and Damien feels that panic rising again. Kaz laughs, “Hey, man, if you wanted me to do it all for you, you just had to ask.” And then Kaz proceeds to start grabbing handfuls of clothes, still on their hangers and just… shoving them into the box.

  “What are you doing?” Damien sp
lutters, and Kaz looks up at him, his eyes sparkling with laughter.

  “Helping, obviously,” Kaz says, his grin teasing.

  Damien watches with morbid fascination as Kaz continues stuffing clothes into the box. He sits down on the floor and starts laughing. “You’re terrible, you know,” Damien says. He wipes at his eyes, which are definitely wet from laughter and not from anything else. “I should have known this is how you’d help with packing after seeing the state of your room.”

  Kaz grins down at him. “This one looks full enough,” he says, and he bends down to slap some tape over the top flaps, which are bulging in an unfortunate manner. “Build me another box, while you’re down there,” he adds, handing the tape over to Damien.

  “Okay,” Damien says, and he takes the tape from Kaz and pulls another flat sheet of cardboard off of the pile. Kaz is rifling through Damien’s drawers now while he waits for the new box to be made, and he holds up a pair of one of Damien’s black silk boxers.

  “These are nice man, can I have a pair?” Kaz asks, and Damien looks up at him like he’s lost his mind. Which, he has. Obviously.

  “What is wrong with you, as a person?” Damien asks, and Kaz shrugs.

  “Is that a no?” he asks, and Damien glares at him, but the message must not get across, because Kaz throws the pair of boxers over towards the door as if he’s going to take them back to his room later like some sort of souvenir. Damien is too shocked to say anything. What does Kaz want with that? Kaz grins at him again.

  “Is that box ready yet? These aren’t going to pack themselves,” he holds up another pair, waving them at Damien like a flag. Damien snorts and finishes taping the box. He hands it over to Kaz, watching the other man take handfuls of the contents of his drawer and stuff it into the box as well. Talk about chaotic packing.

  The thing is, though, it’s kind of nice in a way. Damien pulls another piece of cardboard off the pile and starts making another box. Eventually he has too many boxes made, and there’s not really room left on the floor for new ones, so he just watches Kaz as he continues to put all of Damien’s belongings away.

  “I guess we shouldn’t pack the bedclothes until the morning, huh?” Kaz says, after looking at the bed thoughtfully. Damien really appreciates that Kaz has never made the cat joke that he could have given that Damien’s comforter is covered in adorable cartoon cats. He instantly regrets that thought when Kaz looks over to Damien slyly.

  “You know I could pack these up, and then you’d be forced to sleep with me tonight,” he says, waggling his eyebrows.

  Damien rolls his eyes. “What was that about Ty tearing your dick off or whatever it was you said in the gym.”

  “Woah, woah, hey now!” Kaz says, “I never said anything like that. I just said he’d kill me or something much less terrifying.” Kaz begins pulling the comforter off of Damien’s bed.

  “What are you doing?” Damien asks. “Seriously, Kaz. I’m not sleeping with you tonight.”

  Kaz’s smile is huge. “Nah, I know. I’m just teasing you bro,” he says, but he continues pulling all of the bedclothes off of the bed. “But you can sleep in Jake’s room, or hell, even one of the hosting rooms, you know?”

  Oh, Damien hadn’t actually thought of that. He feels his face heat. Kaz smirks at him. “I mean, you’re also welcome to join us though, if you’re sad about missing out.”

  Damien shakes his head, resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at Kaz. It would probably only encourage the man. Instead, he stands up from his place among the empty boxes that he’s built and starts helping Kaz. He might as well. The boxes really aren’t going to pack themselves.

  “Have you eaten anything?” Kaz asks much later when they are nearly done, and Damien realizes with a start that he hasn’t, and he didn’t really eat much for lunch either. Kaz grins at the look on his face. “I thought as much,” he says. “Come on, I’m sure there’s something leftover.”

  Damien puts the last box he’s working on onto the pile of the rest of them and takes a step back, looking at all of the stuff they’d packed. He had managed to convince Kaz to leave out some clothes for tomorrow, as well, even though the man teased him several times that he wasn’t going to.

  “Thanks,” Damien says, really meaning it, and Kaz just smiles back at him.

  “No problem, man,” he says, and he slaps Damien on the back. “I’m just glad I got a chance to dig through your stuff.”

  Damien rolls his eyes at Kaz and follows him into the living area. He’s surprised to see the three other hosts sitting on the couch with Liam in the middle and Jake laughing loudly as he plays poorly against Sebastian in some video game. Liam looks up and sees them, a huge grin spreading over his face.

  “Sebastian made you a cake!” Liam says, and wiggles his way out from between the two taller men. Jake yells in friendly annoyance as Liam darts in front of the screen, blocking him briefly and causing him to miss scoring a point on Sebastian. Liam heads back towards the hosting rooms and the study area.

  “I made a cake,” Sebastian clarifies pointlessly. “It’s not necessarily for Damien.”

  When Liam returns, he’s carrying a cake, and it’s not like it has words written on it or anything, but it’s obviously for Damien. Damien looks back at Kaz. He’s grinning widely.

  Liam sets the cake on the kitchen counter and starts serving it. Sebastian never even looks up from his game. Damien can’t imagine Sebastian spending time outside of his normal duties to make this. For Damien. He’s never been physically affectionate to Sebastian, and he still barely even talks to the man, even after their two heart-to-hearts. Damien swipes the first piece of cake from Liam and brings it over to where Sebastian and Jake are still focused on the game. He offers it to Sebastian.

  “Thanks,” Sebastian says, meeting Damien’s eyes briefly as he accepts the plate, and the corner of his mouth quirks up for just a moment.

  “You’re going to miss me,” Damien says in his most irritating manner, but Sebastian doesn’t take the bait. He snorts, setting the video game controller down and starting to the eat the cake. Jake looks on jealously, staring at the cake with such intent that Damien’s worried that he’s going to snatch it out of Sebastian’s hand. Damien, ever the host, goes back to the counter to grab a piece for him as well. Liam just laughs at him when he sees what Damien’s doing and finally makes Damien sit down and enjoy his own slice of cake.

  He’s a little sad that he didn’t get a chance to hang out with them more like this. That he’s going to miss out on moments like these in the future. But he’s also really looking forward to living with Ty. Part of him wishes that Melanie could be here, too, but he knows this isn’t her scene. Even more so than Sebastian, really. He finishes his cake watching Liam try to wrestle the controller back from Jake as Sebastian watches on amused. Kaz winks at him, and Damien has to look away, because he’s sure whatever he’s thinking is written all over his face.

  He really is going to miss this.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Damien ends up sleeping in Jake’s room. It’s oddly empty and too clean besides. The sheets on the bed look like they’ve never been used. Which… is probably a good thing, all things considered, but he feels like he’s staying in a hotel for the night and finds it difficult to fall asleep.

  In the morning, Damien convinces Kaz, Jake, and Liam to help him take all of his boxes from his old room down to the elevator lobby and pile them next to the first floor side door. Sebastian’s already gone for the day, it seems, or otherwise just didn’t want to be around to see Damien off. The pair of black silk boxers has also mysteriously disappeared, Damien notes, and he is a little disturbed to think that Kaz really did keep them. He doesn’t ask.

  Melanie peeks her head out of her office to say good morning to everyone and pulls Damien aside briefly as the others head upstairs to get the rest of the boxes. There aren’t many left, and Ty’s supposed to be here any minute.

  “You’re coming in tomorrow, right
?” she asks, and Damien nods. He’s planning on trying to come into the café Monday through Saturday, just like he’s always done, although he knows he won’t be able to get here as early as he used to, and he’ll probably have to leave before they’re done with cleanup.

  “Alright,” she says. “We’ll figure out the pay rate for you tomorrow, since you won’t be living here anymore.”

  Damien feels a little weird about that. He supposes it makes sense that his previous pay included food and rent among other things, but he doesn’t really feel like he deserves a raise. Melanie seems to know what he’s thinking though, because she raises an eyebrow at him and promptly shoos him away to go help the others.

  Ty shows up not too long after in a nondescript cargo van. Which… is not sketchy at all. To be fair, Damien appreciates the fact that he didn’t have to coordinate any of this himself, so he doesn’t complain. He barely even knows what Ty does for his job, really, but given Melanie’s inherent trust in the man, he feels like it doesn’t really matter. Damien’s been involved in illegal activity for years now, so he can’t really say much about anyone else’s business as long as no one’s getting hurt over it.

  Damien opens the side door to let Ty in, and Ty grins at him in greeting, absolutely thrilled. Damien manages to smile back.

  “Good morning,” he says. He’s excited. Really, he is. This is the start of his new life, he thinks. Ty wraps him in a tight hug, and then pulls back, clapping Damien on the shoulder.

  “You guys got everything down here already?” Ty asks, and Damien nods, gesturing to the pile of boxes. Kaz, Jake, and Liam are already picking some of them up, and Ty heads over to join them, so Damien props the door open for them. Kaz winks at Damien when he passes. Damien just hopes he and Ty can pretend to get along until they’re done.

  “We’ve got this, man,” Jake says, grinning as well, but Damien wants to help, too, so he grabs a box.