The Men of Ramshire

by Diane Lennox

  “See you then,” Jamie said and blew another kiss at Amos as he left before turning to Leander. “Alright, let’s get you settled in before the next performance.”

  “Oh you don’t have to, I can probably figure it out,” Leander said, biting at his lip.

  Jamie giggled. “Let me dote on you, Leander, I know how hard it is for you to be out in public alone and I really don’t mind having you distract me from these dreadfully boring reports for a few minutes.”

  “Thank you, Jamie.”

  “You’re welcome, now let’s go!” Jamie said and took Leander’s hand, leading him back out into the main area of the Ruby Room and going up to the bar. “Kevin-khan! We are in need of your services!”

  Kevin, the middle-aged bartender, looked their way and chuckled heartily as he walked up to them. “Well who is this?” He asked, looking to Leander.

  “This is my little brother, Leander, he’s come to watch some of the dancing tonight and I thought we could get him a drink on me,” Jamie said. “Something sweet and virgin,” he added with a little wink.

  Kevin laughed. “Got it, boss.”

  “Thank you,” Leander said softly to Jamie.

  “Of course! Now I suggest not drinking anything alcoholic tonight, alright? I’ll have eyes on you, but I’d still feel better if you had your wits about you all the same. You’re far too beautiful to be here alone.”

  Leander blushed hotly and hid his face against Jamie’s shoulder, not sure what to say in response to that.

  Jamie just giggled and gave Leander a little hug. “You’ll be fine though, I promise, I know the perfect spot for you.”

  “Okay,” Leander replied into Jamie’s shoulder.

  “Here’s your drink!” Kevin said, giving it to Jamie.

  “Thanks, Kevin-khan!” Jamie said merrily then steered Leander away from the bar and to the far left side of the room where there were a few empty seats and got Leander to sit on one of the armchairs, setting his drink on the little table beside him. “This spot gives Benjamin a good line of sight to you and most of the dancers stick to the middle so they won’t bother you here, not that they will anyways because I’m going to go warn them to leave you alone, okay? And Benjamin is that huge bald guy right there,” Jamie added and pointed over to the wall on the opposite side of them where the man was standing. “Go to him if you have any trouble and I’ll just be in my office too if you need me. Jeremy, the guard at the door, will let you in if you ask for me.”

  Leander nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Stop!” Jamie cried with a little laugh. “You really don’t need to thank me for all this, Leander, I’m your brother now, aren’t I? I’m supposed to take care of you.”

  Leander nodded again, feeling rather sheepish. He didn’t realize his older brothers would be so excited to look after him. “I still appreciate it.”

  “I know, and it makes it even more fun for me because you do,” Jamie said, smiling his signature sweet smile at him. “Now you enjoy yourself.”

  “I will.”

  “Good,” Jamie said and leaned down to give him a quick hug before heading off to go talk to Benjamin.

  Now that Leander was alone he was very aware of the curious glances he was getting and he realized getting special treatment from the manager and star dancer of the Ruby Room was probably not the best way for him to remain unnoticed. Hopefully everyone would leave him alone and not try to ask questions, but if not he’d go to Benjamin and then everyone would for sure leave him alone for the night. Both Jamie and Amos had talked about Benjamin before, but seeing the frighteningly large man in person made Leander appreciate just how intimidating he really was.

  While he waited for the next performance to start Leander busied himself with looking around the room at all the paintings. None of them looked to be by the same artist, but all were painted in bold, warm colours and had a sort of “sexy” edge to them, for lack of a better word. Leander wasn’t sure how else to describe it.

  Eventually he dared to look at the people in the room, hoping the curious stares sent his way would be gone by now, and was a little surprised to see such a variety of men around. There were serious looking businessmen, rowdy looking labourers, shy scholars, and of course a few rather lecherous looking older men who made Leander shiver uncomfortably. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t the eclectic group that was in there with him.

  A short, stocky man suddenly walked by in front of him and Leander did a double take, his eyes glued to the tattoos on the man’s impressive forearms – elegant chains and vines circling around each other and made to look as if they were dipping under the man’s dark olive skin itself. Leander had never been around anyone who had tattoos before, so he couldn’t help but be rather curious.

  The man found a seat not far from him and took a swig of the beer in his hand before glancing over at Leander, cocking an eyebrow at him.

  Leander froze for a moment, giving him plenty of time to look the man over. He was young looking, probably only a few years older than Leander, with a strong, square jaw, thick brows, and intense hazel eyes. His hair was shaved close to the sides of his head and left longer at the top where it was stylishly spiked up. The tight, black jeans he was wearing looked like they saw actual work judging by the few rips and scuffs of dirt scattered about and his fitted dark grey sweater looked just as worn.

  Finally Leander got his wits about him and looked down at the drink in his hands, blushing hotly. It wasn’t like him to stare like that and he felt rude for ogling the man’s tattoos.

  Luckily for Leander, the lights dimmed and the music started once more so all eyes were back up on the stage, ready for the next show to begin.

  As soon as the dancer walked out onto the stage Leander immediately recognized him despite never actually seeing him in person before. The sharp suit, the impressively athletic body, and the perfectly proportioned face with a smug expression plastered across it – there was no doubt about it, this was definitely Morgan Warrick.

  And, just as Jamie had described, the man was good at what he did. He moved around the stage with a cocky sort of grace, knowing just how to pose and how to glance at the crowd while giving them teasing smirks, knowing full well they liked what they saw. Then, when he got around to finally dancing, the way he moved to the beat was a weird combination of sharp and lazy, like he knew he was good, way too good to be up on that stage, yet he was doing everyone a favour by doing it anyways.

  It was easy enough for Leander to watch him move like this, entranced by him even though he didn’t really want to be. He knew how egotistical the man was from Jamie who often complained about him at their family meals. But then as his suit jacket came off, and then his shirt, Leander was beginning to wonder if he could do this after all.

  He clenched his glass uncomfortably tight, watching Morgan swing around the poles, his muscles flexing in very attractive ways as he showed off his agility and strength.

  Then, as he reached for the button on his pants, Leander stopped breathing and quickly looked down. No, he definitely couldn’t do this. The rest of the room, however, sounded very eager as they cheered and clapped.

  Leander clenched his eyes shut, trying to calm himself down. He was far too many things at once – aroused, nervous, and completely overwhelmed. Gods, why did he think this was a good idea? This was moving far, far too fast for him.

  “Don’t worry, just one more song with him prancing around in his thong and it’ll be over,” said a voice to the left of Leander.

  He dared to peek open his eyes to see who was speaking to him and saw the stocky, tattooed man from earlier now sitting in the chair just on the other side of the small side table between them.

  “Here,” the man said and casually rested his right forearm on the table. “For the rest of the song just focus on my tattoo and see if you can figure out how many vines and chains there are. I’ll tell you when it’s safe to look up.”

  Leander nodded a litt
le and did as the man said, looking down at the tattoo in front of him. Really, Leander knew he should be even more nervous with a strange, rather rough looking man talking to him, but despite his appearance he had a calming effect on Leander. Perhaps it was because he seemed so confident and relaxed, the complete opposite of the anxiety ridden state Leander had worked himself into.

  As the music played on and the cheers and whistles got louder, Leander stayed focused on the tattoo, letting his eyes roam as he tried to figure out if there were multiple chains and vines or if it was just one of each that twisted and turned everywhere. Thankfully, the act of having something simple to focus on had a calming effect on Leander, and when the music stopped he found his breathing had somewhat evened back out.

  “Alright, he’s gone backstage,” the man said once the cheering had died down and the quieter background music from before filled the space.

  Leander looked up at the man, catching a glimpse of his sharp, hazel eyes before he quickly looked away again. “Thank you.”

  “No problem. Did you want me to get you some water or anything?”

  Leander shook his head and lifted his half full drink. “I still have some of this.”

  “Alright. I’m gonna grab another beer, do you mind if I sit here again when I get back?”

  Leander shook his head again.

  “Then I’ll be right back,” the man said and headed off to the bar.

  Leander was rather surprised at himself for saying it was fine, but he really did find the man’s presence calming and he didn’t see the harm in having a little bit of company.

  The only problem was that the man didn’t get back fast enough, for not long after he left someone else took his seat, a man who was even bigger, rougher, and definitely didn’t have the intelligent look in his eyes that the tattooed man did.

  “You can do better than that little dwarf,” this new man said, his voice enough to make Leander’s skin crawl. “Especially if you’re into us bad boys.”

  “I’m not interested,” Leander said firmly, refusing to make eye contact with this other man.

  “I think I can make you interested.”

  And with that far too forward comment Leander quickly got out of his seat and hurried to the bar towards the tattooed man, desperate to be by someone he felt somewhat safe with.

  “Change your mind about the drink?” The man asked as Leander hurried up to him.

  “S-somebody took your seat,” Leander replied, hating that he was stuttering in front of a complete stranger.

  The man looked over then let out a slow, unimpressed sounding breath of air. “I see. Would you like to sit somewhere different with me?”

  Leander nodded.

  “Alright,” the man said then took his beer from the bartender and walked to a small couch closer to the stage. “Nobody is going to start shit this close to the stage. You okay with sharing a couch with me?”

  Leander nodded and sat down, surprising himself yet again by saying yes, but his gut kept reassuring him that it was alright. It probably helped that this man continually asked Leander his permission for everything and wasn’t pushy in the slightest.

  The man sat down on the couch beside him, leaving as much space as he could between the two of them.

  “The name’s Dimitrius, by the way,” Dimitrius said, offering his hand to Leander palm up.

  “Leander,” Leander said and shyly placed his own hand on top of Dimitrius’.

  “Nice to meet you,” Dimitrius said then gently wrapped his hand around Leander’s and pulled his hand in close, pressing a polite, chaste kiss to Leander’s knuckles.

  “You as well,” Leander said, blushing hotly as his hand was released and quickly busied himself with taking a sip of his drink. He wasn’t sure why he was getting so flustered, the man was obviously just being polite, but Leander supposed he wasn’t used to getting this much attention from men outside of a school setting.

  “So I think you’ll like this next dancer better, he’s a new one. Morgan’s amazing, but he’s very in your face. This next guy, he’s really flirty, but sweet, sort of a boy-next-door type.”

  “How do you know he’s next?” Leander asked.

  “I looked at the lineup online before I came, wanted to make sure I got to see my favourites.”

  “Then you come here often?”

  Dimitrius shrugged. “Often enough. I’ve tried some of the other clubs, but the Ruby Room by far has the better dancers. I mean, I’m not gonna lie to you and say I’m not checking these men out based partially on how attractive they are, but it doesn’t really do it for me if they’re just doing cheap tricks. Half they reason they turn me on is because they’re talented performers.”

  Leander smiled. “Jamie will be happy to hear that.”

  Dimitrius cocked an eyebrow at him. “You make it sound like you know Jamie.”

  “I do, quite well,” Leander admitted.

  “… I see. Well, I’m getting a little nervous now. Am I gonna get the shit beaten out of me just by being near you?”

  Leander giggled and shook his head. “No, not at all, unless you plan on turning into a huge creep all of a sudden.”

  “I’ll just have to trust you on that,” Dimitrius said then took a long gulp of his beer. “Can I ask how you know him? Are you friends?”

  Leander bit at his lip, not sure what to say. Would this man treat him differently if he admitted how they were related?

  “You don’t have to say, I’m sorry, I’m being too nosy,” Dimitrius quickly apologized.

  “Will you promise not to treat me differently if I tell you the truth?” Leander asked.

  “I can try, but it’s hard to make that sort of promise.”

  Leander decided that was good enough. “Well, Jamie is my older brother.”

  Dimitrius stared at him for a moment before letting out a long huff of air. “Gods fucking damn it,” he swore then downed what looked like half of his beer. “Of course I’d have to go chatting up the son of the most dangerous man in the city. Should I be drawing up my will tonight?”

  Wait, chatting up? Was this man actually interested in him?

  Dimitrius cocked an eyebrow at him. “It isn’t a secret Jamie married into the Kane clan. It wasn’t that far of a leap to figure out you must be one of Lazarus Kane’s sons.”

  Leander just nodded a little in response, not sure what to say at the moment. He’d never had this sort of reaction before, but he supposed everyone at school already knew who he was as soon as the attendance was called. Dimitrius had no idea Leander was a Kane when he started to apparently “chat him up”.

  “Hey, are you alright?” Dimitrius asked.

  Leander shrugged, feeling strangely upset. “I’ll be fine. You needn’t stay here with me if it makes you uncomfortable to be near a Kane.”

  “Look at me.”

  Leander looked up, surprised at the intensity in Dimitrius’ eyes as they seemed to look right into his very soul.

  “Why did you come here tonight?” Dimitrius asked.

  Leander looked away. He wasn’t sure if he felt comfortable admitting the truth to a complete stranger, even if he did seem trustworthy and so far very gentlemanly.

  “I’ll be honest with you, Leander, knowing that you’re a Kane makes me pretty fucking nervous now, and a little suspicious. Why would a beautiful, young man like you come into a place like this alone and give a man like me the time of day? Are you trying to be rebellious? Were you hoping to toy around with me before you scared the shit out of me by telling me who your father is? Or were you really just here for the dancers and got overwhelmed because you’ve never seen a nearly naked man before and me, or a man like me, coming to talk to you was never part of your plan? I mean, I get that your brother is the manager of this place, so maybe it’s not that weird for you to come here, but you seem so out of place and uncomfortable. That, or it’s all an act.”

  “Do you want me to be completely honest?” Leander asked, his heart rate
already picking up.

  “I’d like that, yes, but you don’t have to tell me shit if you don’t want to. Although if you don’t, I’ll probably end our conversation here and find myself somewhere else to sit.”

  Leander nodded a little. He knew he didn’t have to say anything, and it really didn’t matter if Dimitrius moved, it wasn’t as if Leander would likely see the man ever again, but he was honestly rather offended and hurt that Dimitrius would think he was putting on an act and had some evil plan to toy with him. That wasn’t at all the sort of image he wanted a complete stranger to have of him.

  “I came here because…” Leander swallowed hard. Okay, this was going to be a lot more difficult than he anticipated. And should he really be telling this sort of thing to someone he just met?

  He looked up at Dimitrius, at those piercing hazel eyes, and despite the fact that he was looking at Leander like he didn’t quite trust him, Leander didn’t feel the same. His gut was telling him that Dimitrius could be trusted and wasn’t about to hurt him in any way.

  “I came here because I didn’t know where else to go. I felt… restless… and,” Leander looked down again, unable to keep looking at Dimitrius while he admitted something so personal. “I’m not normally a man who’s interested in this sort of thing.”

  “There are websites online you could be using to satisfy your curiosity, you know,” Dimitrius said.

  “I’m aware, but I share a room with my brother.”

  “I guess that would make things just a little awkward.”

  “Indeed,” Leander said with a small smirk, daring to look back at Dimitrius who was looking at him with far less suspicion now. “I really was overwhelmed by the near nakedness up on the stage, I wasn’t faking that. As for you, well, when I looked at you earlier I was intrigued by your tattoos, I’ve never seen tattoos in person before. I didn’t mean to ogle like I did though, I know it was rude.”

  “It’s alright,” Dimitrius said and took a sip of his beer. “Thanks, for being honest with me.”

  Leander just nodded a little.

  “I suppose it’s only fair that I be honest with you now too,” Dimitrius said and set his beer down, turning his full attention on Leander. “I really was worried about you, seeing you get all nervous, but a part of me was also hoping you wouldn’t mind my company,” he said then stopped for a moment, running a hand over his hair. “And I’m probably going to get hunted down by your father for saying this to you, but, if you’re really feeling ‘restless’ like you say…” He sighed and swore under his breath. “The Ruby Room is great, but I think you’re going to feel far more overwhelmed than satisfied staying here. If you come back to my place instead we can do whatever you feel comfortable with there. Fuck, we can sit and hold hands and stare at the stars out my balcony window if that’s all you need.”