by K P Maxwell
Liam shakes his head. “Anyways, I’m sure your client is a great guy. He’s just… I mean, he’s one of the top people, right? In the shifter community if you have a problem, you go to Ty. Or Melanie. Or Dr. Hayes. Or someone else from their families. Ty’s sister, for example.”
“He has a sister?” Damien asks, and Liam nods.
“Yeah, she’s pretty well known in the community, too. She’s a mechanic, actually,” Liam smiles at this. “Owns her own shop and everything.”
Suddenly everything feels more complicated. Up until now, it felt like the pieces were starting to fall together. Damien found out his client’s name. Now he’s basically dating the man. Boy meets boy, that sort of thing. But of course, his client couldn’t be a normal client. Damien frowns.
“It’ll be okay,” Liam reassures him. “Sorry to freak you out.”
Damien shakes his head. “No, it’s fine.”
Liam doesn’t seem very comfortable with the whole shifter thing in general, so Damien figures he’s not about to ask Liam any more prying questions about them, and leaves the barista to his duties.
Chapter Nineteen
After the first Saturday night at Ty’s, Damien starts staying every weekend over the next few weeks. He doesn’t bring up the weird reactions Liam and Kaz had to finding out he was dating Ty, and he doesn’t see anything that tips him off to anything strange going on. He also doesn’t ask Ty about the idea of mates, and he’s been too afraid to do an online search. He’s not sure he’s ready to find out what that could mean.
Every Sunday it seems like Ty takes him back to the café later and later to the point where Kaz starts complaining that Damien never spends any time with him anymore, and Damien laughs it off out of happiness. The days are getting brighter as the sun sets later and later and the weather outside is decidedly turning into spring.
It’s one of those Sundays again, and Damien’s starting to seriously consider the idea of moving out of Café Seuil. He has some money set aside in savings, and even after he stopped taking clients, Melanie insisted on giving him a small salary for his work at the café on top of free rent and food. He knows he could stay there indefinitely, continue on as he is, but he feels like he needs a push. Maybe that fresh start he had been working towards before.
This morning, Damien’s got Ty’s laptop in his lap, scrolling through apartment listings, frowning at every one of them. The apartment prices in Portland are way more expensive than he remembers them being, which is a major problem. Something near Ty’s place, for example, is completely off of the table. Even if Melanie increased his salary to account for him moving out… Damien’s been thinking that maybe he needs a clean slate. Maybe find a new job near his new apartment. Maybe start a new life.
It’s been several years since he left Seattle, and he thinks he’s finally ready for it.
Ty pads in, almost completely nude except some black boxer-briefs which do nothing to hide all of the interesting parts. He’s holding two cups of coffee. Damien gives him an appreciative look for a variety of reasons and gratefully accepts one of the cups.
He moves the laptop aside as Ty climbs back into bed.
“What are you doing?” Ty gestures to the laptop.
“Looking at apartments,” Damien says, and quickly shuts the screen, because he feels a little silly even bothering to look at anything near Ty’s place, as if he could afford it. And as if Ty would even want him to live so close. He doesn’t want to annoy the other man.
Ty frowns though, as if the idea personally offends him. “Why don’t you let me help you?” he asks, and something in Damien feels really warm at the offer.
Damien shakes his head, though. “I want to do this on my own.” He takes a sip of his coffee. After a few weeks of Sunday mornings, Ty knows how to make it exactly right for him.
“Does Mel know you’re planning on moving out?” Ty gives him a level glance, and Damien shrugs.
“I think she suspects it,” he says. “I don’t have any clients anymore. I don’t really belong at the café now.”
Ty sits down on the bed next to Damien, careful not to spill any coffee. “It seems like you do more than just take clients at the cafe,” Ty says.
Damien nods. “I do, but that’s what Kaz and Jake are for. Melanie hired them as replacements for me.”
Ty looks like he’s not convinced but he lets the subject drop, and Damien’s thankful for it. He doesn’t really want to think about his role at the café right now.
“Well let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you,” Ty says. “But I think you should tell them soon if you’re going to move out.”
Damien nods. “I’ll do it today,” he says. He’s just been putting it off, but he’s sure Melanie has already figured it out. “You want to take me back early?”
Ty shakes his head, rumbling a laugh. “No, I most definitely do not,” he says, and then he’s sniffing at Damien’s neck in that way that Damien’s starting to find oddly erotic, and Damien laughs. He pushes Ty away, and Ty grumbles at him.
“Fine, fine. Just get ready, and we can head back whenever,” he says. “I want to at least finish this first,” he gestures with his cup of coffee, and Damien smiles in agreement.
He’s not sure what he’s going to do about the apartment situation, but surely he can figure something out.
Damien feels oddly nervous in the afternoon when Ty finally drives him back to the café. He can’t bring himself to make much conversation, but Ty doesn’t seem to mind. Ty drops him off at the side entrance with a grin and a “good luck,” and Damien immediately heads towards the kitchen, hoping Melanie will be in her office. Might as well get it over with if he can.
Of course, Melanie’s not actually there for once. He glances around the room, the messy disarray, thinking fondly of how many times he’s been in here. Nearly ever morning for years now, in fact.
“Looking for me?” Melanie’s voice asks from behind him, and he nearly jumps out of his skin, turning around abruptly.
“Yeah, actually,” he says, trying to catch his breath. “It’s creepy when you do that.”
She grins at him, showing too much teeth. Instead of brushing past him to go further into the office though, she tilts her head back towards the café.
“Why don’t we go sit in there instead?” she asks. “All of the other guys are out. Basketball.”
“Basketball?” Damien asks, trying to imagine Liam playing the sport. The image is amusing, and Melanie gives him a look like she knows what he’s thinking. She shrugs and doesn’t say anything further about it. Damien should have figured that the other hosts would find some way to entertain themselves. They all seem to get along so well, with the exception of...
“Even Sebastian?” he asks, and Melanie laughs. She nods, making her way over to the espresso machine.
Damien starts towards it as well. “I can do it,” he says, and she shakes her head.
“Nah, sit,” she says. “I know my way around one of these things, too, you know.”
Damien sits at one of the tables, feeling out of sorts while Melanie starts the espresso. He watches her deft movements with curiosity. She really does know what she’s doing, and she looks like she’s done it thousands of times, although Damien’s never once seen her make espresso in all of his time here.
“I’m looking for an apartment,” he says, half-hoping the noise of the espresso machine will drown him out, but it doesn’t. Melanie’s dark eyes meet his own.
“I figured,” she says simply, and it makes Damien angry for a moment, because how could she possibly know? She must see it on his face, because she sighs.
“Look Damien, I know you. I know what your reaction to this situation is going to be,” she says, but Damien can’t accept that’s true. He feels frustrated at the idea that he’s so predictable.
“I don’t want to work here anymore,” he says, partially out of anger, and almost immediately regretting the words. She looks sad.
She stares at him for a long moment, and it’s hard to read her expression, but she eventually looks back down at the cups she’s pouring the espresso in. “You know you’re too useful for me to let you leave,” she says.
Damien looks away. He feels like he needs to try it, regardless. What would his life be like if he didn’t rely so heavily on Melanie and Café Seuil? He used to be so independent. He let Seattle ruin him.
“I want to figure out what it is that I want to do with my life,” Damien says, and Melanie’s carrying two small cups of espresso over to the table now. She didn’t foam milk or anything. Just black. And bitter.
“I could keep you here,” she says, as she sets the cups down, and the words are challenging but there’s no force behind it.
“You wouldn’t,” Damien says, and he knows it’s true. Just like he knows Ty wouldn’t ever hurt him, regardless of what his reputation is like.
Melanie sits down in the chair, staring at him again, and finally she looks away. “I wouldn’t,” she says. “You’ve got me there.”
Damien sips at the espresso, and it’s just as good as he expected it to be, although he usually prefers it with milk of some sort.
“You’ll always have a place here, you know,” Melanie says.
Damien inclines his head, gratefully, “Thank you for being so understanding.”
“He told you, right?” Melanie asks after a few more sips of espresso.
“Ty?” Damien asks, and she nods in return. There are so many questionable things about Ty that he’s wondering what she’s referring to.
“What, that he’s a wolf shifter? That he’s some sort of alpha wolf that everyone’s half terrified of? That he’s involved in some sort of sketchy business practices?” he lists them off, and he thinks that probably covers them.
Melanie laughs out loud at that, her eyes twinkling. “Something like that, yes,” she says. She drains the last of her espresso. “Ty’s a lot of things, but he’s a good friend, Damien. Don’t let the rumors scare you off.”
Damien nods, looking down at his own cup, wishing for some milk. He pushes it over to Melanie, and she grins at him.
“Sorry I was too lazy to make it the way you like it,” she says, but she doesn’t sound sorry at all.
“You warned me off of him, too, you know,” Damien says, and Melanie nods thoughtfully as she drinks the rest of his own espresso.
“That’s different,” she says. “I just don’t want you getting hurt by that asshole.” She smiles as if to herself. “But if he’s already told you about it all,” she shrugs. “Then you guys can work out the rest.”
She stands, setting the cup down. “Do you mind washing these?” she asks with a grin, and Damien laughs.
“Sure,” he says, standing as well and picking up the two glasses carefully. She gives him a little wave as she heads back to her office.
Now he just has to figure out how to tell the other guys. When Jake and Kaz moved in nearly two months ago, he had already told everyone he was going to stop taking so many clients, but it feels so fast that he’s already considering leaving Café Seuil. This has been his home, truly in every sense of the word, more so than any other place he’s ever lived in, and he’s not sure how he feels about leaving it.
You have to do this, he tells himself. He can’t rely on Melanie forever. He smiles to himself, thinking that she didn’t offer to help him. He can do this, he thinks. At the very least, he has to try.
Chapter Twenty
Later that evening, after further unsuccessful searches for apartments online, Damien brings his laptop out to the shared living area only to find Kaz in the kitchen, cleaning.
“How was basketball?” he asks, setting his laptop down on the island counter and pulling up a stool. Kaz looks up at him, curious.
“Great,” he says, rinsing some dishes in the sink and putting them into the dishwasher. “It’d be fun if you joined us sometime, but I know you’re busy now.” He grins at the implication, and Damien shrugs. Damien is not in the best mood after looking at the listings.
“What’s wrong?” Kaz asks. He dries his hands off on a towel.
Damien bites his lip, unsure if he should tell Kaz, but he knows he’d want to know if he were in Kaz’s place.
“I’m leaving Café Seuil,” Damien says, watching closely for the other’s reaction.
“Wow,” Kaz replies, eyes huge. “You sure about this?”
“Yeah,” Damien nods. “I’ve been looking for a new place to stay, actually.”
Kaz looks genuinely sad at the news. “Just when we were starting to become friends, man!”
“I need to try to live on my own for a while,” Damien says, and he hates how uncertain his voice sounds. “I feel like I’ve gotten to be too reliant on Melanie.”
Kaz frowns, “I don’t know, man. I think you’ve got it the wrong way around.”
Damien shakes his head, “The café will be fine without me,” he says. “Plus, Melanie has you now.”
Kaz laughs at that. “Seriously? I’m no replacement for you. You do everything around here.”
“What, are you saying you can’t do my job?” Damien asks, a vicious smile spreading across his face. Kaz looks a little competitive in return, puffing out his chest, but he deflates almost instantly.
“Nah,” he says. “It’s not that. Although, look, I don’t want to have to wake up as early as you do every day.” He grins at Damien, but his face falls when Damien can’t manage to smile at the joke.
“Do you need help finding a place?” he asks finally, and Damien shrugs.
“I dunno, everything’s more expensive than I realized,” Damien says, and he feels a little stupid about it. Surely he should have known that the city was changing, but the café is like a little bubble that he rarely leaves, and it’s been years since he first came to Portland.
“Balducci probably lives in some fancy area, too, am I right?” Kaz asks, and Damien nods, blushing a little. He still feels silly for thinking he could even afford to live there. Maybe if he was still taking clients…
“I got you,” Kaz says. “I’ll ask around. The place Jake and I used to rent as is a shared house, and they might have an opening.”
“Really?” Damien asks, feeling a little more hopeful all of a sudden.
“Sure,” Kaz nods. “Anyways, you gotta tell Jake and the other two.”
Damien nods. He can’t hide it now that Kaz knows. He thinks this is much harder than when he left Seattle.
“Don’t look so sad, man,” Kaz says. “It’s the same city. You can still stop by for coffee anytime.”
Damien smiles at him, appreciating the sentiment, but he thinks he probably won’t. He really just wants a clean break this time. To start a new life all over again, with his new… well, with his new whatever Ty is.
“In fact, I’m going to demand that you bring your boyfriend to the gym next week,” Kaz says.
“For basketball?” Damien asks.
Kaz nods, “Yeah, we have to meet him. You can’t keep hiding him from us, especially not if you’re going to be moving out soon.” He winks at Damien, and Damien knows Kaz is just teasing him, but it is a fair point.
“Alright,” Damien says. “I’ll ask. No promises though.”
Kaz grins, “Good enough for me.” He has made his way around the island by this point, and he slaps Damien on the back. “And cheer up, we’ll find you a place. Or maybe not, and then you’ll just be forced to stay here.”
He laughs at his own joke as he heads off to his own room, heedless of any response on Damien’s part. Damien closes the laptop. He’s done with that for now. There’s no rush, anyways, and maybe Kaz will turn up something in the meantime.
Damien messages Ty about basketball, and Ty agrees to join him with the rest of the guys on Sunday, with the stipulation that Eli’s allowed to come, too, since Eli actually has that day off as well.
“The more the merrier,” Kaz grins, and he asks Sebastian to invite Daniel to gi
ve them an even eight to play with.
When Sunday rolls around, Ty drives Damien to the gym, since Damien stayed over with him the night prior, and Eli meets them there. The two men make for an impressive sight when they are standing right next to each other, Damien realizes, bumping each other’s shoulders with obvious physical affection.
“Good to see you again!” Eli says, holding out a hand for Damien to shake, and Damien does, immediately noticing Eli’s body temperature feels hot, just like Ty’s does. His eyes widen.
“Are you… too?” he asks, and Eli laughs.
“Did Ty finally tell you?” he asks, and Ty grunts a ‘yes’ in reply. Eli smiles, “Sure am,” he says. “Ty and I grew up together, running in the same pack.”
Ty glares at him, “I hate when you call it that,” he says, and Damien laughs.
“Ty said you didn’t have a pack,” and Eli gives him an odd smile.
“Ty likes to underplay things,” Eli says, his gaze lingering on Ty as if he’s trying to put together what Ty’s told Damien versus what he hasn’t. Damien still remembers the warnings from Kaz and Liam. And now he wonders how much of that is true and if there is anything else Ty is hiding from him.
Ty shakes his head, “You guys coming in, or what?” he says, and Eli shrugs. He makes a motion meaning “text me” to Damien, and Damien’s immediately curious. It sounds like Eli’s willing to give him the full story, and he wouldn’t mind meeting up with the man again.
Damien checks his phone to find a few messages from Kaz.
“They’re already inside,” he dutifully tells the other two, as they’re heading in. They greet the receptionist on a first name basis, which gets a raised eyebrow from Damien.
“We come here a lot,” Eli explains, laughing at Damien’s expression.
Damien has been wondering about that — how much of their muscular physique is due to the shifter metabolism versus how much is sheer effort.
They find all of the other men in a basketball gym already, and Kaz makes a beeline to Damien when he sees him, seemingly unaffected by the two intimidating wolves next to Damien.
