by April Fire
“As long as my friend can come with me,” she gestured to me, and he looked me up and down and nodded.
“No problem.”
The crowd was beginning to break up, picking up their beers in preparation for the next fight. The place was already taking on that heavy scent of alcohol, and I was glad to get out of there, to be honest. But not as glad as I was to be behind-the-scenes- and in with a chance of seeing the gorgeous boxer I’d been watching only a few minutes ago.
We made our way through the door, and found ourselves in a sparsely-decorated dressing room. A handful of other boxers were getting ready for their fights, while the loser of the last round was tending to his injuries.
“So, what brings you here?” The coach turned to Nina and leaned up against the lockers that had been propped up against the back wall. The boxer he coached for shot him a dirty look-probably mad he was putting his dick over his duty to take care of him, but I supposed that’s what you got for getting involved with shit like this. I offered him a smile, and he gave me a once-over and grinned back. I quickly averted my eyes; I didn’t want him to think that I was here for him. I scanned the room, wondering if he had already been and gone- but then, at last, I found him again.
He was over in the corner, opening a bottle of beer and chugging at least half the contents in one motion. He pulled a face as he put the bottle down again, and went to grab for his clothes once more. He was just pulling on a shirt when he turned around and found me staring at him- he let the clothes slip over his head and then smiled back at me. Yeah, this was really happening- even then, I wasn’t sure that it had been me he was grinning at before. But, as he made his way over to me, I felt my heart flutter in the knowledge that somehow, he was actually interested in yours truly.
“Hey,” he greeted me, his voice deep and rough around the edges. He leaned over to grab a beer from behind me, cracked the top off, and handed it to me, then picked one up himself.
“What’s this for?” I wondered aloud, and he tapped the neck off his bottle against mine.
“Toasting my victory,” he replied, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his cockiness.
“To your victory,” I managed through a giggle, and we both took a swig.
“What brings you here tonight?” he looked me up and down, and I was suddenly glad that Nina had insisted I dress up for the occasion. I was in a pair of savagely high heels and a floaty jumpsuit that showed off my legs.
“Uh, my friend,” I turned to point to Nina, and found her on the lap of the coach, throwing her head back in laughter at something he’d said. I raised my eyebrows; that girl could move fast when she wanted to. I supposed that I’d only known her while she’d been dating Joel, and single-Nina was all new to me. She looked like she was having a good time, regardless, so who was I to interfere or say she was doing something wrong?
“And I can certainly see why she’s here,” he remarked dryly. I laughed again.
“So, what do you do?” he asked, leaning up against the wall and focusing all his attention on me. I felt ridiculously fluttery, fiddling with a strand of hair as I tried to remind myself that this probably wasn’t the kind of guy who I should be crushing on as intensely as I was.
“I’m a waitress,” I shrugged. “At a bar across town. Dino’s?”
“Oh yeah, I know it,” he nodded. I raised my eyebrows- we were pretty upmarket, and if this was the kind of place he frequented, I couldn’t imagine him finding much to like about us.
“Really?”
“No,” he admitted with a sly smile. “But maybe I’ll become a regular.”
I took another swig of my beer, hoping that I was hiding the flush moving up my neck at his words. I was so used to the flirtation dance to take place over the course of hours, with lots of awkward pauses and weird mumblings. But he was confident and in-control and wasn’t holding back at all. I wasn’t sure if I liked it yet, but I couldn’t deny that my heart beat faster every time he made another one of his suggestive comments.
“So, what about you?” I asked, turning the focus back on him. “Do you do this for a living?”
“I wish,” he shook his head. “Nah, this is more a hobby than anything else. Though I’d love to go pro one day.”
“So, what’s your day job?”
“I used to work as a IT guy for a major finance company across town, but I got laid off when they shut down, he replied.
“IT guy?” I looked him up and down.
“Yeah, I know, I know,” he glanced down at his feet, apparently a little embarrassed.
“So, what are you doing now?” I sipped from my beer again, starting to relax now that I had control of the conversation.
“Uh, looking for work at the moment,” he drummed his fingers against the beer bottle and glanced away, as though he’d been cornered into a topic he didn’t much like talking about.
“You should come along to Dino’s,” I joked. “We’re hiring for a new waitress.”
“Yeah, I’m sure my ass wold look good in a little cocktail dress,” he smirked at the image.
“You’d go around stealing all of my tips,” I teased. “No-one would be able to take their eyes off of you.”
“Damn right,” he nodded seriously. “Not to mention the fact that after years of working in IT I’ve got the best customer service skills.”
“Well, obviously,” I shrugged. “You’d be a shoo-in for the job. I should probably call my manager and tell him to take down the advert right now.”
“For sure,” he agreed, and finally cracked, a smile breaking over his face.
“Or maybe not,” I cocked my head at him playfully.
“Maybe not,” he echoed me and finished up his beer with a shake of the head. Then, he glanced down at his watch, and a look of mild panic passed over his face.
“Shit,” he muttered to himself.
“What is it?”
“I’ve got to be at an interview early tomorrow, I have to head out,” he said, looking down at me apologetically. “It was good meeting you, though. Do you think you’ll be back to one of these again?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” I admitted. “Probably not, to be honest.”
“Shame,” he flashed me a smile. “Maybe I’ll see you at Dino’s, then?”
“Maybe,” I nodded. “Good luck with your interview.”
“Thanks,” he grinned, and before I knew it, he was gone. I turned around to see what Nina was doing, and she and the coach were already making out enthusiastically amongst the lockers. I awkwardly took a seat and finished up my beer, trying to avoid the lecherous grin of the guy Darius had just beaten. This was going to be a long night, I could be certain of that.
Chapter Two
Darius
It had been a week since I’d been to that boxing match, and I had just about worked the stench of sweat and beer out of my clothes again. Nina had spent the last few days holed up with the coach, Terry, but I had had no luck tracking down Darius Frost.
I mean, I was just being dumb. He was hot, sure, but there were plenty of hot guys who didn’t come with the attached baggage that he did. He was just a cute guy who was fun for a little bit of a flirt, and nothing more. I had to keep reminding myself that as I lay in bed and wondered what would have happened if I’d invited him back to mine, or given him my number.
But then, I didn’t know that he didn’t pick out a woman every week at these kinds of things. A guy as good-looking as he was would have a girl in every port, no questions asked. I had probably dodged a bullet by skipping out of there without a second look.
I rolled out of bed that morning, glancing at my phone- I had a bunch of invites out to parties and events that evening, but I was working. Typical. Dino’s paid well, and I was lucky that it did, because otherwise I’d have an even harder time explaining to myself why I was spending Saturday night in a bar full of sleazy old guys ordering Scotch that they thought made them seem sophisticated and worldly, when the only thing it really made them was
drunk as fuck.
I sighed as I climbed into the shower, the hot water waking me up. I had to be in early to get the food prep down for the rest of the day, and I didn’t have time to dawdle around doing nothing. I had to admit, it wasn’t exactly how I saw my life unfolding at the age of twenty-five.
I mean, four years in college studying something, and you just assume that things are going to twist and turn and fit into your life so that you get a job in that field. I had studied music, playing the cello and the bass guitar and earning outstanding grades. I was in a handful of bands and orchestras, and it seemed like I had it on lockdown. Yeah, the life of a musician was never easy, but I could deal with the rejection as long as it led to something in the long haul.
And, well, it hadn’t. I still went to auditions when I could, still turned out at open mics in the hopes that someone might pay attention to me, but I was far from hopeful these days. What I had discovered was that there was always someone sharper, someone with more charisma, someone who had worked harder for this than I had. Someone who deserved it more. I had played a few shows here and there, but nothing notable.
I found myself taking on more and more shifts at the bar, filling up my time with work so I could at least make enough money to rent a place of my own. That was the only way that I really felt like an adult; at least I had an apartment to myself. My focus shifted from making enough money to live on while I pursued my music career. to making enough money to live on while I filled my time with things that didn’t end in heart-crushing disappointment.
I just couldn’t take it anymore, the slow, steady decline of things not working out. I did my best to put it out of my head, but as I climbed out of the shower and glanced over at my zipped-tight cello case, I couldn’t help but feel a stab of regret. I wasn’t fair. This wasn’t how things were supposed to map out for me, and I felt crappy admitting it.
I got dressed, did my hair and make-up, and grabbed a pair of comfortable shoes that I could spend an eight-hour shift wandering around in. I had cottoned on quickly to the fact that dressing up cute would get me a bunch more tips than sticking to my feminist principles; I still found myself internally yelling at the dudes who leched over me and the other floor girls, but I did my best to ignore it. They were assholes, but they were assholes who were paying us good money and there was rarely any more trouble than just a look.
Work wasn’t far from my apartment, so I walked the few blocks and enjoyed the morning sunshine. It was beautiful out, the thin, watery light pouring through the buildings surrounding me. It was a Saturday morning, so the streets weren’t too busy yet, most of the revelers from the night before still in and nursing their hangovers.
That had been me, only a couple of years before, but now I rarely got drunk or got too crazy. I would wake up the next morning in a haze of guilt and headaches, and peel myself out of the bed of whoever I’d hooked up with the night before.
If there was ever an express-train to feeling even shittier about yourself, it was using sex with strangers as a way to prop up your ego. Sex was hardly sacred to me now, but I didn’t want to have it with just anyone for any reason.
That was why Darius had so taken me by surprise before. I never usually looked at guys and felt that urge, that desire for them. But he had something about him -- I didn’t want to be clichéd, but I just felt drawn to him in a way I rarely did anymore. He was hot, sure, but usually I was a look-but-don’t-touch kind of girl. But I had to speak to him, had to get to know him, even if he was kind of a cocky asshole. At least he made me laugh.
When I arrived at work, I tried the back-staff door and was surprised when I found that it was open. I was almost certain that I was the first one coming in today, but it seemed like someone had beaten me to the punch. I pushed the door open, made my way to the staffroom, and pulled off my jacket, then headed through to the kitchen to see who else was in.
“Hello?” I called, not seeing anyone for a moment. And then, I heard a voice from behind me.
“Hey, Emilia?” The familiar voice of my shift manager came from behind me, and I turned around.
“What’s up, “I began, and then I saw who was standing with him. My jaw dropped as my shift manager continued to speak.
“We filled that waiting position,” he jerked his head at the guy standing next to him. “And we were hoping you might be able to train our new member of staff.”
Of course, it was Darius. Why the fuck not? There I was, sure that the universe had separated us for a reason, and now it had dumped him back on my lap. Of course, I didn’t know why I’d thought anything different. I’d told him about the job, and he must have applied for it, and now he was here -- standing in front of me in our waiting uniform, black shirt and black slacks, so far removed from the cocky, swaggering boxer I’d met only a few days ago.
“Sure,” I nodded, smiling at my manager.
“I’ll let you guys get to know one another,” he disappeared around the corner and into the office, leaving the two of us alone together again. Darius raised his eyebrows at me, and I stared back at him.
“I cannot believe this,” I shook my head. “I thought you said you didn’t do customer service?”
“I don’t,” he admitted. “But I got rejected from the interview I had, and I remembered you telling me about this job, and I guess I just thought - fuck it. I need some income, and this seemed like the best way to do that.”
“How the hell did you get this?” I raised my eyebrows. “Seriously. I mean, the whole time I’ve worked here, I’ve never seen a guy working the floor.”
“I think they want someone out there to act as a deterrent to the more handsy guys,” he suggested. “I didn’t question it too much, to be honest.”
“Well, obviously,” I put my hands on my hips and looked at him. He was still gorgeous, but in a different way than before; in the ring, he had been all about that raw power and masculinity, while here, he was softer, gentler. My eyes drifted down over his body, and I did my best not to remember how he looked with his clothes off.
“So, I’ve got to train you, then,” I sighed, making out like it was the biggest pain in the world. He grinned, a bit of that cocky swagger back in his eyes again.
“Maybe I can teach you a thing or two,” he teased, and I flushed.
“What, about boxing?” I remarked, brushing him off. He glanced around and took a step closer to me, and it was clear that I hadn’t said the right thing.
“Would you mind, uh, not bringing that up around anyone here?” He asked softly. “I just…I don’t want anyone to find out. I could lose my job.”
“No problem,” I cocked an eyebrow. “As long as you can keep your mouth shut, I can, too.”
“Thanks,” he nodded gratefully, and then turned to the kitchen. It was empty but for the two of us, and I had a momentary flash of what I could do with all this alone time with him…
“So, uh, where do I start?” He asked, reminding me that as much as I might have wanted to, it wasn’t the time for me to get lost in little fantasies of him. I had a job to do, and I wasn’t about to let him get in the way of that.
“Okay, let’s start with the food prep,” I clapped my hands together, the loud noise banishing anymore inappropriate thoughts I might have been having about one of the most outrageously gorgeous men I’d ever aid eyes on.
The rest of the shift went by surprisingly quickly; Darius was a fast learner and the last thing he wanted was to be sitting around doing nothing. Plus, he seemed to slot in the dynamic of Dino’s really easily, especially once the rest of the staff started to arrive. I spotted a couple of the floor girls eyeing him up, but he was tailing me for the day and didn’t seem to be paying them much attention as he tried to get the table numbers straight and get food out to the right place at the right time.
He ducked any difficult questions about what else he did in his spare time as deftly as he ducked punches in the ring, and I did my level best to keep my mouth shut. I could see the looks of dis
belief when he told people that he used to work in IT- and I wondered if I’d have believed him if I was just meeting him for the first time. If I hadn’t gone along with Nina that day, would he even be giving me a second look? Would I be doing the same for him?
It was manic, as it always was on days like this, and I found myself rushed off my feet trying to keep on top of all the orders that were pouring in. When my shift was over, I handed over my apron to the woman coming in to cover for me, grabbed my coat, and immediately fled outside before anyone could rope me into staying for the rest of the night. I was already dreaming of a shower and my bed -- and that’s exactly what I would have done, had I not heard a voice from behind me as I left.
“Hey!”
I turned around, and found myself facing Darius once again. He’d gotten off the same time I had, but I’d assumed he’d have a fight to go to and would be rushing out the door.
“What’s up?” I cocked my head at him, and he shrugged, suddenly a little bashful. Did I really have that kind of effect on him, or was he just playing up that side of him to get me to feel sorry for him?
“I’m headed to a party,” he shrugged. “I was wondering if you wanted to come.”
“Dressed like this?” I gestured down at my uniform, which was crumpled from a day’s work.
“You look good to me,” Darius remarked, a smile curling at the corners of his lips. I glanced away, feeling that flush move up my face once again. God fucking dammit, this guy…
“Sure, why not?” I shrugged. It had been a while since I’d done anything as spontaneous as this, and it wasn’t like I had anything better planned for that night anyway. He grinned, and offered me his arm.
“Split a cab?” he suggested as we made our way down the street; I tentatively tucked my arm into his, and was surprised by how strong he felt even under his clothes. I paused for a moment, trying to get my head together, before I realized that he was waiting for an answer.
