Come As You Are (Twisted Bard)

3. Sebastian

Sebastian

Olivia returned to her office, and I admired the regal set of her head and shoulders, the slender lines of her torso, every sway of her hips, the swell of her perfect ass, the handsome shape of her long legs, and the delicate touch of her feet in those stiletto heels I dreamed about.

She was my queen, my goddess, my Valkyrie, and whatever name my feeble brain could call her. None of them came close to capturing how she moved through a room with incredible grace and owned everyone in it, especially me. I always knew when she entered, and her presence eclipsed all others in my vision. For me, there was no one comparable to her, and I had fallen under her spell as soon as I met her, mesmerized by her beauty, her keen mind, her gentle and generous soul.

Unfortunately, my reputation had proceeded me, and Olivia had made it very clear very quickly that she wasn’t interested in anything but a professional relationship with me. Nevertheless, before I fell asleep each night, I said my prayers to Olivia and wished her a peaceful slumber because I knew how heavy Illyria’s success rested on her magnificent head. I fervently wished to find a way to help her and did my best to supply her with a sympathetic ear on the rare occasions she confided her concerns and troubles, which she didn’t do as often as I would have liked.

Olivia was private, careful, guarded, though I’d learned to read her well since I came to work at Illyria. I believed she trusted me, and I would do nothing to betray that trust no matter how much I longed for our relationship to expand beyond work. I had never met anyone like her, and though I often felt tongue-tied and clumsy in her presence, in private, my thoughts turned poetic.

If I could, I would have composed sonnets that crowned her in the glory she so richly deserved. I would smooth away the deepening lines in which worry dressed her features, and clothe her in the colors of ecstasy and passion instead. I would lie at her feet just for the pleasure of waiting for her to need me. If I was invisible to her and my presence unable to offer her solace, then my service would remain the language with which I loved her.

Like a fool, I continued to gaze at the stairs long after she returned to the heavens above us, unaware of my co-workers’ mirth until Toby elbowed me in the side and brought my attention crashing back down to Earth and more mundane matters.

“Think the new kid can dance?” he asked as he picked up a glass and began polishing it.

I rolled my eyes and returned to my bottle count, taking note of what I needed to bring up from the storeroom. I’d been in the middle of that task when I noticed the counts were off and went to inform Olivia of the discrepancy.

Maria plunked herself onto one of the barstools and tapped her long, glitter-gold nails on the bar top. “Does it matter?” she asked. “The kid’s beautiful to look at. He can stand still as a statue, and the customers will shower him with money.” A heavy, dispirited sigh escaped from her bright red lips. “As opposed to yours truly who has to resort to illusions of contouring and Botox.” Another sigh. “Youth is so wasted on the young.”

Illyria’s performers were either go-go boys—the category in which Vee and his Adonis-like beauty fell—who danced on raised platforms around the club, or drag performers like Maria who appeared on specific nights and for drag queen brunches. Maria also acted as the club’s hostess, and modeled her persona after Sasha Velour’s edgier style that pushed the boundaries of gender and theatricality, often skirting the line between performance and art. Though as Maria said, “Sasha’s a Birkin bag, while I’m just a bargain-basement knock-off made out of pleather.”

“You’re beautiful in your own way, darling,” Toby said.

Maria put a hand over her heart and closed her eyes. “That cuts me to the quick. Now pour me a glass of champagne so I can recover my bubbly personality.”

“I’ve got it,” I said and reached over my head for a champagne flute.

Both Toby and Maria had worked at Illyria since Antonio opened the club a decade before. They bickered and traded insults like an old married couple, but where Maria always came to work made up to the nines, tweezed and plucked, exfoliated and epilated until her appearance was as manufactured as a Kardashian, Toby was completely natural. A big, burly leather daddy, the twinks swooned over him especially when he worked in a harness that showed off his thickly furred chest and muscular arms. Put him in a pair of chaps and he was a Tom of Finland wet dream come to life.

The final member of our rag-tag ensemble slid onto the stool next to Maria. Given the name Festus by his parents, Illyria’s bouncer was one of the dourest men I’d ever met. He was the kind of person who, if you commented on how beautiful the day was would recite skin cancer statistics and remind you to wear sunscreen because of how much damage UV rays could cause.

“Hey, Fest,” Tom said. “How’s it hanging today?”

“Very low,” Festus replied. “And I might have felt a lump.”

Maria and I rolled our eyes at each other because of course, he did.

“Who’s the deer in the headlights with Andrew?” Festus asked.

“A new victim,” Maria said.

“Andrew fired Colum,” Toby added.

“Was Colum too popular?” Festus asked. “Did he make Andrew feel like the toad he is?”

Toby shrugged. “Probably. I’m sure Colum will land with both feet solidly on the ground. He had beautiful legs.”

“And was always upright in his actions, so I don’t know what he could have done wrong.” Maria and Toby grinned at each other while I groaned inwardly. Puns were their love language and once they got started, it was better to keep your head down.

“Should we warn this new lamb that he’s wandered into the wolf’s den?”

“Are you worried he’ll be fleeced?” Maria asked.

I shook my head and finished off my bottle count, grateful that I could leave these idiots to their jokes while I went to the storeroom to collect what needed to be restocked for the evening.

As I stepped out from behind the bar, I felt a familiar prickling awareness and glanced toward Olivia’s office. Sure enough, she was observing the club from her window, and my heart beat a bit quicker at the sight of her. She’d rarely smiled since Antonio’s death, but now I saw the distinct upturn of her lips. Unfortunately, she was watching Andrew teach Vee how to swing himself up onto the raised go-go platforms without causing himself injury. I felt a pang in my chest. In all the time I’d known her, I had never seen Olivia look at anyone the way she was looking at Vee. Had she ever looked at me that way, I would have been thrilled beyond belief, but she never had, and while I was happy to see the cloud of sorrow lifted from her eyes, it hurt that it had nothing to do with me.

You’re a fool, Sebastian , I told myself as I made for the door that would take me to the storeroom.

I was almost to there when Mal caught up with me and told me Olivia had alerted him to the issue I’d seen earlier.

“I double-checked the stock,” he said. “While it was down, I don’t think it’s evidence of an issue. Just normal ebb and flow. We had a higher demand than usual for vodka and tequila last week. In the future, I’d appreciate it if you would come to me with things like this instead of bothering Olivia. She’s got enough on her mind right now without you worrying her over nonexistent issues.”

Gritting my teeth, I held back the curse that rose to my tongue. I knew what I’d seen an hour before, and it wasn’t just normal usage and a heavier than normal demand for certain alcohols. What had been missing were specific high-end labels and our most popular brands of premium alcohol.

“I’ll adjust my order to the supplier,” I said.

“No need,” Mal replied. “I’ve already taken care of it. I’ll let you know when the order arrives.”

“Thanks.”

“Not at all.”

With that, Mal swept past me and headed for the kitchen, his ubiquitous tablet clutched tightly in his hand. I swear, I had never seen him without that thing, and the sound of it clicking as he checked things off his lists grated on my ears. Antonio had trusted Mal with his life, but since his death, I’d been uneasy about how much Olivia relied on him to run the club.

She knew the business as well as Mal did, I was sure of it. Antonio had brought her on as his assistant manager and made sure she was involved in every facet of the club’s operation. She’d learned to bartend and could probably mix drinks better than I could, especially since I paid more attention to her during her monthly stints behind the bar than I did to the drinks I was pouring. She also had a great understanding of social media and marketing and had built up Illyria’s following over the years with clever promotions and loyalty offerings. All of Illyria’s branded merch was designed by her, and it sold well both in the club and online. When she came out on the floor, everyone knew who she was, and she always made a point of greeting our regulars and any VIPs who happened to be here, her memory of who was who just about flawless.

In short, I had no idea why she relied so heavily on Mal, but it set my teeth on edge, and I itched to see the order Mal had placed to our liquor distributor. With that in mind, I hurried into the storeroom to get what I needed for the bar, and to check what I’d seen earlier that day.

I’d say it surprised me to find that the stock I noticed missing earlier was back on the shelves, but Mal’s confidence when he told me I’d been mistaken continued to bother me as I collected what I needed and headed back into the club.

Andrew was still working with Vee, but Olivia was no longer visible in the window. Maria, Toby and Festus were still thick as thieves at the bar, and Mal was nowhere in sight. Thank God. I didn’t know what I would have done if he’d been lurking in the corners. Shaking my head, I returned to the bar and began replacing bottles that were nearly empty.

“Easy there, big guy.” Toby placed his hand on my arm. “You’re going to break something if you keep slamming things around like that.”

I glanced down and realized my grip on the neck of a Macallan 18-year was so tight my knuckles had turned white. It would be just my luck to break a two-hundred-dollar bottle of whisky.

“Thanks,” I said.

“No worries. What’s got you so riled up?”

A quick look around the club told me Mal was still absent, so I turned to the bar and leaned my head close to Maria and Festus. Normally, I didn’t gossip or complain, but the bar was my area. Antonio had trusted me to run it, and Olivia had done the same. As far as I knew, I’d never given either one of them a reason to distrust my judgment when it came to either the drinks menu, maintaining the stock, or placing the orders with our distributors.

As I finished explaining what I’d seen in the stockroom that morning, what I’d reported to Olivia, and my run-in with Mal, Andrew’s voice rang out as he berated the young man for not performing a complicated dance move correctly.

“I swear, I don’t know who’s worse, this odious toad or that obsequious misanthrope,” Maria said.

“You’ve got to give the devil his due, Andrew does know his job,” Toby told her.

“Yes, but it doesn’t mean he should torment the boy. It’s clear he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

I had to agree with Maria. From what I’d seen, it was obvious Vee wasn’t a dancer. For the most part, that wasn’t going to be an issue with our crowd. Vee was beautiful to look at, and they’d eat up his Bambi-like expression. Even if he had no natural grace, they’d still want to lick him all over. But sometimes, Andrew wanted the boys to do a show, something a bit extra to pump up the crowd and raise the energy of the club.

As Toby and Maria continued to comment on Vee’s ability and Andrew’s lack of patience, I watched Andrew berate the poor young man. Vee’s gaze flicked over to me, his eyes widening as he realized I was looking at him. A blush stole across his cheeks, and he quickly looked away, nodding as if in agreement to what Andrew was saying. Strangely, I felt the loss of his attention in the pit of my stomach and a sense of disappointment that I was no longer his focus.

Festus heaved himself off his stool. “Hand me a couple of waters, Bast, would you?”

“Sure thing.” I took two bottles from the fridge and gave them to him.

Closing his big hands around the plastic bottles, Festus nodded to Toby and Maria, then ambled his way over to Andrew and Vee. “You’ll give yourself a stroke, if you don’t take a break,” he said, and held out the water to each of them. “Perhaps a moment will save you from a coronary, Andrew.”

Andrew glared at him, but took the water and nodded in Vee’s direction. “Take five,” he said and stalked off.

The moment Andrew was gone, Vee sagged against the wall. He took the water Festus held out with a shaking hand, and Festus told him to go find a seat at the bar. Vee’s quick glance my way revived the dying color on his cheeks, but he did as Festus suggested, mumbling a thanks before making his way toward us.

If I had thought the young man attractive from a distance, it was nothing compared to how he looked up close. Flawless was the word that came to mind, and I felt that same jolt when his gaze met mine and I got my first look at his stunning blue eyes. Our gazes held for a moment, but then Vee looked away, the rosé blush on his cheeks turning to merlot.

“I…uh…” I stumbled as I tried to think of an excuse to leave the bar, but I was saved by Olivia’s appearance on the stairs.