A Daddy for Damian by Joe Satoria

2. KRISTOPHER

“So, you found yourself an assistant?”

Nursing a small glass of scotch, I didn’t need to turn to know it was Theo.

“Mr Penton,” I said. “Have you been stalking me?”

Theo was my business partner and best friend. Pulled up at the seat beside me, he looked a mess.

He scoffed. “You messaged me with the location.”

He didn’t look like he’d been home or slept all night. His shirt skewed one button out. Untucked. His belt unbuckled. Scuff marks on his shoes. And not a tie in sight.

Silvers was the bar we met at most of the time. We rented offices, but the real partner meetings took place here. Usually quiet, given how expensive it was.

“Can’t believe they let you in.” I clicked my tongue at him. “Who was it this time? Clearly they gave you the work out of your lifetime.”

Theo sat beside me at the bar. “Nah, I’ve not been with anyone. But what I got, is something I can’t put into words.”

I nodded to the bartender as he approached, nodding my head to my glass. “I’m sure there’s a cream for that,” I said. “But you really should be more careful.”

Theo swotted a hand at my arm, almost pushing himself off the side of his stool at the bar. “Nah, Kris, don’t even play like that,” he said. “I told you. I didn’t get up to anything last night. I know, I’m shocked too.”

“Well, then why didn’t you go home and get dressed?”

“Enough about my night,” he said. “You got yourself an assistant, right?”

I shrugged. “I got someone young, with no experience.”

“You’ve got to stop bringing in these vanilla guys and breaking them.”

Taking back the last of the scotch, I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. I didn’t break guys. I made them better, the only problem being, once they were made better, they seemed to believe that made them want to leave. “I won’t be breaking this one.”

“You catch more flies with honey,” he chuckled.

The bartender arrived with the two fresh glasses of scotch. I pulled both together beside me before Theo could get his hands on either of them. “But yeah, I gave him the job. Sweet, innocent, all the things I like.”

Theo eyed me; I knew what was going through his mind. He thought I was going to corrupt this boy. And maybe that was true, maybe it would end like all those other times, but right now, I wasn’t even bothered about that. I was mostly bothered about what Theo got up to last night.

“Who—or what did you do last night?” I asked, once more, passing him the glass. “And are you ready for the meeting on Friday?”

“About that,” he said, taking back a large gulp. “Oh. Shit. I needed that.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin from the side of the counter. “Yeah, so, Friday. I’m not sure if you should come to the meeting. The company is looking for silent investors. They want someone to give them the money, and then tune in to their quarterly reports.”

“Are you saying I’m not silent?”

Theo eyes looked me up and down. I knew what he was getting at, and I didn’t like it. Not at all, not one bit.

“You’re getting a reputation,” he said. “Twice in the last six months, you’ve bought people out of their businesses.”

“Rightfully,” I said.

Theo rolled his eyes. He didn’t agree with certain methods, but I came from a background of these underground clubs, and people who were trying and failing at creating those same things here. Asking for an investor in me, only to not accept my advice, or to show a decline in growth. And terms are terms. I could legally buy them out of their businesses. It wasn’t like I stole; I’d never steal. They were paid well.

“Well, that might be the case—”

“And you also profit from it,” I reminded him. This wasn’t a one-way street. We were both profiting, in fact, everyone involved in a business deal with me profited. If your heart wasn’t in it, then you’d fight to make it better. Then you’d fight to have growth.

“But I’m not the face they think about,” he said.

“I’m obviously not listening to that,” I told him. “I will be there on Friday with my new assistant. And then, we can discuss. But I don’t do it all the time. Two times.” I held my fingers up at him, flipping him off with them.

He chuckled. “Twice.” Grabbing at my fingers. “Plus, this place seems good. They’re not looking for much seed money. They have their own venue and a built-in membership ready to go.”

I clicked my tongue at him. “I read the proposal.”

Theo chuckled louder, “well, I thought since you screwed the last assistant, you were flying solo again.”

Puffing out my chest and sitting a little harder upright on the stool. I didn’t want to give his words any place in my mind. I was stronger than that. “It’s not my fault if they sometimes put the ass in assistant, and you know I’m an ass guy.”

“Just say you’re a top and get it over with,” he retorted, pulling the glass to his face and finishing the amber liquid inside. “Even though your dating profile says vers.”

“What? No, it doesn’t.” I fished my phone from my suit jacket pocket. “Vers top.” I presented the screen to him.

Theo tapped the glass on the bar, getting the bartender’s attention. “Is this where you scouted from again?”

I shrugged. I had no shame in my game, and my game was being able to offer jobs within the community. “It’s better than posting the job online and sifting through applications,” I grumbled.

“And!” Theo stood as he proclaimed. “If you recruit there, there’s a chance you’ll get laid.”

That was always a bonus, and I wouldn’t deny it. Knowing the assistant was gay had a bonus, and I always liked a bonus, especially when it was pure vanilla. “Plus, people put everything they don’t want you to know on a dating profile, like who they really are. Job applications are boring in comparison.”

He tapped my glass with his empty glass. “And that’s why I’m still single.”

“That’s why you have no desire to settle,” I said.

“And like you’re any different.”

“I am,” I scoffed. “I’m looking for someone who knows how to work well with me, and someone who wants the same things as me.”

Theo cocked an eyebrow in my direction. “Think you have a funny way of going about that. You’ve been going after these twenty-year-old guys and then wondering why none of them want to settle down. Nobody wants to settle in their twenties.”

“Some guys do.”

Turning, he waved a hand in my face. “Yeah, yeah.”

“You know, even if they don’t want to settle down, they’re still up for fun,” I said. “And—fuck, I’m thirty-five, Theo.”

“So, what are you wanting to do about it?” he chuckled. “You’ve already had the Botox injections.”

That was true. Raising my brows as possible, but that was because I needed a top-up, and I tried not to get the injections often. I didn’t want to resemble melted plastic before I turned forty. That was the last thing I wanted. “I’m not bothered,” I said. “Well, I’m a little bothered.”

“Ok, so, why don’t you not try to fuck this assistant then,” he said.

“I can not fuck someone,” I told him. “Now, enough about me. Why do you look like shit?”

“Last night, I ended up at Vera’s. That place is divine, so glad we invested there. I didn’t get laid, but the drag show and the alcohol. It was impeccable. It was just supposed to be a check-in and see how the business was doing, turned into an all-night bender. I slept for maybe an hour or two in the office, and when I woke, people were still partying.” He let out a deep sigh. “I always forget how fun that place is.”

“One of the first places we invested in together,” I said, nodding at him.

“And a success,” he chuckled. “Could you imagine if you tried taking that from Vera Veritas?”

Vera Veritas was a stage name of the owner. “I don’t have use for a drag bar.” I cocked my brow, as far as I could on my forehead. “But Friday, that kink club. I want a piece of that.”

He couldn’t say otherwise. I’d be going, and I’d be bringing along my new assistant. An assistant I’d just told Theo I wouldn’t try fucking.

That was going to be hard.