So I guess the world is ending?
Unfortunately, due to working at a bank, we're still open. I'll be transitioning to working from home (which will allow me more time to upload, thank god) but it's been a tedious process. I'm sorry for being gone for so long, hopefully a few of y'all still stuck around?
As always, I love y'all and I hope you're taking all the precautions you can to stay safe and healthy. I'll speak more about it, and give y'all my upload schedule after the chapter.
Xoxo
••

Dante

The walk home was a challenging one. I did the best I could to keep my nose elevated, as I made it down the sidewalk towards my apartment complex.

That punch had quite literally knocked the wind out of me. I was still finding it challenging to wrap my head around what even happened, as my mind replayed the earlier events. One minute I was being forced to turn around and confront this drugged out stranger, the next, I was on the floor. When my eyes finally opened to make sense of the situation and sort out just what happened, I came face to face with the most gorgeous blue eyes I had really ever seen.

There was someone new at my side.

Someone who wasn't the drugged up stranger.

Someone a million times more attractive.

He had a very large build. Practically taking up my entire frame of sight as he knelt down beside me. I wasn't processing what he was saying, but when he offered me a hand, I took it gratefully. By the time I made it to my feet, the random stranger that had punched me, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, two new men had entered the chat room.

Next to the gorgeous blonde hair blue eyed stranger, was another man who was similar in build. He was a creamy chocolate color in shade. My eyes lingered longer than expected as he fixed his gym shirt that had gotten pulled out from the hem of his shorts.

Had... had I died? I thought to myself.

Did that batshit crazy man kill me?

Was I in some kind of Magic Mike heaven?

A deafening scream pulled me right back to reality when my eyes landed on Kassie. The look of horror was blatant on her face as she eyed me up and down. Luckily, she was sweet enough to help me get cleaned up, and I found out pretty quickly that she actually knew these two gorgeous men who had come to my rescue.

I realized pretty late that both men were wearing the same gym shirt. It had the words Fight Club written in large intense font on the back. I hadn't noticed how sweaty both of them were until now. They must have just left the gym together.

Kassie handed me a warm damp cloth to clean the blood up, while she explained who I was to the two men seated at the bar. I did my best to clean up the mess, and when the talking had died down, I asked Kassie if it looked broken. The last thing I needed was an emergency room health care bill on my first official day in New York City. God knows I couldn't afford that.

I watched with hesitation as blonde hair blue eyes approached me. He took a seat at the empty stool to my left and shifted a little closer. His eyes felt like they were burning a hole through my face, yet I found it impossible to look away. "Can you move your hand for me?" He asked politely. I nodded, allowing my hands to fall effortlessly at my sides.

He placed a finger under my chin, tilting my head upwards as he looked closely. I felt myself tense up at his touch, but I did my best not to let it bother me. He's just checking your nose, I told myself quietly. Fucking breathe.

"You'll live." He replied finally, giving me a smile. That was when my eyes broke eye contact with his, and I looked away. It felt like I was going into cardiac arrest from the way he smiled just now.

I mumbled a thank you to him, but before he could say anything else, Kassie had already started to chime in. I couldn't remember much of our conversation, but I know she mentioned I could come in any time tomorrow. I decided bright and early would be best, seeing as it would give me the opportunity to get in as many hours as possible.

The blonde hair blue eyed man had offered to walk me home, but I decided against it. The walk was a short one, and I didn't really feel like showing this guy the absolute dump I now had the luxury of calling home.

Once I made it into my apartment, two things dawned on me:

1.) I didn't have a bed yet.

And...

2.) The only thing I had in my freezer was a bottle of tequila.

Sammy

"He's never coming back here, is he? This was it. The straw that broke the camels back. The crackhead that broke my brand new bartenders nose." Kassie wailed.

"I mean that was... that was definitely something." Grayson commented. Kassie and I both nodded our heads in agreement.

"I swear to god I really hope he does come back. For someone who had zero bartending experience, he really held his own in terms of work tonight. He was pretty great out there on the floor too, when Aiden and Chris needed back up. God, it's so hard to find a dedicated worker these days too." Kassie continued. She wasn't wrong in that sense either.

"I thought the kid took that punch like a champ. I mean it's blatantly clear the guy's not a fighter, but taking hits is half the work." I commented.

Grayson rolled his eyes at me. "It's always work with you, huh? No play?" He teased.

I couldn't help but chuckle myself. "I'd actually give the kid a few pointers for free if he was down for it."

Both Kassie and Grayson peered over at me.

"That's... very unlike you." Kassie was the first to comment.

Grayson nodded in agreement. "Usually you're the first one to draft contracts. Money up front, no exceptions. That's your motto."

I dismissed both of their scarily truthful and surprisingly shallow comments. "What can I say, the kid just got punched in the face by a crackhead. Both of y'all are acting like I don't got a heart." Kassie and Grayson laughed at that.

I couldn't help but think back to Dante.

I recognized some of his mannerisms earlier.

The general lack of eye contact. The flinching. The skittish demeanor when I got close to him. It wasn't my place to assume, but it had the markings of someone who was previously abused.

I thought back to those eyes. Those surprisingly gentle eyes. The traumatic walls he built around himself were evident and I couldn't understand my initial attraction, but I wanted to help the guy out. Kassie and Grayson were right for thinking this was weird. Call me selfish but helping Dante would at least give myself a peace of mind.

"It's not that we don't think you've got a heart, you're just a little frugal with it." Kassie joked. I couldn't help but grin, cause she was right. It took these guys a lifetime and a half to get my ass in this bar initially. Warming up had always been a bit challenging on my end.

What can I say?

I was a man of routine. I didn't welcome change that easily.

••

Hey all you cool cats and kittens, how are we doing?
Let's check in.
This bitch corona really out here. I'm hoping you all are taking the precautions you need to, to put both your own health and others health first.
It's been a challenging transition for me, not to mention it's fucking snowing in Minnesota (after it was high 60's a few days ago).
It's safe to say I need to fucking move. I cannot stand this states bullshit.

Hows everyone's mental health doing during the lockdown? Is your state or country on lockdown? Are you out of school? Has your zoom classroom call been hacked by a stupid YouTuber yet?
Fill me in, my pretties.

I have more chapters on the way. As of right now, I'm going to try to write at least one chapter a day so you're going to see a shit ton of uploads coming in for this book. I'm also going to try and utilize the time to create more YouTube videos.

As always, thank you so much for your continued support. Hopefully everyone had a nice Easter (if that's what you celebrate. If not, I hope you had a really nice weekend and Sunday.)
Stay safe and stay home.
Xoxo