Tally obediently hopped on to it. An excited look on his face. Sam grinned. The poor man was going to be so disappointed to discover that bar work was actually quite boring.
Deirdre unlocked the front doors and, as usual, Joseph was the first customer to walk in. He took up his seat at the edge of the bar and nodded at Sam. Sam poured his Coke and placed it on the bar in front of him. There were dark circles under the man’s eyes and his face was pale. Joseph looked exhausted.
″You know you can go home, Joseph. I can keep an eye out,” said Sam.
Joseph shook his head. “You’ve not seen him before, you might not recognize him.”
″Long blond hair, dazzling green eyes, the most gorgeous man who ever lived? You’ve described him enough times to me. I think I’d notice him.”
Joseph stubbornly shook his head again and took a sip of his drink. Sam sighed and left him to it. The man’s dedication was heartbreaking. Ten years ago he had a one-night stand that rocked his world and every single night since, he had been here, hoping to find him again.
Sam assumed the mysterious man had just been passing through town and that was why he had never come back to the bar and never would. Joseph however, clung stubbornly to his hope.
Sam glanced at Tally. In his story, he had spent two thousand years in hell, never giving up on his love. Why was Sam surrounded by overly romantic idiots? Just as he was thinking that, a whole after-work party from a nearby office walked in. Sam sighed and got to work.
A few hours later, Sam handed a large biker his change. The mountain of a man looked at the coins in his hand and frowned.
″I gave you a twenty.”
″No, it was a ten.” said Sam calmly. Wondering if he was going to have to pull up the CCTV footage to prove it.
“It was a twenty, you lying, thieving bastard!” snarled the man. Rage flaring in his eyes.
Sam reached for his baseball bat, just in case, when Tally blurred past him, grabbed the man’s greasy ponytail and slammed his face down onto the bar with a force that made Sam wince.
Sam blinked in surprise. Then he saw the gleam of one of his kitchen knives pressed against the biker’s throat. “Taliesin! Let him go!” Sam shouted in alarm.
Tally immediately jumped back, freeing his prisoner. The biker straightened and staggered back a few steps, his brown eyes wide. He clutched his neck with one hand and then looked at it. Looking surprised to see no blood. He clutched his hand back to his neck as if he still wasn’t sure. He glared at Sam in outrage.
″Keep your murder twink on a leash!” he bellowed before spinning around and fleeing out of the bar.
Sam watched him go. He wondered if he was going to call the police. Then he thought about a big biker guy assaulted by a twink in a gay bar was unlikely to tell anyone. He breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to Tally.
″What the hell was that about?” he demanded.
The knife had vanished and Tally was standing there, staring at him with an intense, awed expression.
″What?” asked Sam, feeling very confused.
″I never told you Tally was short for Taliesin.”
Sam felt a punch of something in his gut. Something that took his breath away and raised the hairs on the back of his neck. What Tally was implying was impossible.
″You must have,” Sam said dryly. There simply had to be a sane, logical reason.
Tally solemnly shook his head. Sincerity shining in his eyes.
Sam swallowed. “Well, I guess I figured it out then.” Despite the fact he didn’t think he had ever heard the name Taliesin before. But it must have just been lurking in his subconscious somewhere. It had to be. There was no other rational explanation.
″You can’t attack my customers!” Sam snapped instead, retreating to more stable ground.
Tally scowled and crossed his arms. Bright eyes flashing. “He insulted your honor!”
Sam put his hands on his hips. “This isn’t the dark ages, Tally.”
Tally winced and flushed a little.
″Go put my knife back upstairs,” ordered Sam.
