CHAPTER TEN
Vahin Arora
Daniel sipped his martini and grimaced, then slapped the bar. “Alex, get your skinny ass over here. I said dirty, and when I say dirty, I mean I want this glass filled with the sluttiest olive juice you can find. All you did was have the olives kiss before you dropped them in.” He shot a glance at Vahin. “I thought you trained him better than this.”
Vahin couldn’t suppress a grin. “And I thought you were less dramatic when you were Daniel instead of ManDonna.”
“Boy, don’t mess with this girl’s drink. It don’t matter if I’m tucked or untucked, I will cut a bitch.” He smacked the bar again.
Alex had already dumped the contents and gotten a new glass. “Sorry, ManDonna.”
Daniel reared back his head. “Do I look like ManDonna to you?”
“I….” Alex’s mouth worked without sound, and then he focused on the cocktail shaker.
Daniel turned toward Vahin and grinned, lowering his voice. “I love messing with that one. I’ll almost be sad to see you back full-time.”
“Well, there’s no guarantee of that.” The past week and a half had seemed like forever. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying construction…. Well, no, I’m not, but your husband is nice.” Daniel cocked an eyebrow, and Vahin corrected himself. “Gruff but nice. And it’s fun to be around all the guys, but I miss it here. And even though most of them are gay, there’s still a lot of macho testosterone. I need a steady dose of drag queens.”
Daniel started to reply, but Vahin motioned to Alex before he could. “Alex, you’ll wanna shake that till you think your arm is going to fall off. He likes the top skated.”
“That’s right, baby gay. Shake your money maker.” Daniel winked at Vahin, who grinned.
This. This was what he missed. The ease of Mary’s, the humor, the camp, the… family. He missed his family. Vahin was grateful for the job, and the construction crew really was great, but it wasn’t home. Though, he had enjoyed Marlon’s request for him to wear his tool belt—nothing but his tool belt—the other night.
Alex poured the drink into a new chilled martini glass, skewered two olives, then a third when Daniel cleared his throat, and placed the new drink on the bar.
Daniel rose off his seat, leaned across the bar, and smacked Alex on the cheek with the pads of his fingers. “Perfection, sweetie. And don’t make me teach you that lesson again, unless you enjoy this kind of thing. In which case, I’m happy to be of service.”
Alex’s cheeks reddened, and he hurried down the bar to wait on a customer who hadn’t even chosen a barstool yet.
“You’re the only person who can make him blush.”
Daniel shrugged. “It’s a talent.”
They sipped their drinks for a bit, both pretending to watch the game. Finally, Vahin couldn’t hold back his worry any longer. “So be real with me here.”
“Like I do anything else.” Daniel cast him a side glance and then removed one of the olives with his teeth.
“I know.” Vahin leaned closer. “How worried is Steven, honestly? He keeps telling me that it will all be okay, but I know the fines to the bar will be unreal. I don’t see how we’ll survive it, after all the money he and Pat just sunk into the remodel.”
Daniel hesitated, then finally spoke, his voice quiet and lacking any of his and ManDonna’s typical sass. “He hasn’t said much, but it’s easy to see it’s eating him alive. He’s so stressed I wouldn’t be surprised if his beard turns as gray as Santa’s before too long.”
Vahin slouched, feeling like shit. He was the reason the people he loved most were stressed, why they might lose everything.
“But Mary’s will make it. It will.” Daniel nodded, probably more to himself than Vahin. “It has to.”
There wasn’t any more to say, nothing that wouldn’t bring their mood down further, so they sat, stared at the TV without watching, and drank their drinks.
Alex had made them each a second cocktail when an older black man leaned against the bar next to Vahin.
Daniel did a double take. “Oh! Hello, daddy!”
The man’s eyes widened. “I… ah….” His gaze held on to Daniel, then flicked to Vahin, a look of terror over his face. He didn’t seem like a man who got scared by much. “Please tell me you’re Mr. Arora. Mr. Vahin Arora.”
“I am.” Vahin tried to place the man but couldn’t.
“I’m Chief—”
