Chapter Eleven
Marco
Demir grabbed my arm, stopping me in our tracks. It was a little after noon, and the street outside the club was pleasantly active, the café hustling and a few young couples walking their dogs. My favorite Philadelphia plant, the juneberry trees, were fruiting. My side date with Grayson was later that day, and I could almost have fooled myself into thinking I was going to have a spectacular, beautiful summer afternoon.
“Oh fuck,” Demir cursed. “This is the worst news imaginable.”
Although the neighborhood had a fair share of small businesses, it was far from the most developed zip code in the city. The building across from the club, for instance, had been sitting empty for years. It was an old squat brick three-story, and I always said it would make a brilliant investment one day, once the right person spotted it.
I just hadn’t imagined…
“Sold, development coming soon, Red Night Management,” I read from the white sign taped up in the cloudy window.
“Red Night Management. Fuck!” Demir repeated. He removed the aviator-style sunglasses he was wearing and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is this really what it looks like?”
Red Night Management operated two gay bars in Philadelphia, both in Washington Square West, Philadelphia’s historic gay neighborhood. The Red Night Management bars were on a different level than we were, with larger staffs, dedicated performance spaces, and capacities that we wouldn’t reach even with the addition. We might host an exclusive afterparty for a concert, but they would host the concert.
“Oh, Demir,” I said, stroking the back of his head. “Babe, I don’t know why else they’d buy this old building.”
For one brief moment, an odd, giddy feeling rose up in my stomach. Like I had just pulled some winning lottery numbers or gotten home to find the loft filled with candles and Demir waiting there for me.
“Let’s make some phone calls,” I said, measuring my voice. “It shouldn’t be hard to find out what’s really happening. And if they’re building a new club across the street, maybe we won’t go through with the addition after all.”
Demir turned and furrowed his brow, casting a soft shadow over the rich, dark brown of his eyes. “The check,” he said.
It took me a second, and then my heart dropped to the floor, squashing that odd, giddy tickle. “The deposit already cleared?”
“Fifty grand, out of our savings.”
I took his hand in mine and pulled him a little closer. My head felt dizzy, thinking about all that money and the choices that were suddenly thrown in our face. But I knew Demir would be wrestling through a lot more than that. He would always try to carry the burdens of the business on his own shoulders and hold himself twice accountable for any mistakes.
“It’s okay,” I said. “We don’t even know the whole story yet.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know if it is okay.” His shoulders were sinking, and he had a cloud over his face that I hadn’t seen in years. “I don’t know if there’s a good way out of this mess I just walked us into.”
I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my chest against his.
I wanted him to feel me, and know I was there.
“Are you going to be able to focus on what you need to today?” I asked. “Do you want me to help with anything?”
Demir shook his head quickly. “Have your date with Grayson. That’s important. I might not have hired a personal assistant yet, but I still made a promise to you that work would take up less space in our lives.”
There was a strain in his voice, and I realized how complicated that statement had just become. “Thanks,” I said. “I’ll make some calls before I meet up with Grayson, too, and see if I can get to the bottom of this.”
Demir nodded, and I noticed that his brow was still furrowed, his forehead wrinkled with worry. I stroked the side of his face with my hand, tracing his beard, and his expression softened.
But still, even as I kept my smile on my face and pulled a little optimism up from the reserves, a voice nagged at the back of my head, saying we shouldn’t have tried to do this in the first place.
That maybe the time in our life for building new things had passed, and I needed to help Demir realize that.
Don’t get mad,I thought to myself,no matter how much the money makes you nauseous.
Just take care of your guy, and remember, you’re in this together.
Otherwise, what would be the point?
* * *
