It was only a matter of time before Stanley noticed David’s absence.

“The boss wants to see you.”

Avery knew it didn’t mean anything good when Frank stopped him before he could leave on Sunday morning and finally go home to sleep after long days and nights of work. The bartender’s look confirmed it, hinting at the mood their boss was in, and so Avery climbed the stairs to his office as if he were walking to an execution.

He wasn’t far from the truth.

“Sit.”

Stanley never bothered with sweet talk, and usually not even with greetings. He went straight to the point, so everyone knew they were in trouble. He simply didn’t schedule meetings to hand out praise, and any other good news he shared with his employees was rare. He handled business, and only business.

His office reflected that perfectly. There was nothing cozy about it, and the leather couch in the corner fit exactly the kind of business he ran in this club.

The dominant feature of the room was his desk, covered with papers, an ashtray, and usually piles of banknotes that people practically shoved into his pocket just to steal his employees for a brief moment.

Stanley wasn’t a pimp, but he wasn’t far from it. He even had the typical look for it.

“You see anything unusual?”

The man with the cigarette in his mouth, another sign he wasn’t in the best mood, leaned back in his chair and fixed the companion with an intense gaze.

Avery glanced around, trying to focus primarily on the man in front of him without appearing to ignore him, but no matter how hard he tried, he had no idea what his boss was talking about. 

“Uh…” he began nervously, but didn’t get the chance to say more.

“I’m missing money,” Stanley told him.

The bald man then took the banknotes from the desk in front of him and began arranging them into piles, likely counting them in his head since he said nothing out loud, leaving a heavy silence in the room.

“Not much, right?” he said after laying the money out into eight equal piles, which certainly didn't look meager; Avery assumed there were thousands of dollars in them. However, for some reason, his boss wasn't satisfied with the count, and the companion was beginning to suspect why.

“What did you do?” was Stanley’s next question.

“Boss…” Avery began, but again the other man didn’t let him finish.

“Months,” he emphasized the word. “For months our richest customer has been coming here, and the only thing he wanted was you. You can imagine my surprise when I found out our profits dropped, and the amount that’s missing looks exactly like what he pays for the hours he spends with you.”

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

That definitely wasn’t a good thing to say.

“He hasn’t been here for two weeks, boy,” Stanley said, as if Avery himself wasn’t aware of it.

“I know.”

“I don’t want you to know—” Stanley’s tone was sharp, scolding, and unwilling to accept resistance. “—I want you to fix it.”

“But—” the companion tried to protest again, but just like before, it was useless.

Stanley only needed to raise his hand to silence him. He couldn’t use words at that moment since he had just taken a drag from his cigarette, and because the blond sat directly across from him, when he exhaled the smoke it all ended up in Avery’s face. Not that he didn’t already smell enough like the nightclub.

“I don’t care how you do it,” the boss spoke again, flicking ash from his cigarette directly onto the desk. “I’ll get my money, you’ll get your pay, and everyone keeps their job. Simple enough?”

Avery could read between the lines, which meant he knew that either he could lose his job, or more likely, someone else would lose theirs. Diablo was still the club’s main attraction after all, and if the club’s profits dropped permanently, he wouldn’t be the one Stanley would fire first.

Right now, the companion held the fate of his coworkers in his hands, and it was his own fault. So he nodded.

“I won’t let you down.”

The bald man waved his hand, signaling for the companion to get out of his sight. He considered the conversation finished and practically stopped paying attention to Avery. At least that’s what the blond thought until his voice stopped him again at the door.

“I expect him to be here on Thursday.”

Great. So Avery had a deadline.

The blond didn’t bother making excuses or asking for more time, so he simply nodded and then stepped out the door, where he could finally breathe and shake it off. If he was the demon of this building, Stanley’s office was the palace of hell.

“Everything alright?” Frank asked as he passed by him. It looked like he was just about to leave.

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

Avery gave him a small smile to reassure him, though he wasn’t sure the bartender believed him. Fortunately, he didn’t ask anything else and only nodded. After all, it was early morning, and like the other employees of the club, he couldn’t wait to get home.

The blond left the club shortly after him and headed for the bus. Even though he had to come up with a plan, the only thing he could focus on right now was rest. So the moment he unlocked the door to his small studio apartment, he dropped his head onto the pillow and fell asleep.

When he woke up again, it was the afternoon, and this time hunger got him on his feet. He hadn’t had time to shop the past few days, so he had to settle for frozen pizza. Luckily, with all the movement his two jobs gave him, he didn’t have to worry about his weight. The days when he had time to go to the gym to clear his head were long gone.

Maybe that was why he now had less energy than the average person and far more worries…

While eating, he thought about a battle plan. Stanley’s words had been clear; Avery had to make sure David came to the club on Thursday. He could rely on chance, but since David had been avoiding the café, he doubted the problem would solve itself.

The CEO’s absence from Bean & Blossom also meant Avery couldn’t just ask him to start coming to the club again. Not that he had planned to do it that way, but now that he didn’t run into him anywhere, his options were truly limited.

He could ask Nick for his phone number, but he had no idea what he’d text or say over the phone. He could pretend to be Diablo, but in the end the CEO would probably put two and two together, since it would be suspicious if Diablo contacted him right after Nick gave his phone number to the barista.

On the other hand… David was the CEO of a large company. He was rich, so there was no doubt Avery would only need a few minutes of googling to find out where he worked. Maybe he could even find out where he lived, though he assumed that was more guarded information.

His last option, literally plan Z, was to show up at David’s workplace disguised as the demon and hope he could get past security.

The blond snorted in amusement, though there was nothing funny about it.

He was fucked.

His misery continued the following day as he tried to come up with a workable plan, but every idea failed somewhere along the way. The worst part was that Avery couldn’t even fully admit his fault and quit so Stanley wouldn’t fire someone else, because even then it would still be a loss for his coworkers.

His misery was turning into desperation, but then on Tuesday at exactly 2:15 p.m., the bell above the door rang, and when he lifted his head, he felt like a miracle had happened.

“Hey, Angel,” Nick greeted him as he did every day, but this time the blond barista didn’t give him any attention, his blue eyes fixed on the man beside him.

David looked normal, as if he hadn’t been avoiding him for two weeks, and he even nodded in greeting.

“The usual?” Avery asked almost automatically, still unable to process what was happening because he hadn’t expected it.

“The original ‘usual,’” Nick answered, finally getting his attention when the blond turned to look at him. “Not the recent-days ‘usual.’ David has finally seen the light.”

Avery cleared his throat, unsure how to respond to the remark, worried that anything he said might scare the CEO away again. After all, he was acting as if nothing had happened, as if Avery hadn’t caught him in a compromising position. At least that was how it seemed so far.

“He’s exaggerating.”

The CEO handled it for him, being the one to react to his brother’s words.

“So two black coffees, one with milk, and one croissant,” the barista listed automatically and tapped the same items into the register. Fortunately, their order never changed, so he didn’t have to think much, since his mind still wasn’t working properly.

“Do I get a discount for the most loyal customer?” Nick asked with humor in his voice, ignoring David’s answer.

It was funny. There was something true about his words, which made it ironic. He was his most loyal customer here, while the CEO was still his most loyal customer at the club despite his two-week absence.

“Would you willingly accept a discount?”

Avery finally managed to sound relaxed, and practiced amusement and ease slipped into his voice, the kind he used when talking to customers.

“Maybe.”

It seemed neither of the brothers noticed his nervousness. David still looked neutral, as always, while a friendly smile played on his older brother’s face.

“And maybe I’d just leave a bigger tip.”

“I thought so.”

“You know us so well.”

Nick spoke in the plural, but David still didn’t address the barista. Not that he usually had long conversations with him in the café, but he used to at least greet him, sometimes ask how he was doing. Today he avoided his gaze, and just like he had greeted him with a nod when he arrived, he gave him the same nod later when he left.

Avery could hope the dark-haired man’s presence in Bean & Blossom was a good sign, but was it really?

Wednesday was the last day he could think about it and act, if he decided it was necessary. He had promised Stanley that David would definitely show up on Thursday, and although he would’ve liked to rely on fate, he had the feeling he’d need more than that.

But what was he supposed to do?

For months the CEO had visited Diablo, and one meeting outside the club with someone he knew had been enough for him to stop. It was clear the same situation could happen again, and Avery had absolutely no idea what to do to make sure David would come no matter what.

The first thing that came to mind was pulling him aside and apologizing. Reassuring him that meeting outside the club didn’t mean Avery had assumed anything about him, or that he would tell anyone about it. But that conversation could quickly turn in the wrong direction, not only because it would be the first time in his life he’d talk to him privately without Nick, but it could also lead to the question of what Avery had been doing at the club and why David had never seen him there before.

Honestly, it was starting to seem like the blond only had one option left, and it was the one he feared the most.

He kept telling himself he didn’t have to make any big decisions yet and that he would know what to do on the spot when he saw David at the café on Wednesday. But after the dark-haired man once again only gave him a nod in greeting, he started to feel like the situation hadn’t been saved at all. Quite the opposite.

So, Avery did something crazy. 

“Hey, David,” he called out to him before he could leave the café. Nick was already out the door, while his younger brother was only a few steps behind, so Avery truly used the very last second to stop him.

The dark-haired man turned around, and his expression made it clear how much he hadn’t expected the barista’s initiative. That wasn’t all, because Avery made sure he wouldn’t leave by stepping around the counter and coming closer, ready to run after him if necessary.

“I really need to talk to you,” the blond went straight to the point before he could change his mind.

The older man still looked confused, but he stayed where he was, so Avery decided to take it as a good sign.

“I have to go to work,” he finally replied after staring at him for a moment, as if making sure the blond barista had actually spoken to him with that request.

Avery nodded to show he understood and had expected it. “Come after closing.”

If the CEO had looked caught off guard before, his face now reflected an even wider range of emotions. But the barista wasn't going to give up. Not when he had finally made up his mind and was ready to see it through. 

“We close at eight,” he added, even though the other man probably knew that.

“Please,” he said when he still hadn’t received an answer and David just stared at him as if seeing him for the first time and being asked for something crazy. Not that it was far from the truth…

“Why?” was the only thing he was apparently able to say in his shock.

“You’ll see later.” Unlike him, Avery had a quick answer ready.

“If this is about—”

The blond barista didn’t let him finish, because from his expression and from what he knew about him so far, he could tell that if he let him say his theory out loud, there would be no chance he would agree to his request.

“It’s not,” he assured him immediately. “Please, just come. It’s important.”

Maybe it was because he sounded urgent, maybe because he was persistent, but in the end David nodded, and Avery sighed in relief in his mind before realizing that this definitely wouldn’t be the worst part.

But now, there was no turning back.