The Problem Client Page 5

  Damien had planned to wake Kaz with the news, partially out of excitement and partially as payback for teasing Damien earlier in the day, but now he feels uncertain.

  “Ah, sorry, am I interrupting?” he whispers, but Kaz sits up, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. His hair’s everywhere, and Damien has a moment of vindictive glee when he realizes that Kaz must have to spend a lot of time on his hair in the mornings, too, to get that perfect bedhead look that he goes for.

  “Nah,” Kaz says, even as Jake makes a small noise beside him, burying himself deeper into the covers. “He probably won’t wake up until morning. Sleeps like nothing I’ve seen.”

  There’s an obvious question here. Are they boyfriends? Lovers? But Damien asked something like that before and Kaz denied it, so he doesn’t think he should ask the question again. It’s none of his business anyways. Probably. He’s still curious, though, because he just can’t help it. Their situation is so intriguing. But tonight’s not about that.

  “I got his name,” Damien says, letting himself feel the full force of his excitement then, a smile breaking over his face. The need to brag about it is overwhelming him, and maybe it’s silly that this one small thing feels like such a huge victory, but Kaz grins back.

  “Way to go, man,” Kaz says, raising a hand for a high five even though Damien’s still standing in the doorway, and there’s no way to reach him. Kaz shakes his head, laughing at himself softly, and drops his hand. “Sorry, bad habit.”

  “Good for you, though,” he continues. “So you going to share the details?”

  Damien hadn’t thought of that. He shakes his head. “I probably shouldn’t.”

  “Seems legit,” Kaz says, and then falls back onto his pillow. An obvious dismissal. Jake immediately turns over again and throws an arm across Kaz’s chest in such a familiar way that Damien definitely feels like he’s intruding now. He takes a step back.

  “I’ll let you get back to sleep,” he says, much quieter now than before, hand already on the doorknob.

  “Sure, I hope you have nice dreams tonight,” Kaz says in a low voice, and there’s a wink in his tone, but he’s already closing his eyes. It’s late, and Damien’s going to be so tired in the morning, but he just smiles.

  “You, too,” he says softly, leaving Kaz to go back to sleep.

  The next day, after a bit of back and forth with himself about it, Damien decides that he is so not above googling Ty.

  Maybe he’s making too big of a deal about this, but it’s been such a long time since Damien started seeing his Thursday client, and now he finally knows his name. Tyler Balducci.

  He’s sitting at one of the tables in front of the café, taking a short break, and just starting to type the characters into the search bar on his phone when Melanie sits down directly in the seat across from him.

  He closes the browser app instantly as if she might possibly see what he’s doing, and she raises an eyebrow at him.

  “I’ve already heard, Damien, you can cut the act,” she says, and Damien feels a grin spreading across his face.

  Damien told Sebastian, Jake, and Liam the first chance he got this morning. Jake also responded with a high five, and Damien actually took him up on it with Kaz rolling his eyes in the background. But Jake is so infectiously happy all of the time that Damien couldn’t help himself. Sebastian raised an eyebrow, seeming impressed despite himself, and Damien had to resist sticking his tongue out at the other man. Sebastian brings out something incredibly childish in him.

  Melanie gives him an odd look for just a second, but it passes quickly. “So what now?” she asks.

  Damien looks down at his phone again, the blank screen reflecting himself somewhat. He shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

  “You’re not giving him up yet?” she asks.

  “No,” Damien replies, looking up at her again. Not yet. Not with this new information. He thought maybe it would help him move on, help push him towards his fresh start, but instead he wants to see what he can do with it. Maybe he’s too opportunistic.

  “You’re hopeless,” she says, rolling her eyes at him, but it’s a fond statement. He knows it’s better for her business if he keeps the contract anyways. It shouldn’t make any difference to her.

  “Go train the newbies or something useful,” she adds after a moment when he doesn’t say anything further. She kicks his chair with her foot. “I want this table now.”

  He stands up with a laugh. “Alright, alright,” he says, and he knows she doesn’t really mean it. That she knows how much he works. But she really is doing him a favor. He can worry about stalking his client later.

  He slips his phone back into his pocket and starts to rearrange the chairs one table over, out of habit.

  “Damien,” Melanie says softly, and he gives her a curious look. “Just be careful, okay?” She says, and there’s something there, something in her tone that makes him wonder what exactly she’s referring to.

  He nods, confused, but then some more customers come in, and he decides he should go find Kaz or Jake rather than loitering in the café’s seating area. Melanie’s looking out the window as he heads towards the kitchen area to find the two newest members of the café. He nods at Liam as he passes, still thinking about Melanie’s warning.

  “Dude, you gotta just tell them,” Jake’s saying when Damien opens the door to the private hallway that connects the café’s kitchen to the customer area and the employee bathrooms. Jake and Kaz are standing at the end of the hallway, and Jake looks absolutely serious for once. For the few weeks that Damien’s known him, Jake’s never looked serious. Damien didn’t think he had it in him.

  Some sort of dispute, Damien thinks, intrigued.

  “Tell us what?” Damien asks, as he walks down the hallway towards them, and Jake looks up quickly like he’s gotten caught sticking his hand into a cookie jar.

  Oooh, this looks good, Damien thinks. Perhaps a chance to learn the secret of what’s really going on between Jake and Kaz?

  Jake gives Kaz a significant look, and Kaz rolls his eyes. “It’s not that big of a deal,” he says, and he tries to push past Jake to go into the kitchen, but Jake steps in front of him.

  “I’m just worried about you, bro,” Jake says, and it’s half under his breath, but it sounds so goddamn sincere. Damien doubts he’d be able to resist the puppy dog eyes Jake’s giving Kaz now.

  Kaz, on the other hand, glares at Jake, but when Jake doesn’t back down, he sighs, defeated.

  He spins around to face Damien, staring at Damien for a long moment as if deciding whether or not he should really go through with it. Damien tries to look trustworthy but probably fails. He wants to know the secret too bad.

  Something in his face must pass muster though, because Kaz smiles ruefully at him and shakes his head. “Ah, I can sort of change into a cat,” he admits.

  Damien blinks, unsure he heard that right. “A… cat?”

  Kaz nods. “Yeah, here, let me just –”

  Suddenly, where human Kaz was standing, there’s a sleek black cat with piercing hazel eyes. Standing in a puddle of all of Kaz’s clothes. Blinking at Damien slowly. Damien’s brain feels like it’s going to short circuit, like it missed a beat somewhere and is trying to restart itself.

  It reminds him, in a way, of Melanie’s doors and how they just appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. The cat’s staring at him. Kaz is staring at him, he corrects himself. Of all of the weird things he’s seen since moving into Café Seuil, he’s never seen a shifter before. Or at least one that shifted into animal form right in front of him.

  “There you go!” Jake laughs, somehow sounding pleased and relieved all at once. He scoops the cat up – Kaz up, and Kaz lets him, hissing only slightly in protest. Damien wants to make some sort of joke about the cat being out of the bag, but he’s sort of speechless.

  “See, that wasn’t so bad now, was it?” Jake asks, and he sounds so much happier now. Back to his usual cheerful self. And pe
rhaps the weirdest part of all is that he’s not talking to Kaz like Kaz is a cat. It’s like he’s still talking to Kaz, but Kaz can just no longer reply. Kaz’s tail twitches as if he’s annoyed.

  “He can’t change back now,” Jake explains, while Damien’s still staring at the two of them in shock. “Otherwise he’d be totally naked.”

  Damien shakes his head. “Right,” he says, although he doesn’t really know the procedure for this sort of thing. “I’ve never seen anyone shift before,” he admits, and Jake shrugs, looking down at the cat in his arms.

  “Kaz usually hangs out like this a lot. Especially in our old apartment. He hasn’t lately since we moved in here,” Jake strokes down the cat’s body, and Damien wonders how on earth that feels for Kaz. Kaz purrs. Damien stifles a laugh, and Kaz looks a little indignant, but it’s hard to take him seriously when he’s so adorable.

  “I was getting a little worried about him,” Jake admits, and there’s all that unexpected sincerity again.

  Damien reaches down to pick up all of Kaz’s clothes. Including his boxers, he notices, amused.

  “This isn’t very convenient,” Damien says, gesturing with the clothes, and he would just hand them to Jake, but Jake’s arms are full of cat. “And also probably some sort of health code violation.”

  Jake looks a little abashed at that, but Kaz looks completely unrepentant. For a cat, at least.

  “Can you use Melanie’s office to change back?” Damien asks Kaz directly, and the cat actually nods. So Kaz can still understand everything. Useful to know. Damien unlocks Melanie’s door with his keycard and sets the clothes in there, and Jake bends down so Kaz can easily hop back to the ground.

  The cat pads into the room, tail high in the air, and Jake closes the door. The attempt at modesty is amusing, but Damien supposes Melanie or one of the other two men could walk back here at any moment. Kaz returns a minute later, looking nearly the same as he did earlier, although perhaps a little more… ruffled.

  “Sup,” he says, tilting his head back with a grin that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. He seems nervous, Damien thinks, and Damien just rolls his eyes in reply. As if this sort of thing’s going to make much of a difference in a place like this. Kaz looks a little relieved at the lack of response.

  “You should tell the other guys,” Jake says, poking Kaz in the side. Kaz smacks his hand away. “No one’s going to care.”

  Damien nods. “He’s right you know. I mean, have you seen this place?” Damien waves his hand, gesturing to encompass the whole building. “There are magic doors.”

  Kaz shrugs. “Melanie’s not really a cat person,” he says, and Damien laughs.

  “She’s not going to kick you out. She knows already, right?” Damien asks.

  “Yeah,” Kaz nods. “She could tell immediately. When we first met.”

  Jake punches Kaz’s arm. “You’re fine, bro. I can tell the others if you want.”

  Kaz shakes his head, “I’ll do it.” He smacks Jake on the shoulder.

  “Great,” Damien says, “Well I’m glad I could solve your lovers’ quarrel.”

  Kaz rolls his eyes now, but Jake just grins at him, immediately happy again and also not denying the lovers part, Damien notices.

  “You can probably hang out in the café’s lounge area in that form, if you’d like,” Damien adds. “Just not near the kitchen or the main café area, or Sebastian’ll be pissed.” Kaz nods, appreciation showing across his face.

  “Thanks, bro,” Jake says for both of them. He slaps Damien’s shoulder happily.

  Damien shakes his head. There’s way too much physical affection going on at this point, so he leaves them in the hallway and heads into the kitchen by himself, figuring he can grab one of them to train when they are done. Doing whatever it is that they are doing in the hallway.

  Life in this café is never boring, at least.

  Chapter Eight

  Damien finding out his problem client’s name is quickly overshadowed by the news that Kaz is a cat shifter. Kaz announces it to the rest of the guys plus Melanie that Sunday over lunch in a room next to the café’s kitchen where they usually have staff meals.

  Sebastian nearly drops his fork at the news. “Seriously?” he asks, and Melanie grins in confirmation.

  “Yep!” Jake says as well, and he pushes Kaz’s shoulder in a friendly gesture.

  “Show them! Show them!” he says, and Kaz just laughs.

  “Now?” he asks, incredulous, gesturing to the plate of food in front of him.

  Jake nods eagerly, and Liam’s just staring at Kaz with huge eyes as if he’s the most fascinating person Liam’s ever seen.

  “Please?” Liam asks, and something in Kaz’s face softens at that. He grins at the barista.

  “Alright, alright,” he says, and he pushes his chair back. He steps away from the table, and then just like before, in the space between two seconds, there’s a cat. And a pile of Kaz’s clothes.

  Seeing Kaz shift for a second time is no less jarring than the first. Liam’s eyes practically sparkle with happiness. He stands up as well, staring down at the cat.

  “Can I pick you up?” Liam asks, and Kaz inclines his head in something that can only be interpreted as agreement, since he can’t speak in his cat form. Liam makes a terribly soft noise as he presses Kaz closely to his chest, and Kaz purrs, and it’s so precious that Damien can hardly stand it.

  “I’ve always wanted a cat,” Liam says, happily, still holding Kaz in his arms, and then he immediately blushes.

  “Not that – not that you’re like my cat or anything!” he adds quickly, stumbling over the words. If a cat could look amused, Kaz does. Sebastian snickers.

  Jake laughs out loud, slapping Liam on the back. “He can be the café’s cat,” Jake says with a broad grin, and Liam’s ears are even pink from embarrassment, just barely peeking out from his curly hair.

  Melanie watches on with amused eyes. Damien’s not surprised that Melanie’s incredibly tolerant of the whole thing. He’s not really sure what Melanie is, but he’s heard from Liam that she can also shift into animal forms. Plural. Liam wouldn’t say much more than that, and Damien’s never seen it happen, but he wouldn’t be surprised.

  Liam’s actually been at the café the longest out of any of them. Damien’s not sure what the story is there, but he thinks that maybe Liam’s known Melanie for a very long time, perhaps even before she opened the café. Although Liam’s usually cheerful, there are some topics, like that one, that seem to be off limits, and so Damien knows not to bring it up or press too much.

  Whatever Melanie is, sometimes she reminds Damien of something out of an ancient myth or a fairy tale. Witch, goddess, demon. It’s not like she’d give him a straight answer if he asked anyways, so he doesn’t worry about it, and she takes good care of all of them. That’s all that really matters.

  After they clean up lunch, Jake carries Kaz off to the employee bathrooms to change back, and Sebastian adds a sign on the lounge door that reads: “Please let the barista know if your group has allergies, and we will move the cat.” And that’s as good of a sign of approval from Sebastian as anything. He also says that he doesn’t want Kaz in the kitchen or the main café area in that form, but doesn’t seem to care otherwise. He leaves shortly after to go hang out with Daniel for the remainder of the day.

  Out of everyone at the cafe, actually, the one who is most confused about the whole cat situation is Daniel. Nearly a week passes before he mentions anything. It’s the next Thursday morning, in fact, and Damien might be daydreaming about his client a little bit as he’s working the espresso counter for Liam when Daniel shows up for the day.

  “Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to ask Seb, but you guys got a cat?” Daniel asks, and Damien’s brain freezes up for a second. First, he had just been fantasizing about what he planned to do with Ty tonight at their session. And, second, it’s Daniel, who is so familiar that he’s almost a part of the café, but not quite. He’s nearly an extension of Sebas
tian at this point. A sort of anti-Sebastian really, what with his generally friendly attitude and open demeanor. But he’s still not really one of them. So he doesn’t know Kaz’s secret. Or at least it appears that neither Sebastian nor Kaz told him.

  “Uh, yes,” Damien says, because really what else is he supposed to say. It’s Kaz’s secret to tell, so Damien can’t say anything about it. “What’ll it be today?” he asks instead, changing the topic in hopes that Daniel will let it go.

  Daniel gives him an odd look, but replies with his order. “Just the usual – iced Americano.”

  Right, because Daniel’s one of those weird people that drinks iced drinks even when it’s nearly freezing outside.

  “But, what’s the cat’s name?” Daniel asks after a moment, naturally going back to the unwanted topic.

  “The cat?” Damien asks, vaguely panicked and stalling as he starts to grind the beans for the espresso. Because, of course. A name. The damn thing needs a name. Or... Kaz. Kaz needs a name. When he’s in cat form that is.

  Absolutely nothing comes to mind. In all seriousness, he says, “We haven’t named it.”

  “Huh,” Daniel says, but he seems to accept that for now. He’s looking at his phone now, anyways, probably texting Sebastian to tell him that he’s here. Damien finishes making the Americano, pouring it over ice in a tall plastic cup even though he knows Daniel’s just going to sit in the café all day and drink it. And not pay for anything.

  Daniel takes out his wallet, then, but Damien just waves a hand at him. “It’s fine,” he says, accepting the inevitable, and Daniel grins at him.

  “Thanks!” he says, and heads off to camp in his usual location. Damien rolls his eyes.

  Later in the morning, when the café is empty, and Kaz rolls out a new tray of pastries from the kitchen, Damien points out the oversight about the name.