Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Nico’s stomach growled.
But he did as he was told, though he wasn’t thrilled about it.
Natalie and he had binged the entire Scream franchise the week prior, and so walking down a dark alley alone was intimidating to say the least. It didn’t matter he was two-hundred pounds and over six feet tall.
Some of the killers in that franchise were struggling to reach five feet and were throwing people through windows and shit.
Once he reached the back door of John John, he pulled out his phone and texted Cooper that he was there.
While he waited for the other man, he considered that maybe he was overdressed wearing black dress boots, black trousers, and a fitted white button-up with a decorative pair of black suspenders strapped over his shoulders.
The door popped open and Nico immediately realized he was underdressed.
Cooper wore a black tuxedo with a fresh haircut. His usual short-medium wavy dirty blonde hair was cut short with a fade on the sides. Cooper looked every bit of a dashing prince Nico had read about in some of his favorite books.
“Yes, Rook,” Cooper said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Please continue standing outside like you’re waiting for the paparazzi.”
Nico hurried inside, letting Cooper close the door behind him.
“I think we have different definitions of dressing up, but I’ll be sure to clarify that in the future.” Cooper laughed before tugging at Nico’s suspenders. “You look hot as hell, by the way.” Cooper led the way down a short hallway with another door at the end. “You’re shaking. Are you nervous?”
“No shit, I’m nervous.” Nico clocked his surroundings. It was just the two of them, but who knew what or who lied ahead. “I’m on a date with another man in one of the hottest spots in LA.”
“Nobody is going to know,” Cooper said, without turning around. “So calm down, and try to enjoy the night I’ve planned for us.”
Cooper pushed through the door at the end of the hall, leading to the main bar of the restaurant that stretched along the back wall and was cut off from the dining area by glass doors that were typically perched open.
Only one door was open, and Nico leaned around it.
He’d never seen the restaurant empty before.
Any time he’d been there, it’d been filled with the who’s who of Hollywood.
On a typical night, the lights were dimmed with the hottest hits playing overhead, but at a volume conversations could be had.
Here, it was bright and empty. Near the bar area, there was a single table with two chairs. The rest of the tables were crowded on the opposite end of the room, with about twenty feet of empty space all around the single table.
Nico turned back to Cooper who stood behind the bar, twisting off the cap of a bottle of beer.
“I’m back on the no-liquor wagon,” Cooper said as he took a swig.
Nico took a seat on a chair with a golden base and a leather back opposite Cooper. “Never knew you were on the wagon or off it.”
“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
“Tell me something interesting about yourself.”
Cooper passed Nico a tall but thin cocktail menu. “Fun fact! I learned how to make all of these just in case you decided you didn’t want the spiced pear mojito.”
“You think you know me like that?” Nico questioned, searching over the menu. There were nine drinks in total with options ranging from an espresso-based old fashioned to a Hollywood Knights themed tequila cocktail called the sword and shield.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” Cooper demanded.
Tequila was off the menu because it did funny things to Nico. Made him act a fool. More a fool than was typical. Otherwise, the spiced pear mojito called Nico’s name, but he decided to challenge Cooper. He couldn’t let the other man be right. “I’ll have the cucumber kiwi mule.”
“So, you pick the most complicated one?” Cooper bit into his lower lip with a cackle that was torn between amusement and frustration. “That tracks.”
“What can I say, it was calling my name.”
“One complicated drink coming right up.”
Cooper ducked beneath the counter, and rummaged loudly through the cupboards below.
When he came back up, he placed a tall tumbler glass on the counter.
He turned on his feet and searched the bar behind him, grabbed three different bottles, a small dish, and a muddler.
He turned back around and clumsily laid out the ingredients and tools.
“I know it doesn’t appear as if I know what I’m doing,” Cooper said with a sigh. “I just need you to trust the process.”
“The process is trusted,” Nico responded, raising his hands in the air. “I have all the faith in the world that you studied just the right amount.”
Cooper ripped open a drawer, searched inside, and pulled out a small peeler.
He got to work, stroking the device over the fuzzy outside of the kiwi, leaving tiny strips of fur along the slick surface of the bar.
He chopped up the fruit, threw it into the small dish, and muddled it until the kiwi looked what Nico imagined his insides looked like when Cooper was done fucking him.
Nico watched as his new favorite bartender scooped the kiwi guts into the bottom of the tumbler, and then poured a not-so-appropriate amount of cucumber vodka into the glass.
What Cooper didn’t know was that Nico spent his summers during college bartending.
A normal recipe called for a shot of alcohol, maybe two.
Cooper’s free pour was closer to four, but Nico wasn’t one to complain about a free drink.
Cooper topped the drink off with ginger beer straight from the tap, tossed in a metal straw, and garnished the glass with a full slice of a cucumber. He slid a black slate coaster across the bar and sat the drink down in front of Nico.
Nico palmed the drink in one hand. “Isn’t a mule supposed to be in a copper cup?”
Also, wasn’t it supposed to have ice?
“It’s elevated,” Cooper said flatly, and Nico was certain he was full of shit.
Nico pulled the straw to his mouth and took a sip. The concoction tasted like absolute shit with the texture of pulped orange juice, but it was pulped kiwi. “Damn, that’s good.”
“That’s good to know because I told a little bit of a white lie.” Cooper leaned over the counter, a proud glint in his eye. “I only learned to make the one drink that I’m pretty damn sure you wanted, but are too damn stubborn to admit that I was right.”
Nico took another quick sip to really sell the lie. “Perfecto.”
Nico drummed his fingers on the table as they waited for service. Cooper reached across the circular surface and held his hand over Nico’s, calming him.
The door to the kitchen swung open and out came Stassi Davies.
Cooper’s fucking girlfriend, and yeah Nico understood it wasn’t a typical boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, but it still unsettled him. Nico tried to pull his hand away from Cooper’s, but Cooper grip was stronger.
Nico would never let the other man know that, though.
Stassi looked stunning in a shiny silver dress that reached just to her knees, with matching shoes that blinded as if they were embedded with the same diamonds that hung from her ears.
“Good evening, gentlemen. I’m Stassi and I’ll be taking care of you tonight.” She placed a menu in front of Nico first and then Cooper. “I see our bartender has already taken care of your drink order. I’ll go grab some bottled water while you check out the menu.”
Nico waited for her to be gone before asking the question that’d been on his mind. “So, you’re not together, together?”
“We’re together,” Cooper said flatly, scratching at the shadow of stubble making an appearance on the angle of his chin. “To the world, we’re together, and in many ways we share our lives together the way normal couples do, but I’m not hers and she’s not mine. Does that make sense?”
No, not really.
Nico leaned over and whispered, “Is she cooking the food, too?”
“She’s a great cook, but no.” Cooper picked up the oversized menu and steadied the bottom of it on the table, obfuscating his face.
“There’s a skeleton crew, but they’ve all signed NDAs and have been ordered to stay in the kitchen.
With the amount of money they’re being paid, they have no incentive to violate the rules.
” Cooper peeked around the side of the menu.
“This is Los Angeles. Anything can be bought for the right amount of money.”
“How can she afford to shut down the whole restaurant for a night?”
Cooper sighed and placed his menu flat on the table. “Let me just say this is the most expensive date of my life, so relax and enjoy it. Stassi’s family owns five restaurants and three clubs, one of which you and your boys frequent.”
Nico arched a brow, curious about which club he’d need to avoid in the future. “Pink Lotus?”
“Yep.” Cooper nodded, his eyes boring into Nico’s.
Nico picked up the ridiculously sized menu that had more options than the fucking Cheesecake Factory, and hid behind it. There were simply too many options for his ADHD-having ass to make a decision so he settled on the last thing he saw.
Stassi returned a moment later and took their orders, and then returned again about twenty minutes after with their food. She disappeared into the void of the kitchen after.
Nico examined his entree. A beautifully plated chilean sea bass with a calabrian chile glaze and a raspberry-glazed rice pilaf.
His mouth watered, but deep down he knew he fucked up.
Sure, he should’ve been content to enjoy the evening but it’d been six months since he’d been fucked and if he ate anything spicy, there was a more-than-he’d-be-happy with chance there would be no anal penetration on his end.
And sure, he could fuck Cooper instead—if Cooper would allow it, but when it came to men…
He was what he came to learn was a vers bottom, where the percentages were split somewhere along the lines of one percent top to ninety-nine percent bottom.