Chained to a Contract

Whispers and Whiskey

"That is all, thank you for your time Mr. Brooke. We will email you when you get accepted." The interviewer shook Elias’ hand and guided him towards the door.

‘When? Doesn’t she mean if I get accepted?’ Elias brushed off the thought when he felt two eyes burning at the back of his skull, but he didn’t dare turn around.

Elias opened the door to his apartment and collapsed on his sofa, he wasn’t too far from the city but he definitely lived in a dangerous neighborhood. It wasn’t the best, the walls were so thin he could practically hear his neighbors’ breathing, break-ins were just as common as drunkards fighting, the floorboards and doors creaked so much it was like he was in a horror movie, but it was the best he could pay for and it’s not like he’d planned on moving out anytime soon.

His eyes were starting to get heavy but the sudden ring of his phone woke him up, he squinted his eyes as he tried to read the name of the caller.

“Hey Quinn, why are you calling?” Elias rubbed the grogginess off his eyes and stifled a yawn.

“Why am I calling? Elias get your ass over here or I’ll chop your d**k off, you’re beyond late and we have a lot of customers today.” The familiar vulgarity of his boss/friends’ voice made him chuckle.

“Alright, I’ll be there in 15 minutes”

“You have 10, if you’re not here by then I’ll-”

“Yeah, yeah.” Elias dropped the call and changed into his uniform.

The drinks that Elias carried on his tray vibrated in sync with the blaring music that was playing at the bar. The smell of alcohol and cigarettes filled the air as he made his way through the crowd and returned to the counter, “You’re still alive? The guy I hired to kill you must’ve been pretty weak.” Elias rolled his eyes as soon as he heard the comment, “I guess the guy you hired probably ran into the guy I hired. So watch your back.” The two joked, it was harmless banter as long as it wasn’t heard by anyone else and the music made sure that their conversation was well hidden.

Quinn placed his head on his hand and took a sip of red iced tea. He didn’t have to be here to manage the club, but he oversees the bar so there won’t be any ‘incidents’. If he suspects anyone trying to spike a drink, he’ll personally beat the crap out of them and permanently ban them. “Hey Quinn, you’re actually a real softie inside of that hard exterior” Elias teased which made Quinn scoff, “If you plan on confessing, just tell me straight up so I can brew you a drink to recover from my rejection.” Quinn winked and Elias burst out laughing, 

“I remember when we used to go to this club all the time, and now, you’re the owner…while I’m still the loser that flunked med school.” Elias mumbled, staring at Quinn’s drink. A fist collided with his shoulder, it hurt at first but it wouldn’t leave a bruise. “Hey! what the hell was that for?” Elias rubbed the place Quinn punched, and pouted. “That’s for being a dumbass. It wasn’t your fault and you know that. Our education system is just f*cked up.” Elias stared at Quinn for a moment and chuckled, he was lucky to have a friend like him.

“We used to hang out at gay bars when your ‘other’ best friend wasn’t with you, which was next to never since you two were inseparable. What the hell happened to that guy?” Quinn asked, “Awww, someone sounds jealous~” Elias smiled smugly and Quinn flicked the other man’s forehead, “I was asking you a question, bird brain.” “I dunno, he went to another country and we stopped talking. He probably has a family now.” Elias’ heart squeezed a little at the thought but he brushed it off, “It’s been years, I don’t feel anything for him. Not anymore.” Elias’ face was serene and miserable at the same time, but Quinn didn’t question it any further.

“Excuse me sir, we need a waiter for the VIP guests.” Their coworker said and pointed to two individuals who were waiting at the VIP room, “I guess that’s my cue.” Elias grabbed a menu and headed to the room, Quinn stared at Elias before going back to work, ‘he’s a big boy, he’s gonna be fine’ Quinn thought and went to attend to other customers.

“Good evening sir, I’ll be your waiter for toda-”

“Elias?” Elias felt his whole body freeze up, his eyes finally adjusted to the low lighting and he felt inhumane levels of embarrassment. Trystan leaned forward and stared at Elias, while the waiter desperately tried to avoid eye contact.

“I’m surprised to see you here.” Trystan finally said and broke the awkward silence, ‘Shouldn’t I say the same to you?’ Elias thought as he fought the urge to groan, so instead of doing that, he wore his ‘customer-service smile’ while peeking at the other man’s expression. Elias almost dropped the menu he was holding when he saw Trystan looking…amused.

“I work multiple jobs, sir.” Elias regained his composure and answered formally, which made Trystan’s own smile twitch.

“I see. When you go to work, resign from all of your previous jobs. The salary will be more than enough to pay for all your expenses, you’ll also receive a signing bonus.” Trystan said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

“I haven’t received an email regarding my acceptance, but thank you for the kind offer.” Elias said through gritted teeth, ‘who the hell does this guy think he is?’ he thought as they both engaged in a staring contest.

“Excuse me, we would like to order.” Elias snapped his head to the other man sitting across Trystan, “I’m his brother by the way, so don’t get jealous” he said and winked, a sense of unease ran down Elias’ spine. The two looked nothing alike, they even had different accents, the only similarity they had was the colour of their eyes and the look they gave him. Elias pushed the thought to the back of his mind and took their order. As Elias left to get their drinks, Trystan felt an immediate sense of dread as his brother raised an eyebrow towards him.

“A signing bonus? Really Trice? I’ve never heard of you offering that.” Trystan’s brother smirked, trying to push the other man’s buttons, “Then I suggest you mind your own business, Lucas. How’s the London branch?” Trystan replied, smoothly changing the topic, “I know what you’re doing, but I’ll let it slide for now. My branch is doing fine, just going through a rough patch is all. But let’s not talk about business, we hardly have any breaks and you always want to ruin the moment.” Lucas turned to look at the waiters at the counter,

“Now, who is ‘Elias’? An awkward one night stand or something?” Lucas peeked to see if Trystan was getting angry, but to his surprise his brother only looked mildly irritated, “Spill the tea, my life is as dry as a desert and only you can quench my thirst.” Lucas said dramatically, Trystan eased up a little which made Lucas smile, “There we go! Don’t bottle it up. Do you like him?” Lucas teased, but he was only answered with a sigh, almost there.

“If nothing’s going on between you two, then I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I-”

“Don’t you f*cking dare.” Trystan glared intensely at Lucas, as if he was protecting the prey he wanted to eat for himself.

“Alright, but you have to give me a reason why.” Lucas answered calmly, unfazed from his brother’s sudden wrath, ‘He only gets like this if he desperately wanted something’.  Lucas couldn’t help but smirk when he saw his brother rubbing the back of his neck, gotcha.

“There really is nothing going on between us, if there was, then it’s mostly one-sided.” Trystan admitted and Lucas burst out laughing. “HAHAH s-sorry, I just never expected the great ‘Trystan Laurent’ to ever be rejected.” Lucas said wiping a tear out of his eye. “I’m the worst person you can ask advice to, so just try your best. You always know what you want, and you will stop at nothing to get it.” Trystan smiled at his brother’s genuine response, “Oh and don’t worry, that cinnamon roll is definitely not my type. I like the wilder ones.” Trystan threw Lucas an exaggerated face of disgust and Lucas answered by sticking his tongue out and giving him the finger.

After a few moments, a knock was heard on their door and Elias emerged with their drinks. “Here you go, gentlemen. Hope you enjoy your drinks and have a lovely evening.” He said, though his voice seemed slightly higher pitched than normal.

As Elias was placing the drinks on their table, Trystan leaned closer to his ear and whispered, “Thank you very much, I do hope to see you again.” Elias shot up and practically ran towards the door, “You’re… you’re welcome, see you.” He said without looking back, he couldn’t risk them seeing his face at the moment since he was flustered beyond recognition. ‘It was that stupid Trystan’s fault. His voice was lower than usual and he whispered directly into my ears.’

As soon as Elias arrived at his house, he received an email saying that he was accepted into the position, and was expected to go to work tomorrow.

“Wow, how surprising.” Elias said sarcastically,

“I wonder what the hell comes next.”