Dark & Stormy (Whip 5)

Chapter 3

STEFAN

I enter the small café located just down the street from my office, a small smile spreading over my lips as the smell of coffee and pastries hits me.

I can already feel my muscles relax and my dark mood lessening as I picture myself devouring the chocolate éclair this place is famous for when my eyes fall on the tall, Japanese man sitting at the table next to the window, his large frame barely fitting into the chair and making him look completely out of place.

I chuckle at the funny sight before making my way over to where my best friend is sitting, nodding my head to the waitress standing behind the counter, not even having to tell her what I want since I'm hardly new here.

"He's alive!" David quips, smirking as he speaks the words that I usually tell him.

"Yeah, yeah." I mutter as I take my seat, rolling my eyes at my smirking friend.

"So, what's up? I haven't seen you at the club lately." David says after a few moments, his dark eyes observing me intently in that way only David can manage.

I hate that look, feeling as if I can't hide anything, as if with just one glance, the man can read each and every thought running through my mind. And, perhaps he can, seeing as David suddenly straightens up, his face growing serious as he studies me.

"I just haven't felt like it." I say, praying that David would just drop the issue.

"What's wrong?" the man asks, his face now even more serious with a hint of worry climbing into his eyes telling me that my friend won't drop anything.

I think about lying, denying that anything is amiss, but just the thought of it tires me, and it's not like it would work. David knows me too well. The two of us have been best friends for more than a decade and by this point, the man knows all of my tells, as few as I have.

"I don't know." I say, shrugging my shoulder as I do so, before dropping my half-eaten éclair into my plate and wiping my hands with a paper napkin.

"I just... I'm tired, you know. I thought that by this point in my life I would have more. Sure, I have a good life, my business is thriving and I have more money than I ever thought I would, but something is missing. Or, well, someone."

David frowns as he listens to me, folding his hands together atop the table. "Does this have anything to do with a certain redhead and his looming nuptials?"

"No... Yes... I don't know." I shake my head, sighing as I think about it.

Is my current dark mood the product of Misha's engagement?

The truth is, I'm not even sure myself. The news have hit me hard, even though I'm not in love with the redhead anymore and haven't been for quite some time. I guess that I'm just lonely, and seeing someone you once loved moving on and getting married when you are still single with no prospects of that changing anytime soon, is a hard pill to swallow.

"No. I'm happy for Misha. He deserves this. I guess I'm just tired of the same old thing; same people, same place. I work all day, every day and then I go to the club and play with whomever I can find, and it just isn't working for me any longer. I don't want just anyone; I don't want a one-night stand, I want the one. Someone to love and spoil, someone to call mine."

David says nothing, nodding quietly as I speak. After all, if anyone knows how I feel it would be David seeing as the man had been in exactly the same place just a year before until Mihail entered his life and turned it upside down.