1. Jake

The city could be a punishing place. Sure, for those with money it seemed like a paradise where anything and everything was available at the click of a finger. But for those struggling on the breadline, it was a whole other thing.

Long nights. Dark nights. Danger at every turn. The city could swallow a person up whole or spit them out onto the street at the drop of a hat.

Still, that didn't mean that the city wasn't fun either. And Jake was always on the lookout for fun, that was for sure.

Jake had all the appetites of a hungry twenty-one year old boy in the city. Even as he got himself ready for work, Jake couldn't help but pause and think back to the fun he'd had over the previous weekend.

The memory of being down on both knees in a kink club with two anonymous cocks in each hand and one thick, throbbing dickhead sliding into his mouth was enough to make Jake hard all over again.

‘Naughty boy…' Jake said, reliving the moment he brought all three cocks to satisfaction and almost succumbing to the temptation of jerking himself off to the memory right there and then.

As far as Jake was concerned, he was determined to have as much fun as he could, and the accepted rules could go to hell. Of course, this could bring consequences of its own…

‘Aaaargh! Why do I do this every freakin' time!' Jake said, the absurdity of the situation all too clear to him. ‘I'm late… again!'

Jake was wearing nothing but his pale blue briefs and had barely had enough time to dry his slender body after having a super-fast shower. The truth was that no matter how quickly he moved, he was definitely going to be late for work. And that wasn't good. In fact, that could actually be pretty terrible.

‘Shit,' Jake cursed, nearly tripping over his own feet as he struggled to get dressed at top speed.

Jake quickly flung on a tight white t-shirt and paused to check himself out in the mirror. With his bright blue eyes that shone as bright as Tiffany diamonds and a perfect bone structure to match, Jake could get away with a lot. Add in the floppiest blonde hair on top of that, and Jake was about as delightfully cute as you could imagine.

But that wasn't enough.

When it came to his place of work, Jake had to rely on far more than sweet looks to get by. But before he could even think about leaving the apartment, Jake had to find his work pants.

It wasn't going to be easy either.

With his bijou apartment never anything less than a total and borderline unsavable mess, Jake would often struggle to find the basics he needed to leave the house.

It may only have been a studio apartment, but Jake had enough stuff to fill up a three-bedroom duplex in one of the city's most prestigious apartment buildings.

After a manic dash from one corner of the studio to the other, Jake finally found his black pants and hurriedly pulled them up and tucked his t-shirt in.

I don't scrub up so bad.

I might even be… pretty, pretty hot.

Jake smirked as he finished off styling his hair in the mirror as best he could. Forgetting that he was still running very late for work, Jake even posed and pouted with his perfectly plump cherry-red lips.

‘Urgh, Jack freakin' Bouquet time…' Jake grumbled.

Jake frowned. The thought of having to face Jack Bouquet wasn't a particularly good one even on the best of days, let alone on a day when he was going to show up late.

Jack Bouquet was a highly regarded, but very bad-tempered chef. His reputation definitely proceeded him and even though he had only been working at Jack's restaurant for a few months, Jake had already been on the end of several tongue lashing from Jack.

But that wasn't the worst part.

Jack had already given Jake a formal warning for tardiness. There was a chance that when he finally arrived that day, Jack might even fire Jake. This didn't bear thinking about. Despite the fact that Jack was a pretty mean boss, and it wasn't always a fun place to work, Jake did actually enjoy working at the restaurant.

There was something appealing about the fast pace, the banter between the junior chefs and kitchen staff, and of course all the sights and smells of the delicious food.

But as engaging as the atmosphere was, Jake had a long track record of screwing good opportunities up. Ever since Jake lost his college scholarship and dropped out the following semester, Jake had begun to feel like if there was an option to fold under pressure and walk away, he should probably take it.

The pain of having to walk away from college – knowing that his single mother couldn't fund his fees without the scholarship – had been hard to take. But what was worse for Jake to handle was knowing that he only lost the scholarship because he was partying too much and got involved with a bad crowd of rich-kid rebels.

Decision making had never exactly been a strong point of Jake's growing up, but it seemed like it was only getting worse and worse. It was almost like he was regressing into the mentality of an irresponsible kid – and not in a good, free-wheeling way either.

So as much as Jake enjoyed working at the restaurant, he did so fully suspecting that at some point it was all going to come crashing down around him and he would be back to square one again.

Why do I keep folding?

Why all the bad decisions?

I wish Poppa was still around to help me…

Jake sighed. But he knew that he didn't have time to get overly deep into his feelings.

It was time to get moving and get his ass to work. Jake wasn't in the mood to be lectured or called out in front of all the other restaurant staff, that was for sure.

All Jake wanted was to get busy and be left alone to do his work. However something told him that this was going to be easier said than done…

* * *

Damian's Den the glowing neon sign above the door read. The New York city street may have been bustling and the storm clouds gathering above him, but Jake took a moment to admire the sign. It was something that he had done on every day since he first arrived for his trial shift.

Damian's Den…

I wish I could meet Damian.

He makes me feel all hot and bothered. Like super fuckin' horny…

Jake had only seen the restaurant owner Damian Sorrento from a distance. But there was no doubting that he was incredibly sexy. And the fact that he had a mysterious, dangerous reputation to go along with his name only added to the appeal as far as Jake was concerned.

‘Jake! Hurry the fuck up!' Jonas cried, the ma?tre d' clearly not impressed with Jake's errant timekeeping. ‘I can only cover for you for so long. Jack is going absolutely fucking bananas!'

‘Shoot! I'm sorry, Jonas,' Jake said, blushing a hot-red. ‘Thank you for looking out for me though.'

‘Pffft, I don't know why I bother!' Jonas said, shaking his head. ‘Get your butt inside and haul ass into the kitchen.'

Jonas was in his early fifties. He could be a grump from time to time, but Jake always felt like his heart was in the right place. Jonas knew that Jake was a a good kid at heart and it was maybe for this reason that Jonas always tried his best to keep him out of trouble. Jake liked Jonas and it did feel good to have someone looking out for him.

Jake stepped into the kitchen and was immediately taken aback by the fully-charged atmosphere. In theory, Jake should have been used to it by now, but it never failed to have an impact.

Blaring classical music.

Sizzling pans.

The sound of razor-sharp knives hammering down on helpless fresh vegetables.

The kitchen was full of the sou chefs on rotation that evening, plus the support staff of pot washers and waiters darting in and out to collect the freshly prepared dishes.

Oh, and one other person too…

Jack Bouquet.

‘Well, I'm glad you decided to show up,' Jack bellowed, his furious glare aimed squarely at Jake's nervous face. ‘We can talk about yet another fucking late appearance after the shift. For now, I need you to get up to speed and show me why you deserve to keep on working here. Fucking move!'

Jake nodded and felt a sense of relief that he hadn't been fired on the spot. That was something at least. Jake knew he would be getting at the very least a stern talking to later, for now he could concentrate on working his butt off and hopefully putting Jack in a slightly better mood.

Jake watched as Jack immediately turned his attention back to the food. There was no doubting that Jack was a talented chef. But at the same time, he really didn't treat his staff very nicely.

With his emerald-green eyes and bleached blonde hair with trademark green streaks, Jack was a rebel – and his reputation was built on being a maverick who didn't suffer fools. But as rebellious as Jack was, he could push things too far with those who worked under him.

Jack had even been known to physically push and intimidate his workers – an act that was made all the more dramatic by the fact that Jack had twin tattoos on his hands, a knife on his left hand and a fork on his right.

There could be an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in Jack's kitchen, and Jake would often find himself praying that he wasn't the subject of Jack's ire and sometimes uncontrollable ego.

As the shift progressed, Jake found himself getting a little bit tired. He hadn't been sleeping all that well recently and had got into some bad habits with his food too. Staying up late and mainlining sugary snacks and Bud Light really wasn't the best way to go about preparing for an intense job in a busy kitchen, that was for sure.

As he prepped some carrots, Jake tried to center his thoughts.

Keep focused.

Concentrate.

No distractions…

But for all of Jake's good intentions, he hadn't banked on the fact that Jack was in a bad mood and was all set on taking it out on him.

‘Jake! Hurry the fuck up!' Jack cried out, his powerful voice drowning out even the classical music and it blared out from the kitchen speakers. ‘I said MOVE!'

With that, Jake panicked and nearly chopped his pinky finger off. The Japanese blade only missed the flesh of his finger by millimeters. But while the fellow sous chef next to Jake gasped, Jack Bouquet wasn't done berating him yet…

‘You've been God damn useless all fucking night!' Jack cried out. ‘You're pathetic! Why do I even allow you in my kitchen? No, no response? Can anyone else answer maybe?'

Jake wanted to cry. Not one other member of staff came to his defense, but this was perhaps understandable given how scared everyone was of Jack. Still, it didn't change the fact that Jake felt like absolute crap.

It felt horrible to be humiliated like this, and Jake knew that it just wasn't fair. He probably did deserve to be told off for being late, but for Jack it was clearly personal. Jake had really tried to work hard that evening, but if he was going to get shouted at like this all the time anyway, Jake wasn't sure that he even wanted to come back for his next shift.

I'll show him.

He might think he can bully me… but I'll get him back.

Somehow I'll have the last laugh…

* * *

When Jake was finally allowed to take a break, he stormed right out of the kitchen and took a seat outside in the side alley. The evening air was cool, and a welcome reprieve from the intense heat inside the kitchen.

Jake was still stewing from being shouted at so unfairly by Jack. It didn't feel good, and although he felt upset it was now the case that what Jake really wanted was to somehow get one over on his meanie-pants boss.

I can't shout at him.

I definitely can't lay a finger on him.

He's too scary to even think about confronting…

Jake racked his brain but couldn't think of what to do. But he was determined to do something. There was no way he was finishing his shift without at least getting some form of payback.

Growing up, Jake's father had always told him that it was important to stand up to bullies. Jake had never really got over the death of his Poppa, but he would often find himself thinking back to his words of wisdom.

Don't worry, Poppa, I won't let Jack win.

I'll do whatever it takes to get him back…

That asshole won't keep fucking with me and getting away with it…

Then, suddenly it hit him. Jake wasn't going to do anything directly to Jack. No, he would have to work around the problem. It was a risk, one that could see him fired on the spot, but it was something that he just had to do.

Jake was going to hit Jack where it hurt.

He was going to hide some of the food! The look on Jack's face would be worth its weight in gold. If there was one thing that Jack hated it was things not going his way in the kitchen, especially during a busy service.

‘This will show him!' Jake said, his heart beating and adrenalin pumping around his body at triple-speed.

Without further ado, Jake got himself up from the alley floor and walked stealthily back through the kitchen and into the supply room. Quickly checking around him to make sure he was alone, Jake dipped his hands inside the storage freezer and pulled out some choice cuts.

Without hesitating, Jake slid the food underneath the cupboard opposite him and broke out into a big grin. The cuts were expensive, popular items on the menu that would come close to selling out on most evenings. The embarrassment of not being able to serve them would be embarrassing for Jack and might just teach him a lesson.

Jake knew that stealing was wrong, but…

This doesn't count. Not really.

I'm a good kid. Yeah right…

Jack deserves this…

But just as Jake was about to get up and leave the storeroom, he felt a large, heavy hand on his shoulder. Jake felt himself freeze. He was immediately terrified and couldn't bring himself to turn around and see who it was behind him. A best-case scenario was that it was Jonas the ma?tre d', and the worst case was that it was Jack himself.

But as it turned out, it was someone even scarier than Jack Bouquet.

It was… Damian Sorrento.

‘I… I… I…,' Jake said, turning his head to the side and seeing the imposing, powerful, and dead-eyed Damian staring down at him. ‘I can explain!'

But Damian didn't say a word.

And in his silence, Damian simply made himself scarier and more intense than Jack Bouquet could ever dream of being. Jake knew that this was a whole other level of scary – but he could never have predicted what was going to happen next…