Imperfect

Chapter 1 “Hot damn,” David Lee muttered under his breath while stifling a yawn and pushing up the glasses sliding slightly down the bridge of his nose. It had been a long day at the office, and he didn’t usually wear his glasses, but there were days when he didn’t feel like putting in his contact lenses. He cracked his knuckles and gave up trying to work through the software on the computer. He would continue bright and early the following Monday. It was Friday evening, and he deserved a break. He shut the computer down and began to pack his personal stuff into his sling bag. He was exhausted to the bone. All he wanted was a nice, warm shower back in his apartment, and something delicious and filling for his growling stomach. As an IT Junior Manager at one of the best pharmaceutical firms in San Francisco, he had his own tiny office in the building. It was nothing fancy, but at least he had his own space. He was quite proud of his accomplishment. After all, he was only twenty-eight years old. He was hoping to climb even higher up the corporate ladder within the next two years or so. That was the reason why he was such a workaholic most of the time. He jumped a little when someone knocked on the door to his office. He turned toward the door immediately. “It’s almost half-past seven, Dave,” Joshua Wallace, the Social Media Specialist in the firm and one of his best friends since his first day of working at the firm, said while grinning at him. “I’m here to make sure you don’t escape yet another one of our weekly Friday night sessions at The Overrated Llama.” David groaned. “I’m beat, man.” Joshua pouted at him. “Oh, come on. Just one drink. The other guys and I haven’t seen you out for a drink in two weeks now. We miss you, man.” “I don’t know…” Joshua approached him and slung one arm over his shoulders. “One drink. Please, pretty please.” “Josh, I—” “Keenan will be making his move tonight,” Joshua cut him off midsentence while waggling those eyebrows at him. David was torn now. He was tired, but he didn’t want to lose out on the opportunity to observe Keenan Underwood, the Sales Manager at the firm and also his and Joshua’s long-time best friend, making his first attempt to ask Pablo Cotilla, the owner of The Overrated Llama, out on a date. He knew Keenan had been nursing a huge crush on Pablo for the past three months now, but his best friend was too much of a coward to do anything about it. After hearing Keenan going on and on about how hot and sexy Pablo was, David simply had to be present for when Keenan might finally grow some balls. “Fine,” he relented while picking up his bag and tugging the strap over his shoulder. “Just one drink.” “Yes! Come on. The other guys are already at the bar. I told them we will catch up once we’re done at the office.” “Cool. Let’s go.” The Overrated Llama was a gay bar, but it attracted its share of quite a few women, both straight and gay, and the occasional straight men. It was only about a ten-minute walk away from the office. Upon entering the bar, David waved at a group of men who were seated at the corner table. Joshua followed him. The table was filled with his best friends and colleagues from the firm. Besides Keenan, there were Javier Gisbert, the Marketing Manager, Vincent Yang, the Finance Junior Manager, Justin Wong, the HR Manager, and Calvin Maxwell, the Junior Manager in the Research and Development department. “Glad to see you, Dave,” Javier greeted him before pulling him into a hug. “I feel the same way,” Vincent added with a wink. “You’re harder to meet than the queen of England, man.” David rolled his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic, guys. The seven of us have lunch together every day, Monday through Friday. We also hang out most Saturdays and Sundays.” Keenan chuckled at him. “We can’t live without seeing your pretty face, princess. Not even for a second.” Everyone laughed while David gave them all the middle-finger salute. “f**k you, bitches. Where’s my drink?” Justin pushed a glass filled with some neon pink liquid and chortled. “Here you go. A pretty drink for a pretty face.” David stared at the drink in annoyance for a moment before shrugging and chugging down half of it. “Not bad. Rather fruity, but I like it.” “I bet,” Calvin said before snickering at him. “We know your taste, man. The seven of us have been best friends for years now.” David nodded before turning toward Keenan. “So, where’s Pablo?” Keenan blushed. “Helping out the two bartenders on duty. It’s much busier tonight than the other Fridays for some reason. Two bartenders aren’t enough.” David craned his head and glanced at the shirtless bartenders before his gaze landed on Pablo, who was also bare-chested. He whistled under his breath and smirked at Keenan. “Damn! Pablo is hot. You better hit that ass before someone else beats you to it.” Keenan’s face reddened before he gulped down his large mug of beer. “In a minute.” Joshua offered Keenan his beer. “Here. Have mine. You need more liquid courage.” David watched as Keenan hesitated for a few seconds before grabbing Joshua’s beer off the table and finishing the entire mug, as well. Then Keenan walked away from the table toward where the bartenders and Pablo were busy serving drinks to the excited customers. “Holy s**t,” Javier mumbled out loud when an unknown customer flirted with and caressed Pablo’s muscular chest. “Keenan must be pissed now.” Vincent pointed at Keenan’s clenched fists in the distance. “He is. Look at how tense his whole body is.” Justin got to his feet. “I’m heading there, guys. Keenan is an awesome guy, but his temper needs work. We need to stop him before he punches that man for touching Pablo.” David agreed, but none of them expected what occurred next. He gasped and gaped when Keenan reached Pablo’s side, gripped the man by the face, and proceeded to press their lips together. Pablo was obviously startled, but the man was smiling as he returned the kiss with just as much passion. Calvin wolf-whistled before shouting at Keenan. “Hot damn, Kee! You’re the man!” Keenan didn’t break the kiss. Instead, the man raised both middle fingers at Calvin, who laughed out loud. David chortled, but he was a little bit envious, too. He definitely needed a bit of love and romance in his boring existence. He was ecstatic on Keenan’s behalf, though. After a moment, he excused himself to use the restroom. The bar was so packed, it took him almost fifteen minutes just to reach the toilet. He groaned at the long line outside. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Mr. Pretty Face himself.” The familiar voice astounded him. David turned and glanced up, meeting those unforgettable beautiful amber eyes. It was Tobias Ruiz. He never got alone with Tobias, not in high school and not even when they bumped into each other again in college. Tobias was two years older and six inches taller than his own five-foot-eight. He knew Tobias had plenty of bulky muscles since their high school and college years, but the man he was staring at now seemed to have double the muscle mass than before. It made him a little self-conscious about his own one hundred and sixty-five pounds of lean muscles. “I want to say nice to meet you, but lying is a terrible habit.” Then he swiveled around and proceeded to ignore Tobias, who stood way too close behind him. He jumped a little when he felt Tobias’s breath against his right ear. “You still have that icy, arrogant attitude, haven’t you?” He faced Tobias again and glared at the man in irritation. “And you’re still a sanctimonious prick, aren’t you?” Tobias shrugged and sneered at him. “At least I don’t behave as if everyone else is beneath me.” David could feel the anger boiling deep in his guts. “I’m friendly toward everyone, except the people I can’t stand.” Tobias scoffed. “Stop deceiving yourself. You’ve always been a cold asshole.” David narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t you reflect on what you’ve done to deserve that from me?” Tobias snorted. “I haven’t done anything to you. This animosity between us is all your fault.” David clenched his fists. He was tempted to wipe that smug expression off Tobias’s face with his fists, but he didn’t want to cause a scene. “You can believe whatever you like. I’m not going to waste my breath on someone like you.” “Okay. Whatever.” “Fine.” “Good.” After that, neither of them exchanged a single word with each other. They stood in line in complete silence. David was relieved when it was his turn to use the restroom. When he was done, he lifted his head up high and walked past Tobias while letting out a small huff of displeasure. It was petty, but it made him feel a little bit better. He was determined to have a wonderful time with his best friends. Nobody, not even Tobias, would ruin this night for him.