First Night

Four

Three Years Later...

A waiter holding the highest bill that he had seen all night expertly weaved in between the tables set in the dimly lit restaurant before making it to the private room where they often hosted business meetings, birthday parties, and private celebrations. Tonight, they were hosting a business meeting for a few men that owned some of the more popular clubs in New York. They had full bottle service all night and had easily ordered the most expensive things on the menu. But judging by their custom tailored suits and shiny designer shoes, they could definitely afford it.

"The food tonight was spectacular. Is there anyway that you can get the chef out here? I'd really like to thank him for our meals," one of the men questioned, brushing his hand over his salt and pepper hair before taking the bill from the waiter. Apparently he was paying tonight.

"Yes, I can bring her out here," the waiter politely corrected, shooting him a smile before making his way back to the kitchen where the main chef was finishing off a few plates.

"This party of businessmen wants to thank you for their meal," the waiter stated, causing Demi Lovato to look up from her plates, briefly rolling her eyes as Andrew, one of the new waiters, chuckled.

"Great," she drawled out, taking off her hair and sweeping the few stray strands of honey brown hair out of her face as she followed Andrew to the private room. There were five men at the table, all nursing post dinner scotches while going on about secretaries that they were screwing behind their wives' backs. Some things truly never changed.

"Hello, I'm Demetria Lovato. I'm the chef here. I heard you wanted to speak to me," Demi said, catching the mens' attention.

"We just wanted to thank you for the meal. Everything was absolutely delicious," the man with the salt and pepper hair complimented as Demi smiled and went to shake his hand.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. It always makes me happy to hear that people like my food." Demi went around the table shaking their hands and accepting their compliments until she made it to the last man, and her breath nearly caught in her throat.

"Yeah, we'll have to come back some time," Trey said, taking her outstretched hand and giving it a firm shake as Demi willed herself to close her mouth and put her poker face on.

"Definitely. Well...enjoy the rest of your night. I've got to get back to the kitchen," Demi said, giving them a wave before leaving the room and basically bolting back to the kitchen.

It was nearing closing time so it wasn't as busy and the crowd was dwindling down. There wasn't much left for her to do so Demi took that as good as an excuse as any to retreat to her office and take a deep breath.

She hadn't seen Trey in three years but he still had the same effect on her, physically and emotionally. After Sharon had given her that little pep talk about significant others being bad for business, Demi had decided to end things with him. It's not like they ended on a sour note or left the relationship hating each other. They just stopped talking. They fell out of contact. Demi continued her job as an escort and as far as she knew, Trey opened up another club in lower Manhattan. While she was still working as an escort, Demi finished culinary school and the chef that she had been working with decided to retire early and pass his restaurant onto her. It wasn't until a month ago when Sharon's entire operation nearly got busted because one of the new girls decided to open their mouth to the cops that Demi left the escort business for good. She had a steady job and she had more than enough money saved up. She moved out of Sharon's building to a crappier but still modest apartment closer to the restaurant. She was doing well for herself.

But she often thought about Trey and what could've been if they had stayed together. They weren't together that long but her feelings for him had been so strong, she had no doubt in her mind that they could've lasted. But now she would never know. He had probanly moved on. Demi didn't see a ring on his finger but a man like that didn't stay single for long.