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“For instance, it’s easy to see that you don’t have quite the same sense for fashion that I have. Obviously, if we continue to see each other, that’s something I’ll be able to help you out with. I mean, you have a great body, clearly. And your face is attractive, so I don’t see your lack of good style as a major drawback from agreeing to do this again.”
Alec focused on suppressing the glare he felt forming on his face as his ‘date’ continued to rattle on, trying his best to smile as non-threateningly as he could. ‘I mean really,’ Alec thinks to himself. ‘The guy is wearing a Tom Ford suit from three seasons ago. How into fashion could he be?’
“I mean, wearing a t-shirt under a suit is quite a large faux-pas,” his date continued, Alec sitting there, silently counting the brown speckles of the marble tiles behind him in an effort to keep calm. “I’m kind of surprised they let you into this place. I mean, this is a high-end restaurant.”
“They probably recognise the suit. Even if you don’t.”
Alec and his date Christian both turn at the muttered comment, and for the first time, Alec takes note of the brilliantly stunning man sitting at the table beside them.
Hair spiked up in a faux-mohawk and tipped electric blue, Alec’s eyes are drawn irresistibly down to the man’s caramel coloured skin, stretched over high-commanding cheekbones and a defined jawline. But that’s not even the biggest draw of the man’s face. Toffee coloured eyes that seem to almost glow golden in the soft lights of the restaurant immediately lock onto his and fill him with a rush of warmth and excitement.
“Excuse me?”
Alec nearly whimpers as those golden eyes pull away from him before turning to give Christian a withering look.
“He’s wearing an Archer design,” the gorgeous man explains in an exasperated tone. “And it’s from their newest collection. The suit, and the t-shirt that goes along with it, are currently stealing the spotlight at every fashion show around the world this season.”
“And what the hell would you know about it?” Christian asks as his face colours red, and his eyes running uncertainly over Alec’s suit, evidently trying to find some way to dispute the stranger’s claim.
“I know fashion,” the man counters. “And I watched Jace Herondale model this suit not three weeks ago during New York Fashion Week. And it was the biggest hit of the season, unlike the suit you’re currently wearing, which is one of Tom Ford’s least popular designs from three seasons ago.”
‘Marry me,’ Alec thought to himself, unable to suppress the emotion bubbling up inside of him or the small chuckle of amusement that broke the sudden silence that had followed the stranger’s assessment.
“Yes, well. We’re on a date if you don’t mind,” Christian bites out with a bitter approximation of a smile.
“Of course,” the stranger says, glaring slightly at Christian before shooting an embarrassed smile at Alec. “Forgive my intrusion.”
“Oh, no problem at all,” Alec assures him in a delighted voice, giving the other man a bright grin before turning back to Christian with a smirk.
For his part, Christian gives him a small brittle smile in return before turning with relief to their server, who now appears with their meals.
As the date from hell continues, Alec can’t help but sneak quiet looks at the gorgeous stranger in between faking his attention on Christian’s never-ending boasts of how important he is.
He quickly finds himself captivated by the lean elegance of the man as he sits back in his chair, one long leg stretched out comfortably under the table. Alec straightens in curiosity when a woman joins the beautiful stranger. ‘A date?’ Alec thinks, his stomach sinking in disappointment at the idea of the other man being taken, despite being on a date himself.
Checking to see that Christian is still occupied by the sound of his own voice, Alec sneaks a look at the woman sitting opposite the man capturing all his attention.
The woman is blonde and gorgeous and draped in a blood-red dress and dripping with jewels. Too many to be tasteful, but not so many that they compete with the woman’s natural charms. Though as Alec takes a more extended look, he’s willing to bet the price of his dinner that at least a few of those ‘natural’ charms had paid for some surgeon’s summer home.
He continues studying her for a moment, sure that he’s seen her face somewhere before, hoping that recognising her will lead him in some way to who the man is.
“You’re not eating, Magnus,” the woman says, a cold yet simpering smile on her face.
‘Magnus?’ Alec thinks. ‘Is that the stranger’s name?’
“I guess I’m just not that hungry, Camille,” his gorgeous stranger explains before clearly trying to make light of the situation. “Perhaps it’s just so beautifully presented that I feel like I’m going to be arrested for destroying a piece of artwork if I try eating it.”
Biting back the words that jump to his throat, Alec turns and glances down at his own barely touched plate.
He’d ordered a simple steak and roasted vegetables and had been looking forward to it, having eaten at this restaurant before and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, sometime between ordering his food and getting it, his appetite had disappeared, no doubt inhibited by the company he found himself enduring.
Thinking he should at least check in with Christian, he looks up to find the man still nattering on about something or other, in between shoveling bites of food into his mouth. Swallowing back the rising nausea he feels at the sight, he turns his attention back to the other table, finally recognising the other woman as she draws herself up to look over at Magnus imperiously.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Magnus. Food is made to be eaten. Besides, if you don’t eat, it’ll be an insult to the chef,” the woman whose name he cannot remember announces. “He’s own’s half this restaurant and from what I hear is likely to ban someone from returning if he doesn’t like you, so please don’t antagonise him.”
“I’m sure he’ll recover,” Magnus responded dryly, his gaze briefly flicking over and catching Alec's, who was now unapologetically watching the exchange.
“Well, by reputation Chef Santiago is not one who forgives slights easily, so at least make it look like you tried to eat it, or something, would you?”
“Of course,” Magnus replies easily, his eyes still locked on Alec and a playful smile hovering over his mouth as he picks up his fork and absentmindedly moves his food from one side to the other.
“Oh, look,” Camille says suddenly, paying no more attention to her food than she’d just accused Magnus of paying to his. “There’s Jem Carstairs from that new comic book movie. He’s going to be huge. Can you see who he’s with?”
Alec watches in amusement as Camille tries to lean over the table to catch a glimpse of the actor’s date, her heavy breasts coming perilously close to laying in the remnants of food on her plate. At her words, though, Alec is interested to see Magnus turn quickly to take in the famous actor, a soft smile forming on his face at the same time, making it even more beautiful to Alec’s attentive gaze. His brow furrows curiously, though as he watches Magnus school his expression into one of disinterest before turning back to Camille.
“Can’t tell,” he replies flatly, earning a look of annoyance from Camille before she relaxes her features somewhat.
“Aren’t you supposed to be some big shot entrepreneur or something?” Camille asks in what Alec assumes is supposed to be a winsome tone. “Can’t you go over and introduce yourself and then me. I’m trying to transition from modelling to acting and knowing Jem would be a big score.”
“I can’t do that, no,” Magnus tells her in an unimpressed tone.
“Well then, who do you know that you could introduce me to?” Camille asks in a cloyingly sweet tone.
“No one who could help you,” Magnus returns in a voice much less sweet.
‘This is better than tv,’ Alec thinks to himself, completely involved in the exchange of false niceties between the two.
“Well, that’s disappointing,” Camille tells Magnus tightly before turning her sharp gaze to Alec. “Can we help you?”
Typically, Alec would be mortified to be caught eavesdropping, but something about tonight has him acting out of character. Whether it was his great week at work, the complete lack of connection to his actual date tonight or his near-obsessive fascination with a gorgeous stranger, he doesn’t know. Whatever it is, he decides to just roll with it.
“Not really, no,” Alec tells her in a pleasant tone.
He watches as she prepares to make what he is sure a comment meant to wither and diminish him as a man. She seems like the type well-practised in that art. Before the words emerge, though, he sees the flicker of recognition in her gaze.
“You’re Alec Lightwood!” She exclaims, greed and delight twisting her features into something much less attractive.
“Guilty,” Alec admits, knowing someone as clearly ambitious as Camille appears to be would not be fooled by a simple denial of identity.
“Oh my God, I love your clothes!” the woman gushes as Magnus turns to look at Alec with a considering gaze, and Christian finally stops talking long enough to actually listen to someone else. “I don’t know if you know this, but I almost modelled for you last month. Unfortunately, our schedules just didn’t line up.”
“Unfortunately,” Alec repeats. He knows for a fact that it was not a matter of scheduling that prevented Camille from modelling for his latest collection. She’d been suggested to be one of his models for his show last month when he’d needed a last-minute stand-in. He’d taken one look at her picture, however, and immediately dismissed the idea, using all the guile and charm at his disposal to get his sister Izzy to do it instead. And when he’d found those skills to be missing, he’d simply bribed her, offering her first pick of the collection that she’d usually have to wait weeks for.
“I’d be happy to do so anytime in the future, though,” Camille continues, her date practically forgotten by her as she scoots her chair closer to Alec. He’d be annoyed, but she has managed to shut Christian up finally as well as slightly cut in front of him with her chair, much to Christian’s obvious annoyance. Alec figures that earns her some brownie points. At least enough to try and stay polite.
“I’m all good for now, but thank you. I’m certain we have your details, and we’ll keep you in mind,” Alec tells her diplomatically.
As Camille sits back with a resigned yet calculating expression, Magnus draws his attention by speaking.
“You’re Alec Lightwood?” he asks with an amused smile. At Alec’s nod, his smile widens, and he lets out a small chuckle when his gaze flicks briefly to Christian before coming to settle back on Alec.
“Of . . .?”
“One and the same,” Alec confirms, his face splitting in a wide grin at the warm chuckle that bubbles out of Magnus.
“I’m missing the joke here,” Christian interrupts crossly.
“Yes, you are,” Magnus replies, laughter still clear in his voice, as Camille too looks annoyed at being outside the joke, having missed Magnus’s earlier exchange with Christian.
“You really should try eating something,” Alec tells him warmly. “The food here looks fancy, but it’s also really good. For what essentially is an ‘it’ restaurant, this one is surprisingly good quality and service.”
“You don’t like ‘it’ restaurants?” Magnus asks, his eyes dancing with interest, both their dates completely forgotten.
“I like to go to a restaurant to eat good food,” Alec shares. “I don’t want to walk away hungrier than when I arrived or be served by snotty wait staff.”
“But this place satisfies your desires?” Magnus asks flirtatiously.
“Some of them at least,” Alec answers back, letting his voice drop into something a little deeper and watching with delight the little shiver that seems to race along Magnus’s body in response.
“Um, excuse me?”
Reluctantly, Alec and Magnus both drag their eyes off each other and turn to look at Camille.
“I’m not accustomed to being ignored,” she tells Magnus harshly. “Not even for Alec Lightwood.”
“Nor am I,” Christian pipes in looking irritated.
“Oh, shut up, you little pipsqueak,” Camille bites back. “There’s a reason you’re being ignored. You’ve been this annoying drone in my ear all night. How the hell you got a date with Alec Lightwood, I’ll never know.”
“Why the hell does everyone keep saying your full name like it should mean something? Are you famous or something?”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Camille asks with an incredulous expression.
“Alec is the owner and head designer of Archer designs,” Magnus explains with that same amused expression on his face. “He’s one of the hottest and biggest fashion designers in the world right now.”
Alec watches with amusement as Christian turns to him with a look of unmitigated horror.
“I didn’t know,” he stutters out, clearly embarrassed.
“Don’t worry about it,” Alec tells him kindly. He may not have enjoyed this date, but he gets no pleasure in making others squirm. At least not without more cause than this. “I’m still relatively new to the scene in terms of making it big.”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been at the top, as long as you get there,” Camille tells them dismissively. “And what you’ll do to stay there.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Alec counters. “I’d like to think I’ve got some sort of longevity all on my own. I feel no need to resort to drastic measures.”
“I’m sure you’ve got staying power in all the ways that count,” Magnus says with a sly grin, causing Alec to blush red.
“Yes, well,” Christian says uncomfortably. “We have a date get back to, and it seems you do too, so if you don’t mind.”
Magnus and Camille both sent Alec a regretful look for entirely different reasons before settling back further into their table and silently resuming their meal. Magnus simply stares down at the table between casting interested and curious looks over at Alec and Christian, while Camille casts a searching glance around the room.
Their eyes catching, Alec gives Magnus a small smile before Christian’s voice has him reluctantly looking away.
“So, you’re a big-time designer,” Christian ventures bravely. “How did you get into that?”
‘Now he wants me to talk,’ Alec thinks tiredly to himself, wishing this date could be over already.
“We didn’t grow up with a lot of money,” Alec began explaining. “But my sister really loved clothes, so I learnt to sew so I could make designer knock-offs for her. I ended up adding my own embellishments to improve upon them, and a passion was born.”
“That sounds amazing,” Christian returns in a voice suddenly dripping in overt interest. Alec resists rolling his eyes by letting his glance fall directly to the side instead and, in doing so, catches a flash of artificial light out of the corner of his eye.
Focusing a little more, Alec sees that Magnus has typed a message out on his phone and now holds the message open for Alec to read.
Let me know if you need a rescue. You look bored and frustrated and, no offence, but your date seems like an idiot.
“Tell me how you got into your line of work,” Alec invites, desperately searching his mind for what that work is as he tries to unobtrusively pull his phone out of his pants pocket to type back.
“Well, I currently manage a boutique store on the upper east side,” Christian begins as Alec’s attention drifts away again. “Very upscale clientele, of course . . .”
My sister set me up on the blind date. They attend the same yoga class.
I will be killing her tomorrow, but I think I have to continue enduring for tonight.
Thanks, though 😊
He holds it steady by his thigh until he sees Magnus angle his head slightly before looking back up understandingly.
Alec watches from the corner of his eye as Magnus begins typing something new out on his phone in reply, being careful to nod his head when it feels appropriate or when Christian stops to take a breath.
Mine’s a blind date too. Definitely not one I’ll be repeating.
That bad?
Worse ☹. Only interested in who I know and who I can introduce her to. Been like this all night.
Ouch! Sorry.
“So, what do you think?”
He’s so caught up in his private conversation with Magnus, it takes him a second to realise that Christian has paused in his monologue to ask him a question. He sends a questioning look to Magnus but gets nothing but a helpless shrug in return.
“I’m sorry?” Alec asks, accepting that he’s going to have to be honest in not knowing what the hell Christian has been talking about, let alone what he’s asked Alec.
“I asked if you wanted to head to Pandemonium after this?” Christian says with barely concealed impatience as Camille and Magnus both refuse deserts at the next table, and Magnus requests a coffee. “I have an in with the bouncer, so I can get us in.”
Magnus’s attention still on Alec’s table rather than his own sits up at this comment.
“You have an in with the bouncer at Pandemonium?” he asks incredulously.
“I do,” Christian answers in a voice filled with both annoyance at yet another interruption and pride at his connections being overheard by what he perceives as a rival. “But don’t think that’ll be of any use to you. You’re not invited.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Magnus answers with a wide smile.
“As if Magnus needs your connection to get into Pandemonium!” Camille interrupts scornfully. “He-“
“Camille.” Magnus cuts in quickly. “You don’t need to finish that sentence, please.”
“Whatever,” Camille replies before resuming her visual scan of the room and its guests, leaving Alec to wonder what she was going to say.
“So, what do you think, Alec?” Christian asks again, drawing Alec’s attention back to him. “You can lose your jacket before we hit the dance floor, and you’ll fit right in. The benefits of wearing a t-shirt under your suit, I guess. Makes it versatile.”
Alec doesn’t take offence at the comment, as the express purpose of many of his designs was versatility. Outfits that interchange easily between dressy and casual, formal and relaxed. The men’s line that this suit came from was, in fact, inspired by his own needs.
As his brand recognition grew, Alec was required to attend more and more events that required him to dress up. Most suits were uncomfortable and awkward to maneuver in for people like him who cherished comfort and ease above all else. So, he set his hand to designing a suit he could wear comfortably. And he’d need more than one suit, he’d reasoned, so one had led to two, which led to three, then four and so on and so on.
When Izzy had informed him that men’s wear was a walk in the park compared to the comfort women’s wear provided, he’d given that his best effort to that too and come out with a successful new line of formal and evening wear. Using his circle of friends and family as guinea pigs, he’d corrected and amended till they all declared his designs as the height of comfort and practicality as well as appeal.
“Let me think about it,” Alec told Christian in response to his question.
In truth, he’d love to go out dancing, burn off some of the residual energy that always hangs off him in the weeks that follow a runway show. Plus, he hasn’t had a chance to check out Pandemonium yet, despite the hype and Izzy and Jace raving about it. After opening two years ago, it had quickly gained a reputation as the place to be. Unfortunately, Alec’s rising star had kept him either in the office or away on trips far too much for him to join his sister or best friend on their nights out.
A night out on the dancefloor sounds ideal . . . if only it didn’t involve Christian. He’s more than ready for this date to be over and done with, and the idea of Christian grinding up against him holds no appeal whatsoever.
Magnus, on the other hand . . .
“Oh my God!” Camille’s voice suddenly cuts in across the silence. “He’s here with Tessa Grey! Can you believe it? I mean, she’s kind of drab looking, but she’s still someone. And I know you know her,” she says hotly, turning to Magnus. “I’ve seen pictures of you hanging out together.”
“Tessa’s an old friend,” Magnus concedes. “And I’m sure she wants to enjoy her dinner in peace.
“Nonsense,” Camille dismisses. “You’re her friend. I’m sure she’d love to say hi and meet me. And then she can introduce us to Jem as well.”
“Can I at least finish my coffee first?” Magnus asks in exasperation. “They’re still eating. They’re not going anywhere, and we can say hello on our way out.”
“Fine,” Camille sighs, sitting back in her chair and picking up her wine glass again before casting her eyes around the room for any other faces she might recognise.
Maybe you need me to save you. I can get you out of here if you want to bail.
Alec holds his phone down below the table again, angling it to allow Magnus to read it easily as he takes another sip of his wine.
It takes a minute for Magnus to catch sight of the phone, the other man’s eyes studiously avoiding Camille’s and looking across to where his friend sits with a pained expression.
When Magnus does catch sight of the typed message, he quickly brings up his phone and begins typing out a response, taking less care to be as inconspicuous as before, not that Camille is looking his way to notice.
Alec keeps watching out of the corner of his eye to see what Magnus replies, uncharacteristically nervous about the other man’s response when Camille drags Magnus’s attention away from whatever it is he’s writing.
“Magnus!” she calls out in a bright and cheerful voice. “Isn’t that your friend? You were just telling me how much you would like to run into her.”
Alec raises his head along with Magnus, even Christian joining in the comic timing to see what has captured Camille’s attention.
“Magnus!”
“Tessa! Jem!”
Magnus rises from his seat to greet the other couple warmly, embracing them both in an affection hug and exchanging a cheek kiss with Tessa. Despite his comments earlier to barely knowing the actor and Tessa being an old, yet perhaps distant friend, it’s clear he has a strong and warm relationship with them both.
“It’s so good to see you both. I’m glad you finally took me up on my offer to come and eat here. If you’d taken much longer, I think Raphael would have taken it as a personal insult and banned you for life,” Magnus tells them with a twinkle in his eye that leaves Alec breathless.
Camille, who has come to stand eagerly at his side, shoots him a confused glance before turning back to the famous couple with a greedy and eager expression.
“Well, we couldn’t resist tormenting him a little bit. You of all people know how much fun that can be,” Tessa tells him with a grin.
“Of course,” Magnus answers with a chuckle. “I perfected the art in the first place.”
“Yes, you did,” Jem tells him with a stern yet amused look. “And as one of our oldest friend’s, he probably deserves better.”
“Oh, you know he doesn’t,” Magnus teases back, coaxing a smile out of Jem, who then falls silent.
“Magnus,” Tessa says, looking expectantly at Camille, who is practically vibrating at his side. “Is there someone you’d like to introduce us to?”
Turning, Magnus looks at Camille with barely contained exasperation.
“No, but I’ll do so anyway. Jem, Tessa, this is Camille. Camille, you know exactly who my friends are since you’ve been begging to meet them since you spotted them.”
Quickly giving Magnus a scathing look, Camille turns to the famous duo with a rapturous look.
“Camille Belcourt,” she introduces herself. “I’m so thrilled to meet you both. I’m such a fan of your works, and dear Magnus has been regaling me with stories that make you seem as wonderful in person as you do on the big screen.”
“You have?”
“I have?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Jem, Magnus and Alec all speak at the same time, though Alec’s scoffing remark seems to draw the most attention, even causing Christian to chuckle, who, along with Alec, had been watching the exchange between the four in rapt attention.
“Strange, Magnus,” Jem says quietly, his attention still resting slightly on Alec as it flits briefly to Magnus. “You usually don’t talk about knowing us outside of our circle of friends.”
“And I still don’t,” Magnus says blithely. “However, let me introduce you to a new friend of mine, whom I’m hoping to get to know better. Jem, Tessa, this is Alec Lightwood. Alec, meet Tessa and Jem. Oh, and that’s Christian. I think.” Magnus adds when Christian clears his throat in protest of being left out.
‘Not that he cares’, Alec thinks to himself, as Christian stumbles to his feet, as eager to meet the famous couple as Camille had been.
Alec takes a long second to stand, and when he does, he allows Tessa to pull him into the same warm embrace she’d greeted him with earlier that morning.
“We know Alec,” she tells Magnus happily as Alec and Jem exchange handshakes. “He’s agreed to design our suit and dress for the wedding. We’ve been meeting him every day this week. We just finished the designs this morning.”
“You have?” Magnus asks in disbelief before turning to Alec. “They have?”
“Their agent reached out and said they were fans,” Alec explains with a soft smile. “I thought it could be fun.”
“He’s who your meeting tomorrow for your officiant suit,” Tessa explains with a gleeful smile.
“Are you kidding me?” Magnus all but squeals, though in a softened voice due to their setting. “You got me a meeting with Alec Lightwood for an exclusive design Archer suit?”
“We wanted it to be a surprise,” Tessa tells him, gently placing a hand on Magnus’s forearm.
“Tessa may have also been hoping to set the two of you up,” Jem says before turning to Alec with an apologetic look. “Forgive us, Alec. We had no idea you were seeing someone.”
“Oh, I’m not,” Alec refutes immediately. “This was a blind date, and it wasn’t going well.”
He turns at Christian’s huffed protest. “I’m sorry, but you started by insulting my work and then preceded to talk about yourself for the rest of the night. Did you really think this was a success?”
“Well, you may be single, but Magnus is with me,” Camille says, possessively slinking her arm around Magnus’s elbow and pulling him against her.
“Oh, he’s really not,” Magnus vehemently disagrees as he pulls his arm out of Camille’s grasp and steps away.
“No, he’s not,” Alec agrees. “In fact, I’m taking your date,” he tells her before turning to Magnus. “With your permission, of course?”
“Of course,” Magnus answers with a delighted smile, sliding his arm through Alec’s and turning away. “In fact, since we have an appointment to meet at 9 am tomorrow, I suggest we make a night of it and just keep going till the sun rises. I happen to own a nightclub not far from here with another friend. Do you want to hit the dancefloor with me?”
“I would love to,” Alec says happily, already imagining how it would feel to press against Magnus’s body on a crowded dancefloor.
“You have got to be shitting me!” Christian exclaims angrily.
“Magnus, don’t you dare!” Camille all but screeches.
“Dinner is on me. It seems only fair,” Magnus tells the two abandoned dates before turning to Alec. “It’s easy to do when the restaurant is half mine.
He then turns to Jem and Tessa. “Would the two of you like to join us at Pandemonium? The owner’s box awaits us.”
“We’d love to,” Tessa says happily as Jem bites back a smile of amusement at the open-mouthed horror of the two being left behind.
“So, I take it I did good arranging to matchmake the two of you?” Tessa asks as they walk out.
“You did, my dear,” Magnus tells her. “Unfortunately, we simply couldn’t wait that long, so we just got on with it ourselves.”