A Knight of Chivalry (On-Hold)

Chapter 1

The sound of ice cubes tinkling in the whiskey glass resonated loudly around the empty bar. It wasn't a strange phenomenon for bars to be void of customers or patrons at this hour. Not in this part of Chicago, where the night grew chilly, the hours were quiet and the streets hummed in silence.

Sage James liked quiet, and he preferred to be in his own company most times, so being the only employee to close the bar every Tuesday night was something he always looked forward to at the end of his shift.

Despite living in a bustling city where no one was a stranger to the pollution of light and noise, he thrived and took advantage of any moment of quietness he could get. Thinking, he mused, worked best for him when there's nothing to distract his attention.

And thinking, he did.

While quietly wiping the counter top clean, he thought about the amount of money he needed to amass to cover his tuition fees this year, the rent that would be collected by the end of this week, sending money to his mother back home, get some groceries, and....do his laundry.

The second thing he liked to do was having a solution, a plan he had laid out mentally; the first one was going to be ongoing until he finished with his studies; work extra hours every day except Saturday, because he deserves at least that, and then set aside some leftover money from his previous paycheck for rent. 

He would bank in some money to his mum, do groceries on Wednesday mornings because for some reason, the prices were a little cheaper and Sage needed to spend smartly if he wanted to make it in the city. He didn't have huge appetites so it was easy to get the necessary food ingredients to survive every two weeks, at least.

And finally, he would do yesterday's dirty laundries as soon as he gets home.

And, he mused in an immediate afterthought, if he still has any more cash from his previous pay check and some from his soon to be receive salary, those will stay in the bank for future plans.

Sage James considered himself to be a practical man.

There were times when he wondered why his boss opened up the bar in a secluded place of this city, which contrast greatly with the posh interior, considering the history on the establishment of the club dated almost two centuries ago, built for people of prominent household and proprieties. 

A part of Sage thought that his boss ran this business as a joke to his aristocrat family, but he also thought it was just plain dry humour on his boss' part. He asked him once, and the man's only response was a shrug and grin a little too sharp than he was accustomed to.

Sage left it at that.

Across from him, a man chuckled deeply, the sound vibrating through his body, which successfully broke him out of his thoughts.

"A penny for your thoughts?" The man said, a drunken slur evident in his voice.

Sage flickered his gaze towards his boss, the owner of Carlisle's Isle. He chuckled. His employer must have thought the name was clever, since it was basically named after him. As if that wasn't clear enough, he thought adding an isle after Carlisle – a pun after his name – would be the real deal. Sage had to bite back a chuckle at the thought.

Carlisle Rutherford was intelligent, but he was also peculiar.

He was also a man of few words, but a talkative drunk when prodded. With alcohol.

He eyed the three glasses of whiskey the man across from him had.

What a lightweight, he thought.