Page 42 of Breaking Vincent
I don’t even try to act surprised, because he's hit the nail on the head.
Jude, though, looks confused. “Wait, what about Vincent?”
Nate just smirks at me.
“Your friend, Vincent is the Masked Brat.” That's a statement, not a question. Because now that I’ve had the time to think about it, the similarities between them are uncanny. The long white bleached hair, the tattoos, the piercings, the same green eyes. The snark from the man and the snark from the brat is exactly the same. “Truthfully, I just feel stupid I didn’t put two and two together before this.”
Jude’s face is a mix of confusion and guilt. He looks between Nate and I, obviously not sure on what to do.
“Also, I heard you arguing with William at work last night. Sorry for eavesdropping. It's just hard to ignore when you hear your name being dropped in a conversation.” I don’t regret listening in and I do feel better now that I have some clarity on the situation.
“Yeah, not my finest moment.” Nate runs a hand through his hair. “But Vincent is miserable and even though he pisses me off to no end, he deserves to be happy. Actually, I told him to come and fix this with you.”
Now that surprises me. Knowing Vincent as much as I do - or don’t, I wouldn’t expect him to be one to reach out first. “So, I’m guessing he told you what happened between us?”
Nate shrugs his shoulders, “He didn’t go into detail about what exactly went down with you guys at the club. He told me how you guys met as David and Vincent, and then told me how you met as David and the Masked Brat. I’m not sure what his reasons were for not revealing his identity as soon as you met in the club, but I think he went along with it for too long and it snowballed.”
I have thought about the reasons why he never came forward with who he was, maybe because of how we met at the cafe? If he would have just come to me and explained, I would have dealt with it. And now I could’ve lost my perfect match.
A plate of food is placed in front of me, pulling me from my thoughts. The delicious aroma makes my stomach grumble.
Luckily the loud gurgle breaks the awkwardness. Jude snorts and then digs into his own lunch.
The rest of our time together is spent discussing the collaring ceremony, which is happening this weekend. The guys are all loved up and making heart eyes at each other, and I’m so happy for them, not at all jealous. I use more force than necessary when cutting my steak, causing the whole table to rattle.
Jude gets a little red face. “Sorry. Here we are flaunting our love, while you’re in the middle of a crisis.”
Nate only laughs.
I roll my eyes. “Don’t apologise. I’m happy for you both, I’m just a little salty that I may have ruined something that could have been perfect.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Nate asks.
I lay my knife and fork on my plate, piled with food that I’ve hardly touched. “I don’t know. Maybe I should just leave it up to him?” I nod my head at Nate, “You said you told him to fix this. So, shall I just wait for him to come to me?”
“Ahh,” Jude interrupts. “The ceremony! Make a grand gesture for him and proclaim your love!”
I laugh because that sounds ridiculous. “I’m not claiming my love, feelings maybe, but not love. At least not yet anyway.” The idea of confronting him at the party does sound like it could be fun though. I could make a whole thing of it. Tell him that I don’t care that he’s the infuriating man who's made it his life mission to piss me off. I would apologise for my fuck up after our scene together. Explain that we can start fresh.
With that settled, I pick up my knife and fork and dig back into my food. The steak is cold and the chips are soggy, but I still dig in like it's the most delicious thing in the world.
“By the way, I don’t have a fancy-dress costume for the ceremony, but I do have a pretty snazzy tuxedo that I wore for my sister's wedding.” That was a couple of years ago and I’m glad I haven’t gotten any taller since then.
Jude claps his hands together and squeals in excitement, “Oh my god, this is so exciting. It’s going to be so romantic and now I think about it, you guys are kinda perfect together.” He claps again, “And this means that our group will be expanding, that's great isn’t it, Nate? I need to tell Jamie.” He pulls his phone out like he’s going to ring Jamie right now.
I hold my hand out, “Wait, wait, maybe telling Jamie isn’t the best idea right now.”
Jude looks like I’ve just kicked a puppy. “What, why? I’m sure he’ll be just as excited.”
I rake my hands through my hair and say, “As much as I love Jamie, he’s a gobshite. And I don’t want this situation to spread out of control before I can do something about it.” I shrug my shoulders, “Plus, he would tell William and I’m still trying to decide if I want to tell him that I know about his meddling.”
Jude visibly deflates, “I guess you’ve got a point. But, if he asks, I can’t lie to him.”
I nod my head, “That's fine, I wouldn’t want you to lie to your best friend. Now how about you tell me more about the party? Is there anything you need me to do? I’ll be coming as a guest, but I can be there to help with security.”
Jude shakes his head, “No, no I want you to be with us to help celebrate. I know William has other staff, so they can deal with all the boring stuff.”
Knowing that Jude sees me as one of his close friends pulls at my heartstrings. Since moving to England all those years ago, I made friends with the boys at school, they were all casual buddies and when school ended, everybody moved on. I have my family, but those relationships aren’t the same as having solid friendships.