by Katsura
Two was pointless, three was a start. So Judas told himself that was the reason why he was going to get Vinny and he headed off to the brothel.
*
A look of sheer delight graced Mikhail’s face as he walked along the familiar cherub bedecked hallway of the brothel and despite everything, Fergus smiled as he held him gently by the elbow to support him.
Sacha was at the desk and when he looked up from the client appointment book, his young face echoed Mikhail’s joy.
“Mr Majewski!” He beamed and rushed from his place to embrace Mikhail tightly.
“You are back! And I did look after the place so well. You can ask anyone. There were no problems at all.”
He looked smug, his demeanour full of self-importance.
“How wonderful, Sacha.” Mikhail smiled. “I am so lucky to have you.”
Judas had been talking with Sacha before their arrival and he now stood impassively, sunglasses on as usual, in the glare of the brothel lights.
“Jude.” Fergus nodded to him and gave him a genial pat on the shoulder. Even behind the dark lenses, Fergus could tell that Judas’s eyes had widened in shock at this unusually friendly gesture and he smiled. “You’re here on business, or pleasure?”
“Neither.” Judas stood up straighter and slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat. “Just looking for Vinny.”
“Vinny?” Fergus felt suddenly cold and panicky, but managed to maintain his composure. “Is he missing?”
Judas’s brow creased in obvious confusion. “Why the fuck would he be missing?”
he shook his head. “He…has a friend he visits here. But apparently my name’s not on the list so I’m not coming in, as it were.” He smiled humourlessly.
Fergus chuckled. “Well good that security is tight. Those guys could come back.
The one’s that kidnapped Mikhail.”
“What guys?” Judas’s confused expression returned.
Fergus laughed softly again and patted Judas’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.
And there is your man there.”
Vinny had just come out of the office. He walked towards them with a sheepish expression and stopped in front of Fergus.
“Fergie.” His one word greeting of Fergus seemed forced.
“Vinny.” Fergus smiled, somewhat relieved as this was just the normal coldness he had come to expect from the young man in recent times, so probably not any indication that Vinny’d remembered Fergus had tried to kill him.
Vinny then turned to Judas. There was some kind of tension between them that was so obvious and Fergus looked from one to the other. Judas took off his sunglasses and put them into his pocket. He sighed, then shifted his attention to Fergus again.
“Fergie, I owe you an apology.” He sounded genuine. Judas was never genuine so things just seemed to be getting weirder.
Vinny visibly flinched and Fergus stared at them both quite astonished.
“You do?” He blinked.
“Yeah. About the bag…” Judas took a deep breath.
“Don’t!” Vinny opened his mouth and he looked pleadingly at Judas.
“Let me finish, Vinny.” Judas said in a firm voice. “It seems that you were right all along, Fergie. There were never six. Just me being a greedy cunt, like you said.”
“I see.” Fergus let his gaze travel to Vinny. The young hood had lowered his eyes and Fergus had to resist the urge to laugh. So he’d had the right man after all. Vinny the scapegoat had actually been Vinny the guilty. Fergus still wouldn’t have been able to shoot him though. Even if he had known what Vinny had done.
“Well.” Fergus continued with a warm smile. “We all make mistakes. Now if you will excuse me.” He returned to Mikhail’s side and took his arm gently to once more lead him along the hallway.
Sacha stepped back and seemed to peruse Mikhail’s attire with a rather disapproving expression. “Oh Mr Majewski, this outfit? I am really not so sure…”
Fergus and Mikhail laughed and walked off slowly towards Mikhail’s private rooms. Just before they entered the office, Fergus spoke up tentatively. “Mika. I don’t suppose…I don’t suppose that you heard any of the messages I left you, or read any of the texts?”
“No.” Mikhail shook his head, “My phone was, well, it was destroyed.”
“Ah,” Fergus smiled, “good.”
Judas and Vinny faced each other, Sacha being once more too busy with his paperwork to pay them any attention.
“Thank you.” Vinny reached out and clasped Judas’s wrist and Judas looked down to where the fingers rested just below his bracelet. Slim fingers, knuckles decorated with the inked word, Love.
“I never noticed before.” His eyes met Vinny’s again. God, Vinny really did have beautiful eyes. Beautiful everything probably.
“Never noticed what?” Vinny looked back, the stud beneath his lower lip moved as he spoke and Judas stared at it.
“The love…hate thing. On your hands. Prison tattoos?” Judas asked. They looked so amateurish compared to Vinny’s other tattoos.
“Naw.” Vinny shook his head. “Just bored one day. I’m gonna get them removed.
They seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Judas nodded. “Probably for the best.” He took a deep breath, “Vinny, I—“
“You don’t need to say anything.”
“But I do.” Judas continued. He really did. There were so many things that he wanted to say. He wanted to thank Vinny for taking the bag. Caring enough to do that.
There was never anyone else in Judas’s world who would have thought to do that for him. He wanted to apologise for being a jerk as he knew that he really was one. Then there was this other thing. “Vinny…you know, when I first met you…”
“Yeah, yeah. I was a junkie. Fuck, Jude. That’s all over and done with now!” Vinny sounded exasperated and that had not been Judas’s intention.
“No.” Judas shook his head. “I know that. Just, you were young and like…I know you approached me for sex, but—“
“Fuck sake! I was desperate. Don’t fucking tell me you think I’m a rent boy now too! I’m too old for that and, well, I got Cain.” Vinny’s expression softened. “I got someone now and I’m happy.”
“I’m…really glad to hear that.” Judas wasn’t glad at all. He knew that he should be, but he wasn’t and he berated himself for wishing that Vinny had no one and would look at him now, in that way that he sometimes used to. How was that even fair on the guy? Judas fucked around and always would. Why did he want Vinny to still carry that torch for him when anything between them would be fleeting and no doubt end in hurt or betrayal for Vinny?
Vinny still held Judas by the wrist and slowly, Judas reached out his other hand and patted him gently on his arm. “You need to come back, Vinny. Ewan is making my life hell.”
Vinny smiled then without any warning at all, he threw his arms around Judas and hugged him so tightly that they both practically fell over.
“Hey! Fuck!” Judas closed his eyes and embraced Vinny in his arms. He held him like that for longer than he meant to, but not for as long as he wanted to. Finally he knew that he had to let him go, and in more ways than one. Judas forced out a happy sounding laugh and released Vinny. “Okay, you. Let’s get out of here and go get a beer.
I need a drink.”
Vinny laughed too, in a much more genuine way, and he slung one arm around Judas’s shoulder as they headed for the door.
“Well you and The Legend.” Judas raised his eyebrows, now visible above his dark lenses as he had put the sunglasses on again. “So what’s that like then?”
“Well,” Vinny replied as they walked out into the late afternoon sunshine. “Did you not notice how I’ve been avoiding sitting down these days?”
About the Author
Katsura is an avid collector of Asian Ball Jointed Dolls (BJD). She enjoys writing black comedy and yaoi, which she works on with talented artist Yuramei, and is a huge fan of British
comedy, especially vintage movies. She has had her comedy scripts performed in and around the stand up scene in Glasgow, the city in which she was born. Katsura lives in Scotland and likes nothing more than to travel up north and look at the hills.
About the Artist
Yuramei is predominantly an artist but also writes her own Yaoi fiction. She currently lives in Germany and enjoys playing action games, smoking, BJD, drinking coffee and being a slave to her pet cat.
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