Page 30 of Fighting Fate (Monsters of London #4)

Vince

“Hey,” Jamie says as we leave Cecile and Silas at the tube station, “want to get some food before we head home?”

I don’t say that we have food at home. Jamie knows that as well as I do. And the truth is, I don’t fancy going back there right now, either.

“Yeah, sure.”

We settle on a kebab shop that also has pizza, and I get chicken and chips, while Jamie orders a large pepperoni. His takes longer than mine—of course—so he picks at my chips, smirking whenever I nudge his hand away.

“Was it all okay?” I ask. “The class, I mean?”

“Yeah, I guess… I guess I enjoyed it. Cecile seems nice.”

“She is. I’m sure she’d be happy to work with you again.”

“Let’s hope this doesn’t have to be a regular occurrence, huh?”

I smile and eat a few more chips. Jamie’s order is called, and he grabs his pizza, letting out a happy sigh as he opens the box.

“Is this what I should be eating after your class?” he asks, right before he shoves half a slice of pizza into his mouth.

I roll my eyes. “It was a self-defence class. I never did PT, remember?”

“Boo.”

“If you want to train, I could tell Kieran to help you work out. I’m sure you’d love it.”

“He wasn’t there today.”

“No. Drew’s his brother.”

Jamie about chokes on his next bite. “Fuck. And they’re…”

“ Obviously related, sure. Drew’s bigger, though.”

“Bet he could snap me in half.”

I laugh into my drink. So could anyone in the class—Enza included—I’m pretty sure.

I text Nick before I dig into my food properly, letting him know where we are.

I’ll meet you at home.

I frown at that. I don’t like the idea of him being home alone any more than I like the idea of Jamie being there. Jamie catches my expression and mirrors it.

“What’s going on?”

“Nick’s heading home after work.”

“Oh. Should we—”

“No. He’ll be fine.”

Jamie shakes his head and picks up another slice of pizza, but he seems less into it when he chews this time. After a moment, he throws it back into the box, apparently disgusted. “I’m sorry about all this,” he mutters, eyes firmly down on the table.

“Sorry about what?”

“All this. With Tim. I didn’t think he’d do this.”

“Yeah, I know. And it’s not your fault.”

“If I hadn’t gone out with him, this wouldn’t be happening.”

“No.” I put my fork down and look at Jamie until he lifts his eyes and meets my gaze. “If he weren’t a pathetic little prick, this wouldn’t be happening. You broke up with him. That’s a normal thing that happens to people. Doesn’t mean he gets to come and scream at you about it.”

“Yeah, but I should’ve—I should’ve known better.”

“What do you mean?”

Jamie closes the pizza box and pushes it away from him. We’re taking that home. He’s only eaten one slice, and though my class wasn’t a workout class, not exactly, he does need to eat more than that.

“I mean… We were off and on for a while at the beginning, you know, because he’s super private, and he didn’t want—” Jamie shakes his head. “I should have known then.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t.” I swallow, my throat suddenly tight. “You know some people are like that.”

“That’s what I figured. He kept getting all jealous when I went out, so I told him either we were together or we weren’t, and it was up to him. That’s when we got together officially.”

“Okay.”

“And it was fine for a while. I really liked his sense of humour, and he was pretty good in bed, so I figured everything was going okay…”

“What happened?”

“He just started getting kind of… I don’t know, bitchy? No. Mean. He’d make fun of the things I liked, acted like I needed to grow up to be with him, so I just—I told him it was over. The timing worked. My rental agreement was up, and I knew I didn’t want to move in with him even though it had been a couple of years, and you’d said you and Nick were down a housemate, so it felt like it’d be a fresh start.”

“And you didn’t hear from him until he came to the house?”

“He’s been texting, but I figured he’d get over it.”

“Texting?” I shake my head. “You didn’t tell us that.”

“I didn’t think it was important. He started off saying he wanted me back, he was sorry, whatever… I ignored him, but then he began texting more often and getting a bit…” Jamie trails off.

“A bit what?”

“More threatening.”

I force my voice to stay steady. “Is it all right… Can I see?”

Jamie nods and unlocks his phone, then hands it over. I scroll through the text thread between him and Tim, my heart hammering against my ribs.

Come on, baby. You know I’m sorry.

Why won’t you talk to me? I can’t apologise if you won’t listen.

Fuck’s sake, Jamie. Stop being a bitch about it, would you?

You think you can break up with me, you little slut? No one else is gonna have you, I can promise you that.

More threatening? The guy is fucking unhinged.

“Jamie, this is serious,” I say quietly.

“Yeah, I know. But I don’t know what to do.”

He doesn’t want to go to the police, and I won’t make him do that. Maybe I can wear him down when it comes to Kieran, though? Yeah, that might work.

I resolve to ask Kieran to come to the next class Jamie will be at and hand him his phone back. He swipes at his eyes before he shoves it in his pocket. “Can we talk about something else? Please?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Let’s talk about Dax.”

I choke on air. “Sorry?”

“What’s going on with you and him? He barely stopped looking at you today.”

Oh, this is not what I want to talk about, either, but I feel like I owe Jamie a bit of leeway. I huff and sit back in my chair, what’s left of my food growing cold between us.

“I want to give things with him a try.” Each word feels as though I’m physically forcing it out of my throat. “But it’s… scary. And I’m busy right now, anyway.”

Jamie scowls. “Don’t go using me as an excuse.”

“What? I wouldn’t—”

“Don’t. If you want him, go after him. It’s on you.”

I’m silent for a moment as Jamie glares at me, as serious as I’ve ever seen him. “Yeah,” I say finally. “I’ve got it. I know.”

“Good. Just so we’re clear.”

I huff but smile, and after a moment, Jamie smiles back. “We’re clear.”

Nick texts before we leave to let me know he’s back at the house and safely locked in. As we round the corner—a pizza for him in the bag I’m carrying, alongside Jamie’s—the lights are on, though it’s not quite dark yet.

“He’s gonna be fucking starving,” Jamie mutters. “Don’t know why he didn’t just order in.”

I shrug. “Just as easy to make us get it, I guess.”

Jamie unlocks the door ahead of me and as he slips inside, the back of my neck prickles like I’m being watched. I look up and down the street. A couple further down are going into their house, and there’s a woman with a pram across the road…

Someone turns around the corner and out of sight. A man, though I don’t catch a glimpse of his face.

I only met Tim a couple of times. I can’t be sure that was him.

“Are you coming in or staying outside all night?” Jamie grumps, and I shake my head, dislodging the thought.

Maybe it was Tim. Maybe I’m just paranoid.

I’m careful to lock the door tight and put the chain on. Just in case.