Chapter 139: The sweet temptation of an IOU
"Okay. Get up. I don’t like that you’re on the floor." Cass ordered and Vespertine slowly rose up, sitting back on his thighs. It wasn’t exactly what Cass had in mind, but the look on Vespertine’s face told him that the man was still processing everything he had heard.
Cass waited, watching him for a few moments before he reached for another snack.
Vespertine sat in silence, muling over everything before he finally spoke.
"Do you think...she ever actually liked me?" Oh boy. Now he was going to bring that up? How the hell was Cass supposed to know? He’d never liked anyone in his life. He didn’t know what that felt like, at least romantically. He liked his sister, and his brother-in-law, and that was about it.
There might have been other people in his past, but it had been a long time. They didn’t count anymore.
Cass sighed, sitting back against the couch cushions as he looked at the Vespertine before him. This was a man who was a shell of himself. He was suffering, because of things he found out yesterday, what he had done thus far, and everything in between. He could feel pity for the man, maybe even some empathy, but no sympathy.
The man had put himself here. He hadn’t groveled enough for Cass’ piece of mind, nor was he willing to accept it. Most of it wasn’t his to accept. The more recent shit? Absolutely. He’d done that with Cass, not with Lord Blackburn, but there was some old shit that he had done that Cass couldn’t forgive, for Lord Blackburn’s sake.
"I don’t know, Lord Vespertine. I’m not a mind reader, and I...well, it’s not my place to guess. I suggest that she probably had pure intentions when entering into marriages with you three, but who am I to say? Did you ask her?" Cass asked and watched as Vespertine swallowed, turning his head to the side.
His jaw was tight, his expression complicated and sad, and his hands pressed into his thighs, fists in their own right. The man was pissed and avoiding her. Fair enough. She had lied, and not only that, it was his adoptive sister that she was involved with. There was bound to be a deeper hurt involved.
Cass wouldn’t know that pain, and he couldn’t even imagine it. They were already on rocky ground, well, everyone was on rocky ground with Ava right now. Cass wasn’t sure if Vespertine knew that, but it wasn’t Cass’ job to make him aware of the fact that Lady Fiona and Ava were having a hard time. Cass didn’t even know if they were still together.
That had not been brought up when she had visited him yesterday, and he hadn’t had time to ask.
"I can’t ask her. I...I’m afraid of the answer." Vespertine admitted, his voice small. Cass frowned. Damn it. A fucking crying vampire? Was this what he was going to have to deal with right now?
He had thought that this was going to be a tense, hard conversation and instead he had one of the prettiest men he’d ever seen on his knees before him, miserable, and on the verge of crying over a lesbian. Well, she could be bisexual, but Cass wasn’t going to put labels on her he hadn’t seen with his own eyes.
"That’s not very much like you." Cass muttered quietly and Vespertine let out a light, horrible sounding laugh.
"Yeah. I know. I’m not normally this weak but I..." His lips trembled, his blue eyes became pools and Cass could feel it. The man was going to cry. Fuck. He had no idea how to handle people who cried. Really. "But I thought she was my way out. I liked her, like really liked her and I can’t believe she was sleeping with Ava. She barely even touched us." Vespertine dropped his head, his shoulders shaking as he let out soft sobs. Fuck.
"Vespertine, I-" He threw his head back, tears running down his face as he sobbed. The man still looked pretty.
"And I’ve been having such a hard time, this whole time, because I wanted to be loyal, I wanted to be a good husband. I worked so hard on myself, changing my habits, making wine so that I could hide everything from her, so we could live perfectly together. I really cared about her! My Father was against the marriage, and I went against his wishes to do so! It was a big fight! And damn it, they were right." Vespertine raised his hands, wiping his tears away with his fingers but he wasn’t fast enough.
Cass let out a sigh that felt like it took a piece of his soul.
It did kind of suck for Vespertine that he had actually liked Lady Fiona. There was just no way to get around that. Cass didn’t know if they broke up in the original novel, but he knew that Fiona had gotten closer to her husbands near the end of the book. Maybe Vespertine’s actually sincere feelings had gotten through to her. He didn’t know, and he wouldn’t know.
What he did know was that this had been changed somehow, and Vespertine was suffering now. Shit.
Cass stared at the man on his knees with an aching feeling in his chest.
"Lord Vespertine, come over here." Cass finally relented and the other man sniffed.
"N-No. I’m already-"
"Don’t make me ask twice." Cass said sharply and Vespertine, who normally would trade barbs with him flinched, before he nodded and sniffed. He shakily got to his feet, wobbling towards Cass before he sat down. Cass shifted closer to him once he sat down and reached up with his good hand, wiping away some of the tears that poured from his eyes.
Vespertine stared in shock, his blue eyes wide as Cass gently took care of him.
"Now why are you going and ruining your handsome features over a woman, hmm? You just drank all of that liquid and now you’re going to cry it out? What a waste." Cass murmured, his fingers brushing against the soft texture of the other man’s skin. Vespertine’s hand raised to Cass’, grabbing his wrist.
"W-What do you mean by that?" Vespertine asked, his words sounding like they were painful. He had to be holding back more tears.
"Exactly what I mean. You’re Lord Edgar Vespertine. Everyone knows you’re handsome, and you usually have a decent personality when you’re trying. So what if this decision didn’t come out the way you wanted? It’s not like divorce is frowned upon, and I’m sure Lady Fiona would understand your reasons for doing so. It also doesn’t mean you’re kicked out of the hero party, now does it?" Cass gave him a soft smile in the face of such clear shock.
It was clear that Vespertine was shocked at his words, and that he hadn’t even considered the things that Cass was bringing up. Cass was always thinking about it. For different reasons, of course, but Vespertine didn’t need to know that part.
"Everyone will understand that you’ll need time. Well, probably. Draken is an exception because he doesn’t think in a similar way to us, but I’m sure Lord Ridgewood would be understanding, and so would Lady Fiona. Lady Ava? Well, it sounds like you are trying to send her back to the head temple, so I don’t think her opinion matters much." Cass felt his lips turn up slightly at that, before he controlled his expression.
Vespertine was still crying, but it seemed like they were coming faster. His face crinkled as he fully cried in earnest.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Vespertine asked. "I’m going to get the wrong impression." He said, almost angrily and Cass blinked.
"The wrong impression? Not everyone wants to sleep with you, Lord Vespertine." Cass told him, maybe a bit too harshly given the situation he found himself in, but he needed to make it clear. That was not the reason he was helping him, and Vespertine should not get any funny ideas in his head. Cass wasn’t helping him to try to get him to rebound with him. He’d read about those enough in stories.
He did not want it.
Vespertine’s face crumbled more.
"Is it because I’m such a mess? I thought you liked it when I kissed you." Vespertine sobbed loudly and Cass felt his face heat.
"That was-I was also going through emotional turmoil! You kissed me to get me to stop crying!" Cass protested and Vespertine sobbed more.
"So why won’t you do the same with me? I would stop crying if you kissed me!" Vespertine sobbed loudly. It was ugly, it was loud, and Cass was bewildered by his actions. He was crying over a woman who he had feelings for. Why would he want someone else to kiss him?
"You’re crying over Lady Fiona! Why in the world would I kiss you knowing that?" Cass shot back, not sure if logic would even work on the man right now. Vespertine sniffed, turning his gaze towards Cass.
"I am crying over her. I know it’s lame, but I just-I need a distraction. Could you please? Nothing too serious, just a few pecks? I’ll owe you." A sharp, zinging pain shot through Cass’ whole being and suddenly, he found himself moving. His arms were reaching out, cupping the other man’s head with his palms and pulling him closer to him. Vespertine, who had been actively sobbing before, paused as Cass yanked him towards him.
It wasn’t him moving though.
Lord Blackburn had heard the promise of an IOU and decided, to hell with it, we’ll kiss another man. Cass was in just as much shock as Vespertine as their lips met.
Cass, who had no idea what to do, and Lord Blackburn, who had an equal amount of experience as Cass, were at a loss. He didn’t know what to do, and it became very clear to Vespertine that that was the case.
Vespertine’s laughter filled his body, causing Cass’ body to shake slightly and Vespertine reached up, threading his fingers into Cass’ hair to angle his head, kissing him deeper, with more force.
Cass’ breath was lost, and he could feel Lord Blackburn along with him for every second of this, almost like he couldn’t leave. It was a strange sensation. Like someone else was watching them as they did this.
It caused Cass’ stomach to drop, butterflies fluttering inside as Vespertine let out a harsh, aggressive sigh out against his lips before he kissed him again.
It wasn’t the soft, sweetish kisses that Vespertine had given him underneath that tree. These were kisses that were similar to what Draken had done, and that thought only made Cass’ whole body clench. Vespertine drew Cass’ bottom lip in between his teeth, nibbling lightly and Cass let out a soft exhale. Vespertine continued to kiss him until Vespertine’s body stopped shaking, and with one final kiss, he pulled away.
Cass pushed him away, his hands on his chest as confusion filled him.
What had just happened? What had he just done? Why had Lord Blackburn done that? Cass had been so sure that he hadn’t liked him, so why had he-was Lord Blackburn the type of guy who would put himself on the line to get what he wanted?
Shit. Fuck. Cass couldn’t even look up at Vespertine. He didn’t want to know what kind of expression he was looking at him with. He needed...to get out of here.