Anthony's nostrils flared. "Why are you talking to me like this? Was one of my clients someone who personally wronged you, or someone in your family?"
"No, worse." Sören gave a disdainful snort. "Does the name Justin ring a bell to you? Blond hair, blue eyes, tan, athletic build, twentysomething?"
Anthony's eyes widened. His mouth opened. He quickly glanced around the cafe - they'd drawn a few stares - and then Anthony said sotto voce, "Please step outside with me for a moment."
Sören rolled his sleeves up, wanting Anthony to get the message that if Anthony wanted to fight over Justin, he was up for the challenge. Anthony stared at the ink on Sören's arms for a moment, and swallowed hard before he rose from the table and led the way out the front door. They walked a few paces off to the side, standing in front of the window by the table where Anthony had been sitting.
"Why are you asking me about Justin?" Anthony asked.
Sören folded his arms. "Because you were one of the people he was cheating on me with."
Anthony facepalmed, and made a strangled noise as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Sören put his hands on his hips, not sure of what to make of that reaction.
Then Anthony took his hand away from his face and glared. "OK. Look. Justin and I hooked up exactly once." Anthony held up his index finger. "A Grindr hookup three weeks ago. I don't know how you found this out -"
"You were in his contacts, marked with the label of 'hookup'."
Anthony gave a dry, bitter laugh. "Well that's a waste of space on his phone, because after the encounter I immediately deleted his number from my contacts, I wasn't interested in a repeat performance. And I definitely wouldn't have gone there to begin with if I'd known he was in a relationship. In fact, I only hook up with people on Grindr who explicitly say they're single, precisely so I don't run into situations like this one."
"So his, what, his Grindr profile says he's single?"
Anthony nodded.
"And you expect me to just believe that," Sören said.
"Jesus Christ." Anthony pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I've got proof, I'll bloody show you."
As Anthony fiddled with his phone, the stern, intense look of concentration was almost sexy. Sören didn't want to find him so attractive. But then Anthony had Justin's Grindr profile on his phone - there was a picture that was unmistakably Justin from the chest up, shirtless, and Justin's profile listed his relationship status as single.
Sören gasped when he saw it. He felt bad for not taking Anthony at his word... but he felt worse to see it there on the screen, that Justin had been pretending to be single for god knew how long, fucking god knew how many people behind Sören's back. The hookup with Anthony had been three weeks ago; Sören had a feeling Justin had probably been on the prowl the entire time they'd been together. Sören had a feeling that Justin had, in fact, thought of himself as single the entire time - the relationship was a joke to him, a convenient place to sleep, have a hole to fuck, someone to cook, and that was it, he otherwise didn't have feelings, didn't care.
Sören felt himself reflexively backing up. He was shaking. The tears were coming on, as much as he did not want to cry, especially not in front of one of the people Justin had fucked.
Anthony's eyes were sympathetic as he put his phone in his pocket.
"I'm sorry," Sören said, feeling terrible for making a scene, yelling at him, when it was clear Anthony hadn't known. He also felt terrible for the tears that were flowing now - he knew Anthony was probably on his break, he'd come here to de-stress, he didn't need to see Sören having an emotional meltdown. "I... I can get you a free coffee, or something."
"No, I'm sorry." Anthony's voice was husky. "I, ah..." Anthony gave a nervous little laugh - his smile was so charming - and then he looked at Sören's name tag. "Sören," he said, actually pronouncing it correctly with the umlaut, "sur-ren", rather than the "sore-ren" Sören was used to from the English. That little touch made Sören feel even guiltier, crying harder. Anthony cleared his throat and went on, his smile fading, looking sad. "I feel for you. I really do. I was cheated on the last time I had a relationship. So... I get it. I know this is devastating, probably."
Sören nodded. "I caught him in bed with someone a week ago. I threw his ass out, he left his phone behind, and I don't normally snoop but I poked his contacts and you were there."
Anthony closed his eyes for a few seconds and when he spoke again Sören realized he'd done math in his head. "That night I received a phone call and nobody was there, hung up... that was you, wasn't it."
"Jæja."
Anthony started nodding. He looked out at the street, then at his watch - a Rolex. Sören was sure it was genuine. Their eyes met.
"Free coffee for the road?" Sören asked.
Anthony shook his head. "I don't hold what happened in there against you. If anything, I..." Anthony took a deep breath. "I feel like I owe you."
"You didn't know." Sören shrugged.
"I still feel... like, have you ever seen an accident, and the person who came out is relatively unscathed but badly shaken, and you just want to offer them a blanket and some soup and a teddy bear or something? That's how I feel right now. I know you probably don't want a stranger's pity, but it's not really that, it's... solidarity. Like I said, it happened to me, a little over a year ago, it was bad, so... if you want a sympathetic ear, a shoulder, I don't have any plans this evening. I'd be happy to buy you dinner."
The oddly specific analogy of witnessing an accident made Sören wonder if Anthony was an ambulance chaser, and if he wasn't, there was still something about the offer that felt strangely opportunistic. They had sort of been flirting in the cafe before Sören made the connection this was one of Justin's hookups. Sören leaned back and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Is this a date?"
Anthony's lips quirked with the hint of a smile. "It's a raisin."
Sören was completely disarmed by that - his tears turned to laughter for a moment, delighted by that response. He found himself nodding; if nothing else, it meant he didn't have to cook tonight, and it would be nice to go out and do something instead of stay at home and mope. Justin wasn't worth his tears, especially when he'd been such a lying sack of shit. "All right."
"How does seven PM sound?"
"Perfect." Sören's shift ended at six, so he had just enough time to go home, dress and change.
Anthony took out his phone again and after a minute of typing, he showed Sören a Thai restaurant in Covent Garden. "Is Thai OK? Do you need something less spicy -"
"Oh, I like hot food. Yeah, Thai is good."
"I can meet you there, or pick you up."
Sören normally didn't mind walking, but it would also be nice to ride in a car for a bit. He was usually wary about riding with strangers, but he had a feeling Anthony was OK. He gave Anthony his address as well as his phone number so Anthony could ring him if he was running late.
Anthony went back inside to collect his laptop and briefcase, and before he left the cafe, he paused and looked Sören up and down, like he was considering giving him a hug, but he went with patting Sören on the shoulder instead. Sören tried not to watch Anthony's ass on the way out, tried not to be all tingly from that brief instant of touch. He felt like his head was spinning as he watched Anthony walk away from the cafe; this had been a very strange day.
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