The Man Clad in Black: Book Two

An "Affair" - Chapter 14

You didn't know whether or not to be horribly angry or relieved that those were the words that came out of his mouth...

We were having an affair.

Monsieur Lafond blinked a few times, staring up from his plate of half-eaten food... his eyes held what could only be described as relief, but they still held disappointment. He murmured something under his breath (which had to be something along the lines of "children these days are too hasty for their sake").

Even Peter seemed to be shocked. He nearly choked on the bite of food that he was chewing, and he was quick to cover his mouth with a napkin before he did anything that would sabatoge his professionalism.

"You two..." He cleared his threat. "You were having an affair?" Peter asked.

You made the quick decision to go along with it... and, of course, you would tell Erik about the outcome to prevent anything horrible from happening to either of you.

"Yes, Monsieur," you murmured. A blush rose to your cheeks, simply from how uncomfortable you were at the moment, and that seemed to add much more to the entire act. You leaned in a little bit. "That's why... erhm, I wasn't so fond on sharing the details..."

Matthew's mind was still working. It seemed as if he was solving some sort of complicated equation, mapping it out inside of his head, and his head perked up when Monsieur Lafond spoke again. His eyes were staring dead at Matthew, and if that wasn't disappointment, you weren't sure what was.

"Is this true, Matthew?" he asked...

Matthew was beyond ready to answer. He seemed to be quite a quick thinker, as he came up with something quite believable right at that moment.

"Yes," your friend murmured, staring down at the table. "We would... erhm, it always happened right before our shift. I would always be the only one who wasn't too tired to work."

As if he was pretending to be the 'hasty' man that he was supposed to be, he gave you a gentle nudge and offered you a wink, almost as if he was trying to drop an innuendo right then and there... and of course, that made you crack a smile. It was a genuine one, too - but mostly because you were unsure of what else to do... and because you had such an immature sense of humor.

Peter felt quite awkward at the moment. You supposed that this was what Erik was talking about - an embarrassing detail that would make them stop asking more questions, and it seemed to be working quite well...

And it was well enough to buy you a ticket out of the situation you were in as of the moment.

"I... well, I see," Peter murmured, pushing his plate away from him as his gaze shifted between the two of you. It seemed almost as if there was still a part of him that was still suspicious of whether or not the two of you were truly having an affair, but for the most part, he seemed to buy it... after all, he didn't want to hear more about what you two might have done together. He cleared his threat and sat up a little.

"This is where I leave," Monsieur Lafond murmured, grabbing his plate with him to take it back to the kitchen. "Enjoy the rest of your night... not too much, though."

You mentally swore hundreds of times.

This was it, you thought. This was the end of your reputation.

The rest of the meal came to an abrupt end, and unsurprisingly, there weren't too many questions revolving around your whereabouts during those nights so long ago.

As you and Matthew walked the streets of France, it most definitely held a new tension between the two of you - and it wasn't good.

"My apologies for such an absurd excuse earlier," he said softly under his breath... just in case anyone was listening in, of course. "It was - "