TAMED

Vince

10 months later

The restaurant bustled about with noisy gossip girls and old boomers. Morning was Vince's least favorite time to work. He just wanted to sleep, and forget about the world. Who even got up this early, to drive somewhere, to have coffee? Wasn't coffee at home just fine? Ugh.

"Excuse me, I never got my extra creamer." A young woman mentioned as she raised her hand to get his attention. Despite him carrying two huge trays of food for the table down the way, she still found the courage to interupt him.

"Yes, sorry about that ma'am. I'll get that right away, just let me get this food set down." He said with a false smile, then moved along down the pathway.

Fortunately, he'd managed to get his old job back. His boss was less than happy, considering he'd just quit without mentioning a thing, but he was desperate for employees and Vince didn't need any training.

His time with Ares and Levi seemed like a dream at this point. It felt like it had been decades since they were together, even though it had just been about ten months. Summer had come and gone, and now fall was setting in with vibrant leaves and the smell of pumpkin spice everything.

Back when everything had gone down, and he and Levi had been arrested at the airport, he had been sure that he was going to end up in prison for the rest of his life. Despite intense harassment from investigators including the FBI, CIA, and a few other scary suit departments, he had stuck with his story. He was a hostage, that was it. A hostage who had started out accidentally befriending the Hound and then getting snatched up by the mischievous and notorious Levi Armani.

No one believed it at first, but after a few months of consistent story telling, the government had let him off rather easily. He didn't have any charges, and was simply told to forget about what happened, and that he was an unfortunate mishap within private government business. They also conveniently gave him ten thousand dollars in 'hush' money to encourage him to keep everything a secret.

Yeah, that one hurt, but if he told them that he was helping to harbor and smuggle the hound...he would have ended up behind bars for a very long time.

"Vince!" A voice suddenly called out, snapping him back to reality. Katie, his coworker, rushed in front of him with a huge stack of napkins and began laying them out. "I am so sorry! He's a bit out of sorts today!" She apologized profusely. "Is anyone burned? Are you all okay?"

Vince, rather startled, stood back. He'd become stuck in his own head again, thinking about Ares and Levi...his almost-family. During his daydreaming he'd somehow forgotten he was refilling a gentleman's coffee, and had started overfilling it, causing it to spill all over the table, the menu's, and even the man's cellphone.

"No, no we are fine. But maybe he needs a break? Seems tired to me." The man commented as he looked on at Vince's surprised, confused state. His wife, and apparent children also wore looks of concern and confusion.

"Yes, absolutely. Vince go take a break and maybe get a glass of water." Katie ordered, despite technically being less experienced than him at the job.

"Uh, r-right. Sorry..." He managed to say before placing the coffee pot on the table, and walking away.

Vince made his way in a daze through the main register area and into the back room where the employee lockers were. He stood there in silence, taking off his apron and tossing it onto a nearby bench. He wanted so much for someone to ask him if he was okay, because he simply wasn't. Nothing was okay.

Stuck in his head, ignoring the water that stung his eyes, he gravitated toward the exit doors and out to his car. He had barely managed to get the key in the door and climbed in before he broke.