We walked in silence for a few minutes, until I thought he’d had enough time to cool his head.

“Hey Vince, why’d you come to find me anyway?” I asked.

“Because you’ve been gone for like two hours. I was worried about you. You said your appointment was today so I wanted to make sure you got there on time… And I wanted to apologize for the way I spoke to you before. I was really rude to you for no reason. I am sorry I took out my frustration on you.” He said, glancing over his shoulder at me. “I’m also sorry for causing a scene with Dominic. But he really does know how to get under my skin.”

“He gets under everyone’s skin. I don’t understand him at all. But I really wish he’d figure his life out, find the right guy, and settle down a bit. Honestly, though I would never wish that type of crazy on anyone, Dan probably would be really good for him. If only he’d give Dan the time of day.” I mindlessly ranted.

“I agree. Dan is a good guy from what I can tell, and like you said earlier; Dan is just as obsessed with Dominic and Dominic is with you.” Vincent agreed.

“You should at least wait until you’re out of earshot to talk shit behind my back.” Dominic chimed in.

“Oh my god Dominic! Why are you following us?!” Vincent groaned.

“You really think I should give Dan a shot?” He asked, ignoring Vincent’s question.

“Absolutely we do. Anything to get your attention off my boyfriend. But it’s like we said, we both think Dan would be a good match for you. You need someone who is willing to put up with you, and he clearly likes you enough to be that guy.” Vincent answered, moving himself between me and Dominic protectively.

“Okay. Oh and I’m not obsessed with you, Roy. I’m just madly in love with you. There’s no crime in that.” He rolled his eyes at us. “One more thing though, why is it that you don’t care the Vincent still spreads his legs for every man, but you hate me for that?” He asked with a malicious tone, intentionally trying to stir the pot between us.

“Vincent isn’t fucking every guy who looks at him. He’s just shaking his ass. Which is a very sexy one. Seriously Dominic, how could you even compare the two things. You literally had sex with every man who asked you for it. Vincent doesn’t even do private dances anymore.” I answered confidently.

“Is that what he told you?” Dominic laughed. I knew I shouldn’t trust a single word Dominic said, considering he was out to break Vincent and I up anyway, but I’d be lying if I said that question didn’t shake me to my chore and make my heart ache with fear of it being reality…

“You are such a fucking dick.” Vincent growled out at Dominic. Dominic had a really nasty grin, knowing he’d been successful in his task.

“Vincent?” I questioned.

“Well I’m leaving now. See ya.” Dominic said, happily trotting away in the sand.

“That’s not what happened. I mean technically it is. But –”

“No. I don’t want to hear your excuses. I can’t believe you’d expect me to do something for you,” I shouted, referring to him asking to put clear boundaries down between Markus and I, “when you can’t even do the ONE thing I asked you not to do anymore because I don’t want every guy who thinks you’re hot feeling you up! Seriously Vincent?!” I threw my hands up in frustration.

“You remember our conversation this morning after our shower?” He answered back.

Angerly I said, “You mean when you berated me about being ready to go to therapy, and the whole reason I’m out here in the first place? Yes, Vincent, I remember the conversation.”

“The fact that that’s all you remember from that frustrates me. But no. I meant the part about me being worried about your psycho-stalker ex-boyfriend taking shit too far. He only said that to make us fight. Probably in hopes we’d break up.”

“This isn’t his fault, Vincent! The fact that you were hiding that shit from me is your own fault! It just so happens that my psycho-stalker ex-boyfriend is the one who spilled it instead of you.”

“You don’t get to be mad when you won’t even let me explain! That’s not fair to me, your current, loving, caring, not psycho, boyfriend.” Vincent yelled back.

“Not loving or caring enough to tell me about this private dance incident when it happened.” I murmured just barely loud enough for him to hear over the crashing waves.

“Roy,” Vincent barked out at me, “I get that you have things you are struggling with personally. But you do not get to EVER get to question how much I care about you. I’ve done nothing but support you as you move forward, and encourage you to get the help you need. I’ve given you a place to feel safe while you deal with this on-coming roller coaster of emotions that is bound to come with unraveling your trauma. I have done nothing but be everything you need right now. But you won’t even give me one chance to explain how while technically, yes, I did give another guy a lap dance, it was just a fucking training session. I was TRAINING a new hire. There was nothing remotely sexy about what happened. He didn’t put his hands on me. So fuck Dominic for trying to make it seem like I was being some whore like him. And Roy. Fuck you too for being a shit boyfriend right now, and believing anything that psycho would say!” Vincent was crying by the end of his rant, and I was most definitely feeling like a shit boyfriend right now.

“Then why couldn’t you just tell me when it happened? Why did I have to hear it from the likes of him?” I asked, finally using a much more gentle tone with him.

“I didn’t think about it. I mean you ask me not to do private lap dances for work anymore, and I didn’t consider what happened a private lap dance. It was just me teaching the young new kid. Like I said, it wasn’t sexy, there wasn’t any groping, and he took lessons from everyone who had free time to help him, I wasn’t the only one teaching him.”

“But Vincent you should have told me either way. You can’t expect me to open up to you, if you won’t even share things like that with me. Especially with Dominic always trying to find a way to fuck with us. I’m sorry I freaked out without giving you a chance to talk first, but next time, share the things that happen at work with me.”

“I’m sorry for not sharing that stuff with you. I promise you I’d never intentionally do anything behind your back.” He responded, and our heated argument ended just like that. I definitely felt like a terrible boyfriend for letting Dominic’s nasty tricks get to me, and for taking it out on Vincent before giving him a chance to explain what happened.

“We should go home and get ready. Otherwise you’ll be late for your first appointment.” Vincent urged.

“Yeah… Let’s go.” I agreed. We quietly walked hand-in-hand back to the apartment together.

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A/N: So much drama for grown men. I'm glad we all made it through that!