Zero stepped out of the shower and dried his hair to a towel. He was just about to start shaving his beard when he heard Jude's voice coming from outside:
"Mom, I'm not talking with you about this."
Zero frowned. He had never, in the timespan he had known Jude, heard him talk with his mother.
"Mom…" Jude stood in the middle of the living room, trying to interrupt his mother's endless raddle. "Mom. Mom! I'm not breaking up with him!"
"Jude, honey, I did some search of him after I met him and believe me, he's no angel." Jude swore he would never call his mother again after this phone call was over.
"Mom, I know everything about his past and no, I'm still not breaking up with him. Did you listen to me when I asked you to break up with Jarrod? No, and was I right? Exactly, so would you just please leave it be?" Jude heard his mother take a deep breath to start another rant, but Jude interrupted her: "Look, we haven't even seen each other in a year… I know mom, that you came to see me… the point is that you know nothing about my life or Zero's either, so you have no right to ask me to break up with him." Jude readied himself for another counterargument, but instead his mother went silent. "Mom? You there?"
"Yeah…" The silent dragged a little bit longer. "I call you later, okay?" With that she hang up.
Jude rubbed his face with his free hand and put the phone down. He hadn't remembered how much energy his mother was able to consume out of him when she wanted to.
"Was it Heather?" Jude turned to look at Gideon who hovered at the doorframe, looking almost guilty of hearing the conversation.
"Yep…" Jude threw the phone to the sofa. "I called her to tell we've gotten engaged. She didn't take it very well."
Zero ran a hand through his wet hair. "I don't blame her."
"What?" Jude frowned and put his hands to his pockets. "She doesn't even know you. She has no right…"
"Come on, Jude. She's your mother and I'm certainly not the ideal son-in-law quality." Zero laughed to himself and made Jude smile a little as well.
"Considering your background, maybe not, but I wouldn't want it any other way." Jude walked in front of Gideon and eyed him up and down. "You were in a shower so why are you dressed?" He frowned as he looked at Zero's jeans and dress shirt.
"I was planning to take you out to dinner." Zero grinned and was about to step pass Jude, but was stopped when Jude moved in front of him.
"What if I'm not hungry?" Jude asked and smiled wickedly at him.
Zero narrowed his eyes and a smile appeared on his face as well. "In that case we could stay inside…" He said deliberately slowly.
"I thought so too." Jude leaned down to kiss Gideon, breathing in the familiar scent of the shower gel.
When they parted Gideon licked his lips slowly. "What if I'm hungry?" He then asked with a wicked smile.
"Then I'll make you something later." Jude said and moved to kiss him again but this time Gideon took a step back.
"You promise?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I promise." Jude said a little annoyed now, which made Gideon even more pleased with himself.
"Okay, I'll hold on to that." Gideon said but moved fruther away again when Jude tried to close the space between them again. "You want this?" Gideon smiled innocently and dropped the towel from his waist to the floor. Jude licked his lips unconsciously and the wicked smile came back to Gideon's face.
"Then what do you want me to do?" Jude caught up to Gideon's game soon enough and crossed his arms around his chest.
"Make me some risotto."
"Okay." Jude agreed. He left out the fact that they didn't have any white wine left but if Gideon wanted risotto then he was going to get one. Jude didn't promise it would be good.
"That was easy." Gideon said a little dissapointed by the lack of protest. "Then you can start by taking off your clothes. I mean I love to see you dressed to jeans and t-shirt, but nothing suits you even better."
Jude smiled embarrassingly and shook his head a little but eventually did as he was told, gaining a heated kiss for reward.
Jude sat by the kitchen counter and looked silently at the ring on his finger. It was silver, plain and simple with a golden line in the middle. Gideon had similar except it was golden with a silver line. Jude had let Gideon pick them up and he loved it, but he still wasn't used to it. There were times when he forgot about it and suddenly noticed it again. This time wasn't an exception.
"Have you picked up the suit for the court hearing yet?" Jude was dragged from his thoughts by Zero's voice.
"What?" Jude asked and turned to look at Gideon who was checking his phone.
Zero looked at him and smiled. "Oscar's trial or did you already forget?"
"Yeah… yeah, it's on the bed." Jude tried to collect his thoughts.
"What were you thinking just now?" Zero asked and put his phone away.
Jude knew he had to tell Gideon at some point. He just knew the reaction wouldn't be very positive one and he couldn't blame him. "I decided to meet with Oscar." Jude was right, the smile disappeared from Gideon's face and was replaced by a hard stare.
"No you're not! Jude, why do you keep torturing yourself? That monster isn't your father anymore." Zero raised his voice, horrified of Jude's suggestion. He would rather tie Jude to the battery than let him go see Oscar. "We're going to take Oscar down once and for all with your testimony!"
"We are taking Oscar down." Jude kept his voice steady to calm Zero down who just stared at him with his mouth open. "Look, Gideon…" Jude leaned closer to him and reached out to touch Zero's hand. "…we can't place everything on the slight change of him getting a verdict. If we do this together, Oscar's going to be under our control in the future."
Zero shook his head and bit his lower lip. To Jude's disappointment he took his hand away from him. "I don't get it Jude…"
"Oscar's hearing is being held today." Jude tried to find words to get Gideon see his side. "We both know he takes every change he got to get himself out of the prison. So if he manages to get out, we may still have a change to keep him in control."
"The man shot you, Jude!" Zero slammed the tabletop and made Jude startle, but he refused to give in.
"You don't have to forgive him for that and I won't either, but we need to think one step ahead." Jude saw a slight change in Gideon's face and smiled when the man relaxed a little. They needed to put their feeling aside so they could be smart about this. Taking down Oscar Kinkade completely wasn't one prison wall away.
Jude sat opposite of Oscar. He kept his hands underneath the table. For some reason showing the ring to Oscar made him feel uneasy. He wasn't afraid what Oscar might think of his engagement, but provoking Oscar now would only backstab them in the future.
"I'm glad you came, son." Oscar said and smiled his wry smile at him.
Jude swallowed the tightness from his throat. "I just want you to know that I remember very well it was you and your assistant who shot me." Oscar's smile didn't fade. "But I also want you to know that I'm not going to share that information with the police if I'm not driven to it."
This time Oscar's interest seemed to rise and he observed his son carefully. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that if I feel mine, or anyone else's life I care about, threatened. I won't hold back my testimony." Jude's voice was steady and he felt his heart calm down also. Now it was time for the act to begin. "I also have no clue of how to run the team's business. Things have gone straight to hell. So I wish…" Jude had to swallow again. "…that you could help me with that." The suggestion was made only to get Oscar think that he was able to be in charge once more. Jude knew that keeping Oscar as his "mentor", would be psychically hard, but he was used to his mind games.
Oscar leaned forward to place his hands above the desk and smiled at Jude. "You really think I believe that?"
Jude felt his throat dry up again. "I don't expect you to believe anything I say. But for your own sake, I hope you do." With that, Jude stood up and walked out of the room. He went outside as fast as he could so he could breathe in the fresh air.
The court was full of people. Most of the participators were from the arena: Jelena, Terrence, Ahsha, Derek, Pete and Sloane. Jude sat with Zero and Lionel. Luckily press wasn't allowed into the courtroom, although they were lurking outside, waiting for the hearing to end.
"What did he say?" Lionel whispered, leaning over Zero, who was sitting between her and Jude. She tried to fish some information from Jude's visit to the prison.
"He didn't buy my story, but he doesn't have much of a choice if he wants to be part of the Devils in the future." Jude answered but he kept his eyes fixed on the back of Oscar's head. The man couldn't hear them from where they were seated.
Jude looked around and saw Jeff Houston sitting with a punch of other lawyers near Oscar. Jude wasn't surprised of his presence, but he had wondered if Laura would show up too. However, she was nowhere in sight. Jude heard someone whispering near him and to his surprise it was Zero and Lionel who were talking with each other. He had never seen them communicate without fighting. At first he was about to let them talk in private, but curiosity took the better of him.
"What are you talking about?" Jude asked and the new best friends turned to look at him. They looked like he had just caught them planning a murder or something. Jude truly hoped he was wrong about that.
"Nothing important." Lionel was the first to answer and smiled with a fake smile. Then she stared coldly at Zero like he had just insulted her personally. Zero seemed to be a little baffled, but collected himself quickly and leaned slightly over Jude's side as if Lionel didn't exist anymore. Jude just shook his head. He glanced at the clock again, anxious for the hearing to start.
"Jude!" Lionel's suddenly shouted and almost everybody in the room turned to look at her. "Is that what I think it is?" She lowered her voice and took Jude's hand to hers. Then she looked at Zero's and saw him a ring as well. "When did you...?" She couldn't finish her sentence when a woman stopped to stand next to Jude.
Jude looked up to her and his eyes widened. "Mom?" He looked his mother up and down. She had dressed to a black form-fitting dress. She looked like she was a widow coming to a funeral.
"I tried to call you, but you never answer." Heather said and Jude couldn't believe he was being scolded like a six year old in a middle of a court.
"Sorry, but my phone's on mute, like everyone else's here." Jude explained, but Heather hadn't heard a word he said as she stared at Oscar.
"Excuse me, but I have something to talk about with your father…" Heather said and was about to walk towards him when the judge walked in. For a moment she seemed to be at loss of whether to sit down or keep on walking, but eventually settled to sit beside Jude.
"Four days ago." Jude whispered to Lionel to answer her earlier question. "And no, we haven't set the date."
Lionel squeezed his hand before concentrating to what the judge was saying.
It didn't come up with a surprise to anyone in the room to hear that Oscar pleaded not guilty. The judge recounted that she wasn't going to grand Oscar any changes for bail. Jude and Zero looked at each other. It seemed Oscar would be behind bars for at least one year more.
The judge started to sum the case up and it looked like she was about to end the hearing soon when Terrence, who had been sitting two row of benches before them, suddenly stood up. Everyone's eyes draw to him, expect the judges who was reading something from her notes. Terrence seemed to take a deep breath before speaking out:
"Excuse me, your honor." The judge finally stopped reading and fixed her gaze to Terrence. She frowned and took her reading glasses off. "I would like to confess." Terrence continued.
"What are you talking about, young man?" The judge asked.
"I tried to kill both, Jelena Howards and Jude Kinkade. Oscar Kinkade is innocent." Terrence revelation was followed by a long silence. It was only broken by the sound of Jelena getting up.
"Terrence?" Her voice was barely audible and she stared at her ex-boyfriend with disbelief.
"It's true." Terrence only glanced at Jelena briefly. There was no hesitation in his eyes. "I wanted to hurt you after you cast me out of the team's ownership."
The judge seemed to think the new situation through before speaking. "You heard the man. Please, arrest him officer."
A police officer who had been standing at the exit walked to Terrence and handcuffed him.
"As for you Oscar Kinkade, it seems you're free to go." The judge hit the table with his mallet and all hell broke loose: Jelena tried to call out to the judge and everyone else started talking about the sudden turn of events.
Zero turned to look at Jude. "What the fuck is going on?"
"Terrence is lying." Jude said simply. "He didn't shot Jelena. I think he's probably protecting her." Jude had kept the next information all to himself. He knew it had been unfair to Gideon and Lionel, but Terrence wasn't the one that he feared. "As for my case… Oscar wasn't the one who fired the gun at me. It was someone else… Terrence, it seems."
"Jude!" Lionel looked almost disgusted and Zero just stared at him silently.
"But I know it was Oscar guiding his hand. Terrence must've done only what he needed to do." Jude hadn't blamed the one who had fired the gun, not during the shooting nor after that. Oscar had made Jude do many things he wasn't proud of just by pulling the right strings and he knew it must've been the same for Terrence. He knew what it was like.
The officer who had arrested Terrence now took hold of his arm and started to guide him outside through to corridor. As they were walking past them, Zero jumped up from his seat and stormed past Jude and his mother before Jude had any changes to stop him.
"Zero…" Terrence knew what was coming. He tried to calm the man down but in vain. Zero raised his fist and punched his face so hard that they all heard a bone crack.
"Get away from him!" An officer launched himself at him and tried to push Zero away as he prepared to hit Terrence for the second time.
"It's okay. Let them go." A voice in his ear, made Zero lower his fist. Jude hold on to his shoulders and gently guided him away from the scene.
"You're being charged of abuse!" The officer threatened but Zero just glared at him.
"No, it's okay. I deserved that." Terrence calmed the police man down and looked at straight at Jude. "I'm sorry."
Jude nodded at him and watched as Terrence was escorted outside. He felt Zero starting to relax in his arms and slowly let go of him. Jude turned to look at Oscar who was now standing without handcuffs and looked at him with victorious smile on his face.
Heather who had watched the situation escalate in front of her, now stood up and walked straight to Oscar. She motioned for him to come closer. At first Oscar looked confused and then a little smug before walking to meet with his ex-wife. Heather grinned before leaning close to Oscar. Jude felt a little disgusted to see his parents smiling to each other like that. It made him realize just how weird his family affairs truly were.
Heather whispered something to Oscar's ear and soon the man's smile faded. Both Jude and Zero watched as Oscar looked almost scared when Heather finally stepped back and turned to walk towards her son.
"If he bothers you, give me a call." Heather said as she walked pass Jude.
"What?" Jude turned to look at Oscar once more, who was staring after his ex with a solemn expression. "Mom?" Jude called after his mother and Heather turned around to face him. "What did you say to him?"
"You don't need to know the details." Heather said and Zero was surprised to see a genuine smile appear on her face. "Take care of yourself…" She reached out to caress Jude's cheek. "…my independent boy." Then she withdrew her hand quickly, as if Jude's face had burned her and turned towards Zero. "Congratulations on your engagement." With that she turned around and walked away.
Jude watched after her and realized only now how much he had missed her. But he also knew that she had her own life to go to and so did Jude.
Jude sat behind Oscar's old worktop. He was going to replace it as soon as he had the time to go and pick up a new one. The table reminded him too much of the time of Oscar's dictatorship.
"May I come in?" Jude looked up to see Jelena standing in the doorway.
"Sure, take a seat." Jude stood up and pointed towards the opposite chair but she didn't sit down.
"I just came to say that the deal has been accepted on the board." Jelena said and smiled tightly. "You're now official owner of the Devils and I'm in charge of the Devil girls."
"Good." Jude nodded at her but he got the feeling that wasn't all she came to say. "Was that all?"
Jelena looked uncomfortably around the room before unwillingly sat down. "I went to see Terrence today. He... told me that Oscar has shown a video of him firing the gun towards you."
Jude nodded absent mindedly. "I thought he would have a backup plan in his pocket in case Terrence wasn't willing to confess on his own."
Jelena shook her head in annoyance. "Otherwise Terrence refused to speak to me, but I know he's not a killer. Not truly. He could've never hurt me, that's what I'm hundred percent sure about. What he did to you was because of me. He just wants to protect me. You should be able to relate to that."
"What do you mean?" Jude understood everything she said up to the last sentence.
"You have someone who looks after you no matter what." Jelena stated simply and stood up. "I'll see you around." She excused herself and walked out of the room.
Jude stared down at his ring when she was gone and realized her words were quite true. But still, he didn't believe Gideon would be able to kill for him.
"What are you thinking about?" Zero strolled in and closed the door behind him.
"You, of course." Jude smiled up to him. "I was wondering how the hell you can break your knuckle by hitting someone. I thought you were raised in the streets."
"I was raised by two asshole human beings." Zero rounded the table with flirtatious smile on his face. "Luckily enough, they gave us enough food so we didn't have to fight for it."
Jude's smile disappeared now when he started to think how completely miserable Gideon's past had been.
"Hey." Zero caught Jude's attention. "We still haven't finished what we started."
"What?" Jude frowned at Zero who side glanced at the table he was leaning against to.
"I still haven't fucked you on this table."
"You're absolutely right." Jude couldn't help but laugh. Zero took it as an approval and leaned down to kiss him.
When they parted Zero lifted his sport bag to the table with a loud thud. He opened the zipper and took something out. He showed the tube of lube to Jude and grinned widely when Jude looked at the tube with darkened eyes. Zero then offered his hand and Jude took it. Zero pulled him up so quickly that Jude lost his balance and had to take support from the table. With one smooth move Zero was already behind him, pressing his groin against his ass. Jude had to rethink about giving up the table after that.