“What did he say?”
“Nothing. He…made a weird face and sighed. Then sighed some more when I told him I wasn’t going to hang around anymore. I have places to go so he should probably head home.”
Devon finally calmed down enough to clear his throat. Juliette and Franco both turned to look at their husband.
“That,” Devon said calmly, “is serious fuck-boy behavior.” He then devolved into another fit of red-faced hysterics.
Eric wasn’t fluent in American idioms, but he refused to ask for a definition of “fuck-boy behavior.” It seemed fairly self-explanatory.
It was also the first time he’d seen the normally reserved Devon like this. It should have made him like the otherwise stiff and cold man more. Maybe it would have, if Devon wasn’t laughing at him.
Juliette threw the pillow she’d had on her lap at Devon, then leaned forward, elbows on her knees.
“Eric, what…” She stopped, clearly thinking about her next words. “What did you want Nikolett to feel and think when she got those messages?”
“I wanted her to feel better because I acknowledged I’ve been an ass?—”
“Fuck-boy,” Devon wheezed. “Ultimate fuck-boy.”
“Not helpful,” Franco said. “Accurate, but not helpful.”
“I have to go,” Eric declared. “The castle is being attacked by…dragons or something.” He leaned forward to end the video call.
“Wait!” Juliette held up a hand. “Just wait.”
“Dragons…” Devon wheezed.
Eric indulged in a brief fantasy of throwing Devon off the cliff. Not just pushing him, but picking him up and tossing him so he sailed through the air before plummeting to his death.
“What did you want Nikolett to do, when she got these messages?” Juliette asked again.
“Do? Nothing. I owed her an apology.”
“No argument there,” Juliette said, “and I want to acknowledge that the first half of your message is great.”
“What’s wrong with the second half?”
“Didn’t you say something like ‘what we had is over’?”
“Yes.”
“How do I put this…” Juliette paused, lips pursed. “You come off like an arrogant dickhead.”
“I am an arrogant dickhead, but I apologized!”
“Before you sent that message, did Nikolett think you two still had any kind of romantic, personal relationship?”
“No. She’s been pissed at me since…” Since Amalfi, and certainly since her marriage. “She’s been done with me for months.”
“Okay.” Juliette nodded. “Then why did you effectively negate that by saying ‘now that I say it’s over, it’s really over’?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Isn’t it?”
Eric opened his mouth. Closed it. Slid his hands into his hair and gripped it until his brain hurt. “Fuck.”
Devon was back to wheezing between gales of laughter.
