"I'm always quiet."
I rolled my eyes.
"I'm fine," he said easily.
"You only say that when you're not fine."
"I'm fine," He repeated, starting his own shot of espresso. I was pretty sure he bought some enhanced coffee beans with extra caffeine in them, courtesy of the dryads or the nymphs. "I'm just... happy for you."
"Don't lie to me, and don't pretend to be happy for me."
"I am. I'm happy that you're not suffering as much anymore," he insisted, his back still turned to me."I'm glad your STD is working out for you."
"STD?"
"Shadow Transmission… Delight? I don't know. I was playing off the sexually transmitted thing. We can both agree it was a shitty joke."
"You can be happy for me and sad for yourself, Dare."
"I can't be sad for myself. If I was, there'd be no recovering. It wouldn't be sadness. It would be mother-fucking devastation."
My throat swelled. My overwhelm grew a little more intense, but I managed to ignore it.
"So yeah. I'm fine. Superb. Fantastic, even."
He was lying to both of us, apparently.
"Maybe your mate is in the Shadow District. You don't go to the clubs there very often, do you?"
"I rotate weeks. One there. One here. If my mate was in any of the nightclubs, I would've found them by now." He turned around, leaning back against the cabinets. His shoulders were low, and the expression he wore was bleak. "I'm tired, Mer. So fucking tired."
"We'll come up with an alternative. A thousand dollars to every person who makes a bargain with you, or something. We'd get at least a few takers. Kat only found Callum because she needed money. Maybe it could work for you too. It's a little desperate, but there are worse things to be than desperate."
"Kat thinks I should change my reputation. Make a statement about being a new man, and start meeting people at coffee shops instead of clubs. Stop fucking all of them. She thinks it's a different crowd, and she wants me to start trying to trade coffee for bargains, or some shit like that. I don't think I could sell it."
"You do know more about coffee than most people. It could work."
"You just don't want me to be depressed."
"Maybe." I lifted my coffee cup to my lips and took a sip. "It's worth a try."
"I know. I'm supposed to start tomorrow."
"What? You didn't tell me!"
"I just agreed to it this morning. Statement goes out tonight. Everyone thinks I'm going to lose my shit over your mate bond."
"Are you?"
He shrugged. "Hard to say."
"Not if you have a coffee shop job to distract you, and all the cute coffee nerds there to be potential mates. That'll be fun."
"Have you ever been in a coffee shop?"
"Not really."
"Then you have no idea."
