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“This is how I always look.”
“You didn’t look like that a month ago.”
Not when Camille was in my life.
“You’re running out of time, man.”
“Running out of time for what?”
“For you to make things right. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, but absence makes the heart grow stronger.”
“What does it matter to you, Grave?” I took another drink.
“Because I want you to be happy, brother.”
Brother. He hadn’t called me that in a long time. “Her apartment is nice.”
He turned to look at me. “Did you stop by to say hello?”
I shook my head. “Not sure how she was able to afford it.”
He looked at his glass and took another drink.
“Any theories?”
He stayed silent.
“So, you’ve seen her.”
Grave wouldn’t give me anything.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
After a long silence, he finally addressed the elephant in the room. “She saved my life. It was the least I could do.”
A jolt of jealousy exploded inside me, but I kept it concealed within steel walls. “How was she?”
He swirled his glass, making the remaining contents spin in a vortex.
“Grave.”
“You want the truth?”
I swallowed.
“Devastated. Utterly devastated.”
The self-loathing returned in full force.
“You’re devastated too—so you should fix it.”
“Nothing’s changed, Grave.” I wouldn’t give up my livelihood for her, and if I didn’t do that, she would be tortured and killed just like my mother. I was incapable of loving anyone, and that had become even more apparent when she’d told me she loved me so casually, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to say, and I couldn’t even stand to hear it.
Grave gave a quiet sigh. “A woman like Camille won’t be a single woman for long. She’ll replace you. And she’ll replace you with a man thrilled to give her everything she wants. Then you won’t be able to fix it.”
I didn’t need a fortune-teller to let me know that would happen. It would hurt, hurt even more than my loneliness hurt me now. When I’d texted her, I’d hoped she would say something harsh, something to make my isolation more bearable, and she did. “Roan is officially in Paris. Now’s the time.”
Grave tilted his head back and finished off his drink. “Fine. Have it your way.”
