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Nursing his own cup of tea, Eric watched the show. Beside him, Adrian was uncharacteristically quiet. Once the photographerdeclared her satisfaction with the material she’d obtained, they moved into the common area on the first floor. Eric helped Adrian light a fire while Lucas and Max inspected the antique furniture and the old landscape paintings on the wall. The way they moved around each other showed a deep familiarity, personal space optional.
“Are you okay?” Adrian asked in an undertone.
“I’m fine.” Eric turned his head to send him a smile. They were crouched together by the fireplace, elbows bumping as they stacked the wood, close enough for Eric to make out flecks of hazel in Adrian’s green eyes.
Adrian nodded and glanced away. “Good,” he said quietly.
Eric didn’t like this careful version of Adrian. It felt wrong, a sudden barrier between them that hadn’t existed before. Maybe this had been a mistake.
Too late now.
After tucking a firestarter under the top layer of wood, Eric sat back so Adrian could light it. He didn’t realise how … howsettledit must seem until he caught Lucas watching him with a tiny smile. It made Eric wonder whether Lucas remembered the fireplace in Eric’s previous flat. When Lucas had stayed there for just a few days, more than a year ago, they’d joked about how neither of them knew how to light a fire without burning down the place.
The flames caught. Eric got to his feet and offered Adrian a hand to pull him up as well. He held on a second longer than necessary, letting go after a light squeeze of Adrian’s fingers. The smile he received made him think that they’d be fine. Hopefully—no, probably.
He was about to suggest they offer a brief tour of the hotel to Lucas and Max, then send them on their way before the place got busy again. Lucas’s approach interrupted him.
“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Lucas asked.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Adrian said smoothly. He slipped away before Eric could react, stepping behind the bar to deal with something or other.
When Eric turned back to Lucas, he caught him studying Adrianwith a thoughtful expression. It put Eric on instant alert. If Lucas intended to bring up Adrian’s past… That wasn’t Lucas’s style, though.
Eric shoved both hands into his pockets. “You wanted to talk?”
“Yeah. I just wanted to say…” Lucas’s generous mouth tilted into a tentative upwards curve. “I know you didn’t want to hear it back then, but maybe now I’m allowed to say that I really am sorry for how things went down.”
A bitter response sat on the tip of Eric’s tongue. He roped it back in because honestly, it had been a year, and also, they had been nowhere near as right for each other as he’d thought. Objectively, Lucas was still gorgeous—the fluidity in how he moved, his bold features and the contrast between his dark hair and light eyes. Only it didn’t hit Eric the same way anymore.
They’d moved on. Both of them.
“Apology accepted,” he said instead, and Lucas dipped his head.
“Thank you.” He glanced at the fire, the fresh smell of burning wood thick in the air. “And for what it’s worth, I wasn’t just stringing you along. I was trying to build something healthy with you, and I wasn’t lying when I said that you’re the perfect guy—”
“No one’s perfect,” Eric interrupted.
“No,” Lucas agreed easily. “But you sure seemed like it to me.”
Because Eric hadn’t let him see past the shiny facade. That was on him as much as it was on Lucas.
“Too bad you were in love with someone else, huh?” he asked lightly, and Lucas snorted.
“There is that.” He paused. “Thank you, though. For teaching me what I deserve in a relationship. I know I can’t return the favour, but…” His face twisted into a complicated blend between regret and mischief. “Just remember that you deserve for someone to look at you like Adrian does.”
When Eric glanced over, Adrian was stacking glasses, head bent. He sure wasn’t looking at Eric in any particular way.
Eric directed his attention back at Lucas. “What do you mean?”
“It’s like you hung an entire universe of stars.” Lucas didn’t soundlike he was taking the piss, but then Eric didn’t know him all that well anymore, did he?
“One,” Eric said, “cheesy, but I might be able to use it in a song. Two—no, he doesn’t look at me that way.”
“Well, not right now. He’s jealous, isn’t he?” Lucas made it seem like an obvious fact. Eric glanced over again to find Adrian intently wiping at a glass. Max had joined him. Great—with Eric’s luck, Adrian would spend five minutes talking with Max and fall head over heels in love with him.
Hello, cynicism, my old friend.
“We’re not like that,” Eric told Lucas, a beat delayed.
