THIRTY THREE

Elodie

I have to try to keep the silly smile off my face as I straighten my clothes and close the conference room door behind me. Azeroth's kiss has left a tingle I still feel on my lips as I walk shakily back to my desk.

When I enter the small office, everyone looks up.

"Oh, was it bad?" Sandra gives me a sympathetic look.

I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear self-consciously. "Ah, it's fine. Don't worry about it," I mumble. I hurry to my desk and login to my laptop.

I scroll pointlessly through a slideshow I don't even take in, trying to pretend everything is normal.

Really, I'm mentally replaying the last half hour, thinking about Azeroth's hands on my body, about his whispered words in my ear.

He loves me!

This amazing monster billionaire who has the world at his feet wants me. Loves me .

I'm floating on air the rest of the afternoon.

I can't wait to truly have him alone tonight. To talk through what we're both feeling, and what it means for our future. All Quinn's warnings and my own doubts can be forgotten now that I know everything is going to work out.

It does seem to be taking him a lot longer than he thought. By 5:30, there's still no sign of him. I pull out my phone and send a text.

Elodie: meet you later? Your place or mine?

When there's no response by 5:45, I decide to head home. I can pack a little bag and shower, and be ready for whatever he has in mind when his meetings are done. I guess Valorie couldn't cancel them after all.

I don't even need my music player on. I hum to myself all the way home on the metro.

There's a nasty shock waiting for me on my doorstep when I arrive.

Dustin lifts his head from his hands and looks up at me, a pleading expression on his reddened face. "Dee. You're home. Can I come in for a while? I need to talk to you."

He looks small. Not just because I've gotten used to the way Azeroth towers over me, but smaller than I remember. As he stands, Dustin's shoulders don't seem to straighten out all the way. His head remains bowed as if he's folded in on himself.

I hesitate. "What do you want?"

"Aw, Dee. Don't be like that. Come on, we were always friends."

That's a load of crap. He and I met through mutual friends, but we started dating straight away, and we haven't spoken properly since we broke up. Obviously.

"Dustin, what do you want? I'm about to go out." I really only intended to come home and change. Maybe pack a few things. I can't imagine Azeroth will want to stay at mine when we could stay at his penthouse.

"Come on, Dee. This is hard on me. Jessica—" His voice breaks and for the first time I get the sense he's genuinely emotional. "We broke up."

Oh, shit.

That's the last thing I was expecting.

I'm taken aback. I would have expected to feel triumph or satisfaction, at least. Isn't this the guy I wanted revenge on just a few short weeks ago?

Yet now, with him hunched at my doorstep begging me for a moment of my time, I'm hard pressed to feel anything but pity for my ex-boyfriend. He's right that we cared about each other for a long time. Or at least, I cared for him. Maybe he did care about me after all. He just lost sight of that when a pretty new temptation came along.

Maybe I'm more willing to be forgiving now I've got a real shot at happiness right in front of me.

"Just for a minute," I tell him, fishing my keys out of my handbag. "I'm going out."

He steps aside, waiting for me to open the door. Then he holds it open while I enter, waiting for me to turn and actually invite him over the stoop. "Come in."

Once again, he surprises me when he stops a few meters from the door and shoves his hands in his pockets. I watch him from the corner of my eye as I go to set my handbag down in my room.

"Do you want a tea? Or coffee?" I don't know what possesses me to ask. Only, I was raised to be polite to guests, however unwelcome.

Dustin nods. "Yeah. Thanks."

I go into the small kitchen and turn on the kettle.

We look at each other for a moment, neither saying anything.

Then we both speak at once. "Do you—"

"Can I—?"

Shit.

"You first," he says, with a wave of his hand.

I wish I could call the words back, but there's still a part of me that doesn't want to see him with nowhere to go. "Do you have somewhere to stay?" I'm not offering. Just checking. I'm just checking to make sure he's OK.

He shrugs. "It's fine. I can get a hotel or whatever. I just wanted to say I'm sorry, you know? I guess I didn't realize what it really felt like for you. Now I do." He hangs his head.

I stare. "Did she...?"

"Yeah." Dustin doesn't even lift his head to look at me. I can't imagine how he must be feeling. I'm not sure I've ever seen him this humble.

"Wow."

In the long silence, I stare at the steam rising from the water I've poured into the cups, growing colder every moment while I try to process what's happening.

If this had been a few months ago, I might have been feeling excited. Happy at the chance to reconcile with Dustin.

Now that I've gotten to know Azeroth, I know I could never go back there. Not in a million years.

Even if he never cheated. Even if all that never happened, Azeroth has shown me in so many ways how much Dustin never treated me the way I deserve. Not even when we were first together.

He never paid attention to my wants and needs like Azeroth does. He never would have held back from something he wanted just to please me.

I shake my head. Even after everything that's happened, I do feel a little bit sorry for Dustin. I put the tea bags into the water and turn back to him. "Listen, I'm really sorry to hear that. It does hurt. But you'll be OK. It feels bad now, but trust me, you'll get through this. And you'll come out stronger on the other side."

"How can you say that?" He pushes back from the counter in disgust. "I mean not all of us get so lucky to fall into bed with the boss." He scowls.

I hold back my snarky retort. He's hurting right now. That's all this is. "No. Not everyone does get so lucky. But life goes on. You pick yourself up again and you move on."

Dustin sighs. "Yeah. Yeah. You're right. It's just that I thought maybe now we've both had a chance to see what's out there, it might be time to get real. The two of us."

What? I shake my head. "You have got to be kidding, right?"

He spreads his hands out wide. "Why? You. Me. We're good together. Maybe I just needed a chance to see how good you are to me, Dee. You're amazing."

Oh, shit. He really is. I stare for another moment, unable to truly believe he could even ask me.

Then I straighten. I walk toward the door, hold it open and gesture to him. "You need to leave."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not going to stand here and listen to you say this stuff to me like it wasn't you doing that to me. Cheating on me. Leaving me."

"Dee, I'm trying to tell you, I'm s—"

"You're not." I cut him off. "You're just sorry you got caught, and sorry it happened to you, too, and now you're left with no one. Get out."

"Dee."

"Get out!" I raise my voice and I don't even feel guilty. Dustin stumbles to his feet and out the door.

I slam it behind him before I can think twice about it.

Fuck him.

He got what he deserved and I feel nothing but emptiness, and a real, deep, hollow ache to have Azeroth hold me in his arms and tell me I'm an angel. I don't feel like one right now.

He doesn't answer my calls, though.

Thinking he's just working late, I wait a few hours, then head over to his apartment.

There's no answer at the door and no answer to any of my messages.

Eventually, I take myself back to my apartment and tuck myself into a cold, lonely bed. I don't even eat dinner, just raid the cupboard for a stale muesli bar and call it a night.

But I can't sleep.

Something is really wrong. I know Azeroth meant what he said today. I trust him. So where is he, and why didn't he make it home from work?

The phone call I make in the middle of the night to the police only gets me laughed at. As much as monster-human relations have improved in the last ten years, a missing demon isn't exactly top of their list of priorities. I get told to get some sleep and try him again in the morning.

But I know in my heart that won't help.