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The only silver lining was that Rafa kept up with me drink for drink and ended up passed out on the floor of his bathroom in agony.
If only that was what I’d done too.
7
OSCAR
My phone buzzed just as my team and I returned from lunch to the sleek conference room. The large table’s surface gleamed in the sun slanting through the wide wall of windows. An expansive view of the city stretched from end to end. Macau had an interesting history and a unique skyline, but this time, I was finding it difficult to appreciate any of it.
I was tired. Tired of traveling. Tired of working. Tired of feeling restless in a way that no amount of busy-ness or excitement seemed to cure. But this meeting was a critical part of determining the operational strategy of a new investment. Even though several leaders from my investment team were on the project, it was important for me to be present.
I pulled my phone out, ready to decline the call and put the phone back into Focus mode for the duration of the afternoon, when I saw who was calling.
Hugh.
If he was calling instead of texting, it meant something was wrong, especially since Macau was thirteen hours ahead of New York, making it around two in the morning where he was. My heart rate skyrocketed in fear as I stepped out into the quiet hallway without even muttering an explanation, shocking my team and leaving a table full of wide eyes and dropped jaws.
“Hugh? What’s going on?”
The slurring voice on the other end was unexpected. “Am I just unlovable? You’ll tell it to me straight. I know you will. Am I? Because…” A deep, shaky sigh came through the phone and curled around my heart. “Maybe I need to accept that this just isn’t going to happen for me.”
“What happened with Louis?” I demanded, imagining what it would feel like to wrap my hands around that pissant’s ungrateful throat.
“S’just that he… he tried to tell some of my Real Life HEAs people to get divorced. On the sly. Which was really, really mean.” I could tell now that he was drunk. I wished like hell I wasn’t half a world away so I could turn up at his apartment and comfort him.
“Where’s Rafa?” I knew Rafa was a good guy who cared about Hugh. He could be trusted to give Hugh the support he clearly needed.
“Puking probs. We had some drinks. You probably can’t tell, but I’m a little…” His voice drifted off.
I couldn’t stop my grin or the way my voice lowered. “Drunk. Yeah, baby. I can tell. Did you take some Advil and drink some water?”
“No.”
I settled in the hallway with my back against the wall, the beige plaster cool against my shoulder blades. “Go do that now. I’ll wait.”
“Okay.” Sounds of fumbling and muffled footsteps came through the phone, followed by the tap running and turning off. After a few minutes, he came back on. “I did it.”
“Good. Now, go lie in bed and tell me what exactly happened with Louis.”
“You can’t kill him. It’s against the law.” Instead of a smile in his voice, I heard a thread of unease. “Promise me, Oscar.”
“Not going to kill him.” Only because I wasn’t on the same continent as the prick. “Just fantasize about it a little.”
Now the smile came into his voice. “Fantasizing is okay. I do it a lot. Mostly not about killing though. Mostly about being with you… er, not you. Hugh. Um… Mostly about being with myself… in various places. Like…” He blew out a defeated breath. “How are things in Macaw?”
“Macau,” I corrected, biting back a grin at how fucking adorable he was drunk. “And they’re fine. Stop changing the subject.”
He proceeded to tell me about the weaselly divorce attorney trolling Hugh’s HEA couples for business. It was disgusting and despicable, not to mention completely sleazy.
“Well, I think that’s fantastic, actually,” I said, trying to sound upbeat.
Hugh was beginning to sound a little less drunk and a little more adorably tipsy. “Fantastic? That he messed with my professional reputation?”
“No, that he made it easy to see who he really is before things got too serious. This way, you don’t have to spend two years living with the guy before realizing he’s a douche.”
Hugh let out a mournful sound. “He was good in bed.”
I gritted my teeth until they felt like they might crack. “Plenty of other men in New York who are good in bed.”
