Guy Baker was there, raking a hand through his hair.
“Not a thing.” Casziel’s eyes were like stones on me. “You’re here for your dance.”
“Well, yeah. But if this is a bad time, I can come back…”
“There is no other time.” The demon took my hand and placed it in Guy’s. “Goodbye, Lucy.”
For a split second, Casziel’s hard façade cracked, and the pain seeped out. His eyes flickered to mine, agonized…
…or maybe it was just my imagination because he walked away and didn’t look back.
I watched him go, stunned and hollow, while Guy cleared his throat. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
“Would you like to sit down?”
“No.”
“Maybe some water…?”
Stop talking.
“You’re asking me to dance. Let’s dance.”
Guy pulled me onto the dance floor. I moved like a zombie, as if I’d felt every emotion I could possibly feel in one week and was now drained. Wrung out. There was nothing left.
“You look really beautiful, Luce,” Guy said, holding me close. His breath was strong and pungent with alcohol and a mint working overtime to cover it up. His blue eyes were glassy and vacant as they drank me in. I guessed he’d decided not to stay sober after all. “Kind of funny, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“That we’ve worked together for two years and I’m just now really seeing you.”
“What do you see?”
“Someone who’s kind, and smart, and…beautiful. You’re very beautiful, Lucy.”
“What else?” I asked, tears stinging my eyes.
Tell me everything, Guy. Tell me everything I’ve been waiting two years to hear. Right now. When it’s too late.
“Well, it kind of sucks that here we are, finding each other after so long just as I’m leaving for Sri Lanka.”
Finding each other after so long.
I thought I’d be sick.
“I’m still putting my team together,” he continued. “But it looks like I’m outta here at the end of next week.”
“I know. I helped work out the logistics.”
“Right, right,” he said with a short laugh. “But it’s not easy to find people who would drop everything and fly halfway around the world to scoop plastic off a beach.” He cocked his head as a thought occurred to him. “You’ve never been on one of my expeditions, have you?”
“No, never.”
This is it. My fantasy coming to life. Right now.
“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” He chuckled. “What do you say, Luce?”