Page 45 of Lost Room Lawyer
Unable to sit still any longer, Juri got up, opened the terrace window, and lit a cigarette. After a deep drag, he blew the smoke out loudly. For a moment, we all fell silent. I exchanged a worried glance with Luca, and he understood that sensitivity was needed here.
“Hey,” he said, going over to Juri. “We’ve got this all sorted out. You agreed to everything. And you knew there would be a moment when you’d panic. We talked about it. Do you remember?”
Juri frowned but nodded slightly.
“This is that moment. But it’s okay because you also remember what we said, right?”
Juri nervously fiddled with his lip piercing and nodded reluctantly.
“And that was?” Luca asked.
“That you’re all backing me and offering your support.”
“Exactly. And that’s what we’re doing here. You’re not alone anymore. We’re here. We’re helping you.”
It was clear that Juri was struggling to be in a situation he couldn’t control. Luca hugged him and whispered soothing words in his ear.
The two of them were so sweet together, and the fact that the three of us were sitting here was quite a story.
A wave of nostalgia washed over me. I had been booking callboys for years and had known Juri for about five. The fact that he was my last one brought me an unexpected sense of happiness.
I halted mid-thought.
My last one?
Why am I thinking that?
Maybe I should think more carefully about Nico before declaring the callboy thing finished.
Actually, there wasn’t much to think about, as the thing with Nico was just a bit of fun.
Damn … Who am I kidding?
Nico was like a drug! Where work had once dragged me out of bed in the morning, for the past two weeks, Nico had been the reason. Just knowing I would see him in the office …Fuck. It wasn’t even the prospect, the hope, or the anticipation of sex with him. No, it was just the fact that I would see him.
In some twisted way, I was even looking forward to dinner with Viktoria and Leo. I knew I’d be going with Viktoria. With my wife. But Nico was there, and that made my heart race even now.
“There’s something different about Hector,” Luca said as he sat back down at the table.
Juri was still standing by the window, smoking. From his expression, he had calmed down again. The way he nodded silently as he glanced at me showed he agreed with Luca.
“I’m no different,” I said dryly, pushing the pen closer to the papers Juri was supposed to sign.
Juri only smiled and took a drag from his cigarette; he made no attempt to sit back down and sign anything. “Do you have a new callboy?” he asked, straightforward as ever, and blew the smoke out of the open window.
I frowned and stared at him for two seconds. My mind was blank. Well, not entirely blank. Nico was there.
“Why do you think that?” I asked, amused.
“Yeah,” Luca said. “I’d like to know too.”
Juri scanned me with his moss-green eyes, then raised his eyebrows. “No, you don’t have a new callboy. It’s something else.”
“What?” Luca was already excited.
I felt cornered, even though I was a pro at this, a top-notch actor. I never had to put on a facade with Juri, so it wasn’t surprising that he saw right through me.
“You’re happy,” he said.
