Page 93 of The Charm Offensive
“Don’t be. It’s fine.”
“Dev.” Charlie reaches out for him. “We were just talking about—”
“It’s totally fine.”
But it’s not totally fine.
Dev
“Are you ready to meet your future in-laws?”
Charlie tries to grin, but grimaces instead.
“Take it again,” Maureen orders from behind the cameras, “and this time, try to sound excited.”
Charlie and Daphne trudge back to the beginning of the path leading up to the Reynoldses’ house. “Are you excited to meet your future in-laws?” Daphne asks with more gusto, her arm threaded through Charlie’s.
Charlie stares down at her lovingly. “I’m so ready,” he says before he leans down and kisses her once, reassuringly, on her pretty mouth.
And Dev needs a drink. Or a package of Oreos. Or a lobotomy. Something to ease the pain of watching Charlie kiss Daphne.
Last night, when they landed in Macon, Charlie dragged Dev back to their hotel room. He undressed Dev chaotically, stared at his naked body in the glow of a single bedside lamp, and held him tight against his chest. He fucked him slow and deep, like he was saying goodbye, and when Dev woke up this morning, Charlie wasn’t there. His absence in their bed ripped a hole through Dev’s chest, sent him stumbling through the hotel half-dressed in search of Charlie, only to find him holding hands with Daphne.
He has to accept that soon, there will only be mornings without Charlie.
Charlie raises a fist to knock on the front door, but Daphne’s dad flings it open before he can. “NeeNee! And Charlie! Welcome! Come in, come in!”
Charlie and Daphne step inside the house. Dev can’t follow.
He sits in an equipment van and watches a relay of the footage on a portable monitor, and when no one is looking, he pulls out his phone and stares at the selfie they took back in Cape Town, Charlie tucked under his chin.
“Let’s hope Reverend Reynolds brings some drama,” Maureen says. “We need some creepily possessive old-fashioned dad confrontation to spice up this snooze-fest.”
Reverend Reynolds disappoints in the best kind of way. “An atheist app designer?” Richard Reynolds chuckles. “Not exactly what we expected, is it, Anita? But honestly, we’re just so happy our NeeNee finally brought a man home.”
“Dad!” Daphne blushes down at her plate of apple pie.
“Well, sweetheart, it’s just, you’ve never brought a boy home to meet the family. We were starting to worry.”
Charlie reaches over and takes Daphne’s hand. “I feel honored to be the first,” he says, like a perfect prince. Daphne’s blush deepens.
Dev slides out of the van. “I’m going to take a walk,” he tells Jules.
Her voice hitches with worry. “Should I come?”
“I’m fine.” He flashes her a breezy Fun Dev smile of reassurance before he disappears into the night. Daphne’s childhood home is on a sprawling acre outside of Macon, woods fringing the boundaries. He heads past the golden glow of the floodlights on the back of the house, toward the tall, dark trees and the silence. Out here, his feelings have more room to breathe.
“Dev,” a familiar voice calls behind him. “Wait up!”
He pauses against a beech tree as Ryan’s shadow advances in the dark.
“What’s up?” Ryan asks. “Why’d you bail?”
He lifts his shoulders in a half-assed shrug Ryan probably can’t see. “You know how it is. You’ve seen one Home Kingdom date, you’ve seen them all.”
Dev tilts his head back against the bark and looks up at the sky through the fragmented branches. He can’t remember the last time he could see this many stars.
Ryan clears his throat. “I imagine this is all a lot harder now that you’re fucking the star.”
