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I took a deep breath. But Juri’s words went straight through me, and I flinched at the pain in my broken rib. He had definitely gotten too close to me.

If only I hadn’t taken Hector’s advice to heart, then I would have never gotten to know Juri so well. His departure wouldn’t have hurt as much as my pounding headache.

There was one thing I still didn’t understand. Assuming Juri was telling the truth, how could he develop feelings for me? It’s not like I had revealed anything about myself to him. Maybe I mentioned once that I had been bullied for years, but certainly not how severe the abuse had been.

It’s impossible for him to have fallen in love with me. He doesn’t even know me.

Hearing Juri’s beautiful voice calmed me. When he spoke, his soft voice sounded like he was telling you a secret. In a way, he was. Everything he had revealed about himself during our conversations, I didn’t take for granted. He had opened up to me—more than I could have ever wished for.

Fuck.

I’ve completely fallen for the guy and didn’t even realize it. And now it’s too late. How am I supposed to fix this?

I heard the front door, and for a brief moment, hope flickered within me that Juri had returned. But there was no way. The door was locked, and Juri didn’t even have a key.

“Hello!” Hector announced.

I struggled to get up from the desk and stepped out. Hector was in the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge. He took the first sip from the bottle as he turned to me and almost choked.

“Holy shit! What happened to you?”

I removed the cold pack, my mouth twitching, which was all I could manage. I slinked between the sofa and the kitchen to the dining table and sat down on a chair.

“Did you have the competition today?” Hector asked, sitting down next to me.

“Yeah. I lost.”

“That’s how you look like.”

“How was Barcelona?”

“Pretty good. We had wonderful weather, excellent food … Everything was great.”

Hector crossed one leg over the other and leaned back. As usual, he appeared polished with his hair combed back and his face freshly shaved. However, he had the top button of his shirt open and wore his jacket somehow casually. He didn’t seem as strict as usual.

“Where’s your patient?” he asked, glancing around the apartment.

“He’s been gone since Tuesday.”

Hector raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Did something happen? You sound down.”

I stared a hole into Hector’s face, but all I could see was him, naked, fucking Juri from behind. And it made me so furious that I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer. “You knew Juri before, didn’t you?”

Hector paused and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. He placed the beer bottle on the table and crossed his arms over his chest. “How did you come to that conclusion?”

The words stuck in my throat, and I shook my head tiredly. I could hardly believe it myself, but the emotions were getting to me. “I saw you guys,” I choked out. “I was home early that evening. But don’t worry. Juri never … He would never … He has always been discreet and never talked about you.”

Hector nodded, keeping his eyes on me. “Let me guess. You screwed up?”

“Hm … How did you know?”

With a gesture, he pointed to my battered face. “You’ve never been this ugly. Besides, I’ve known Juri for a long time. He felt comfortable in your presence, otherwise, he wouldn’t have accepted your help.”

“He had nowhere else to go.”

“The guy has enough money set aside to stay in a luxury hotel in Dubai for six months, but his fears of existence make his life difficult.”

“Damn, man,” I cursed in disbelief. I had so many conversations with him, but I never talked about money.

Of course, when I first asked him to be my muse, he told me his price.

But I never calculated what that could mean for a monthly salary.

Maybe because I didn’t want to imagine how many clients he served per week. “I screwed up.”

“You like him,” Hector remarked, taking another sip of his beer.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, come on. It’s so obvious.”

“He said he had feelings for me and in the same breath called what was between us a farce.”

Hector laughed. “Yes, that sounds just like him. You must have really pissed him off.”

“How well do you guys actually know each other?”

“Well enough. But …”

“You’re married and have two daughters,” I interrupted. “Do they know that you … I mean … callboys?”

Hector gave me a stern gaze, his lips pressed into a thin line. Something flashed in his eyes that I had never seen in him before: discomfort.

“Of course, my family doesn’t know. What do you think? And I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

“But … You’re a good-looking man. Why pay when you could have it for free?”

“Exactly for that reason, so I don’t end up in a situation like you’re in right now.”

“Touché,” I sighed.

“What do you want to do now?”

“I have no idea how to fix this.”

“Just call him. He’ll surely tell you,” Hector suggested.

“Provided he still talks to me.”

“You’ll only find out if you try.” Reaching for his beer, Hector winked at me and disappeared into his office.

He was right. Besides, it was the only sensible thing to do.

I had to get knocked out to realize that Juri meant more to me than I was willing to admit.

What had happened between us in the last two weeks was not just pleasure.

It was in no way comparable to what I had with Matteo.

What I had with Juri went much deeper. Too deep.

I had taken him into my heart, and it hurt.

In my room, I reclined on the bed with my phone in hand. Opening the app, I navigated to Juri’s chat history and noticed he had uploaded a new profile picture.

“Ready for orders,” it said.

Fuck.