Who broke in to take a shower?
Nate shoved the door open before he could change his mind, coming up short when it swung inward and revealed a tall, fit man currently in the process of wrapping a snow-white towel around his narrow hips.
The man glanced up at him, seemingly unconcerned with having been walked in on, and then went back to securing the cloth. Once he was satisfied with that, he ran a hand through his wet hair and nodded at Nate. “Hey.”
“Zane?” Nate seemed to be struggling to process what he was seeing, and he swallowed the lump forming in his throat. “It’s Zane, right?”
Chapter 24:
How he hadn’t put two and two together those couple of times Kaz had let the other man’s name slip was beyond him, but now that Nate was here, staring at the famous medical student, he realized who Kaz had been talking about.
Admittedly, Nate had not anticipated finding another Devil here, especially not naked. The large bathroom was filled with steam and the glass shower stall he’d clearly just stepped out from gave off the lingering scent of tulips, subtle yet floral and a bit earthy.
Kaz’s scent.
It made no sense why Nate was more bothered by the thought of him using Kazimir’s shampoo than he’d been with him using the shower in general, but something tightened in his chest.
“Ah, you must be Narek.” Zane nodded again and moved toward one of the small cabinets set in the wall, opening it to pull out a hand towel he proceeded to dry his hair with.
“What are you doing here?” Nate was fairly certain that Kaz lived alone. Not only that, but Zane wasn’t a part of the Brumal.
Everyone knew he was currently in school studying to become the next Royal doctor to the Imperial family. The Satellite and the Retinue hung out sometimes and basically keptpeace with one another, but he’d been under the impression that it stopped there. Even Madden, for example, never hung out with Flix after the races had ended, and the two seemed chummy enough whenever Flix came around.
“Does Kaz know you’re here?” he asked, only to be met with a crooked smirk.
“We have an open-door policy, so to speak,” Zane replied coyly, and it was impossible to tell if he meant for it to come off loaded with sexual connotation or if he merely felt like he was stating a fact. Tossing the cloth into a wicker laundry bin by the sink, he stepped forward and then tipped his head when Nate didn’t move. “Do you mind?”
It took him a second but he realized the guy was trying to leave and quickly stepped back into the hall, trying to remain calm as he watched Zane move around the place like he owned it.
Zane traveled with purpose down the hall, slipping into the third room on the right, leaving Nate to either hang back or follow after him like a creep.
His feet brought him to the room before he could help it, his eyes trailing after the other man as he moved about a bedroom decorated in the same shades of gray as the rest of the house. A set of clothes had been laid out on the king-sized bed, organized and seeming like they belonged there.
Like Zane had done this a million and one times before and had developed a routine.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” Zane broke the silence first, his voice clear and concise, making it obvious that Nate was the only one currently experiencing any type of confusion, “you’re most likely accurate.”
“What?”
“You’re wondering if we’re fucking, aren’t you?” Zane glanced at him then reached down to pick up a pair of pressed black pants. He chuckled when Nate looked away, staring off tothe side as he dropped the towel carelessly to the floor and began to dress. “It’s been…four years now? Perhaps five.”
Meaning they’d been in a sexual relationship since before they’d started college at Vail.
“We attended the same preparatory high school,” Zane said, as if reading Nate’s mind. “Most of us did, the Satellite and the Retinue? Some of us were even able to pick a side that way.”
“A side?”
He hummed. “Whether we wanted to follow Kelevra or Baikal. Some, like Kazimir, were dutybound because of their parents, but the rest of us got to choose this lifestyle.”
“And you picked Kelevra?” Even though he’d developed something with Kaz? “Why are you telling me this?”
“To help explain why you’ve never heard of the two of us or our…relations before.”
Nate grimaced, hands tightening into fists at his side. He wanted to call him a liar, but the proof was literally standing right before him. How else would Zane have known the code to Kaz’s suite, or where the hand towels were located in the bathroom? This couldn’t be the first time he was visiting this place.
What if he hadn’t even needed the code? What if the door had scanned him as well and welcomedhimhome, too?
A week ago, Kaz had been all but begging Nate to give them a real chance and now—
