Titus cocked his head, thinking. “And in return? Clearly your terms differed from my initial offering. It isn’t in the Solace nature to be generous.”
No, it really wasn’t.
“I get until graduation to come to a decision.”
“That’s four whole months, Zane,” Titus stated. “Either you aren’t very good at negotiating, or you’re trying to play me for a fool.”
Damn it.
“Two months,” Zane said.
“My initial offer was for a single week. Now, unless you want me to get angry and tell your lovely brother to put an end to this and just shoot your friend already, you’ll come back with something better. I won’t leave my man at risk just so you can decide if you’re up for playing house or not.”
This wasn’t going well at all. A week was a ridiculously short period of time, but it was clear Titus meant every word. If he didn’t like Zane’s next offer, he’d tell Aodhan to shoot Pavel, and there was no questioning which of them his brother would listen to.
Fine. With four months until graduation, Zane had plenty of time to find someone else who would willingly give him a marriage of convenience and, most importantly, a divorce once he was ready. He didn’t need that much time to conclude whether or not that person had to be Pavel or if he was going to have to do a little hunting of his own.
“Two weeks.” Zane didn’t think it was much better, but it was probably all he was going to get away with.
“All right, but if you decide not to marry him,” Titus steepled his fingers and set his hands on the desk, “that means he’s no longer of any interest to you.”
He could read between the lines. “You can try to kill him. It won’t be easy though.”
Pavel hummed, but otherwise said nothing, opting to remain quiet and allow them to work this out. As though his life wasn’t on the line.
“Do you have anything to add?” Zane demanded, annoyed that he was just going along with this.
“No, gorgeous,” Pavel grinned. “You’re handling it all beautifully.”
“Then do we have an agreement, Zane?” Titus asked.
He sent one more glare Pavel’s way, but when it became abundantly clear he really wasn’t going to say anything, sighed and turned back to the screen.
“Yes,” he said. “We have an agreement.”
Chapter 23:
“Stay with me.” Pavel caught his hand and pulled him to a stop outside the warehouse.
Zane had already contacted the trusted cleaning crew the Retinue used whenever one of them took things a little too far, but he didn’t intend to wait around for them to arrive. He was tired and, frankly, mentally drained.
“That’s a good idea,” Aodhan said, stepping out behind them. He ran a hand through his hair and inhaled the cool night air as if he didn’t have a care in the world despite the fact he was still covered in blood. He’d ditched the clothes at least. “This yours?” He pointed toward Zane’s car. “Give me the passcode.”
Zane scowled at him.
“Come on,” he held out his multi-slate, “you’re going home with your boyfriend anyway and he’s got a hole in his gut, so shouldn’t be driving.”
“Last I checked, I’m not the one who shot him.”
“But you are the reason he got shot.” Aodhan gave him a pointed look and shook his wrist, patience wearing thin.
With a heave of frustration, Zane clicked on his own device, transferring the operations for his car over to his brother. “If you wreck that I’ll—”
“Relax, I’m an impeccable driver, baby bro.” He opened the driver's side door and hung an arm over it, turning back. “You should move in with him while you’re at it.”
“What?”
“Get out of the Little Palace,” Aodhan said. “This is the perfect chance. Play it off like you feel responsible for Pavel’s injury so you’re momentarily staying with him to help out. Being in close quarters will also help you decide what you want, trust me. I never would have fallen for Mercy if we hadn’t accidentally got locked in together.”
