“Gorgeous,” he grinned and then kissed him. “That’s what you’re doing.”
For all his talk about being tired, Pavel forced another three orgasms out of Zane before he’d even entertain the idea of letting him rest.
Yeah, they weresonot even.
* * *
Zane had woken up alone in bed and opted to take this opportunity to explore. There were three levels to the mansion, but he’d avoided the first since Pavel was most likely there doing something domestic like cooking breakfast. He’d been insistent on that idea, especially since yesterday they’d skipped it again, spending the whole time lounging—and fucking—in bed.
And in the bathtub.
And on the bathroom floor.
In the window seat in the room…
His ass still smarted with every step and the love bites scattered all over his body were blatant reminders of how roughly Pavel liked to take him. He’d dressed in a loose forest green shirt and a pair of pajama pants in the same shade thathad been left out, hating that his first thought after stepping into them had been whether or not Pavel was dressed in the matching set.
Zane padded barefoot down the long hallway on the second level, the hardwood floor cold beneath his feet. Outside, another storm was raging, and he listened to the rain as he moved in and out of every room he came to, snooping as he went.
There were a lot of empty bedrooms, ones that mirrored hotel rooms more than anything, with just the basics and crisp sheets and nothing else. He closed the doors to at least four, disappointment warring with the need to call it and go find Pavel after all. If nothing else, the other man was entertaining, and Zane didn’t really do well with boredom.
The color scheme was muted tones throughout, with golden fixtures helping to spice things up and little else. It was almost as though Pavel had kept everything basic and minimalist, which was the opposite of the warm, lived-in feeling of his penthouse suite back in the city.
There was art on the walls though, at first just unrecognizable sketches in black and white that Zane had mostly overlooked. Every piece was framed and carefully hung at least five feet apart, as though this hallway acted as a sort of art gallery more than just a means to transport a person from one room to the next. It wasn’t until he was almost all the way at the end of it, close to the stairwell, that the images began to be more discernable, and he slowed to inspect the one closest to him.
His gaze followed the curve of a leg, making out what must be a blanket and then…He frowned. It was a person. A man with his face buried between his arms, the top of his head barely peeking out from beneath a bundle of blankets that obscured practically all of his body and concealed his identity.
Was this a past lover? Someone Pavel had cared about? Or a mere infatuation he’d sketched on a whim?
Hadn’t he promised there’d been no one but him?
With a huff, Zane ignored the last three rooms and took the stairs up to the next level two at a time, ignoring the way that made his sore muscles ache even more. There’d been a bath and a rub down with sun cream early this morning in the AM hours before they’d finally gone to sleep, and while that had clearly worked wonders, it wasn’t enough to ease all of the discomfort.
Which was good, because Zane welcomed it like the freak he was.
“So fucked up,” he mumbled, stopping at the first door at the top of the landing. He grabbed the handle and shoved it open, rolling his eyes when he was greeted by yet another bedroom. “What the hell is he trying to do, house the entire Retinueandthe Satellite?”
Did Pavel think they were going to start coming out here for weekend retreats or some shit like that?
He finally found an interesting room three doors down, though interesting was a vague word. At least it wasn’t another bedroom, in any case.
The office was set up a lot like the one Pavel kept on the second floor, and Zane found himself scanning the bookshelves for any loose slips of paper before anything else. When he came up empty-handed, he turned his attention to the desk, moving over and plopping down in the plush leather rotating seat.
When he tried the drawer to his right, he discovered it was locked. Trying the others, two on the left and one at the center that pulled out, proved they all were.
Which really wouldn’t do.
Zane got back up and searched for something that could be useful, finding a stylus with a clip on the other side of theroom that he hadn’t looked at yet. He plucked it off the shelf but paused when a couple of framed photos caught his eye.
They were of Pavel and his family. There was a picture of him and Ledger when they’d been teenagers, sitting outside in the grass, smiling at whoever was holding the camera. Then he and his parents sat around the dinner table. Another of all four of them at what was clearly high school graduation.
Every year, the Solace family got together and took the annual family photo. It was generic and meant more to give off the appearance of perfection than of anything else; certainly closeness wasn’t a consideration since none of them ever bothered to smile for it.
These were different. There was a warmth here that Zane lacked in his own life. Something he’d only ever come close to experiencing with the Retinue and…well.
He turned away from the photos and returned to the desk before the melancholy threatening to consume him in his chest could take permanent root. What was there to be envious of? So what if Pavel had lucked out and his adoption had been to a welcoming and loving family?
Not everyone could be so lucky, and besides, it wasn’t like Zane wasunfortunate. Becoming a Solace was what had gotten him his position, after all, and it was one he wouldn’t trade or give up.
