Sure enough, Zane only lasted thirty seconds before he blew out a breath. “Yes. Kazimir and I are over this time. What’s it to you?”
“Just curious.” Lie. Excitement and anticipation were bubbling up inside of him and it was all he could do to contain himself from letting it out.
“Since when were you interested in my sex life?”
Since literally always, but Pavel smartly kept his mouth shut.
Which annoyed Zane even more.
“Whatever.” The Prince of Medicine went to leave. “I should have known we couldn’t carry a conversation.”
The two of them rarely spoke, but that was by design. Pavel didn’t think he’d be able to hold himself back if they got closer to one another. Yet, something about the certainty in Zane’s voice irked him. As though the other man truly believed the two of them wouldn’t have anything in common.
“You should come,” Pavel called out, stopping him. “To the club.”
Zane shook his head. “I don’t—”
“If you’re about to say you don’t have time, that’s false. You had time to come here, didn’t you?” Pavel cocked his head. “If you’re about to say you don’t have any interest, I can assure you, that’ll also turn out to be a lie.”
“There’s something for everyone at Concealed, that it?” Zane grunted. “Spare me your business pitch. You aren’t lacking for customers.”
That was true. Pavel owned the most popular spot in the capital.
That’s not what he’d been getting at though.
“There’s something there for you,” he corrected, finally allowing some of the interest to slip into his tone. He noted the second Zane heard it, watching the confusion bloom anew over his beautiful face. “If things really are over between you and Kazimir Ambrosee, that means you’re in the market for a new distraction.”
“And you think your club could supply me with one?” Zane had gone still. On the outside, he didn’t appear to be any more interested in the proposal than he had a second ago, but Pavel knew him. Knew all the minutiae details of his face and his body language. He might seem unaffected, but internally his mind was racing through this new development, trying to figure out Pavel’s angle.
“You never gave two shits about Kazimir Ambrosee,” Pavel tested his luck and said. “So why mess with his new man?”
The change in topic didn’t trip him up at all. He’d made it seem like he didn’t want to talk about it, but he didn’t hold back this time. “Why do anything?” He tossed the knife into the air and caught it. “Boredom.”
“No,” he shook his head. “There’s more to it than that.”
“Think so?”
“Yes.” If there was one thing Pavel knew, it was Zane Solace. The fact that he was missing something, that he couldn’t quite sus out why he’d just done what he did, was infuriating. “Tell me what it is. Tell me what I’m missing.”
Zane blinked, but Pavel was too committed to uncovering the truth now to try and figure out where he might have slipped. Had it been his tone? A look on his face? The possessive way he’d taken a single step closer before catching himself? All of the above?
Zane was perceptive. Calculating. There wasn’t much that went over his head, which was why Pavel had purposefully kept his distance and stalked in the shadows.
He’d been biding his time. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to make himself known. This disgusting thing with Kazimir had gone on for far too long, and now that the prize was finally within reach, Pavel found his carefully coiled patience beginning to unravel.
“I’m petty,” Zane said, and for a charged moment, Pavel held his breath, afraid the Prince of Medicine would change his mind and stop talking. “Kazimir owed me something. Now we’re even.”
“Owed you what?”
“Fear.”
Pavel clenched his jaw.
“Why do you seem upset?” Zane asked. “I wasn’t aware you were capable of that emotion. Or, any emotion, really.”
“That’s because you’ve never really seen me.” Pavel took another step closer, but didn’t bridge the rest of the distance between them. “That’s about to change, Doctor.”
“Is it?” he seemed wholly unaffected, but admitted, “I can’t tell if that’s a threat or not.”
