“He’d be within his rights to tell me to go to hell,” Thomas replied. “Either way, I want you to know I am part of this fight as long as it takes. If I have to do it far from Zack, I will.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Roger held out his hand. “I’m glad you came when I called.”
“I’m glad you reached out.” Thomas clasped Roger’s hand. They shook once, solid and firm, and then Roger departed for his car.
CHAPTER 46
Zack had read until dawn, until the drowsiness daylight brought claimed him and pulled him under to sleep. Takashi hadn’t returned to their bed. The first they’d seen of each other had been “breakfast,” which had been a quick meal where Zack had failed to not kill his prey. After that, Seamus and Anton had given a lengthy lecture reminding Zack and Katie about the expectations for their behavior during the party.
Takashi had sat silently through the entire thing. He hadn’t even looked at Zack.
When Seamus dismissed them to get ready, Zack slipped his hand into Takashi’s. Though Takashi held his hand, there was no warmth in his touch, no small smile or sparkle in the corner of his eye.
Halfway back to his suite, Zack let Takashi’s hand go. He waited until they were in his suite and the door was shut before he said, “You said you wouldn’t be pissed. Promised, in fact.”
“I’m aware of what I said.” Takashi continued into the bedroom and headed for the closet.
“You were fine when you left last night,” Zack said. “What happened with Seamus?”
“I can’t talk about it.” Takashi opened the closet door.
Zack paced in the bedroom while Takashi brought out their outfits for the night. He’d expected that he’d have to wear some kind of tuxedo or costume, but his attire was a beautiful black suit with a bright white dress shirt. Takashi’s suit was a wine red, and his dress shirt was the black of Zack’s suit.
With dutiful care, Takashi laid the suits out on the end of their bed and then went to the dresser to pull out accessories from the boxes on top. His motions were economical, the barest of necessary action to complete what needed to be done. The wall around his emotions had never been thicker. Zack couldn’t glimpse even a blanked-out pop-up from him.
What did you do?Zack demanded in his mental connection.
Seamus didn’t respond.
Zack came to a stop and clenched his fists.What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?
Still, nothing from Seamus.
Okay, the bastard wanted to be like that? Zack closed his eyes and let out his breath. He began, at the loudest of his thoughts, to scream,WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?
Zackery!Seamus snapped.
I can go all fucking night if I have to, prick. Hell, I can go centuries.
A moment of silence passed. Zack restarted his demand.
Fine! Finish preparing and then meet me downstairs.
Zack opened his eyes.
Takashi finished laying out their cufflinks and tiepins for the party with a definitive clink. “What did he say?”
“You suddenly a mind reader?” Zack asked.
“You wanted an answer I wouldn’t provide. He’s the only other one who knows, and all you have to do is think at him,” Takashi replied. “One needn’t be a genius to figure out what you were doing.”
With his chilling precision, Takashi strode back to the suits and began to change into his. Though his grace was still there, he was the least seductive he’d ever been.
The familiarity of his motions finally sprang forth a realization. Zack had suffered years of cold shoulders at family events. Now Takashi was giving him one.So much for love fixing any problem. Joining Takashi in silence, Zack quickly changed into his new suit. When he struggled to slide in one of his cufflinks, Takashi started to reach to help him, but Zack dipped away from him.
The micro flinch that passed over Takashi brought low bubbles of guilt in Zack’s gut. But he wasn’t the one who had begun this distance. If Takashi wanted to hide beneath a thousand layers again, then Zack was going to let him. He could put his own walls up, too.
They descended to the foyer together. Takashi went to Anton and Katie while Zack strode past Seamus’s three-pet collection and followed his inner compass to find Seamus in a parlor. It was the room that had been wrecked the night Seamus had attacked Anton, but it’d long been repaired and set to rights. Well, not entirely repaired. The couch was a new one, the smell of the leather almost overpowering Seamus’s musty scent of the grave.
