Jared’s voice softened. “It’s for your own good, Tristan.”
Tristan’s stubborn expression didn’t change.
Behind Tristan, the door opened silently, admitting the man they were talking about. Before Jared could say anything, Tristan said, oblivious to their audience, “If you don’t fire him, someone might accidentally find out that you’re fucking my brother. That would be such a shame. His career would be ruined.”
Jared’s blood went cold.
Tristan gave him a curious, expectant look. Like a spider watching a fly caught in its web.
For the first time, Jared truly saw what Gabriel meant when he said Tristan was a two-faced little shit. How could someone be so beautiful on the outside and be so ugly and calculating on the inside?
“Nice,” Zach said, stepping into the room and walking toward Tristan, who froze at the sound of his voice. “Blackmail, brat?”
Pursing his lips, Tristan turned his head and glowered at him.
Zach looked unimpressed, his steely gray eyes fixing Tristan with a hard look. “Why aren’t you in bed? I gave you clear instructions.”
Tristan scowled. “You mean orders?”
“Precisely,” Zach said, undeterred. “I need to talk to Jared. Go wait for me outside.”
Tristan gave him a mutinous glare, but, to Jared’s surprise, actually obeyed. Well, he did attempt to storm out of the room but whimpered, grabbing his inner thigh, and slowed down. “Shut up,” Tristan threw over his shoulder.
“I didn’t say anything,” Zach said, his lips twisting. “But if you stop being a baby and start listening to me, you’ll recover twice as fast.”
“I hate you,” Tristan said and closed the door loudly behind him.
“Don’t worry about his threats,” Zach said, turning away from the door to look at Jared. “I’ll make sure he won’t spread that bullshit.”
Jared wondered how he was going to accomplish that but didn’t question it: Zach wasn’t one to give empty promises.
“You wanted to talk to me?” he asked instead. “Come to complain too?”
Zach snorted. “If I start, we’ll be here all night.” He pulled something out of his jacket—something that looked suspiciously like wedding invitations—and put them on the desk. “Donna asked me to drop these off. She doesn’t know your new address. Give Gabriel his, will you?”
Jared smiled. “About time.” Donna and Zach had been in an on-and-off relationship for years. “Congrats, man.”
Zach nodded before raising his eyebrows slightly. “So what did you do to piss Tristan off so badly he wants to make up some shit about you and Gabriel?”
Before Jared could reply, the door opened and Gabriel walked in.
“Hey, Zach,” Gabriel said with an easy smile.
Zach said something in response, but Jared listened to their conversation only with half an ear, his eyes drawn to Gabriel, who propped his hip against Jared’s armrest. Gabe dropped his hand and found Jared’s. Their fingers entwined.
Jared glanced at their hands before looking at Zach as the other man continued to talk to Gabriel. There was no way Zach could fail to notice the fact that they were holding hands, but Zach didn’t even blink.
Jared almost laughed when he realized why: Zach wasn’t surprised because they always acted that way. Whenever Zach had seen them together, Gabriel had usually been sprawled half on top of him or snuggled into his side. Nothing, short of kissing Gabe in public, would raise people’s eyebrows: to the outside world, nothing had changed in the way they behaved. Actually, very little had changed in the way they behaved when they were alone, too. They had sex—lots and lots of sex—but other than that, their relationship was exactly the same as it had always been.
Jared smiled to himself. Maybe their relationship was exactly the same because effectively they’d always been in a relationship, with sex being the only thing missing.
The door opened again and Tristan’s head appeared in the doorway. “Seriously?” he said, glowering at Zach. “Are you making me wait so you can make small talk? I’m leaving.”
“I’m done,” Zach said. “We can go now.”
Tristan’s eyes flicked to the wedding invitations on the desk. “You could have mailed them,” he said before striding away.
“Slow down, brat,” Zach called after him. “I’m not carrying you again if you worsen your injury—again.”
Tristan ignored him.
Zach sighed. “See you around, guys,” he said before stalking after his patient. The door closed behind him.
As soon as they were alone, Gabriel straddled his lap, looped his hands around Jared’s neck and gave him a long, needy kiss. Jared kissed him back hungrily. God, he still couldn’t believe this was finally real. Gabriel. His Gabe.
“Missed you,” Gabe whispered between the kisses. “Missed you so much.”
“It’s been just a few hours,” Jared said with a smile, sliding his hands under Gabriel’s shirt and stroking his back before slipping them underneath Gabriel’s shorts. He squeezed Gabe’s ass.
“Too long,” Gabriel said, biting Jared’s lip. “Want you. Wanna have you in me.”
Jared groaned and tore his lips away. “Not here, baby.”