“No, he doesn’t,” Zach said. “And to be fair, I don’t think he always had it easy. He’s an orphan.”
She scoffed. “Oh yeah, the ‘poor orphan’ card. Please. The public laps it up, but it’s just a sob story to get people’s sympathy.”
Zach wondered why he hadn’t noticed before the extent of Lydia’s bitterness and animosity toward Tristan. Her quips had always seemed merely snarky and amusing. “Yes, but it isn’t necessarily a lie,” he said.
“Honey, he’s sucking your brain through your dick.”
“He’s doing no such thing,” Zach said with a grimace.
“He is,” she hissed. “You should know better. He’s ugly, Zach. He’s ugly on the inside, trust me on this. He has no redeemable qualities and everyone who really knows him knows that. Why do you think he has no real friends? No meaningful relationships, despite all his fame and looks? Even his own brother can’t stand him! No one loves him as a person. He might look beautiful, but he’s toxic, shallow and fake. Behind his beautiful facade, there is no soul. Leave the job before he poisons your mind any further.”
Zach bit the inside of his cheek. She was starting to irritate him, even though he’d had similar thoughts not a long time ago. “You’re being melodramatic. I have everything under control.”
“Yeah, I saw how you had everything under control when you had your tongue down his throat.”
“Look,” Zach said, his voice more clipped than he would have liked. “I appreciate your concern, but I have everything under control. I’m asking you to keep quiet about it. If not for his sake, then for mine. Please. I’d really appreciate it.”
Lydia pursed her lips. “All right. But remember what I said. He’s a toxic piece of shit and he’s not worth the trouble—”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Zach bit off and headed back to the house, uncurling his fingers and flexing them. He wasn’t even sure why her words had rubbed him the wrong way. She wasn’t entirely wrong.
And why hadn’t he told her that he and Tristan were done? Because they were done.
“What did she say?” Tristan asked the moment he entered the house.
Narrowly avoiding colliding into him, Zach closed the door.
Tristan was worrying his lip, his eyes wary and anxious.
“She agreed not to tell anyone,” Zach said.
“I don’t trust her.” A deep furrow appeared between Tristan’s brows. “She hates me.”
“If you were nicer to her, you would have had no reason to worry.”
Tristan chuckled. “I have to be nice to everyone all the time. Do you know how exhausting it is? I pay her an obscene amount of money for the privilege not to be nice to her.”
“Is that a clause in her contract?” Zach said, unimpressed.
Tristan frowned, looking like the thought had never occurred to him. “Well, no. Should it have been?”
Zach couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re unbelievable.” He grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him into a kiss. The brat sighed and all but melted into him, his hands coming up to grab Zach’s hair, his soft plush lips parting with eagerness that made Zach’s cock throb. Jesus, that mouth. How could someone so poisonous have such a sweet mouth?
Zach growled when Tristan took his mouth away.
“Lube’s upstairs,” Tristan said, flushed and so damn pretty it hurt to look at him and not have him.
Tristan grabbed Zach’s hand and dragged him upstairs.
And Zach let him. Of course he did. Son of a bitch, the boy really was sucking his brain through his dick.
But this is the last time, he vowed as he pushed Tristan into the bed.
Liar, Tristan’s voice said in his head as Tristan’s body sucked him in, tight, sweet, and scorching.
Chapter 15
“Slow down. You’re running too fast. And remember what I told you about your running technique.”
Tristan rolled his eyes, although Zach was behind him and couldn’t see it. “I’m a professional sportsman. I’ll have you know my running technique is perfect!”
“Your hips are behind your feet again,” Zach said.
Looking back, Tristan caught Zach’s eyes and smiled. “Maybe you should focus on my running technique and stop watching my hips.” He turned away and continued jogging, wishing he could take it back. Sex-addled brain? Case in point. They were training, for God’s sake. He wasn’t supposed to bring it up—whatever this thing was—while they were jogging. Right now they were a patient and his physiotherapist, and what they sometimes did after the training sessions wasn’t supposed to interfere with their professional relationship. Of course their professional relationship had never been very professional to begin with, but after the Lydia fiasco last week, they had to be more careful. The silly bint was now always around, sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. She watched their training sessions in the gym with suspicious, wary eyes, as though she wanted to keep Zach out of Tristan’s evil clutches. It was kind of hilarious at first, but it had quickly become annoying and frustrating. Tristan would have fired her already, but Zach had convinced him otherwise. Zach was right: she was more likely to tell people about his sexuality if Tristan fired her. But it didn’t mean Tristan was happy about her being around.