20. Irving

20

IRVING

L achlan was, as Cyrus had warned me, waiting in my office when I got back. He reclined in the chair opposite mine, one calf resting over the other leg's thigh.

"I heard about your new little friend," he said evenly.

Lachlan was a nasty piece of work, but a bad temper was never one of his problems and if I'd expected or wanted a knock-down, drag-out argument, that was the last thing I was going to get today.

"What business is it of yours?" I asked coldly, sitting down in my desk chair.

Lachlan uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. He knew how much I hated that. "If my fiancé is in a serious relationship with a monster, I think I have every right to know."

" Ex -fiancé," I corrected him. "And he's not a monster, he's a fae."

Lachlan smiled. "So you are fucking him."

I forced myself to take in a steady breath. He was pushing my buttons intentionally. He was trying to get a rise out of me. I needed to keep reminding myself not to fall for his tricks if I was going to get out of this room with any ounce of dignity left to my name.

"We are dating, yes."

"I don't think a fae is at all suitable for you." He lowered his hand on top of mine.

I flinched at his touch and drew my hand away, placing it safely in my lap. "You don't know me very well at all, then, do you?"

"Sorry, I should clarify: I don't think that this specific fae is suitable for you. Want to know why?"

"Not particularly."

There was no sense in telling Lachlan no. He was going to do what he wanted regardless of what I said, and before I could even think about ushering him out the door, he pulled out some photos from the inside pocket of his jacket.

"I think you might find these interesting. I stumbled across them when I was doing a little research on your new friend."

"And why would you do that?" I didn't look at the photos that he slid across the desk toward me. "You need to leave me alone, Lachlan. Our engagement is over and I never want to see you back in my life again. Admit it, you're jealous that I've moved on and you haven't."

Lachlan shrugged. "Call it jealousy if you want, but you know you were a fool to let me go."

I scoffed. "Have you forgotten why I let you go?"

"I made a mistake. Humans are allowed to make mistakes, as you well know." He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Getting with a fae, really. Now, I'll just leave these here so you can look at them when you're ready, and until then, I'll be at the local hotel. I'll see you there, Irving."

He stood up, leaned over the desk, and planted a kiss on my forehead. A chill ran down my spine. I was seconds away from jumping up and slapping him across the cheek, but my sensible half told me not to do that unless I wanted to land myself in even worse shit than I was in now.

I didn't touch the photos, still lying face-down on the desk, until long after I was certain Lachlan had left the building. I was curious to see what was depicted in them, but I would never give that bastard the satisfaction of knowing just how curious I was. I flipped them over cautiously, eyes roving over every little detail.

They weren't worse than I expected, per se, but they weren't anything better either.

"Sylvan," I whispered, fingers closing in over the photos till they crumpled around the edges, "how could you?"

There was a knock at my office door and instinctively, I threw the photos into the garbage bin. My heart was pounding as I got up and opened the door, half-expecting to see Lachlan standing there ready to needle me some more.

"Oh, it's you." I stepped aside to allow Sylvan in.

"I came as soon as I heard," he said, giving my upper arm a squeeze as he walked past me. "Where is he?"

"He's gone now. Wait, how did you know he was here?"

"My cousin – the Librarian – told me. They found out through someone they know who works at the hotel."

I nodded my head slowly, trying to make sense of Sylvan's rapid-fire explanation. "I see." I sank into the leather chair behind my desk, pivoting until I was facing Sylvan, who'd taken the liberty to sit down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk. He was a much more welcome sight than the last man who sat there, but I couldn't get the contents of those photos out of my mind.

"What did he say to you?" he asked, placing his elbows on the desk. God, how I hated that. "Did he threaten you?"

"No, not exactly."

"Then what? You look white as a daisy."

"A daisy? Don't you mean – oh, never mind. He…brought me some photos to look over."

Sylvan chuckled. "That sounds ominous."

His smile faded when I didn't return the amused look. "They're photos of you, Sylvan."

He furrowed his brow, shaking his head in confusion. "I have had my picture taken before, but you know what I look like, so that shouldn't be a problem. Are they from college?"

"I don't know when they were taken." I fished them out of the bin and set them face-down in front of him.

"Because if it's me at a party, you should know that I did have a little fun in school – nothing too wild, but I wasn't an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of fae."

"I gathered that," I said dryly. "Just look at the photos, Sylvan."

He turned them over and I lowered my head into my hands, rubbing my temple which suddenly had a nagging ache. The room grew painfully silent – a rarity for Sylvan.

"Is that all?" he asked after a few more infinitely long seconds.

I raised my head. "What do you mean? They're nudes of you, Sylvan. They're nudes of you and God knows who else doing God knows what."

"Oh, I remember who that was." Sylvan smiled as his gaze grew distant with memories. "And I remember what we did that night too. I can assure you that he's long gone, though. Actually, he's married now."

"That's not the point. The point is that there are pictures of you having sex with another man."

" We have sex, Irving."

"But we don't take photos of it – or, at least, I certainly hope you haven't photographed us without my knowing."

"Of course not. Don't be ridiculous."

I picked up the photos and waved them in his face. "I hardly think I'm being ridiculous. These are out in the world now for anyone to see."

Sylvan shrugged and leaned back. "I don't mind."

"What do you mean? These are intimate photos, Sylvan. How could you possibly be all right with others seeing them?"

"Well, that's the thing. I…" he trailed off as he noticed my nostrils flaring. When he got his voice back, it was barely more than a mouselike squeak: "A friend took them for me for a, well, a book."

"A book of what?" I asked sharply.

"Of erotic art. I submitted some painting for the book as well."

"Like the one you made of me?"

Sylvan nodded his head. "It wasn't a big deal, though. They only sold a few thousand copies of the book and it's out of print now, so no one else can buy it."

"A few thousand ?" My jaw went slack. "So thousands of people have seen you fucking another man?"

Sylvan shrugged. "I never thought about it like that but, yes, I suppose so."

"Well," I huffed, "you can have these to do what you want with since you care so little about where they end up."

I threw them at him, but I overshot and they floated to the floor. Sylvan rose from the chair and walked over to them, stooping to pick them up.

"Now, if you don't mind," I continued, "I think it's time for you to leave. I'm painfully behind on my work and I need some time alone to think."

Sylvan made his way to the door, the tension suffocating us more with each step. "Will I see you again tonight like we planned?"

"I don't think so. The thing is, Sylvan, you might not mind those pictures. You might even like them. But I do mind them. They tell me more about you than you've ever said in all the hours we've spent together."

He looked down at the pictures in his hand, then back up at me. "They're just photos, Irving. What we have is much stronger than a couple of compromising images."

I laughed bitterly. "Is it? We're two very different people, and that has never been clearer to me than it is right now."

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"No, but I need some time to think things through – to think us through."

"Very well, but if you let these stupid photos get between us, you're allowing Lachlan to get exactly what he wants."

My throat tightened, rage bubbling up inside me. "Don't try to tell me about Lachlan. I know him. I know what he put me through for years on end. You'll never be able to understand that."

Sylvan nodded. "I'm only making you more upset," he said quietly. "I'll try calling later when you've had a chance to calm down."

He shut the door softly behind him, and by the time I thought of what else I wanted to say, he was gone.