Page 25 of The Marriage Negotiation

"Jayce likes to ask what if and why questions. He's big on hypotheses. He likes to brainstorm, but to do that, he needs people in different fields that he can talk to and ask questions so he knows which direction to take his dreams."

Okay, I could see that.

"Well, I'm not sure how I can help him, but he's free to ask any questions he wants."

Patrick shot me a grin. "I'll let him know."

Once the moving van was parked at the loading dock, we climbed out, made sure it was locked up, and then Patrick led me inside the building. He seemed to know where he was going so I just followed along.

When we reached the lobby, Patrick walked up to the security desk. "I'm Patrick Scotton. I just purchased condo number ten-o-two." He turned and gestured to me. "This is my husband, Zaq Scotton."

"Can I see some ID, sir?" the guard asked.

I quickly pulled out my wallet and grabbed my ID while Patrick did the same. The guard had no expression on his face whatsoever as he took them and started typing in his computer. Iwasn't sure if that was his normal face or just for work, but it was a bit off-setting.

Between the guard verifying who we were, that Patrick owned the condo, and checking us in as new residents, we were there for about twenty minutes.

Just as we were finishing up, the elevator doors slid open and a dark haired man walked out. He was as tall as Patrick, his shoulders just as wide, but he had an air about him that immediately made me wary.

This was not a man to piss off.

"Patty?"

Patrick turned and as soon as he spotted the man, a wide grin spread across his face. "Jake."

"We weren't expecting you for a couple of more days," Jake stated. "Joe mentioned something about you running behind because you were attending your brother's wedding or something like that, but I didn't think that was right. You always said your brother was a bonehead. Why would you attend his wedding?"

My face heated up as I turned my head away.

"Best thing that ever happened to me," Patrick said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "This is Zaq, my new husband."

"Zaq?" Jake's eyes snapped to me. "You mean—"

"Yes," Patrick said quickly. "We knew each other in high school."

"Oh." Jake started to smile as he held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Zaq."

I shook his hand and repeated his greeting.

"How was the trip?"

"It was good," Patrick replied. "We weren't in a big hurry so we were able to stop and sight-see along the way."

"Getting out of Texas was nice," I added. "I kept expecting Peter to pop up at any moment."

Jake's dark eyebrow arched over his eyes. "Is that a concern?"

I shrugged, not real sure how to answer that.

"Neither Peter or my parents know we moved to New York," Patrick stated. "We'd like to keep it that way."

"Well, I'm not going to tell them and I doubt any of the others will, especially if you ask them not to."

"And I appreciate that," Patrick said. "I know I'll probably eventually tell my parents where I am, but not right now. Not until they take off their blinders were Peter is concerned."

"You know, if you're worried about them showing up you can give security a picture and restrict their access, right?" Jake asked. "The security here is top notch. I have a friend in the security business and he trained all of our guards."

"Oh, let's do that," I said. "Peter would lose his mind if he showed up and they didn't allow them in. If security is as good as you say it is, I'd bet they could get it on camera."

---