Page 16 of Rebellion

“Angelina, I’m not saying I’ve got it all figured out. I don’t even think I know how to love, not after seeing what you and Gray have.”

“You mean nothing?” I snapped.

“Your head’s pretty far up your ass if you believe that.”

The silence dragged on another full minute until I had to fill it with anything other than admitting Cade was right.

I stood and crossed the room. Cade was too close to an uncomfortable truth and yet so far away from it. If we had a soul deep love, where was Gray? Where was I?

I cleared my throat and picked at the clasp on one of my suitcases. “What will you do now? Are you going to finish school here or go back to Poland?” Which seemed like a strange thing to say, since we’d never talked about his home country.

Cade shook his head in the way one does to a small child. “I’ll let you change the subject for now. I’ve said what I needed to.”

I let out a quick sigh, silently thanking the universe for that small contrition. “You didn’t answer my question.”

He shook his head. “We both know I’m not from Poland, sweetness.”

How many bubbles did this man think he could burst in one day without leaving a mark? “I know no such thing.”

He let me stay in my world of denial. “Fine. I will not be going to Poland, now or anytime soon. I’ll be looking for a new job, or trying to get a loan to finish paying for school.”

I dropped the earring I was playing with like it was hot. “No, you will not.” I stomped back across the room and got right up in his face. Well, his chest. “I’ll pay your tuition until you’re done with your master’s degree.”

He shook his head. “That is not our deal.”

“Fuck our deal.” I poked him in said chest to emphasize my words, and because it was nice to get my hands on such a great chest.

He, of course, spoiled my fun and grabbed my finger from its resting point on his pectoral. “I’m not your personal charity.”

I had enough charities and Cade wouldn’t be a good tax write off anyway. I conceded. But I knew how to be smarter than anyone thought. “Then I’ll hire you.”

He pressed his lips together into that no-way frown. “For what?”

In for the kill. “Draw the plans for my future club.”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of a club and I am not licensed.”

They all think I’m dumb for some reason. He didn’t need to know it was the first I’d thought of having a club. It made sense to me though. If I couldn’t have Gray, I needed something really important to me in my life.

Not a place like The Asylum, but where people who wanted to explore their sexuality like I had could go. Not scary, but welcoming.

“But you will be. I’m hiring you now to be my architect. I spend the next six months during this apprenticeship studying the business too. I don’t want some generic building and I don’t want a copy of The Asylum. I need someone who understands the lifestyle and that I can trust to draw my club. Who else could I possibly hire but you?”

He thought about it. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. “No, one set of drawings is not worth an entire year’s tuition.”

What was it with this guy and always doing right by me? I thought fast. “Then be an investor in the club.”

He chuckled. “I think you have that backward. An investor gives you money.”

I pulled my finger away from him and shook it. I knew what I was doing. “You’ll give me the designs and I’ll take your percentage of the profit from the club until the cost of your education is paid off.”

Cade paced from my bed, back to me, to the bed and back again. “You’re confused about how loans and investors work.”

“You’re too smart for your own good. Take the deal.” I waited while he weighed those pros and cons. He’d see it my way pretty damn quick. I was offering a good deal whether he saw it or not. He’d be providing me with a service. Not the one I had originally intended, but still.

“Fine. I accept. We will renegotiate after I graduate.”

“Good.” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek to seal the deal. “In the meantime, will you please stay here at the brownstone and keep an eye on things while I’m away?”

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