Page 210 of Positively Pricked
"But I don't understand," I said. "If that's what he wanted, why didn'thedeal with it?"
Zane looked away. "People are different, you know. The things I've had to do – well, I guess he didn't have it in him."
I knew exactly what he meant. But this posed another question. "Sorry, but I've gotta ask, why didn't just tell me what was going on, with the house, I mean?" I gave a shaky laugh. "I wassomad at you."
"Really?" he said. "I didn't notice."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please."
"All right. You wanna know why? It's because you had dinner with Teddy."
"So, you were what? Punishing me?"
"No," he said. "I was trying to keep you from getting dragged into the mud. The whole thing, it's like this messed up freak show, and I wanted to keep you the hell away from it."
I smiled in spite of myself. "But what about Teddy? Why didn't you tellhim?"
"You know Teddy," Zane said. "Let's say I give him the house today, how long before he's out again?"
I saw what he meant. I had to admit it, "Not long."
"Right. But if the house is mine, they're gonna have a lot harder time taking it."
"You mean, because…" I wasn't quite sure how to put this.
Zane flashed me a grin. "Because I’m a prick, and Teddy's not."
At this, I had to laugh, because it was so terribly true. Teddy wasn't an awful person, but the odds of him hanging onto anything? Well, they weren't great.
As for Zane, he was obviously willing to fight for the things that were important to him. And for whatever reason, this seemed to include me. My voice softened. "You're notalwaysa prick."
"Yeah?" He reached up and pulled me back into his arms. "Well don't tell anyone."
His body felt hard and warm against mine. I couldn't help but say, "Speaking of pricks…"
"Yeah?"
I almost giggled. "Have you ever had sex on this rug?"
