Tragic King (The Dominant Bastard Duology 2)

“My schedule was surprisingly open today.”

Church barked a laugh. Severin’s time was entirely his own, and always had been. Even when he had commissions for bikes, he didn’t always meet his deadlines. He didn’t fucking care if things were late, and if buyers did care, they could shove their cash up their asses.

“It’s a long way to come just for a work meeting,” Severin observed. He’d practiced small talk on the way, but it sounded weird to his own ears.

His brother shrugged. “Hey, if they want to pay me to sit in the airport for hours just to come to a one-hour meeting, that’s fine. I’m still not sure what was gained from me actually being here rather than just video conferencing.”

“Their loss, my gain.”

Church raised his brows, his grimace of confusion kind of hilarious. “This new you is kind of freaky.”

The server came to take their drink order, and Severin stared at Church and pointedly ignored the woman until Church ordered for him and she went away.

“Still not ordering for yourself?”

“We don’t go out to eat. Plates of food are put in front of me when I sit down at the table. Who has time to figure out what they want for dinner?”

“Um...most people?”

“I have staff for that.”

Church crowed. “You didn’t just call your fiancée ‘staff.’ She’s going to cut you off if she hears you talking like that.”

“Like she would,” Severin said, feeling weirdly smug. It was the first time he could brag with Church about a woman. So what if she was going to be his wife – she counted, right? “Besides, she’s not the only game in town.”

One of Church’s eyebrows lifted in fierce disapproval. “If you tell me you’re fucking around on her, I’ll take you to the parking lot and kick your ass.”

&nb

sp; Severin lifted a hand and let one corner of his mouth lift in the facsimile of a smile. “She knows. She’s involved. It’s complicated. I just wanted you to know before you found out by accident.”

The server came back with their drinks. Church fired both of their orders at her then waving her off with a completely uncharacteristic rudeness.

“And you call me a jerk?” Severin snorted.

“I’ll leave her a nice fucking tip. Now tell me what the fuck you’re talking about.” He closed his mouth, looking as if he was ready to actually drag Severin to the parking lot, then started talking again before Severin could explain. “If you fuck things up with Min on purpose, you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought.”

Severin shifted in his chair then leaned back, trying to look as if he didn’t care about Church’s opinion of him. He did though, and always had. It was nice to know Church loved Minnow, considering he planned to marry her, but it sort of annoyed him that Church thought he’d be that callous with her. Well, maybe he had been, but he was pretty sure he’d fixed it. Hadn’t he?

“It’s not like that,” Severin finally muttered. “There’s always been a third person in our relationship, and we’ve recently decided to make that part of things less secret.”

Church’s mouth dropped open, then he snapped it closed again, his eyes incredulous. “Fuck. It’s Rodrigo.”

He felt heat crawling up his neck to stain his cheeks, more embarrassed at being caught blushing than he was about Church knowing.

“How did you guess?” Severin eventually asked.

At first Church didn’t reply, just gave a low whistle and looked lost in thought. “There is no one else, doorknob.” He rolled his eyes. “So is it like, you’re sharing Minnow, or are you all involved with each other?”

“The latter.” Was it possible for a man’s ears to burn off from mortification? He was pretty sure his were working on it.

A broad smile spread across Church’s face. “I never thought it was going to happen. He’s been carrying a torch for you for such a long time – you never gave any indication you were interested.”

“I tried not to think about it.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Loïc.”