Chapter 3 #2
"He's informed now," Mauve says, her brows furrowing again as she looks up at her son from where she's sitting.
"You two are acting like I'm forcing you to do anything you're uncomfortable with.
It will be a relationship in name only. He's already staying in your apartment for safety reasons.
Now you two might also be pictured out in the world together.
That's it. I'm not demanding any kind of physical proof for the presses.
I'm asking for you to say if you are asked, that you are in a relationship with him until this all blows over. "
"Mauve, what happened to keeping me single and unattainable?" I ask because that was the whole image we gave of Empress for my entire career.
"That was before men were breaking into your home and jerking off on your bed," Mauve says, her words blunt but effective.
"You're now in a long-term, happy relationship that you've kept out of the spotlight, and he," she points to Zill, who doesn't look as angry anymore.
Instead, he almost looks distracted, like he's listening to something else. "Will keep you safe."
I take a deep breath, trying to weigh what Mauve is suggesting against what feels right.
A fake relationship with someone who is genetically incapable of having feelings for me is the safest scenario for a pretend relationship.
Plus, he can hear my thoughts, and already knows I find him attractive.
He hasn't even insinuated that he knows, and as long as he can do that and I can focus on other things when the thought of him being attractive comes up, we should be able to get through this without difficulty, right?
"If, and that's a big if, we do this, when does it end? What are the rules?"
Zill stops looking distracted, his whole body tensing for a moment as his shadows stop moving. When he releases his muscles, his shadows begin moving again. He's the one who answers.
"I'd take on the role the entire time you were under my protection, which I believe goes until the end of your contract with Mauve. If we need to extend that, we can discuss it then. Rules would be whatever you need to feel comfortable with the arrangement."
"I–" I close my mouth before finishing the thought.
I'm not even sure what I want to say. I'm struggling to convey to anyone here that I don't care what we do, as long as I can fall asleep in my bed at night without the fear of someone breaking in and doing something to me.
I want to live my life without the knowledge that someone broke into my home, stole all of my underwear, and has been selling them on some third-party resale site.
There is very little I'd do at this point if it meant there was a chance I could go back to a reality where I was safe.
Zill's features soften, his head tilting to the side a little. His eyes don't leave my face, but he talks to Mauve. "I think Reese and I need to have a conversation without you calling the shots."
Mauve stands from her chair without further prompting, her comm in her hand. She pats Marr on the chest as she walks past him. "Come, let's discuss travel plans in my office while these two figure out their arrangement."
Marr doesn't follow Mauve. Instead, he looks at me, a question on his face as if he's making sure I feel safe enough to be left alone with a stranger.
I mean, it's Mauve's son. As much as I didn't think she had a maternal bone in her body, she must've kept it hidden because I looked into the company she hired Zill from.
They're legitimate, and they do a lot of good work in the universe.
It makes sense now as to why he took on my job, even though when I first saw all of their credentials, I thought I wasn't one of their usual client types.
I give Marr a short nod and a small smile.
It's not that I want him to leave, but this is a conversation that needs to be had with just the two of us.
Zill is in my head already. We can get it all out in the open, decide if he's comfortable going through Mauve's plan, or if this is asking too much of him.
Either way, it's a conversation I want to keep between the two of us.
Mauve and Marr don't need to know that I find him attractive or that I hope he's willing to go through with this plan, because even if there's only a slight chance it'll help make me feel safe, I'm willing to take it.
Zill doesn't move until the door to the conference room closes.
He's deliberate in his movements, his eyes on me, watching like he knows just how skittish I am since all of this started happening.
When he takes the seat that Mauve had been sitting in, he spins around to face me, his legs spread, but far enough from me that he's not trapping me where I'm sitting.
He rests his arms on his thighs, leaning in slightly, and offers me a gentle smile.
"Will you tell me how you're really feeling about all of this?" he asks, and I burst into tears.