Double Standards // ziam

Chapter 11

At one o'clock the next afternoon, Zayn went up to the eightieth floor and was informed by Mary that Mr. Payne wanted to see him immediately. Fighting down his nervous tension, Zayn smoothed his blazer, checked his quiff, and walked into his office. "You wanted to see me?" he said politely.

Liam tossed the documents he was reading down on his desk, leaned back in his chair and lazily surveyed him. "You styled your hair the same way you had the day we left for Harbor Springs," he said, his deep voice pitched seductively low. "I like it."

"In that case," Zayn replied lightly, "I'll start discarding the wax."

He grinned. "So that's the way we're going to play it, is it?"

"Play what?"

"This little game we started yesterday."

"I am not playing your game," he said with quiet firmness. "I do not want the prize." But internally he did. He wanted him forever, for himself. And he despised himself for that same stupid weakness.

Liam observed his troubled expression with a feeling of satisfaction and nodded toward the chair in front of his desk. "Sit down. I was just about to review a file I had sent up."

Relieved that he was ready to get to work, Zayn sat down, but his breath caught in his lungs when he picked up the file and opened it. CONFIDENTIAL-PERSONNEL FILE was stamped across the front, and beneath it was a typed label that read, ZAYN J. MALIK/EMPLOYEE NO. 98753.

A flush tinted his perfect cheekbones as he remembered deliberately failing his tests and listing president as his first preference for a job. Liam would see that and-

"Hmmm," he said, "Zayn Jawad Malik. Jawad is a strangely beautiful name and so is Zayn. They suit you."

Unable to endure the bitter sweet torment of having Liam flirt with him, Zayn said repressively, "It means horse...Jawad means horse."

Liam ignored that and continued aloud. "Color of eyes, brown." He regarded him over the top of the file, his brown eyes intimate and teasing. "They are definitely Amber not just brown. One could lose himself in those eyes of yours-they're gorgeous. "

"My right eye used to wobble unless I wore my glasses," Zayn informed him casually. "They had to operate on it."

"A little boy with wobbly amber eyes and glasses on his little nose," he reflected with a slow grin. "I'll bet you were cute."

"I looked studious, not cute."

Liam's lips twitched as if he knew exactly what he was trying to do. He turned over the application, and Zayn watched him scanning it, his gaze nearing the bottom where he had listed his job preferences. Zayn knew the exact instant he spotted what he had written.

"What the Hell!" he said, astonished, and then he burst out laughing. "Vernon and I are going to have to be careful. Which of our jobs do you want the most?"

"Neither," Zayn said shortly. "I did that because on my way to the interview at Pay-co, I decided I didn't want to work there after all."

"So you purposely flunked your tests, is that it?"

"That's it."

"Zayn..." he began in a soft seductive voice that instantly put him on his guard.

"I've had the dubious pleasure of reading through your file," Zayn cut in coolly. "Your public-relations file," he clarified, at his stunned look. "I know all about Nick and the French movie star. I even saw the picture of you that was taken with Niall Horan the day after you sent me away because a'business acquaintance' was coming to see you."