Double Standards // ziam

Chapter 18

Dozens of watchful, speculative faces turned to watch Zayn's progress through the office Monday morning. Bewildered, he hung up his coat and continued to his desk, where he found Susan Brook and a half dozen other staff gathered around it.

"What's up?" he asked. He felt radiantly happy; Liam had called him twice from Oklahoma, and sometime today he would see him again.

"You tell us," Susan said gaily. "Isn't that you?" She plunked the Sunday newspaper down on Zayn's desk and smoothed it out.

Zayn's eyes widened. An entire page had been devoted to the Children's Hospital Benefit Ball. In the center was a color picture of him-with Liam. They were dancing, and he was grinning down at him. Zayn's face was in profile, tilted up to his. The caption read, "Detroit industrialist Liam J. Payne and companion."

"It does look like me, doesn't it?" he hedged, glancing at the excited, avidly curious faces surrounding his desk. "Isn't that an amazing coincidence?" he didn't want his relationship with Liam to be public knowledge until the time was right, and he certainly didn't want his co-workers to treat him any differently.

"You mean it isn't you?" one of the women said disappointedly. None of them noticed the sudden lull, the silence sweeping over the office as people stopped talking and keyboard noises went perfectly still____

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," Liam's deep voice said behind Zayn. Six stunned people snapped to attention, staring in fascinated awe as Liam leaned over Zayn from behind and braced his hands on his desk. "Hi," he said, his lips so near his ear that Zayn was afraid to turn his head for fear he would kiss him in front of everyone. He glanced at the newspaper spread out on his desk. "You look beautiful, but who's that ugly guy you're dancing with?" Without waiting for an answer, he straightened, affectionately rumpled the hair on the top of his head and strolled into Harry's office, closing the door behind him.

Zayn felt like sinking through the floor in embarrassment. Susan Brook raised her brows. "What an amazing coincidence," she teased.

Liam came out of Harry's office a few minutes later and asked Zayn to come upstairs with him. Once they were in his office, he pulled him into his arms for a long, satisfying kiss. "I missed you," he whispered then he sighed and reluctantly released him, linking his hands behind Zayn's back. "I'm going to miss you even more-I have to leave for Casano in an hour. Rossi couldn't reach me, so he called Horace Horan in New York. Apparently some Americans are snooping around the village, asking questions about him. I have a security team checking it out. In the meantime, Rossi's gone into hiding, and there's no phone where he is.

"I'm going to take Harry with me. Niall's father panicked and sent Niall to Casano to try to soothe Rossi. He speaks some Italian. I'll be back on Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest."

He frowned. "Zayn, I never explained to you about Niall-"

"Mary did," he said, managing to look cheerful even though he felt miserable about his leaving. Besides missing him, he would also have another three or four days of anxiety, waiting to tell him about Sophia. He definitely couldn't tell him now, when he was about to go away. His anger would ferment and simmer for days. He had to tell him when he could be with him to soothe it. "Why are you taking Harry?"

"When the president of Pay-co retires next month, Harry is going to take over the position. By taking him with me, we can discuss immediate goals and long-range plans for Pay-co." He grinned at him. "Also," he admitted, "I'm feeling very grateful to Harry for his interference in our lives, and I've decided to interfere with his. By taking him to Italy, where Niall is... I see you understand my thinking," he said when Zayn started to smile.

With a final hug he let him go, then he went over to his desk and began shoving papers into his briefcase. "If Rossi calls again, I've told Mary to transfer his call to you wherever you are. Assure him that I'm on my way and that there's nothing to worry about. We have four labs testing samples of Rossi's formula right now. Within two weeks we should know whether he's a genius or a fake, and until we know which he is, we'll assume he's not a fake and pamper him."