Page 17 of Psychopath

Zane waited in the office, thankfully with his T-shirt on. He smiled wide, and his eyes lit up. He slouched in his chair with his legs spread. Quinn marched into the room with all the confidence he could muster and placed his papers on the table.

“Before we get started,” Quinn said. “We need to discuss last week.”

“Were my answers not what you had hoped for?”

Quinn shook his head. “I didn’t mean that; I meant the whole…undressing yourself. It was inappropriate.”

“I’m starting to think that’s your favourite word.”

Quinn held his thumb and his forefinger a centimetre apart. “I was this close to kicking you off the study.”

Zane’s smug smile retracted, and he blinked. “Why didn’t you?”

“Cleo.”

“Cleo,” Zane whispered. “I’ll have to thank her.”

“Why did you take it off?” Quinn asked. He held his hand out at Zane. “And don’t say it was because you felt hot.”

Zane sucked on his bottom lip. “I’ll tell you why if you promise not to kick me off the study.”

“Okay.”

“I wanted an answer.”

“An answer?” Quinn frowned. “You didn’t ask a question.”

“I didn’t need to ask it with words.”

Quinn rubbed circles into his temples. “I don’t understand.”

“I wanted to know if you found me attractive. I wanted to know whether you were gay.”

“What?”

“I make you nervous, I can tell, but I wanted to see if beneath that, you found me pleasing to the eye, and your reaction told me more than your denials ever could. You find me…very pleasing.”

Quinn’s mouth bobbed open, and denials ranging from a whispered disbelief to angered shouting formed in his head, but he said nothing.

“I’m here for a study,” he said. “Whether I’m gay or if I find you attractive, is completely irrelevant.”

Zane cocked his head. “You’re not going to deny it then?”

“Is there any point?”

Zane grinned, flashing his teeth. “No, there’s not.”

“But you’ve got to promise me you won’t do that again.”

“Not unless you ask me.”

“Zane…”

“Okay, okay.” Zane held his hands up in surrender. “I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“Hit me with your next lot of questions.”

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