Page 20 of Villain

But West had confirmed what Lake had already suspected, and they knew Nix had still hacked into their systems. Obviously, there was more to the app, just as he’d supposed from the start. Somehow, the app and the club were linked. Therefore, even if it wasn’t anything as serious as trying to break into the club itself, messing with the app was still pretty bad. Right?

Of course.

They wanted to know why, and it’d certainly be easy enough to explain, to tell them all about Branwen and his secret mission to find out who had pushed her to the edge. Only…What if it’d been them?

If Lake was a King on the app, it was safe to assume the other two were as well. All Nix had to go on was his cousin had been speaking with a King before her death.

If he tipped his hand now, he may never get answers.

Lake was too observant, though. If Nix fully lied, he’d catch on and then…Well. That part was less clear, but considering he’d already allowed Yejun to forcefully strip Nix and inspect his ass, whatever came next couldn’t be good.

So, as close to the truth as he could manage without giving himself away. He could do that.

Hopefully.

“I did it for fun,” he said, swallowing when it was clear none of them believed that. “Seriously. I knew I was transferring here, and when I heard about the app, I was curious.”

“And you just decided to hack in and play around…because?” Yejun asked.

“I’m a senior this year,” Nix replied. “I didn’t think I’d have time for the other tiers, and I wasn’t planning on staying on it long term.”

“No?” Lake’s eyes narrowed.

“No.”

“Then why do it at all?”

“I told you,” he repeated. “For fun.” This wasn’t going to work. He needed to give them more. He dropped his gaze and crossed his arms, allowing himself to look meek on purpose. “My cousin died recently. They left me a note.”

“A note?” West tilted his head, and Nix could tell this part he was starting to buy into.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I’ve been a straight-A student all my life. I don’t have many friends back home. Most of my time was spent studying.”

“That’s why you’re so good with computers.”

“Probably. I’ve been learning since I was ten so.” He shrugged. “Anyway, my cousin told me they wanted me to be different this year. To…try and break out of my shell or whatever. Since it was their dying wish…” He let his words trail off. “It’s stupid.”

“That part isn’t,” West said, “but messing with my programming? That was next-level idiotic.” He seemed to be considering something for a moment before he snapped the laptop shut with a loud click and put it back on the end table. “I can think of a few ways you can make it up to me though.”

“Excuse me?” Lake straightened behind his chair and slid his hands into his front pockets. The silent warning he sent down at his friend was somehow deafening.

“What? You don’t expect me to just let him get away with it, do you?”

“Please,” Nix felt panic sink its claws back into him, “I didn’t mean anything by it. Really.”

“I believe you,” West reassured, but before he could feel any sort of relief in that, added, “But it doesn’t mean shit to me. Actions have consequences, Nixie. Demons don’t forgive. You want to walk out of here and let bygones be bygones? You’re going to have to pay the price for your deception.”

Nix cast a pleading look to Lake.

Lake was clearly the one in charge here. If he told his friend to forget it—

“All right,” Lake said, and Nix felt the floor drop out from under him. “I set the terms.”

West seemed like he wanted to argue but then agreed with a single shoulder shrug.

“One final Favor,” Lake held his gaze, “isn’t that right, Songbird? That’s all you have left to earn that crown you wanted so badly.”

“You’re not really thinking about giving it to him?” Yejun asked incredulously, then laughed when he took in Lake’s expression. “Well damn.” He tipped his head at Nix, eyes dropping to his dick. “I mean, he’s got a hot body, sure, but is it worth all that?”

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