Page 38 of Villain

They exited the forest area that surrounded the campus and shot out onto the crowded city streets. The number of other cars forced Lake to slow down, but he didn’t mind. They were close enough to the office building now, and it wouldn’t be much longer before they reached it.

“Finding this hacker is important to the club,” Lake said, opting to get them back on track. “That’s why they’ve ordered us to find him.”

“If it’s really that important,” Nix argued, “then why would they trust you guys? Why wouldn’t they put together a team or something? Everyone knows the club is packed with members from every organization and career. Surely there are people in law enforcement who could handle this instead?”

Lake hesitated. He could tell him now since there was no way he was letting Nix walk away without signing the documents. Nix hadn’t been serious when he’d mentioned threats just now, had merely been poking fun at Lake, but he’d learn quickly that Lake wasn’t above resorting to that form of persuasion.

“There are these things called Legacies,” he began. “They’re members born a part of Essential by blood or familial positioning. My parents were both members before their deaths. Yejun’s parents are members. West’s father…you get the point. Legacies are sworn in at the age of thirteen, but we aren’t considered for official roles until we’ve graduated from Foxglove.”

“Foxglove specifically?” Nix frowned.

“Yes. All Legacies have to graduate from our university. As seniors, we’re given a task which we must complete. Usually it’s something simple, mere semantics, where we prove our loyalty to the club and its values.”

“Being told you have to flush out a hacker who seems to pose a legitimate threat doesn’t seem all that simple,” Nix drawled, and Lake nodded, waiting for him to come to his own conclusions. It didn’t take long. “This has something to do with your bid for the throne, doesn’t it? Either someone is trying to block your way, or the club wants a stronger confirmation from you that you won’t turn on them the moment you’ve got the crown.”

It couldn’t be the latter since the Emperor was an esteemed member of Club Essential and had been since its creation—hell, that’s where the name had come from even—but he’d exposed enough secrets already. The fact of the matter was, Lake didn’t trust Nix. He wanted him in an inexplicable way he’d never experienced before, but it was too obvious the other man was hiding something. That couldn’t be ignored.

No matter. Whatever that secret may be, Lake would unravel it.

“As far as operating the planet,” Nix surprised him by adding, “you’re pretty much as essential to it all as they come. That is, if you can keep your place as the next in line. This being a targeted attack does seem like the most likely option.”

“If someone is using this method to try and keep me from the throne,” Lake pulled into a medium-sized parking lot and circled the twelve-story building, “that means finding this hacker is the only way to thwart them.”

Nix waited until they’d parked at the back of the building before admitting, “I’m still not sure what any of this has to do with me or having to date you.”

Lake shut the car off and unbuckled, turning in his seat to better face him. “What if I told you there was no connection and we just want to fuck you?”

They’d been infiltrated before while he’d been away, and the repercussions…well, they were still ongoing. That was yet another reason to keep Nix close instead of pushing him away. If his secret happened to somehow coincide with the hacker or the last student who’d betrayed them, then Lake would uncover the truth and make him pay for his deception.

When he thought about how broken Yejun still was…

“I’d call you a liar,” Nix replied. “If this was just about sex, you could have taken it the other night easily enough.”

“Rape, you mean.”

“Going to try and tell me that you’re above that?”

Lake wasn’t fond of the tone he was taking, but he kept his cool. “There’s no need to rape someone who’s already interested.” He shifted closer, hand shooting out to capture Nix’s chin when he attempted to turn away. “Admit it, Songbird. You’d climb on and ride my cock right now if it meant getting what you wanted in return.”

Nix frowned at him, and it was there in his eyes, a flash of something that proved all of Lake’s assumptions correct.

“I don’t know why you wanted to enter the King tier so badly.” He was going to find out though. “But it’s obvious that was only part of your goal.”

“I already explained that,” Nix insisted. “My cousin—”

“Died. Yes. So sad.”

He slapped Lake’s hand away with enough force it actually worked. “Don’t you dare talk about her like that.”

Ah, so it was a she. Was she even really his cousin? An ex-lover, perhaps? That would explain the crazed desperation and the almost ridiculous lengths he’d been going to. Maybe this really was about opening up his horizons.

“Is it sexual exploration?” Lake murmured to himself. “Is that what you’re really after?”

Nix glanced away, his cheeks heating, but that wasn’t enough to either confirm or disprove his hypothesis.

“If it is, this deal really will benefit the both of us,” Lake said. “Come. We can’t talk out here about private matters such as this.”

“Where are we?” Nix sent a suspicious look out the front window toward the building.

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