Page 52 of Villain

“Club Essential would,” Yejun guessed where he was going with that and replied. “The club recognizes more than just coin as currency. Sex? That’s premium. You’d be surprised how much gets done on this planet through quickies in the boardroom.”

Nix couldn’t see how that was possible. Why?

“Think about this logically,” Yejun suggested. “Strip away everything you associate with sex and think of it solely as a commodity. One that offers entertainment and a different sort of relief. When you’re as wealthy as most of the members of the club, money doesn’t hold the same appeal. Coin goes straight into our bank accounts. It’s all digital. You can’t see it, taste it, hear it moan or scream your name…It’s lifeless. Members of the club, especially those at the top, need something to rekindle that spark.

“Sex is usually it. Plus, there’s power in sex. Power exchange in knowing you can lord over the fact you pinned someone down, that you’ve spread their thighs. That you’ve been inside of them…” Yejun seemed to get distracted by his own thoughts then, staring off into the distance for a moment before he snapped himself out of it and laughed. “The point is, the Order one hundred percent believes you’re helping us for the chance to ride our cocks. It all comes back to Star Eye Holding, see? You’re fucking us for a chance at a better future. That’s how they’ll take it.”

“And if they find out that’s not true?”

He tilted his head, hand pausing with the charcoal over the page. “What part of it isn’t?”

“I’m not doing this because I want to have sex with you three.”

“Then,” he batted his long dark lashes at him and set his chin on a closed fist, “whatever are you doing this for?”

Too late, Nix realized what he’d done. If he’d truly manipulated his way into the app for fun, there wouldn’t be any other reason for him to agree to this other than because he wanted to sleep with them. But…It was too obvious that wasn’t the case.

Shit.

“Caught you,” Yejun grinned, and there was a flash of something in his eyes, there and gone, that had Nix’s skin prickling.

“It’s not…” What could he say to get out of this? “Maestro.”

Well.

Double shit if that was the best he could come up with.

Yejun seemed to consider it though and then, “You fall for him or something? Through a computer? Damn, Firebird.”

“I didn’t fall for him,” Nix backtracked, wringing his hands. “But I did…I don’t know. I was really freaked out that first time and he was…Gentle? Kind?”

Yejun made a choking sound that only partially sounded forced. “Gentle and kind? I have never heard those words spoken in association with Lake a day in my life, and I’ve known the guy since we were in diapers. Are you sure you got the right King?”

“I asked him that myself yesterday.” This could work. It was awkward as hell, especially since there wasn’t a chance it wouldn’t make its way to Lake’s ears, but at least Yejun didn’t appear to be suspicious of him.

As if to further prove that, Yejun went back to drawing. “No chance. The app is built in such a way that no one else can access your account. Take yours for example. Now that you’re a King, if you handed me your multi-slate and I tried, I wouldn’t be able to log in. There’s a hidden thumbprint and retina scanner.”

“There’s what?” Nix twisted his wrist and blinked down at his device, though the app wasn’t open at the moment and his screen was black.

“Yeah,” Yejun continued. “West is a genius, didn’t you realize? It’s programmed to secretly scan that information and copy and send it to his main server, all without the user knowing. That’s why if you try opening the app now without looking at it, it won’t work.”

“His server?” That caught his attention.

“His shit is all in his room at the Roost,” Yejun made a face. “I don’t know. Don’t ask me any questions about it, I’m not good with tech. That’s all his department. And,” he motioned to him with the charcoal stick, “yours now, too, I guess.”

If West had all the information of every user stored on a computer in his bedroom…

Nix had to find a way to get to it. If he could, he’d be able to search through the accounts and find the King he was looking for.

This was good. Signing this contract. Getting involved with the three of them. This morning, he hadn’t been so sure, but now…

Lake had been off planet last year, so it couldn’t have been him.

Yejun still wasn’t entirely in the clear, but it sounded like he’d been pretty busy with this friend of his. A friend who was still alive, unlike Branwen. He seemed like the open type, so there was a good chance Nix could discover more about him as they went and eventually check him off as a suspect completely.

That left West as the only other King that Nix knew of.

If he could hack into West’s computer and discover the identities of the other Kings, he could investigate them and eventually make his way to those who’d graduated last year if need be. That would also solve the problem Lake had presented the other day. If Branwen’s King had graduated and was no longer on the active list, West should still have a copy of all the past members.

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