Page 73 of Villain

Nix moved over to see, frowning when he spotted something rolled up in paper. “I don’t know.”

“It came from your bag.”

“It’s not mine.”

West read his face and seemed to conclude he was telling the truth, then he reached down to pick it up.

They both yelped like little bitches the second they saw what it was.

Chapter 20:

Lake very rarely, if ever, lost his cool, but he came very close to slamming his fist into the wall when West hung up on him. It’d been days since the last time he’d properly seen Nix, and he’d finally been able to carve out some time in his schedule only for West to cock block him.

Not that he’d been planning on fucking Nix, necessarily. A part of him still didn’t trust the other guy, no matter how badly he was also fascinated by him.

And Lake was fascinated. He was drawn to the Songbird in an inexplicable way he couldn’t describe and had never experienced before. Back on Vitality, he’d witnessed Kelevra fall seemingly head over heels for another person and found the whole process absolutely ridiculous.

By making Nix their sacrifice, he’d secured a good enough reason to keep him around, but not just because Lake was attracted to him.

There was something he was hiding. He was certain of it. Normal people didn’t hack into an app like Enigma for fun, and while the death of his cousin definitely posed a better excuse, it still wasn’t enough in Lake’s mind. From what he already understood of Nix, it would have taken a lot more than a letter to get him to abandon his lifelong dreams and plans.

Nix was meticulous. Crafty.

He thought he was hiding those features away by rolling with the punches and going along with this whole scheme, but Lake could see right through him. He knew why he was doing this. He wanted to keep the Songbird close, to sort through these weird emotions and also uncover his secrets.

But what was Nix’s real reason?

Why was Nix pretending like he didn’t mind the idea of being screwed by three people at once?

Because he did. He was an ace at adjusting, but that was an adjustment. Relationships between more than two people weren’t abnormal on their planet. There’d been Demons in the past who’d all chosen the same lover, and this wasn’t the first time Lake and the boys had shared a person either, though not in such a serious context.

They’d never publicly claimed anyone, in any case.

Yejun had his suspicions, that was why he’d goaded him the other day. He’d been trying to get a rise out of Lake, to get him to admit his interest in Nix. It wouldn’t change anything even if he did, however, so he’d kept his mouth shut and had shrugged the whole thing off.

It was a bit harder to do with West. Before his parents' deaths, the two of them had been inseparable. They’d never fought about anything. Then Lake had moved in with him and Demitrious’s already tenuous relationship with his son had splintered further thanks to Lake’s presence. He put up with West’s backhanded remarks and his overly competitive nature because he understood where his friend was coming from. He’d been there all through it. Knew his dad was a real piece of work.

When he’d been on Vitality, Lake had missed West the most, and yet…

He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, trying to soothe his annoyance before he gave in and reacted negatively. He was the one who’d wanted Nix to get involved with them all, and not just because it made sense toward their plans or would help them flush out the hacker.

Lake had wanted to gather their opinions on the Songbird. Wanted to see if there was a chance he affected them the same way. They’d never openly discussed sharing a person in the future, but others had done so for them. The three of them had heard the whispered rumors, both at the club and out of it.

They were so close, people wondered if they weren’t fucking each other.

If perhaps they’d choose a fourth.

If someone could ever come between them and tear through their bond.

Lake had always shrugged the comments off, but now…he was curious. He trusted West and Yejun, they were family. But his time on Vitality had given him a different perspective of what that sort of thing could actually mean.

Kelevra had his Retinue and Lake had been a part of it. There, having a tight-knit group in support of the Imperial Prince was the norm. Here? The Demons of the past had all gotten along, for the most part, but none of them had grown up together as closely as Lake, West, and Yejun had.

If Lake could break the crown into thirds, he would do so in a heartbeat. Half the reason he even wanted the damn throne was for them in the first place. As Emperor, he’d be able to punish Demitrious for his crimes against West, and he’d be able to break Yejun free from his parents’ shackles. Right now, they gave the impression of being untouchable to the rest of the planet, but in reality, they were merely pawns to the Order, same as everyone else.

That would change if he became emperor.

When he became emperor.

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