Page 82 of Villain

“You’re luring me into a false sense of security,” Nix stated. “I’m well aware of what you’re doing here, Lake. I just can’t figure out your motive.”

“I’ll tell you my secret if you tell me yours.”

“This again.” Nix took a deliberate step back.

“I won’t let it go until I uncover what you’re hiding.”

“Why? I’m doing everything you want me to do. Why can’t you just be satisfied with that? I’m not even convinced this whole hacker thing is even real at this point or if you three just made it up to trick me. Is this fun for you? Using me?”

He snorted. “I haven’t even begun to use you.” Lake captured a strand of his hair between two fingers. “And the hacker is very real. I wouldn’t joke about Essential business.”

They weren’t going to get anywhere tonight. Even though he’d had the most interaction with Nix out of them all, it was clear he’d fallen behind somewhere. For a moment, he’d worried that Nix was about to suggest staying with Yejun instead, and he wasn’t sure how he would react to that.

Not well, that was sure.

“Have some water and then get into bed,” he instructed, returning to his desk.

“You’re not sleeping?” Nix followed and eyed the glass of water, but Lake waited until he’d picked it up and taken a sip before answering.

“I have a paper due in a couple of days,” he said. “I’ll work on that while you rest.”

“You’re going to do homework?” Nix pursed his lips. “All night?”

“Why? Need me to hold you until you fall asleep?”

He slammed the glass back down on the end table and then yanked the covers off the bed and slipped beneath them. Nix settled on his side, facing Lake, and it was obvious he wanted to ask something but was debating how well that might be received.

“What?” Lake helped him out, flicking his tablet on and lifting his stylus so he could begin going over his notes.

“Before, when you’d send me Favors,” Nix said, “they’d always come at random hours.”

“So?”

“Do you actually sleep? Do you even have a paper due?”

Lake set the tablet back down and met his curious gaze. Sometimes, it was wiser to give an inch to take a mile. “I have sleep anxiety. Have ever since I was a child. Back then, West used to sneak into my room after his father had gone to bed. It wasn’t so bad then, knowing that he was with me.”

“He made you feel safe.” Nix nodded his head on the pillow, and there was no judgment in his tone. If he thought that it was pathetic for a grown man to still have childlike fears, he didn’t show it. “What are you afraid is going to happen? Anything specific?”

He considered it. “I suffered from fairly terrible insomnia after my parent’s deaths. At some point, the stress over whether or not I’d be able to fall asleep at night got to me.”

Lake would spend the entire day worrying over it. Fearing another restless night where he stared up at his ceiling blankly, praying for sleep to take him. Those first couple of months after were the worst when he was awake. His parents’ faces appeared constantly, or he’d recall the last words they’d spoken to him.

The smell of his mother’s perfume…

His father’s laugh.

“We were close,” he found himself revealing, giving Nix far more than he’d initially asked for, yet unable to make himself stop. “It’s rare for families of our station, but we were. Growing up with them as my parents was like a dream.”

And then that dream had shattered, ripped from his fourteen-year-old hands.

“How did they die?”

“An intruder,” Lake said, digging his fingernails into his palm to keep himself from giving into the sweeping anger. Instead, he kept his expression controlled and his back straight as he held Nix’s unwavering gaze. “My parents ran a successful investment company; that sort of thing comes with risk. A client blamed them and chose the worst course of action available.”

Nix slowly sat up, swiveling so he was sitting cross-legged and fully facing him. “He broke into your house at night intending to kill them?”

Lake nodded.

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