Page 40 of Sinner
“Of course not,” June stated, finishing making his own cup and then sipping at it lightly for a moment before adding, “I’ll oversee all of the charity divisions for the Imperial family. Art will obviously take center stage, and I’ll keep working.”
“You just won’t have as much time.” Nix had spoken to them a bit about their plans once Lake took the throne, but he didn’t have all of the details. He’d come into this last, so that was to be expected, but he’d like to get a full rundown of what toexpect, and what would be expected of each of them, before the coronation, so he could better prepare. “Does that bother you?”
“No. I love drawing and painting. But it doesn’t need to make up my entire personality. I want a life outside of that, even if I do pursue it as a career.”
Yejun just wanted a choice.
“Kind of ironic, huh?” Nix smiled when Yejun frowned. “We both want the same thing.”
He flinched. “I’m sorry for my part in forcing you—”
“That’s not what I meant,” he stopped him. “You can quit bringing it up. I might not have been willing in the beginning, but I am now. I’m in this, all in. I only meant, we both wish our parents would accept that we’re individuals with our own hopes and dreams.”
“Sorry. We were talking about you, and I somehow made it all about me.”
“That’s all right. I’m used to it.”
“Ouch.”
“I know a way you can make it up to me.”
A glint entered Yejun’s amber eyes. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
Nix carefully set his mug aside and then reached for June’s, placing that next to his on the counter out of the way. Then he looped a finger through Yejun’s belt and tugged him closer, spreading his legs so the Demon could move to stand between them. Once he had him where he wanted, he leaned back, resting his head against the cabinet.
It’d been a while since the artist had blown him, and while he might not be the keenest when it came to Nix’s taste in the kitchen, he definitely got straight A’s where bedroom activities were concerned.
Without any more prompting, Yejun slipped to his knees.
Chapter 13:
Beck nodded at the waiter when the younger man brought them their food, politely smiling across the table at West afterward.
The two of them were at Breeze, a five-star restaurant only a short drive from the palace, where Lake ended up needing to go once the meeting with the Order had wrapped. Initially, West had intended to return home with Yejun, but Beck’s insistence that they grab lunch had gotten to him.
Yejun had patted him on the back, leaned in, and whispered how the two of them seemed to be spending a lot of time together as of late, before winking and getting into his car. It’d been cryptic and kind of weird, and had left an odd taste on West’s tongue that he hadn’t yet gotten rid of.
Had Nix said something to June? Was he upset about West and Beck’s friendship? No. No way. If Nixie had a problem,he would have told him. He didn’t stew silently where West was concerned, not like he used to with Lake. That’s what made this work so well.
What each of them shared with Nix was different, unique in its own way.
Special.
“Have you found anything else in your search through Juri’s things?” Beck asked.
“We were able to link him to Dew and Dew’s King account. The weird part is, I still don’t know how he got it, or who the original owner of the account was. All traces of that person have been scrubbed from the system.”
“You think Juri is responsible?”
“I don’t know, but the guy clearly had better hacking skills than we realized. How else do you explain all of Branwen’s chat logs vanishing the moment she was caught by us?” West had done everything he could think of to recover those files, but they were gone. “Either Juri did it himself, or he got Hendrix to hire someone to do it.”
“Sounds like something my father would do. He’s not above contacting illegal parties to carry out his dirty work for him. If he was working with Dew, he could have easily hired someone to remove any traces of himself.”
“But forgot the email naming him?” That was the only bit of concrete evidence they had, but it was still pretty amateur for someone to have left it behind.
It was fine, though. Soon, Hendrix would be brought in, and then they could get to work finding the rest of the incriminating stuff he was no doubt keeping hidden. West contemplated asking Beck about that now, getting permission for him and Nix to bring a team to Hendrix’s house with the purpose of going through his things, but recalled the promise he’d made with the others.
It couldn’t hurt to wait. It wouldn’t be long.
