Page 52 of Sinner
“West talked to you, didn’t he.” It wasn’t a question, but Beck’s response threw them off even more.
Lake carefully kept his expression neutral. “Pardon?”
“I know what I did was wrong, but try to put yourselves in my shoes,” Beck said. “I realized the other day at the meeting with the Order that I was about to lose my last chance, so I took it. It was obviously spur-of-the-moment, and I’ve been embarrassed by my actions since. I just didn’t know how to bring it up to West.”
They were silent for a second before Nix seemed to grasp the conversation.
“You confessed to him.” The only sign that bothered him was the slight twitching beneath Nix’s right eye. Otherwise, hekept himself as composed as Lake was. He sounded certain, like he really had known about Beck and West’s talk.
Beck pinched his brow and at least had the good sense to appear apologetic. “It was wrong to threaten him the way I did. I’ve always loved him, and I never intended to use my position within the Order to force him to reciprocate those feelings.”
“So why’d you do it?” A little more heat came through Nix’s tone, but Lake was still caught up in this revelation.
Beck really was in love with West? Since when?
“You,” Beck stated honestly. “Immature of me, I know. But now that West is about to get everything he’s ever wanted, I felt him slipping further away, and I panicked. Not my finest moment.”
“He’s never going to want you back,” Nix told him.
“Never is a long time.”
“Beck,” Lake warned. “You’ve already crossed multiple lines. Is this an apology or not?”
“It is, yes.” He sighed. “How much did he tell you?”
Not a damn thing, which was another problem to be sorted out later.
“We don’t keep secrets from each other,” Lake said. The fact that Beck had felt comfortable threatening West at all was proof he needed to say whatever it took to convince him they were a united front.
“While it’s true I stayed out of the fight for the throne because of him,” Beck began, surprising them further, “I didn’t mean the rest of it. I’ll have your back, of course. Whether West decides to ever come to me or not.”
“Not,” Nix stated. “That’s never going to happen.”
Lake could tell his Songbird was mad and jealous, but how much of that anger was directed at West? He wasn’t as explosive as Yejun, so there was no fear he’d storm off and doanything as serious as stab the boxer, but that didn’t mean Nix couldn’t be vengeful in his own right.
And how did Lake feel? He didn’t like that West had kept such a monumental secret from them, but he’d grown up watching the friendship bloom between West, Yejun, and Beck. The two of them had consistently vouched for him, trying to convince Lake he was a good guy and on their side.
He was on West’s side, that was for sure.
At least Lake hadn’t imagined the distance between him and his cousin. By Beck’s own admission, if not for West, their relationship would no doubt be on even more uneven ground.
“West has the right to make his own decisions,” Beck said.
“He bit me,” Nix reminded without skipping a beat.
“Yes, which is why he’s the one who has the choice. He bit you, but you’ve never returned the claiming mark. That puts him in the higher position. Meaning he can choose to take on another lover at any time.”
Nix turned to Lake. “Is that true?”
“It’s news to me.” Lake had never heard of such nonsense before. “A claiming mark is a claiming mark.”
“And cheating is cheating.” Nix took a single step closer to Beck. “All of you are terrible at apologizing. We’re going to have to implement a class or something once Lake’s finished reorganizing the Order. You just promised to back all of his decisions no matter what, right?”
Beck licked his lips but then nodded.
“Great.” He motioned to Lake. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t feel like learning anymore.”
The two of them left without another word to Beck, and his cousin didn’t attempt to stop them. Lake waited until they were halfway down the front steps before speaking.
