Page 80 of Sinner
“Understood.” Lake watched him go, chuckling when Nix made it halfway up the first flight before picking up speed.
“He’s excited,” West concluded.
“He’s looking forward to figuring out what this is without having to worry about poisoners or hackers or looking over our shoulders,” Lake said. “No more secrets or pretending. He just wants for us to find some normalcy where we can.”
“He tell you all that?” Last night, the two of them had spent some alone time in Lake’s room, so it would make sense if Nix had.
“Jealous?”
“Not really.” West shrugged. “What I have with him and what you have with him are different.” He didn’t need to compete with Lake, not where Nix was concerned. It was…nice. “I’ve never felt so secure in my life.”
Yejun clapped him on the back. “I’m still going to beat you to him.”
“Not a chance.” West wanted the same things Nix did. Stability, reassurance. He was as eager to discover what they could be together, all four of them, and what that would look like in their daily lives. Now that they knew who their poisoner really was, all that was left was making sure Hendrix paid for the things he’d done. They’d been through so much this past year, and they were due some downtime.
But a little friendly competition never hurt anybody.
“We’ve all made mistakes,” Lake began, “some of us more than others.”
“I’m working on it,” Yejun said, since the comment was clearly meant for him.
“I want to be sure we’re all on the same page.”
“Nix comes first,” West nodded.
“Agreed,” Yejun replied.
“We dragged him into this,” Lake exhaled, and corrected, “I dragged him into this. I don’t regret it, and I wouldn’t do things differently if given the chance. But there’s a lot I know I have to make up for. For the longest time, I only had you two to think of.”
“Nix is your Royal Consort.” West rested his hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “We get it.”
“We’re with you,” Yejun affirmed. “And we love him, too.”
“Remember how pissed he was when you sprung Nixie on us?” West leaned into Lake and asked with a laugh. “I thought he was going to break something.”
“Coming from the guy who forced him to blow him at the first meeting,” Yejun retaliated. “I was nice to him before either of you, I’ll have you both remember.”
Fair.
West had been a total ass to Nix in the beginning. At the time, he’d believed Nix to be another passing plaything, something for Lake to use and discard. He’d had no idea his best friend would actually fall for him, let alone that all three of them would.
He’d personally never felt this way about anyone before. Nix was his whole world.
Which was why, this time, he was going to get to him first.
“Later, suckers!” West took off before either of them could stop him, taking the stairs two at a time. He had no clue if nine minutes had already passed or what, but it didn’t really matter.
He’d give Nix what he actually wanted.
After he caught him.
* * *
He was playing hard to get.
Fifteen minutes into searching, West still hadn’t seen any sign of him. It didn’t help that he kept tripping over mounds of fake moss or being misled by the sound machines. Whoever had designed this place knew what they were doing.
A few times, he ran into other students, but they barely paid him any mind, too focused on seeking out their own targets. Everyone who was participating in the Haunt had a game plan, it seemed, and West had been so certain he’d been onto Nix’s, but now…he wasn’t as sure.
