Episode 15 #6
They’d come too far. Damian had rescued him once, twice, more times than he could easily divide and count.
This was Jun’s turn. And he was just the right level of unhinged to do it.
He stepped right in front of the gun, mentally promising Damian all the whipping and spankings he needed to hand out to feel like Jun was punished enough for taking this risk.
“Shoot, and Jamal will have a bullet in your head before you say whatever you need to say.”
“Give it back.”
“Give what back, dad?” Jun raised an eyebrow.
He jerked the belt closed and reached for the second one.
“Everything you put in my name? The house in California? The properties in Texas? Your mistress’s condo in Melbourne?
SP4700Y? I can’t. The courts are overseeing every move I make.
I’m barely allowed to pull funds for business expenses. Not till the trial is finished.”
“Tell them you lied.”
“Then I go to prison for perjury, if they believe me. They used a polygraph, you know.”
“Those can be faked.”
“Maybe, if you’re trained. I’m not.” Jun turned around, looking at his father in the mirror.
He broke out his makeup. The eyeliner was going to be particularly vicious this time.
He could barely feel his hands as he started to prime his skin.
He didn’t feel real right then. Nothing felt real.
He wasn’t doing this. He was dreaming this.
“Da, cover your ears and close your eyes.”
Sahyuk looked between the two of them. Damian was already dressed. He glared at Jun.
“Just do it, Da. I don’t want you to hear this. I’m protecting you.”
Damian glared and slowly did as Jun asked. Jun’s heart thumped in his chest. Could he have made a harder request from a primal hunter? Could he have asked for more trust?
Probably not.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We’re dreaming. All of this isn’t real. We’re dreaming.
Jun turned towards Sahyuk, mentally starting a timer in his head for the first layer of makeup to set. “Let’s not lie, dad. You’re Merchari. I have a deal with the Merchari. So why are you here?”
“You took what was mine.”
“You took my identity and my income.”
“You wouldn’t have had anything if I hadn’t given you the opportunity. Introducing you to Bak Gyeong was the best thing that ever happened to you. I’m your father. You owe me.”
Jun shook his head. “You sold me, dad. Tore up my birthright, told me I didn’t belong in the only country I’d ever known, and then you left. We’re nothing. I learned to live without you. The only thing between us is my deal with the Merchari. You’re Merchari, I’m a debt account. That’s it.”
Sahyuk gaped. “You…ungrateful…”
Jun glanced at the clock. He was running out of time. And Sahyuk might just be crazy enough to shoot if someone did barge in looking for them. Jamal certainly would when he saw the gun.
He went back to the mirror, finishing his face, making eye contact with his father over his shoulder. “Did they tell you that Gyeong sold me, dad? For sex?”
“Sold…you?”
“Sex trafficking. Your cousin has a gambling problem. Didn’t matter how much money I made him, he always needed more. Until it was too much. I don’t know what deal he signed with you, but he had another with the Merchari. Guess what his collateral was? Us. First Rei, then me.”
Sahyuk’s mouth opened and closed. He took a step back.
Point .
Jun raised both eyebrows and reached for a powder tray and fresh brush. “Didn’t know that, did you? I could have gone on for years, making you money, trying harder and harder, if he hadn’t practically stopped paying us and had me kidnapped. Was that in your agreement with him?”
“No,” Sahyuk whispered.
Jun added a touch of glitter highlight to his cheeks, blending it in.
He’d never done show makeup with so little care before, but somehow his contour was on point and the wings on his eyes sharp.
It was hard to care about anything other than the man with the gun behind him and Damian, who was trusting him blind.
He rubbed gloss over his lips. Later costume changes would come with a different layer of lipstick, but this first set was light on the drama.
Normal, sane thoughts collided with the insane, deadly ones. Outside in the venue, people were sitting down, chatting with friends. In here…
…he was talking to a monster.
He reached for the tag Damian had chosen for him to wear for the performance, the black and white dangle that matched his outfit.
“Don’t wear that earring ,” Sahyuk snapped.
“This one?” Jun raised an eyebrow.
Bak Sakyuk held out his hand.
Jun snorted. “Fine. Have my earring. It’s a costume, anyway.” He slaps the earring into Bak Sakyuk’s palm. “You take everything else.”
“No son of mine is going to look like a girl.”
Jun raised an eyebrow, again. He had half a dozen other tags in the case, but now wasn’t the time.
Sahyuk shoved the earring in his pocket as if he'd won something. “What’s your deal with the Merchari?”
Jun narrowed his eyes, looking at his father over the barrel of the gun. The end had fallen lower. If Sahyuk pulled the trigger now, it was going to drill through his lower belly.
“Pay off your cousin’s debts through my music, or through my body, and the rest of 5N.
Not that the other guys know.” Jun took a step closer.
“There’s no more money, Sahyuk. Gyeong made sure of that.
I’m going to be paying them for years, and that’s if they don’t lose their patience.
So I don’t know what you came here hoping to collect. ”
He reached past Sahyuk and tapped Damian. “Come on. It’s showtime.”
Damian lowered his hands and opened his eyes. He looked between Sahyuk and Jun. Jun jerked his head towards the door.
Sahyuk waved the gun. “I didn’t say I was finished.”
“Go ahead,” Jun said, staring squarely at him. “Shoot. Explain to our mutual friends what happened to their investment. You can be on their shit list like Gyeong. They charged him a failure-to-deliver fee, you know, when he didn’t get me properly sold last year.”
Jun stormed out the door. Damian followed him.
Jamal stepped forward, looking between both of them and the closed door.
Damian lifted a closed fist and jerked his head back towards the dressing room. Jamal held his silence until they were a few paces closer to the stage. “Sir?”
Damian cleared his throat. “Bak Sakyuk is inside with a gun. See if he’ll leave the venue on his own.”
Jun forced a grateful smile. An arrest for a gun would stop the concert and damage their comeback. But worse, it would put their plan in peril, the one they’d been working on for months.
Jamal touched his head set, immediately sending out a code.
“Call Ellisandre,” Damian added, “He has one of Jun’s tags.”
Jun grimaced. He moved towards the stage. Damian fell in step beside him. Jun grabbed his hand, squeezing it briefly.
Thank you.
Timothy, another of their security, appeared, falling in beside Jamal. Jamal dropped back.
“He’s moving,” was the last thing Jun heard. “Let’s let him pass, as long as he’s moving.”
Jun looked at Damian. “You did it. You closed your eyes.”
“Didn’t mean I actually closed my ears.”
Jun huffed, a short, raw wretch of air out of his throat.
“You okay?”
Jun shook his head. “Fucker should have stayed in prison.”
“Can you go out there?”
Jun nodded. “This will either be my best show, or my worst.”
“It will be your best.” Damian grabbed Jun’s hand. “You were brilliant.”
“Kiss me,” Jun said. It was suddenly all that mattered. “Kiss me like you mean it.”
“Your makeup.” Damian stepped in, pushing Jun up against a wall, slipping a leg between Jun. “It hasn’t had time to set yet.”
Jun touched his face. He’d forgotten. He offered Damian his wrist. “Bite me, like you mean it. Mark me. He took my tag.”
Damian cradled Jun's wrist in his palm. Eyes on Jun’s, he’s raised it to his lips. “You want them to see?”
Jun nodded, his blood thudding in his ears.
Damian bit into Jun’s forearm, sucking on his skin, as he looked into Jun’s eyes. He let go after a full beat. “Better, wolfling?”
Jun let out a soft breath, looking at the red mark on his skin, the marks of teeth indented into his flesh, and the quickly darkening center. “Yes.”
“You’re mine, always.”
Jun nodded, breathing quickly. “Don’t think I gave it to him lightly.”
“You made the right call, wolfling. Now go. Show the world what I already know.”
Jun smirked. “Okay, Alpha.” He stole a kiss, just his lips pressing against Damian’s once, and then he tore himself away, striding towards the stage, calling out to the coordinators for his headset.
The crowd was already cheering the opening act. The rest of 5N was waiting. It was time.