Chapter 17 #2
“Since when did he have you doing things like this? It’s beneath your abilities.” Brix glowered. “How could he order you to do a security sweep for a sex club? Is he really so reliant on you, that he even makes you aware of when he plans to bed strangers?”
Nuri didn’t say anything, in part because that wasn’t true, and in part because it still sort of was.
While he’d never been in charge of security for Silver, he’d been the one meeting with jilted lovers with NDAs and calculated threats about keeping silent.
In the past, it’d only bothered him to an extent, but now that he’d shared the Emperor’s bed and knew firsthand what it was like…
No. Those were dangerous thoughts.
He couldn’t be jealous of ghosts, past or future.
The camera angle led to small closet built into the wall. The door was made of slates, and Nuri pulled it open and peered through them, confirming the spaces between each were wide enough for a small camera lens positioned just right to capture a clear shot of the room.
“Nuri, be honest with me.” Brix watched him from the center of the room, his growing concern apparent. “This isn’t about my cousin at all, is it?”
“What?” Okay, he’d found the location of the camera, but as he’d thought, the device itself was long gone. The shelves were empty, and there were no crevices or holes left behind where one could possibly still be hidden, so—
“Did someone do something to you here?” Brix’s softly spoken words cut through Nuri’s mind, giving him immediate pause.
“What?” Nuri looked to him and repeated dumbly.
“We might not be close, but I know my cousin. He would have had the Imperial Guard sweep this place thoroughly, not sent a single person. Even if that person is his treasured secretary. Do you come here often?”
“No.” He shook his head. “You’re misunderstanding.”
“Was it that day I ran into you downstairs?”
Well shit.
“Okay, I can see how this looks like what you think it does, but I assure you, I am not a member of this club.”
“Nuri.” Brix seemed kind of hurt. “You can trust me. I won’t judge.”
Maybe it was better to let him believe it. The reason Nuri had always been comfortable around Brix was because he held no claim to the throne, and therefore, was never a real threat to Silver. But that still didn’t mean it was safe to let it leak that someone had tried to blackmail the emperor.
Besides, that comfort hadn’t lasted. The second it’d become obvious the Imperial wanted something more than friendship from him, Nuri had pulled away.
“Let’s just say, something was filmed here that shouldn’t have been, and I’m trying to find out who planted the camera,” Nuri tentatively said.
“So you asked me to come with you in case they refused to give you access to the security footage.” He nodded as though he understood, but then pursed his lips. “You asked me. Which means Silver doesn’t know about this, does he.”
It was a rhetorical question, so Nuri didn’t bother giving an answer. Instead, he tried to change the subject. “I’ve confirmed where the camera was most likely placed. I mostly came here for the footage, but I wanted to see it for myself. Now that I have, we can go—”
“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Brix told him.
“Do what?”
“Push me away.” He took a step closer, and alarm bells started ringing in Nuri’s mind. “We used to be pretty close, wouldn’t you say?”
“Not really,” Nuri stated, slipping back into that no-nonsense persona he used for work. “We were friends, Brix, but—”
“You kiss all your friends like that?”
His hands tightened into fists at his sides. “You swore you’d never bring that up again.”
“I think about it a lot, you know?”
“It was one time and we were both drunk.” Nuri glared and moved toward the door when Brix took another step closer. “Let’s go. I’ve done what I needed to do here.”
“What’s keeping you with him, really?” Brix surprised him by bluntly asking. “It made sense when my uncle was alive, but now that he’s gone, aren’t you free to leave that bastard’s side?”
“You’re crossing several lines right now, Mr. Brixton.” Nuri grabbed onto the door handle but kept facing the other man, suddenly not trusting him at his back.
“You can’t leave him, can you,” Brix guessed. “If I know my cousin, and I do, he won’t let you. I can help you, Nuri.”
“Oh?” How stupid he’d been to forget for even a second that all Imperials were selfish pricks. Even the ones who’d come off sweet in college. “How do you figure?”
“Don’t you want to know why I’m back?”
“Why are you back?” Experience had taught him the best way to deal with a chatty Imperial or Royal was to just let them talk their way through it. Once they’d said everything they wanted to say, it was easier to step away.
“I’ve been collecting Rein Inc. stock these past couple of years,” he divulged proudly. “It won’t be long before I become a major shareholder in the company.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Nuri felt like he’d stepped into an alternate reality or something. “We haven’t spoken in years. We don’t know each other well enough to trade secrets. How can you be so certain I won’t go inform the Emperor?”
“Are you going to do that, Nuri?” Brix took another step forward. “Really?”
A sudden knock at the door interrupted, and Nuri risked turning long enough to pull it open, revealing the woman from the front desk.
“Everything you’ve asked for has been stored on this memory stick,” she informed him, handing over a small black flash drive.
“Thank you.” Nuri took it and then stepped out into the hall, turning to glance back at Brix. “We’re done here, so I’ll be on my way.”
He didn’t for a moment think that would work, but he spun on his heels and headed down the hallway toward the elevator anyway, pulling N.I.M. from where it’d been hidden in his jacket pocket, listening closely as heavy footsteps followed behind him.
“N.I.M.,” Nuri whispered so as not to be overheard, “activate recording mode, and contact the Emperor through ShadowApp11. Mute incoming communications.” The orb vibrated once in his hand, silently indicating the instructions had been accepted, and he shoved it back into his pocket just as he entered the elevator.
The doors had barely begun to close when Brix appeared, but he didn’t get the chance to get a word out before the staff member arrived as well. The three of them settled in, quiet as they descended to the main level.
“Have a pleasant rest of your day,” the woman said in parting once they’d arrived. She headed back toward the front desk, oblivious to Nuri’s discomfort.
Brix waited until they were outside before stopping him, grabbing onto his arm and spinning him around hard enough Nuri lost his footing.
He stumbled forward, hissing when Brix caught him and his hands settled intimately around his waist.
“Get off of me!” Nuri shoved him away and glared.
“Relax, I was only trying to prevent you from falling over.” To his credit, Brix was still keeping up the nice guy act as well as he could.
But now that Nuri had seen through it, there was no way he was going to be able to pretend otherwise.
“I’ll keep what you said about collecting stocks between us,” Nuri lied, “but I don’t want anything else to do with whatever you’re planning.”
“Don’t be such a coward,” Brix said. “Can’t you see I’m trying to help you?”
“No, and I also don’t understand why you’d bother with Rein Inc. in the first place. Your startup is doing really well.”
“I don’t care about Rein Inc. There’s only ever one thing my cousin had that I wanted, and its not some rusty old throne or anything as boring as a company.
” Brix ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated now.
“How about we go get lunch somewhere quiet, just the two of us? Okay? We can talk like we used to. Maybe—”
Nuri held up a hand, a bit incredulous by this turn of events. “Forgive me, Mr. Brixton, but I’m going to need some serious clarification. Are you…hitting on me right now?”
Brix blinked at him, staring for a moment as though waiting for Nuri to laugh and say it was just a joke. When that didn’t happen, he laughed, the sound awkward and filled with the same level of confusion Nuri currently felt. “You aren’t serious, are you?”
“We haven’t seen each other in years,” Nuri reminded. “I don’t know you like I used to. Perhaps I’m mistaken and—”
“Wow, when everyone on campus called you obtuse, they weren’t wrong, were they.
” Brix rested his hands on his hips. “Literally everyone knew I liked you back then, Nuri. I thought you were just pretending not to know out of respect, but that’s not the case, is it.
You really had no idea. Why else would I have made the moves on you that night at homecoming? ”
Senior year of college, they’d attended a party together.
Silver had been off on official Imperial Heir business with his father, and in a rare occurrence, Nuri wasn’t needed and had been left behind.
Toward the end of the night, under the influence of too much booze and the twinkle of a sky of stars, he’d experienced a momentary lapse in judgement.
“It was nothing,” Nuri insisted.
“Nothing? My hand was down your pants and my tongue was in your mouth.”
“What does any of this have to do with buying up Rein Inc. stock?” This was a problem. When Silver found out—which he would, because like the genius he was, Nuri had already ordered N.I.M. to record all of this—he was going to be livid.
Mad at his cousin for trying to infiltrate his company.
And disgusted with Nuri for allowing a man he hated to touch him.
What if…What if this was enough to kill any lingering desire between them? What if Silver was so grossed out by Nuri hooking up with Brix, that he ended their game early?
That should have made Nuri happy, given him a sense of relief and hope even, but instead…Knots formed in his gut and he snatched N.I.M. out of his pocket in a near panic.
“N.I.M. end all transmissions,” he ordered frantically.
Brix’s eyes went wide. “…You were recording?!”
“I’m the Royal Secretary,” Nuri snapped, “of course I was recording.” He nibbled on his bottom lip. “This is bad. Really bad. I must be insane.”
He’d known all along that Silver would get tired of sleeping with him eventually, hadn’t he? So what if this sped that process up a bit? They were going to play round two tonight anyway, which meant there was always the chance Nuri would win and earn his freedom from this whole mess.
There was no reason for him to feel worry or doubt. It wasn’t like he’d be losing Silver.
He’d never truly had him from the start.
“Hey, relax. Nuri, it’s okay. I’m not mad.
You’re right, I started to panic when I realized you’re a member at a place like this.
It means you’re willing to sleep with other people and that…
It bothers me. The truth is, I came back to Ignite to ask you to give me a chance.
The timing wasn’t right in college, but now—”
“No, I’m sorry I—” The sound of a gunshot cut off the rest of what he’d been about to say.
A bullet zipped past him, slamming into the meat of Brix’s left thigh, instantly taking him to the ground.
Nuri turned, already knowing exactly who he’d find, yet was somehow completely unprepared for the pure fury written across Silver’s face.