Chapter 18 Sev
Sev
“Holy shit, they went all out this year,” I tell Kieran as we step inside the main Crimson ballroom a week later.
The alumni dinner is already in full swing, and after the past week, all I’m doing is scanning the room for Weston.
We’ve been bad.
All week.
Or, more accurately, I’ve been bad, texting Weston daily like I’m a fucking school kid secret admirer, except my interest isn’t exactly secret.
I’ve stolen kisses from him in the hallways after class.
I even snuck up into his bedroom one night, managing to get through Onyx House without being seen by anyone else, just to give him a goodnight kiss.
He sent me a video of himself stroking his cock and coming for me later that night, and it made me come so hard that I sent him back an even bigger cumshot video.
I only want him, in a way that’s inconvenient and impossible, but every minute I get with him is better than before.
I’m not acting like myself.
I’ve been ignoring other important things, like finishing up my engineering project or preparing for tonight’s alumni dinner.
But I’ve been having too much fun to care.
“Look at that shit,” Kieran says, his eyes wide as he points out an ice sculpture in the shape of a swan at one of the long tables on the far side of the room.
“Lavish.”
The ballroom always looks ritzy, and for our winter formal dance, it’s usually at its peak.
Tonight it’s like something out of a glittering mansion from the 1920s, though.
Every circular table has a massive floral bouquet and multiple flickering candlesticks in silvery holders at the center.
The chandeliers above are turned lower than usual, and the low light fills the ballroom with a warm glow along the wood-paneled walls.
There’s a live jazz band playing classy music at the front, and caterers in suits gliding around with trays of finger foods.
“I think Noah’s parents dropped a fat load of cash for the dinner this year,” Kieran says, scanning the room. “They have more wealth than certain small countries, I swear.”
“Yes, you can thank Noah’s daddy dearest,” I hear from beside me.
Niko’s there with Ollie when I turn to the side.
“My cousin looks fancier than I do,” I say, reaching over to give Niko a hug, then Ollie.
“That suit is fire,” Kieran agrees, greeting them afterward.
“Drinks, gentleman? Virgin mojitos and Arnold Palmers,” a caterer says, lowering a silver tray of cocktail glasses in front of us.
We each grab a glass and then Noah walks over, grinning at us and pulling out a flask from his pocket. His dark hair is slicked back and looks fancy, but one lock is already falling down, in typical chaotic Noah fashion.
“Hey, boys,” he says, shaking the flask. “The official cocktails all had to be served virgin since we’re in a campus building, but I’ve got the hook-up.”
Noah pours clear liquor into each of our glasses.
“Tell your parents we said killer job on the dinner this year,” Kieran tells him.
I glance at him as he talks to Noah, already getting a little uncomfortable worrying that Kieran is going to start interrogating him.
Please, just be civil for one night, Kier.
At our last Double Daggers house meeting, we expressly decided that we needed to be chill with Onyx House until we saw the results of the alumni dinner. Kieran agreed not to fight, and to be kind to Roman Petrov tonight if they interact.
Noah nods. “They said the theme of the party this year should be silver and gold, and… they sure as fuck accomplished that.”
Kieran nods. “I assume your parents also gifted bricks and bricks of literal silver and gold to some of the CEOs here tonight, too?”
It’s a joke.
A bad joke.
I give Kieran a shove, shaking my head.
Niko and Ollie look up at him, unsure if he’s seriously accusing them of bribery.
“Don’t be a dick, dude,” I tell him.
“What?” Kieran asks. “Just asking, Noah. Did your parents toss some sugar toward some of these execs this year?”
“Can’t say they did,” Noah tells him.
Noah doesn’t look pissed. Honestly, he looks sad for a moment, in a way I never usually see on him.
“Sorry, Noah,” I say. “Kieran has a rod up his ass lately.”
Kieran takes a long swig and then laughs. “Bro, you’re the one getting your cock sucked at Onyx House, Sev.”
I freeze up for a moment, caught between two impulses.
I want to sock Kieran in the face. Badly.
But I equally want to act calm and collected while my goddamn cousin is looking at me with twin fucking high-beams all of a sudden.
As soon as he says it, he seems to realize his mistake. I expressly asked him not to mention what he saw between me and Weston, but… Kieran is a loose cannon, and he spoke without thinking.
Niko is going to be very curious what Onyx member’s cock I have any involvement with.
“Oh my God, that’s Rebecca Gallin,” Ollie says, nodding across the room at a tall woman, and I’m thankful for the break in conversation. “She’s the most respected history professor at Oxford. Holy shit, people fly in here from the UK?”
Noah nods. “People come from all over for the alumni dinner. She probably was a Luros member. Want me to introduce you?”
“You know her?” Ollie says.
Noah shakes his head. “Nope. But I can talk to anyone. Come on, let’s go mingle.”
Noah takes Ollie by the arm, heading off through the crowd.
Niko is giving me a very pointed glance as he walks off, and I see him slide out his phone.
A moment later my phone buzzes.
Niko: We are talking later.
It’s nothing, Niko.
You’re fucking someone in Onyx, you told Kieran before me, and you expect me *not* to grill you about it?
It’s not whatever you think it is.
Then what is it?
It was a couple of meaningless hookups with someone. That’s it.
I tap out the last text feeling like a goddamn liar.
But what am I supposed to do, tell him the truth?
I’m somehow fucking addicted to Weston Knox’s dick, and he doesn’t want you to know?
It’s somehow the most intimate I’ve ever been with another person?
I tried so hard to hate him but I just don’t anymore, and I’m supposed to be spying on him or getting stupid information about Onyx but instead, I’m learning more things I like about him?
I lock my phone and slide it back in my pocket.
“Come on,” Kieran tells me as he walks back over from grabbing another drink from a tray. “Let’s nab that table by Roman. I’m not letting these guys get away with anything fucking secretive this year.”
I follow him over to Roman’s area.
We sit at a nearby table, and as we’re getting settled, Kieran watches Noah sitting down next to Roman.
Weston is there a minute later.
My chest clenches as I drink him in, looking him up and down.
Wes manages to look better and better every fucking time I see him. It’s like some dark form of magic, and I don’t know if Knox struck some sort of deal with the gods, but he looks more like a Greek statue every moment.
He must have gone for a quick haircut earlier today. It’s still on the longer end, but it falls around his face now in shorter waves that twist into soft golden curls on the ends.
He sits on the other side of Roman, and he leans to whisper in Roman’s ear.
“Bingo,” Kieran says. “They’re doing something shady.”
Kier reaches in his pocket and pulls out a little canister, shaking two stimulant pills out and popping them.
“The fuck?” I ask. “You said you quit.”
“Tonight’s important,” he says. “Lay off me. Since when are you the Sheriff?”
I grab another mojito as soon as another caterer walks by with a tray.
I tell Kieran to wait a second, and I swiftly get up and take my cocktail glass over to Noah.
He breaks off from a hushed conversation with Roman and looks up at me. “Oh. Need a little more special sauce, Sev?”
His flask is out a moment later and he pours into my glass.
As Noah pours, I venture a glance at Weston.
Seeing Wes up close only makes him look better. He’s styled like he’s ready for a national goddamn awards show.
We’re all in suits, but he has a shirt beneath his that looks like buttery silk, cream white and with a couple of buttons left open at the top.
His blazer is the same color, tailored perfectly to his body, with just the slightest amount of sheen in its material.
He’s wearing a silver necklace, and I’ve never seen Wes wear jewelry but it highlights his throat far too fucking well.
I want to reach out and touch that necklace.
I want his skin on mine again.
Already.
Every moment, now, apparently.
And as he leans to one side, I see that he’s also wearing my grandfather’s watch again.
As Noah finishes pouring my drink, I let my hand graze over Weston’s upper back, subtle enough that no one else catches it.
Wes glances up at me, and I feel like a whole universe is contained in his eyes.
I catch a scrap of their conversation as I’m walking off again.
“We know they’re going to do it,” Roman is telling Wes. “And if they don’t… my family will take action.”
The words pass through me like a ripple of fire.
No.
I know they must be discussing whatever I saw in Noah’s planner. And it sounds just as serious as everything Kieran has been afraid of.
Kieran can’t be right. I desperately want him to be proven wrong, proven crazy for thinking that the Onyx guys would ever be involved in bribery.
And I feel like I’m hearing too much.
“It will be far, far better than last year,” Noah’s saying to Roman as I slowly walk off.
“We aren’t going to need your family to be involved any more than we already have,” Wes says.
My heart is twisting in a tight grip.
Just ignore it. You don’t know what they’re talking about.
But everything goes from bad to fucking catastrophic when I get back to the table I’m at with Kieran.
There’s a person sitting next to Kier.
A person I don’t recognize at first.
But when I look at him again, it hits me like a bullet to the face.
“Weston,” I say, immediately looping back around to the Onyx guys’ table.
“Everything okay?” Wes asks, glancing up with doe eyes like he already assumes he’s done something wrong.