Chapter 22
Lake was in a piss poor mood by the time practice came to an end, and the worst part was, he couldn’t figure out why.
The weather had held up and they hadn’t had to deal with rain, West had called saying he and Beck had made it to the Roost and the two of them were going to hang out a bit—which meant he wasn’t sitting home alone. Sure, Lake didn’t like having strangers in their house, but Beck could hardly be considered that, and this close to Demons Passing, having allies nearby was smart no matter which way he looked at it.
The only thing he could think of that was bothering him was the fact he hadn’t yet heard from Nix or June. But that only meant their Songbird was still hanging out with Juri, which wasn’t cause for internal or external alarm.
He’d just come off the field and was in the process of removing his gloves when it all clicked into place for him.
Demitrious was there waiting.
“Lake,” he sounded dire. “Something has happened.”
“Did you find Hendrix?”
“No.” He waved Lake off to the side when other players passed on their way through the stables to the locker rooms, lowering his voice before adding, “It’s not about that. It’s something else that is equally important. I’ve already contacted the others and they’re on their way here.”
“You called West and Yejun?” That was strange. He checked his multi-slate but there weren’t any messages from them saying they were coming to the stadium.
“Yes, well, my son didn’t pick up, but then, he never does when I call. I assume he’ll listen to my voice mail and then head over. As for Yejun, he replied that he was close enough anyway and would pop in.” The sound of approaching footsteps had him turning to glance over his shoulder. “Ah, there he is.”
Yejun appeared, his hands in his front pockets as he carefully approached. The frown on his face indicated he didn’t know any more about why Demitrious was here than Lake did.
“You were supposed to be picking up Nix,” Lake reminded as soon as he was within earshot.
“We’re the same amount of distance,” Yejun pointed out, cautiously sidestepping the older man so he was standing at Lake’s side.
“Your traitorous fourth is fine,” Demitrious said, practically dripping malice. “He’s with Juri Ferd.”
“Traitorous?” Yejun’s eyes narrowed, but Lake was more caught on the second part of that statement.
“How do you know who he’s with?” If he was keeping inappropriate tabs on Nix, Lake was going to—
“Because of this.” Demitrious removed his multi-slate and held it up to them. “I was going to wait until all three of you were here but—”
Yejun snatched the device out of his hand, not caring about being rude, but not before Lake got a good look at the screen. “What the actual fuck is this?”
A picture.
Of Juri Ferd kissing Nix.
“It was sent to me anonymously,” Demitrious explained before either of them could ask how he’d gotten it.
“It’s fake,” Yejun growled.
“It isn’t.” He turned to Lake sternly. “This is why I warned you about getting involved too quickly. That boy has only been officially your mate for a week, and already he’s blatantly cheating on you. He used you to get into the club, nothing is more apparent than that.”
Except nothing was apparent to Lake at all.
He took the device from Yejun and inspected the photo. There was no denying that it was Nix and Juri, and that their mouths were touching but…
“Nix is unwilling.” He handed the multi-slate back to Demitrious, barely holding his rage together. If he let his emotions slip and exposed how he truly felt, that would be a weakness, one the old man would absolutely grab onto and use against him. So he kept his icy exterior intact and spoke with a flippancy he wasn’t feeling.
Demitrious sputtered at him incredulously. “You can’t be that na?ve.”
“He’s right,” Yejun chimed in. “You wouldn’t know since you don’t know him at all, but that’s not the face Nix makes when he’s into someone. Juri is taking advantage. The real question is, why?” He tipped his head and eyed him with obvious suspicion. “And why’d he choose to send the photo to you, of all people?”
Lake barely listened as the two of them got into it, too caught up in his own tumultuous thoughts.
Nix thought of Juri as a close friend, and all this time, Juri had presented himself as such to all of them. There was no chance in hell the Songbird would be the one to make a move, though, which meant the kiss had to have been initiated by Ferd.
Since it was a photo and not a clip or video, there was no telling how long the kiss had lasted. Had Nix pushed him away?
Had he returned the affection?
Lake clenched his jaw, catching himself and smoothing out the tense muscles before it could be noticed.
No. No, Nix wouldn’t do that. If nothing else, the intimacy between the four of them was real.
Nix wouldn’t cheat, it wouldn’t even be a passing consideration for him.
But then why hadn’t he immediately texted Yejun to pick him up?
“Give that back.” Lake held out a hand, waiting for Demitrious to return the device to him.
“What are you doing?” Yejun asked.
“Checking the time stamp.”
“I came to find you as soon as I received it,” Demitrious said. “That was at two twenty-six.”
“Less than three minutes after the photo was taken.” Lake didn’t like the dangerous turn his thoughts were taking. “The photo was taken with the purpose of sending it to you.”
“Then perhaps this is Phoenix’s way of coming clean,” Demitrious suggested, holding his ground when that earned him glares all over again. “I know you don’t want to hear it, boys, but the proof is undeniable.”
Lake’s device rang then and he immediately picked up the call. “West.”
“Yo, something’s going down with Nixie,” West sounded unsure as he spoke.
“What is it?”
“Is that my son?” Demitrious leaned in and raised his voice to call out, “Pick up the phone when your father calls you!”
There was a pause and then, “What the hell is the old man doing there? I thought you were at practice?”
“I am.” Lake didn’t have time for this. He switched to speaker mode so at least no one was screaming around him. “What’s happening with Nix?”
“He’s making out with other people, that’s what,” Demitrious snorted.
“What the hell did he just say?” West asked.
Fucking A.
“Someone sent a photo to him,” Lake began. “It’s of Nix and Juri kissing.”
West swore. “Is that why the two of them are leaving the dorms together?”
His spine stiffened. “They’re leaving together?”
Demitrious gave him a look that silently screamed I told you so.
“It’s not true, Lake,” Yejun insisted, clapping a hand on his back. “The Firebird would never do us dirty like that.”
“I agree,” West stated.
“Honestly this is pathetic,” Demitrious said. “I didn’t raise you to be this gullible, any of you! Allowing this nobody to lead you by the balls is a disgrace!”
“You’re just mad that Lake chose a Royal Consort without consulting you first,” West accused his father. “I know all about the underhanded promises you’ve been making with Royal Andrej regarding his son and the trade deals. You’ve assured him a dozen times over that he could make his heir the Royal Consort so long as they partnered with you.”
“Did he now?” Lake would have to ask later why West had never brought that up to him before, for now, he fixed his irritated gaze on the elder Corleone. “How did Royal Andrej take it when he found out I’m already spoken for?”
Yejun snorted. “Demitrious probably reassured him that until the title was given, there was still a chance to make his precious Melor consort.” Anger flashed over his face suddenly. “Hold up. How do we know you’re not the one who put Juri up to this in the first place?”
“How dare you!” Demitrious violently took his multi-slate from Lake’s hand. “I will not stand here and be insulted by you three simply because you’re too mesmerized by a tight hole to see reason!”
“Don’t.” Lake tossed out an arm to hold Yejun back when Demitrious had said his piece and spun on his heels. “Let him go. He isn’t important right now.”
“Let me guess, my dad just walked off in a huff,” West drawled through the line. “Good riddance. Now, can we get back to the matter at hand?”
“You said Nix and Juri were leaving together,” Lake said. “Do you know where they’re headed?”
“No. They got into Juri’s car and left campus. I’m on my way up to my room to check the traffic cams, but I’m not there yet.”
West was mostly healed but still moving a little bit slower than usual thanks to the meds the doctor had prescribed. They were necessary to fuel the nanites still hard at work mending his body, and would need to be taken for another three days at least.
“Is my cousin still with you?” Lake asked.
“Yeah, Beck is here helping me get up the stairs. Why?”
“Just checking.” The last thing they needed was for something to happen to West too. Worrying about Nix was already stressful enough.
“Why aren’t you freaking out about the picture?” Yejun seemed to realize how calm their friend was. “Aren’t you concerned?”
“No way,” came the instant reply. “Nixie would never, especially not with Juri Ferd. Our man has a type, and Juri doesn’t fit the bill. But also, Nix signaled to me on his way out of Juri’s room. I didn’t understand why before, but after talking to you two, it’s pretty obvious.”
“He signaled you how?” Lake questioned.
“He stepped out of the room first and then turned and ran his right hand through his hair, holding it there for a second longer than necessary.”
“…Okay…” What?
West made a sound of exasperation.
“Sorry, we can’t all be geniuses,” Yejun growled. “Give it to us straight.”
“Technically,” Lake couldn’t help but correct, “I am also a genius.”
“Nix knew where the security camera in the hallway was located,” West jumped in with an explanation before the two of them could lose sight of the topic, “and he knew I was watching. He did it on purpose so I’d see that his multi-slate was missing.”
“There’s only one reason he’d leave his device in Juri’s room,” Lake surmised.
“Yeah,” West agreed, “and that’s if he was made to.”
“You think Juri has something on him?” Yejun swore. “I knew I didn’t like that guy! But you two convinced me he was fine. So much for being geniuses.”
Lake would be annoyed except…fair.
“Let’s focus. Why would Juri do any of this?” West asked.
“And what could he possibly have to hold over Nix to get him to go along with his plans?” Lake one hundred percent believed there was no chance Nix would have kissed him willingly. “He forced Nix to take that photo with him, and then forced him to leave his multi-slate behind.”
“We need to know where they’re going,” Yejun said, but Lake shook his head.
“No.”
“No?”
“No, what we need is to find out what he’s using against Nix.” At this stage, even if they did figure out where Juri was taking Nix, they wouldn’t be able to do anything once they found him. “Whatever he has, it’s a big enough deal to get Nix to not only kiss him, but break the promise he made to us and leave campus.”
“His signal to me was hella discrete too,” West pointed out. “He obviously didn’t want Juri to figure out what he was doing.”
Yejun pursed his lips as the three of them considered all the options, then he snapped his fingers. “Briant.”
“His cousin?”
“That’s got to be it,” Yejun said. “Think about it. The only things Nix cares about are us and Briant. If it’d been anyone else, he would have told Juri to fuck off and called one of us right away.”
“Can you locate Briant?” Lake asked West.
“Hold on, just made it to my room. Hey,” his voice grew distant, indicating he was speaking with Beck, “can you help me with something? You’re decent with computers. Thanks.” He came back and informed them, “The two of us will focus on locating Briant. You guys are close enough that you might be able to follow Juri and Nix on the roads. They were southbound last I was able to see.”
“Got it.” Yejun tugged on Lake’s arm and the two of them took off for the stables. The parking lot wasn’t far and Lake’s car was parked there. “Whoever gets a hit first contacts the other.”
“Deal,” West said before the call ended, probably so he could focus on tracking Nix’s cousin down.
“You sure about this?” Yejun asked once they reached the car.
“We find Briant,” he yanked open the driver's side door and paused to stare at his best friend over the hood, “and we trust Nix to handle his own until we can reach him.”
Yejun nodded. “Then we kick Ferd’s ass.”
“Agreed.”
Once this was over and they knew what the hell was going on, they were going to do a lot worse to Juri Ferd than that.