Chapter 13
Beck nodded at the waiter when the younger man brought them their food, politely smiling across the table at West afterward.
The two of them were at Breeze, a five-star restaurant only a short drive from the palace, where Lake ended up needing to go once the meeting with the Order had wrapped. Initially, West had intended to return home with Yejun, but Beck’s insistence that they grab lunch had gotten to him.
Yejun had patted him on the back, leaned in, and whispered how the two of them seemed to be spending a lot of time together as of late, before winking and getting into his car. It’d been cryptic and kind of weird, and had left an odd taste on West’s tongue that he hadn’t yet gotten rid of.
Had Nix said something to June? Was he upset about West and Beck’s friendship? No. No way. If Nixie had a problem, he would have told him. He didn’t stew silently where West was concerned, not like he used to with Lake. That’s what made this work so well.
What each of them shared with Nix was different, unique in its own way.
Special.
“Have you found anything else in your search through Juri’s things?” Beck asked.
“We were able to link him to Dew and Dew’s King account. The weird part is, I still don’t know how he got it, or who the original owner of the account was. All traces of that person have been scrubbed from the system.”
“You think Juri is responsible?”
“I don’t know, but the guy clearly had better hacking skills than we realized.
How else do you explain all of Branwen’s chat logs vanishing the moment she was caught by us?
” West had done everything he could think of to recover those files, but they were gone.
“Either Juri did it himself, or he got Hendrix to hire someone to do it.”
“Sounds like something my father would do. He’s not above contacting illegal parties to carry out his dirty work for him. If he was working with Dew, he could have easily hired someone to remove any traces of himself.”
“But forgot the email naming him?” That was the only bit of concrete evidence they had, but it was still pretty amateur for someone to have left it behind.
It was fine, though. Soon, Hendrix would be brought in, and then they could get to work finding the rest of the incriminating stuff he was no doubt keeping hidden.
West contemplated asking Beck about that now, getting permission for him and Nix to bring a team to Hendrix’s house with the purpose of going through his things, but recalled the promise he’d made with the others.
It couldn’t hurt to wait. It wouldn’t be long.
“It was coded.” Beck shrugged, not nearly as torn over this as he was.
“Either they didn’t think anything of it, or they got caught and bailed before finishing the job.
There are a million reasons it could have happened.
Does it really matter? We’re able to link them together, isn’t that what’s important here? ”
“Okay, but that still doesn’t tell us who gave Dew the account. Hendrix wouldn’t have. It was sitting unused for months before Juri came along and Dew let him have it.”
“If anything, that shows Dew didn’t care for whoever the original account owner was.”
“Maybe he stole it?” That would make sense. Or a graduating student gave it to him randomly. “You said Dew had a thing for you. He never mentioned anything about Enigma?”
“He was my student,” Beck reminded. “His feelings were inappropriate, and I tried to avoid speaking with him alone as often as possible for that reason. If he ever did mention a sex app to me, I blocked it out and left immediately so as not to be misunderstood.”
Right. Beck was a professor before anything else. He’d never entertain someone like Dew.
Maybe he was right, and it didn’t matter.
It wasn’t like whoever had originally owned the account had still been involved.
Juri, Dew, and Hendrix were the perpetrators.
West was simply allowing his paranoia to get the best of him.
He wanted to be thorough so he and the others could finally put this part of their story to rest and move on.
“Is the food not to your liking?” Beck interrupted West’s thoughts. “You used to love this place.”
They’d come a few times when West was in high school and needed a break from training and his competition with Lake. Without realizing, he’d ordered the same dish he’d usually gotten back then, despite it having been a while since their last visit here.
“I’m sure it’s great,” West reassured him and then picked up his utensils. “What about yours?”
“I’ve never really liked this place.”
He paused. “What? Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“Because it was your favorite.” Beck shrugged like that made all the sense in the world and cut through his steak. “Today’s meeting went about as well as could be expected, don’t you agree?”
It was awkward as hell having Demitrious still involved by proxy, even when he physically wasn’t allowed in the Club House, but West wasn’t sure that’s what Beck meant.
“How are you doing?” he asked. “About your dad, I mean.”
“My dad is an asshole who’s going to reap what he sowed,” Beck replied calmly. “You don’t have to worry about me. The two of us haven’t been close for a long time.”
“He’s always hated how you weren’t on the same page about overthrowing Lake.” West chuckled and cut his burger in half before lifting it for a hearty bite. “I can’t believe you don’t like this place. They have the best burgers.”
“I’ve never gotten one before.”
“Really?” West couldn’t recall every dish the other man had ever ordered here, and he wasn’t about to try.
Instead, he pulled Beck’s plate toward him and added the second half of his burger to it, ignoring Beck’s protests.
“It’s fine, Nix wants to have dinner together later anyway, so I don’t need to fill up right now. Try it.”
“He seems to be fitting right in.” Beck set his knife and fork aside and picked up the burger. “I’ll admit, I had my doubts at the beginning of the semester when I saw him hanging around the three of you.”
“You’ve got that all wrong,” West laughed. “It was us bothering him. But it worked out in the end.”
“Yes, well.” He cleared his throat and took a bite, chewing thoughtfully for a moment before humming his approval. “You’re right, this is a really good burger.”
“You’ve been ordering incorrectly this whole time.”
“I’m not sure I’d go that far, but sure.” Beck set it back down on the edge of his plate and went back to his steak. “Since you’ve brought it up, I have to say, I’m surprised by just how close the four of you are.”
“You didn’t think your cousin had it in him, you mean? Me either. And Yejun’s always been a playboy, so I bet you’re—”
“I’m not referring to my cousin or Yejun, actually.
” Beck had been staring at something over West’s shoulder, but he tore his eyes off whatever it was and wiped his mouth with his cloth napkin.
When he next met West’s gaze, there was an intensity there that wasn’t usually directed West’s way. “I’m most surprised by your reaction.”
“Mine?”
“You’ve never dated anyone seriously before.”
“I’ve never liked anyone enough to consider taking them seriously before.” West tilted his head, confused. “Nix has been a good influence on—”
“Yejun and Lake,” Beck interrupted. “June seems to have learned how to take responsibility for his emotions and actions, and my cousin has unlocked an inner warmth that allows him to connect with people on an emotional level. It will serve him well once he’s emperor.
But those are positives for them. It isn’t the same with you.
There’s nothing Nix Monroe can help you improve on. You’re already perfect.”
Warning bells went off in the back of his mind, but West tried to silence them. “Are you mad because things aren’t going to happen between you and Yejun? Is that what this is?”
Beck pinched his brow. “It’s my mistake for being too much of a coward to admit my own feelings. I allowed you to get the wrong idea because it was easier for me that way. Now that it might be too late to come clean, I’m finding myself growing desperate to be honest.”
“Okay…I’m not following.” How’d they even get on this topic?
“I was never interested in Yejun,” Beck confessed.
“Oh.” He frowned. “Then why—”
“I didn’t know how to tell you how I feel about you without risking the friendship.”
Well, shit.
“Um.” West awkwardly fiddled with his fork. “I don’t know what to say.”
He hadn’t seen this coming. All these years, he’d been convinced Beck’s crush on Yejun was real, and now he was being told otherwise? To what end? Honesty? Was this really just about getting something off his chest, or did Beck expect something else to come out of this?
“I’m in love with Nix,” West blurted. It wasn’t the smoothest rejection he’d ever delivered, but having been put on the spot, it was the best he could muster.
“But if you weren’t,” Beck hedged, “If I’d told you how I felt sooner, is there a chance we could have maybe been something more?”
“I’ve only ever thought of you as an older friend.
” He could lie, say he didn’t know, leave that door open to help Beck save face but…
what for? West knew how he felt about the professor, he always had.
“Even if you were waiting for me to graduate so you wouldn’t be breaking any ethics rules, my answer wouldn’t have changed. ”
Beck wouldn’t look at him, and the corner of his mouth twitched upward, though it was clear there was no humor in it. “You aren’t even going to pretend to think it over. How very like you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What if I was willing to share?”
West’s brow furrowed further.
“I understand that your heart is with Nix, but he has two others who feel the same way about him. What if I was willing to be the other lover?”
“Are you…suggesting I take you on as a sidepiece?” West had to have misheard. “What is wrong with you? You’re a Bardin.”