Page 16 of Take You

“Ha! And back here in the real world, he’ll have your guts if he finds out you’re sneaking around behind his back and lying to him.”

“Well that ship has already sailed, and he needs to suck it the fuck up. He doesn’t own us just because we’re apparently his humble servants in Cygnus. Fuck that, and fuck him.”

“Now I know you’re high.”

“Nah, I had a smoke, but I’m not high. I’m just pissed at being someone else’s foot soldier all the damned time.” The tension radiating from his body was a concern. A big one, in fact.

He was normally pretty chill, especially after a blunt, and definitely in comparison to the other guys in Cygnus. The fact was, despite what Fox had said earlier, Cygnus was all generals and no foot soldiers, which made for an interesting dynamic when opinions differed, as they frequently did.

It seemed like two or more of the Cygnus brothers were always threatening to tear each other limb from limb, over this thing or that, at any one time, sometimes over the most inconsequential shit.

I’d never really seen that tendency in Fox, which was saying something, given how long I’d known him, and the shit he’d gone through in that time. He was no pussy or pushover. He trained like his life depended on it—and it kind of did—and he was lean and ripped. Physically, we were very similar like that. Neither of us was as musclebound as guys like Drew and Bear, but we could still hold our own when the situation called for it.

More than that, though, Fox was normally less hot-headed than most. He tended to keep his emotions in check at all times, and instead of losing his cool, he made a habit of rolling with the punches, and letting shit flow over and around him. Or at least he used to.

The version of Fox I’d been dealing with for the past few weeks was a different kettle of fish entirely. He was edgy, and vindictive, and bubbling with rage that had lain lethally dormant for years.

“Yeah, well, that’s all well and good, but even without a crystal ball, I can see this shit getting ugly, when it all comes out, and you know what they say about the truth, right? It has a way of getting out.”

“Is that an intentionally ironic statement?” His voice had a hard edge to it that I’d rarely heard before.

“No, but you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do.”

I watched him as he was deep in silent thought for a moment, then asked, “All that aside, how did you contact Dillon, if you haven’t told Xavier shit?”

“Through Xavier, how else?” He looked at me as though I was simple.

“Okay, but he doesn’t just get in touch with Dillon on someone’s behalf, or give out his details without knowing what they need him for. So what did you tell him, another lie?”

“Nah. I basically told him it’s none of his fucking business.”

“And you’re still standing here, talking to me with all of your limbs, digits and joints in their rightful places, and your head still on your shoulders? Now I know you’re lying to me.” His body language suggested otherwise, though. What the fuck was going on?

“Nup. Success in life’s all about being in the right place at the right time; you know that. I just got really fucking lucky with the timing. Or maybe I kind of also planned it that way.”

“Planned what, what way?” The irritation was evident in my voice, though I did try to rein it in a little.

“I hit up Drew, and basically worked out when I thought Xavier would be ‘otherwise engaged’, and called him then.”

“Meaning...?”

“Meaning, I called him when I had a pretty strong suspicion that he’d be in bed with his girl, and I killed it.” He smirked like the cat who’d got the cream.

“But he still picked up the phone?”

“Yep. Though I’m ninety-nine-percent sure he was balls deep in Rocky at the time.”

“Jesus. That guy really is something else.”

“He is, but thank God that she has exposed his soft underbelly, so to speak.”

“Yeah, not the prettiest image you’ve ever conjured up, but I get it.”

“I’m pretty sure he pinged me Dillon’s details just to get rid of me so he could come.”

“Oh, shit.” I couldn’t help but laugh. Rocky was totally Xavier’s blind spot.

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