Page 117 of Shadows in Bloom

“Careful, Niki,” Ledger drawled a moment later as he parked the car. “I might get jealous if you keep staring at him like that.”

He blinked and tore his gaze off of Madden, even as the Royal started for them. “I wasn’t. It’s just…What’s he doing here?”

“I called him.”

“But why?”

“Why do you think?” Ledger gave him a look like he thought he was a complete moron.

Maybe he was. He’d spoken to Flix about putting off the debts, so why call Madden, the man in charge of keeping them, here? Was it a setup? Had this been an elaborate prank? That certainly would make more sense than Nikita suddenly catching the eye of a Devil positively.

What if Oran had successfully attracted one of them, and this was all a show put on by his half-brother? What if he’d sent Nikita there knowing full well that Ledger would catch him and?—

“Whoa.” Ledger rested a hand on the top of Nikita’s head. “What’s wrong? You look like you’re panicking all of a sudden. Is it Madden? Did he do something to you one of those times you went to the Docks?”

“No. No, but?—”

Madden rapped his knuckles against the driver’s side window, interrupting.

After a moment where he just stared at him, Ledger sighed and let go, moving to pop open the door. A gust of air swept into the car, bringing with it the smell of rain with a hint of stale booze, and he stood there with it open, separating himself from Madden.

“I hope this is good,” Madden said. “I’m in the process of courting someone and it isn’t going well. I could use the distraction.”

“Ever heard of Oran Orsen?” Ledger asked.

“Nah. Why? He important?”

“Not in the slightest.” He bent down and glanced back into the car, catching Nikita’s gaze. “You have a picture, Tiger?” When that had Nikita freezing, he clucked his tongue. “Not the one we took in Friction. I mean of your brother. Keep up. Do you really think I brought you all the way here to show some strangers a pic of the two of us?”

“You brought him to Friction?” Madden sounded intrigued.

“Something like that.” Ledger motioned at Nikita. “Well? Come on. Hand it over.”

Nikita unstrapped his multi-slate from his wrist, shaking his head. “I don’t have any photos,” he admitted. “But he’s got an Inspire account.” He pulled up the social media app and went straight to Oran’s profile before holding out the device for Ledger to take.

Once he had, he straightened, sneering as he scrolled before turning the screen to Madden. “This is the guy. Will you be able to recognize him just off of this?”

“I never forget a face,” Madden drawled. “Which reminds me, pretty sure I’ve seen the guy in your car before lurking around the Docks.” He ducked around the door and leaned in so he could see Nikita better. “You into street racing?”

“No, he isn’t,” Ledger pushed him away. “Back off.”

Madden chuckled and held up both hands in a sign of surrender. “Oh, it’s like that, is it? Guess this little outing will be worth my time after all. Didn’t know you were seeing someone, Ledge.”

“We’re not—” Nikita began to correct him, worried Ledger might get upset being romantically linked to him like that, but he wasn’t given the chance to get more than two words out before Ledger slammed the door shut with enough force the car rattled.

He spoke to Madden a bit longer, but the words were muffled, and Nikita couldn’t make them out. Not daring to exit without being told he could, he sat there and waited. Which wasn’t really all that bad, since it gave him a private moment to collect himself. So far, this night hadn’t gone at all how he’d predicted, and he couldn’t even begin to guess what was going to happen next.

Was Ledger planning on confronting his brother? If he wasn’t going to show him the photo he’d taken, but they’d come all the way here anyway, that was a possibility, wasn’t it? Either that, or he was going to find Oran and get his side of the story, verify whether or not Nikita was a liar before proceeding with…whatever it was Ledger planned on doing.

Was he really going to sleep with him? It’d sounded like it, and he’d even gone so far as to tell Flix as much.

Did Nikita really want to sleep with him?

He shifted in the leather seat, mind going back to the way it’d felt to have that powerful body pressed against his back, those fingers delving inside of him, as he was—He sucked in a breath as he felt his dick twitch in his pants and adjusted his thighs.

Okay, so he did want to screw the Devil. Cool. It wasn’t any crazier than anything else that night, so why not. The only real question was, would he actually get to?

The door opened a second time, and then Ledger was there again, peering inside at him. “You want to come, Niki, or are you going to stay here? Either option is fine by me. Answer truthfully.”

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