Page 26 of Villain

Right, because just like how Demitrious left West out of all things important, Hendrix did the same with Beck.

“Whatever,” Yejun stated. “Barden can do whatever the hell he likes. He’ll never beat us. Lake is next in line whether he likes it or not. Still, just in case…Bring the Firebird in, what do I care. But,” he set his hands on his hips, “how can you be certain it’ll work?”

“I can’t,” Lake said.

“So, if the hacker doesn’t take the bait, we’ve just wasted our time, that it?”

“Do you have a better idea, June? I’m all ears.”

“Fuck off, Lake. You weren’t here. You don’t know—” He stopped himself, running a hand through his hair to slick back the strands that had slipped loose from the small bun he’d put it up in. “You don’t know.”

“No,” he conceded. “I don’t. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.” Yejun clicked his tongue, the anger leaching out of him all at once.

“Did we do it right?” West asked then, wagging a finger between him and Lake. “The whole apology thing? Us emotionless robots have been training for this moment for days.”

Yejun tried to fight it but ended up laughing. “Man, shut up.”

“So it’s settled then?” Lake asked, bringing them back to the topic at hand. “Nix will be our sacrifice.”

“Don’t expect me to be monogamous for him,” Yejun warned. “I’ve got a list of names I still have every intention of making my way through this semester.”

“Wouldn’t dream of asking that of you,” Lake deadpanned.

“Whether or not Yejun gets to stick his dick into more than one warm hole isn’t the problem here,” West interrupted, rapping his knuckles against the table. “It’s how you plan on convincing Nixie to agree in the first place. After the other night? There’s no way.”

“He probably hates us,” Yejun nodded. “I would if three strangers forcefully stripped me and forced me to suck one of them off.”

Lake gave him a droll stare.

“All right,” he admitted, “fine. I wouldn’t. That sounds like a good time to me, but I acknowledge that my sexual preferences are not your average ones. Nix was terrified and humiliated. My guess? He’ll sooner stab us with a blunt knife than allow any one of us to touch him again.”

“The sacrifice has to be ours,” West reminded Lake, “in all the ways it matters. The Club won’t acknowledge him otherwise. And Nixie? He’s not so big on public displays of affection.”

Still, a thrill shot through West, straight to his groin, at the thought of getting another taste of the other guy. Nix was entirely his type, from the lithe, yet well-defined form, to his sexy little brain. The defiance Nix had somehow mustered despite the obvious fear he’d been feeling. West had always been a sucker for a smarty with a hot bod.

The thing was, he was Lake’s type too.

“We’re used to sharing things,” he found himself saying, “but this is different.”

“How so?” Lake stared him down, but West could tell he knew exactly what he was trying to say.

“You’ve had more time with him than we have,” Yejun jumped on. “You sure you’re going to be okay with passing him around?”

“Since when has that ever been an issue?” he insisted. “What’s mine is yours.”

West nodded. “And what’s yours is mine, yeah. But still.”

Lake rolled his eyes. “What? You guys want some kind of reassurance?”

“It wouldn’t hurt,” Yejun grinned, showing that he was mostly teasing.

West wasn’t.

Maybe it was residual resentment from their meeting with his father just now, maybe it was something else. Either way, he let himself push the issue even knowing it made him kind of a dick to do so.

“I watched him fuck himself on camera a few times,” Lake said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

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