Page 107 of Devil May Lie

“Relax,” he held up a palm. “I’m not trying to crouch on your territory. No matter the means with which you went about it, you won.”

“How so?”

“You wanted to possess him from the beginning.”

“No. I just wanted an answer to an infuriating question. That’s all.” Things were never supposed to make it this far. He’d tried to stop it from happening, even, had resisted this pull toward the Mad King. Doing so had been a waste of energy.

“Ah,” Sila’s eye sparkled with mischief Berga didn’t quit understand, “so you were planning on tossing him aside once you’d satiated your curiosity?”

“Yes.” Initially, that had been the plan. Finally scratch the terrible itch that was Madden Odell and put the whole thing behind him where it belonged.

“Oops.” The younger man suddenly covered his mouth, but he couldn’t hide his maniacal glee. “That was meant to be kept a secret, wasn’t it? But then, we’ve both already established I’m a liar. Did you really think I’d hold true to my word about keeping your secrets safe?”

Berga frowned, not understanding, until he heard something shift behind him. He turned, and the world seemed to grind to a halt the second he locked eyes with a set of inky black ones. “Madden.”

When had he arrived?! Berga hadn’t heard the door open, let alone someone enter, not that the Mad King had made it very far into the room.

“What,” Madden clenched the hand he still had on the door handle around the metal, “is he talking about, Butcher?”

“Oh,” Sila said before Berga could get a word out, “just about how he pretended to be drugged so he could trick you into bed with him.”

“That’s not true!” Berga denied. He’d felt the same effects from Impression as Madden had that night.

Sila cocked his head, but he never lost that smug look. “I wasn’t sure about it before, but now I am. Let me correct myself, Madden. We were talking about how the Butcher pretended to be accidentally drugged so he could trick you into bed with him. There. Is that more accurate, Be’tessi?”

There. That was why he was doing all of this.

Sila had always hated that Berga used that old term when speaking with Bay. He’d complained it made them sound too close, still not satisfied even after Bay had pointed out he was allowed to refer to Berga as such since Berga was older than him.

“Do not call me that,” he practically growled, putting the pieces together in a way that had him seeing red.

“Darn,” Sila blinked at him in mock innocence, “are we not friends anymore?”

“What’s going on?” Bay appeared behind Madden, easing his way past him to enter the room. He frowned when he took them all in, no doubt sensing the tension in the air. As soon as he noted Berga’s expression, he turned on his boyfriend. “What the hell did you do?”

“Nothing, I’m only hel—”

“Madden!” Berga watched as the Mad king spun on his heels and stormed off, racing after him. He’d deal with Sila later, right now stopping Madden was more important than anything else. “Wait!”

They were almost the same height with the same leg length, yet the other man managed to be a hell of a lot quicker on his feet. He ignored Berga as he hurried down the long halls and then out of the building entirely.

Berga kept calling out to him anyway, practically bulldozing into other students in his haste. They were drawing a lot of attention, partially because he was so obviously chasing after him, but also due to the fact Madden had arrived shirtless. He’d be annoyed about that, about the free show he was putting on for all the onlookers if Berga wasn’t so worried about being misunderstood.

Depending on where Madden had walked in on their conversation, many of the things he’d said to Sila could easily be misinterpreted.

Sila, the absolute asshole, was correct. Berga’s need to always be blunt did interfere with his interactions with others. If he hadn’t been so focused on the facts and their order, he might have seen what the younger man was trying to do. He would have certainly started at the end instead of the beginning if nothing else.

“Let me explain.” It was like talking to a wall. A large, moving, wall.

It wasn’t until they were halfway across the parking lot that he finally got close enough to reach out and grab Madden’s arm, twisting him around so he was forced to acknowledge his presence.

“Let me explain,” he pleaded again, clinging onto Madden’s bare arm when he tried to pull away and shake him off. “It’s not what it sounded like, I promise!”

“Promise?” Madden snorted. “That’s rich coming from you.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to what I just heard, none of your promises are legitimate, Butcher. They never were.”

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