Page 21 of Vile Heart

“And you’d better not forget that.” Planting his boot on Jaro’s back, he pulled the other guy from the ground, inhaling his pained growl. “How long has he been sleeping at your place?”

Jaro regained his grip on a bar stool and slowly got up. “Go and fuck yourself,” he growled.

Emeryx whistled. “Dude’s got character.”

“He’s stupid, you mean.” Camren pulled his boot back.

“That too.”

Jaro huffed as he placed his back against a bar stool, facing Camren. He was panting. “You can literally have anyone else here. Why my cousin?”

Because he was mine before.

“Go and hunt a willing prey down.”

And he's mine again.

Camren’s fist shot out to Jaro, halting right before the other guy’s cheek. He chuckled when Jaro flinched. “Fuck, you are no fun.” Pulling back, Jaro took that occasion to scramble away, crawling away through the crowd like a goddamn coward. “Hey, hey, come back you.” He followed him through the crowd, Emeryx hot on his tail. The fucker was just there for the juice.

“Why are you still here?” He asked his friend. “How about you chasing down your own prey?”

“Why would I do that?” Emeryx chuckled. “You know, I’ve always wondered what went sour back then between the both of you.” Like Camren, he wore a black shirt beneath his crimsonblazer. They strolled behind Jaro, and Camren regretted not having brought his drink. From the way Emeryx booted him down on all fours every time his cousin tried to get up, this was going to take a while.

“Enough!” Someone shouted.Davian.

Maybe not.

The crowd gasped.

“Uh oh.” Emeryx’s chuckle flared to an obnoxious laugh, revealing the psychopath that lived rent-free in his mind. “Someone’s going to be in trouble.” He was loving every second of this.

Camren shrugged. “Yeah? Well, this is where the fun ends for you. Go and bother your own person. And don’t forget—” He patted his friend on the shoulder, throwing Emeryx a wolfish grin, “you owe me, brother. You bet I’ll have a ticket on the first row when you get your cherry popped.”

Emeryx flipped him off, making his disappearance through the crowd, but Camren didn’t miss the mischievous glimmer in his brother’s eyes.

Meanwhile, Davian walked through the crowd, until he stood facing the both of them. “When did you become such a bully, Cam?” He held up his chin in defiance, looking sexy as fuck. And angry. Oh, so fucking angry. “You used to be caring, and sweet.”

“To you, yes.” Camren wiped off the invisible dust from his suit and threw him a casual shrug. “But you were always blind to how I treated the rest of the world. Why was that, Davian?”

“You know why,” Davian replied, but his eyes darted between him and the rest of the world, who was curious, and amused. He was nervous.

Camren’s lips twitched. “Don’t say you were afraid of me.”

Davian’s cheeks flushed and his eyes shot daggers. “No.”

“Then what, baby? What made you so blind to see the obvious?” Without waiting for an answer that wouldn’t come,Camren looked around and shouted, “Ladies and gentlemen of Cor Night. Who agrees that I’m an absolute asshole?”

No one answered.

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “No one? Oh, come on. Really?” He winked at a student who stood close by. “See? I’m a good guy.”

Still no answer.

“So you were blind,” he drawled, dragging his attention back to Davian. “And you know what I want, don’t you? I want no fucking room for ambiguity. Tell me exactly why you threw me out of your life.”

“You know why,” Davian snarled.

“I’m gonna need you to spell it out for me, Davian, baby, I told you this. Because one moment we were playing video games and chilling, and the next you threw me out. What happened there?”

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