Page 25 of Saint

Nix had showered and gone to bed, not wanting to interrupt, and honestly so overwhelmed by everything he’d learned.

Now that it was morning he felt he had a clearer head about him.

“You always have questions, Nixie,” West teased, adding another piece of toast with lava jam to Nix’s half-eaten plate. “Sit.”

Nix shook his head in the negative and stayed where he was, sipping the coffee.

“You can’t be full yet.” West frowned. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Don’t pressure him,” Lake said, only for his best friend to snort.

“Breakfast is his favorite meal of the day, asshole, but of course you didn’t notice how I always have to make him twice as much food than for the rest of us.”

Lake frowned but didn’t give a rebuttal to that.

Nix was tempted to do as he was told and sit and eat more just to keep the peace, but he’d promised himself he was done bending when he didn’t have to. So instead he explained, “I have a lot on my mind.”

“Okay.” West dropped down onto the stool next to Nix’s spot at the table and propped an elbow on the surface. “Shoot.”

“The final test,” he asked, “is it sexual in nature?”

“Everything is sexual in nature on this planet.”

“West.”

“All right.” He held up a hand in surrender. “Yes. It is.”

“Explain.”

“It’s an old practice,” Lake began. “Most likely going all the way back to the beginning of the club. Of course, back then technology wasn’t nearly as advanced, so things were done a little differently, but thanks to things like cameras, we’re able to conserve some of our dignity.”

“He says we,” West cut in, “but he really means everyone else. Legacies don’t have to prove themselves the same way. No final test for us.”

“You’re still being too cryptic,” Nix said. “Lay it out for me plainly.”

“New members have to prove themselves by providing a sex tape that can be used against them as blackmail,” Lake stated, and when Nix blinked at him, he grunted. “That’s why we were trying to ease into it. It sounds—”

“Disgusting.”

“Yes,” Lake shrugged a single shoulder, “well.”

Wait…

“So last night, Juri and Beck…” He slammed his cup down on the counter, fuming. “That’s so fucked up!”

“That’s the club,” West replied. “It’s not a moral place, Nixie, everyone knows that already.”

“If it helps, there’s no rule that intercourse has to happen,” Lake told him. “They just had to film Juri submitting to a member of the club. Since it was Beck who went with him to complete the task, he probably didn’t do all that much.”

“A blowjob most likely,” West elaborated. “Maybe they filmed him kneeling and Beck coming on his face. Or he fingered Juri to completion. Stuff like that.”

“And,” Nix felt a little sick, “who watches these tapes?”

“That’s the kicker. No one.”

He frowned. “What?”

“In the olden days, you used to have to do it right there, in front of the whole audience. But now it just gets recorded inprivacy and the tape gets added to the collection that’s sitting on the fifth level of the Club House collecting dust. No one is allowed to view the tapes unless a member has broken a rule and is being exiled. Then the tape can be used to effectively ruin any chance they have at building a normal life on planet outside the club.”

---