Page 60 of Saint

“Yejun,” Beck’s tone hardened. “Tell me.”

“It’s nothing,” he lied, only for the professor to swear—which was very unlike Beck. “Whoa. Calm down. Even ifsomething did happen between them, clearly he was fine afterward. And he’ll be fine now. What we should be focused on is what to do about Hendrix in the meantime. West will want to know we have a plan as soon as he’s fixed up.”

June understood that Beck had a crush, and he felt bad about keeping secrets, but there was no way he could speak about the poisoning. That was a secret the four of them would be taking to the grave.

Beck was nice and he liked him a lot.

But he wasn’t one of them.

Maybe if he’d opened his big mouth up months ago and confessed his feelings to West, he could have been, but the second Lake brought Nix into the mix, it was game over for everyone else. It’d taken Yejun and West a bit longer to reach that conclusion, the one Lake had obviously had from the start, but they’d gotten there eventually, and now there was no turning back.

Nix was it for them. All three of them.

“Did Iris try to hurt West?” Beck wouldn’t drop it, getting angrier than June had ever seen him before.

“What does it matter?” Nix cut in between them. “She’s dead now anyway.”

Beck stared at him for a long, tense moment, and then without another word, he spun on his heels and took off. He practically walked straight into Lake and Demitrious on his way, not stopping to apologize or acknowledge them at all. He was acting like a man with a mission, but Yejun couldn’t imagine anywhere else he could possibly be other than here, waiting for news about West.

“Is he off to find his father?” Demitrious asked as soon as he and Lake were within earshot, and Yejun had to admit that wasn’t a bad guess. “He’ll have to find him. Lots of people are already looking, including the Order.”

Yejun and Nix both frowned, that last part catching their attention.

“Video of him shooting West has circulated all over the internet,” Lake explained. His brow was pinched, the only indicator that he was worried for their best friend.

Still, he looked a hell of a lot more concerned than West’s dad.

“People are cherry-picking that scene specifically and leaving out the fight that took place beforehand,” Lake continued. “It’s making it look even worse for Hendrix. Like he attacked West unprompted.”

“Although, the part where you boys race into his defense is great stuff,” Demitrious grinned, glancing at the closed doors leading to the operating rooms before turning back to them.

Nix stiffened at Yejun’s side, and he latched onto his hand to silently coax him into relaxing. They’d already fought with one Order member today, and look where that’d gotten them.

“It’s helped to solidify your social standing,” Demitrious, completely oblivious to the seething Nix at Yejun’s side, kept spewing his nonsense. “They’re calling you the four Demons of Foxglove now. Congratulations, Phoenix.”

“Maybe we should go sit down,” Yejun suggested, risking crossing Nix’s boundaries by settling a palm against his lower back. They’d only just agreed to try and work through their issues, but the Firebird had made it very clear he wasn’t ready to be intimate with him in any sense of the word. Still, he needed to defuse this situation before—

“I can’t tell you how relieved I was to hear you weren’t there, Lake,” Demitrious said dramatically. “Can you imagine the uproar there would be if an Order member had shot the future emperor?”

“You are,” Nix’s voice shook with barely controlled rage, “quite literally, the worst.”

Demitrious tilted his head, staring at Nix as though seeing him for the first time. “Pardon?”

“I thought it was Hendrix, but nope. It’s you. The worst part is you’re too stupid to even realize it, but one day you’re going to wake up alone and wonder how the hell you got to be a sad, bitter old man in a big empty house, and I sincerely hope you think of me and this conversation then.”

Yejun blew out a breath and set his hands on his hips. Well. He’d tried.

“Your son was just shot,” Nix wasn’t finished, “but all you care about is kissing Lake’s ass. Is that a requirement or something? You have to be a creepy, self-centered loser in order to win a seat on the Order?”

Demitrious definitely wasn’t confused any longer, his eyes narrowed into slits as he stared down his nose at Nix. “I can see why Hendrix hit him.”

Of all the things to choose to say…

“Repeat that,” Lake growled, “I fucking dare you.”

Demitrious blinked at him.

“Do it,” he insisted, “so I can let June break your kneecaps.”

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