Page 63 of Saint

And there would be consequences.

The club was hunting Hendrix down with their own resources, but considering how little they all trusted the Order, Lake and Yejun had asked that Nix still give it a shot.

“What exactly is it you’re doing?” June crossed his arms and leaned in, careful not to get too close to Nix.

“Running a facial recognition search,” Nix explained. “If he’s left the city, he should have been caught on camera somewhere. I’m also checking through social media platforms for mention of him. People like to gossip.”

“Have you found anything yet?”

“Unfortunately,” he sighed, “no. It’s true people like to talk, but Hendrix isn’t as well known to the younger generations. Now, if I was running a search on you, for example, the hits would be astronomical.”

“But an old man who runs a company no one can even pronounce the name of?” Yejun grunted in understanding. “Yeah, okay. At least if he was attractive, we’d get something, right? I have no idea where Beck gets his good looks from.”

“Was his mother not pretty?”

“She was all right.”

“Ouch. Don’t hold back on my account.”

“I’m not,” Yejun said. “Beck’s just fortunate to end up with the features he did. Speaking of…” He trailed off for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Don’t take anything he said or did to heart. Beck cares a lot about West. He was worried and panicking, that’s all.”

“Of course,” Nix nodded. “I like Beck. He’s been nothing but nice to me and, from what I’ve seen, he legitimately cares about making Lake emperor despite his potential claim to the throne.”

“He’d have to go through his father and convince the Order first,” Yejun replied. “Too much trouble. Beck is actually fairly simple once you get to know him. He can be secretive,sure, he was a Demon and is an Essential, after all, but he’s got his own issues and traumas to deal with.”

“Secretive how?” Nix was only partially curious. Mostly, he wanted to keep the conversation going to fill the silence.

“If he’d confessed to West, his reaction out there wouldn’t have caught you so off guard. I thought for a moment you were going to tear his hair out,” Yejun chuckled.

Admittedly, when Beck had pushed Nix out of the way after West had been shot, his first instinct had been to react physically. But he’d held himself back, reminding himself that Beck had known them a lot longer, and Nix still didn’t fully understand how deeply their bonds went.

Hearing Yejun’s explanation though had him frowning and twirling in the chair to better face him. “What are you talking about?”

“You haven’t noticed either?” June rested a hip against the edge of the desk. “Beck has the hots for West.”

“No,” Nix blurted before he could help it, “he has a crush onyou.”

Yejun’s expression turned perplexed. “Huh? Where’d you hear that from?”

“West told me. He sounded pretty sure.”

“No way,” he shook his head. “Beck and I have discussed his feelings for West in detail. I’m positive he has a thing for him, not me.”

That was…confusing.

“Could he…like you both?” It wasn’t completely out of the question. Didn’t Nix feel that way about the Demons? Judging solely from Beck’s reactions earlier, it did seem like Yejun had a point, but that didn’t change what Nix had been told. West was many things, but a gossip wasn’t one of them. He wouldn’t have mentioned it at all if he hadn’t been certain.

“No, I definitely would have noticed if he liked me,” Yejun began, only to falter when Nix gave him a meaningful look. “…Wouldn’t I have?”

Nix heaved a sigh and shook his head at him mockingly. “I can’t answer that. This is clearly something the three of you are going to have to figure out once West is back on his feet.”

Which shouldn’t be too long from now. The medical staff at the hospital were top in the galaxy, and knowing they were working on one of the Demons, they’d apparently pulled out all of the latest tech and gone above and beyond with patching West up. Seeing both Lake and Yejun calm after they’d been given the report had helped alleviate Nix’s worries.

“There’s nothing to figure out, Firebird,” Yejun disagreed. “We’re both already taken. Poor Beck, no matter which of us he likes, is going to have to come to terms with that on his own.”

“Since you’re friends,” Nix said, “you should help him.”

Yejun’s shoulders stiffened noticeably. “I’ve been meaning to bring something similar up to you, but there was never a good time for it.”

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