Page 83 of Saint

He’d spent the past hour trying to figure out a way to save his cousin that didn’t involve smearing Lake’s name in the process, but nothing seemed like it would work. Even if he turned on Juri and the other guy left, Nix would have to keep up in order to follow him to wherever Briant was being held. All Juri had to do was shake him once and get ahead, lose him and drive off. Nix didn’t have a vehicle he could use. It was too risky.

“I just came from a meeting with Lake, ironically enough,” Demitrious divulged then, and Nix hated it, but he perked up at that before he could stop himself. The old man chuckled. “He had a lot to say after I showed him this photo, Phoenix.”

He tapped his multi-slate and the image stored on it was sent to the table screen. It took up the entire center so that everyone could get a good look at Nix and Juri kissing.

“Yejun and my son weren’t pleased either,” Demitrious continued. “I actually had to talk them down from doing anything rash. They seemed incredibly betrayed. Interesting, since now you’re here, claiming that they forced you into a relationship with them that you never wanted.”

“Nix wants to be with me,” Juri interrupted, speaking for him to salvage the situation. “It was Lake who made the decision to make that impossible. A decision he made on his own.”

“Ah,” Demitrious hummed, “that’s the story, is it?”

“That’s the truth,” Juri insisted heatedly.

Nix was only partially listening, too busy drowning in Demitrious’s words. If the Demons had seen that photo, were they angry? Did they believe it? He’d thought the plan was to send it directly to the Order members and no one else, hadn’t it? He distinctly recalled Juri assuring him that by the time Lake and the others saw the photo, it would be too late for them to do anything about it because the deal with the Order would have been completed.

What if West had watched Nix’s tip-off at the dorms but had ignored it?

What if Yejun was raging right now, planning on catching Nix and—

He sucked in a sharp breath before he could help it, the room momentarily spinning as panic took hold.

Someone called his name, probably Juri, but Nix needed to break himself out of this cycle. No one else could do it for him. Certainly no one currently present in this room.

Images of Yejun pinning him down flashed through his mind, but Nix fought against them and the way they made his stomach clamp painfully. His neck stung with phantom pain as he remembered the vicious way Lake had torn through his flesh with little warning. Then he felt his throat close up and it was like being choked on West’s thick cock all over again.

Only…none of that was right.

All of it had happened, sure, but none of it was fresh. The Demons hadn’t mistreated him recently, not since they’d come to an understanding. Not since real emotions had developed and bonds had been formed.

The soft way Lake held him at night as they listened to the pitter-patter of rain against the glass sunroof…and how West set the table each morning for breakfast, serving Nix first without fail…and Yejun’s careful, almost exploratory touches as he waited for Nix to be comfortable near him again…those things were real.

Trust.

Nix had been burned a hundred times before, a thousand, and if he was an idiot for it, so be it, but damn it, he trusted the Demons. They’d made combined and individual promises to him to keep him safe. To have his back. To always be in his corner.

Who was Juri Ferd to them?

Who was Demitrious Corleone?

Who were the fucking Order for that matter?

“Nothing,” the word slipped past trembling lips, his surroundings coming back into sharp clarity seemingly all at once. Nix blinked and lifted his head, noting that he’d drawn the attention of everyone in the room all over again, only this time they were staring at him as though concerned.

“What was that, Nix?” Juri asked tenderly, either to further sell the act the two of them were close or out of actual worry, who even knew anymore.

Nix was done guessing either way.

Because all of this meant absolutely…

“Nothing,” he repeated, a bit more firmly. “It was nothing.”

“That didn’t look like nothing,” Sif said.

“Are you okay?” one of the men asked.

Nix nodded and cleared his throat. “Yes, I’m fine.”

“Nix?” Juri held his gaze, and Nix shook his head and gave a shaky, fake reassuring smile.

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