Page 13 of Saint

“Relax, babe,” West reassured him, gentling his voice as he pulled the car onto the circular driveway. “I have clothes you can change into if you really want.”

“I do.” He didn’t bother asking how West had items that would fit him, considering their sizes were vastly different. It didn’t really matter since he’d pretty much put on anything at this point.

“Good thing I left one of my suits in your closet,” Yejun said from the back. “Can’t believe your dad pulled this on us. Bastard.”

“We should sneak in through the back entrance,” Lake suggested.

“Yeah,” West agreed. “Let’s not give these assholes the satisfaction of seeing us underdressed for your own damn party. Fuck Demitrious. What a prick.”

“Why do you think he did this?” Nix asked as West drove off the pavement and onto the grass, heading straight for a cropping of trees. Before he could become worried they’d hit one, the car pivoted and slipped between the front line, suddenly shielded from view by thick tree trunks and bushy branches. “Secret path?”

“Even all the way out here, it’s good to have some extra privacy.” West winked at him. “This leads to the pool house. We can park there and use the tunnel to get to the mud room on the main level. The servants’ entrance won’t be visible to the party.”

“Of course you have a servants’ entrance.”

“Hey, my dad built the place. I only lived there.”

“Demitrious either wanted to throw us off guard and remind us who’s in charge,” Lake answered Nix’s earlier question, “or he’s trying to remind the rest of the club. We won’t know which it is until we’re inside and speak with him. How he approaches us will tell us everything we need to know.”

West nodded. “We can evaluate how to act from there.”

“Act?” Nix frowned.

“Do we need to go on the offensive,” he elaborated, “or defensive.”

“I would rather just go home,” Yejun said. “Pop some popcorn, put on a movie, snuggle under a thick blanket…”

“You’d be snuggling alone,” Nix muttered before he could help it, freezing almost as soon as the words left his mouth.

Everyone went quiet, the mood in the car tensing even more than it’d already been. He held his breath, waiting for a rebuttal, but it never came. Instead, Yejun remained silent in the backseat, and neither West nor Lake came to his defense.

It felt…

Weird.

The dynamics between the four of them felt off. Had felt that way ever since Yejun had splayed Nix over the coffee table and punished him for being related to Branwen.

Since he’d choked him repeatedly by crushing him beneath his weight, even as he continued to pound his hard cock deep into Nix’s sensitive hole.

“Pull over.” He was going to be sick. It hit him suddenly and without explanation—much like everything else he’d experienced in this city—and Nix grappled with the door handle, unable to open it due to the automatic locks.

“We’re almost there,” West replied, but Nix wasn’t having it.

“Stop the damn car now!” He almost never raised his voice at West. In the beginning, that was because of fear, but lately it’d been more because there hadn’t been a reason to. Even when they argued, neither of them ever yelled.

It was enough to shock the Demon into complying. He slammed onto the brakes and almost as soon as he had, Nix managed to force the door open.

He forgot his seat belt at first, and was yanked back in before he could exit. He slammed a finger against it and freed himself, then sprang out of the car, making it only a few steps before he fell to his knees at the side of a tree and hurled his guts out.

Nerves had kept him from eating much all day, but that only meant that a good portion of what came out of him was stomach bile that burned on its way up. He hacked and spat it all out, heaving as he tried to shake the image of Yejun’s furious face hovering above him, winking in and out of existence as Nix gained and lost consciousness.

Everything had been moving so quickly, he hadn’t realized how bad it was. West had ushered him to safety andhe’d woken being cared for. Then he’d discovered Branwen’s true treachery, and what that meant for not only him but the Demons. Why they all hated the girl they called Iris so much.

Nix had started hating her as well, both for them and himself, and that had taken up a lot of mental energy. He’d also been able to throw himself into solving the mystery of the faux hacker and his and West’s plan to draw the perpetrators out of hiding.

But that was done now.

Dew was dead, and they were no closer to unmasking the mastermind behind it all. If anything, his death set them back, since now there was no one they could even interrogate for answers. A thought that Nix had instantly felt guilty for having. Maybe their friendship hadn’t been real, but he’d liked Dew, and despite it all, he didn’t believe the guy deserved the ending he’d gotten.

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