Page 59 of Saint

“They’re already pulling into the school,” Yejun disagreed, moving to ease Beck out of the way so he could take over. “If you want, you can follow us, but we can handle this.”

The sound of sirens came then and Yejun and Nix urged West to start walking toward the lot on the other side of the library. He was still bleeding, but he was able to move, albeit slowly, and he grinned at Nix when he caught him staring.

“Relax, Nixie,” West said. “I’m fine.”

“Hendrix isn’t going to be,” Yejun growled. “That prick—”

“Don’t lose your cool, June,” West warned. “There’s no need to get us into any more trouble.”

“Didn’t you notice all the cameras?” Nix said. “Hendrix won’t be getting away with this.”

“He’s right,” West nodded. “We don’t have to do shit. Just sit back and—” He hissed, the pain cutting him off.

“Stop acting tough and keep your mouth shut.” Nix spotted the ambulance as it pulled up. Somehow, seeing it made it seem more real, and the fear managed to slip through the adrenaline rush that had been getting him through this up until now. “And don’t die.”

“I’m not gonna die,” he promised as two paramedics got out of the ambulance and ran toward them. “I haven’t fucked you all week.”

Nix and Yejun handed him off to the professionals, trailing after as they loaded West into the back of the vehicle.

“Who’s going with him?” one of the medics asked, securing West.

“You go,” Yejun suggested, pushing Nix lightly toward the opening. “I’ll catch a ride with Beck.”

“June…”

“Go,” he insisted. “I’m right behind you, Firebird. Don’t worry.”

Nix took a deep breath and climbed in, his only option right now to trust them.

Chapter 17:

By the time Yejun and Beck arrived at the hospital, West was already in surgery.

“I’ve called Lake,” Nix said, wringing his hands as he paced outside the closed doors leading to the operating rooms. “He’s on his way.”

“What did the doctors say?” Beck moved toward the doors but Nix pulled him back.

“You can’t go in there. They’re working on him now. He passed out just before we got here and they say he lost a lot of blood.”

“He’s going to be all right though, right?” Yejun came up to Nix’s side.

“The paramedics who looked him over in the ambulance are pretty sure it missed anything vital, but they couldn’t giveme definitive answers.” Nix was pale despite his best efforts to remain calm.

“Hey,” he rested a hand on his shoulder, careful not to touch the healing bite mark on his neck, “it’s okay. This is nothing. He’s been through worse and came out of it fine.”

“I don’t know how you managed to keep it together that time.” Nix grabbed onto his wrist and held. “I’ve only just started liking the guy and I’m freaking out I might lose him. No wonder you took all this fear and anger out on Iris. I want to run Hendrix over with a hovercar right now.”

“What is he talking about?” Beck frowned at the two of them. “Did Iris do something to West in the past?”

Nix flinched, realizing his mistake but Yejun didn’t blame him for losing his cool. As much as he wished otherwise, out of the three of them, West was the one Nix was currently the closest to. The one he felt safest with.

West was more skilled at toeing the line than either June or Lake. At finding that sweat spot between pleasure and pain, and pushing Nix there. He got what he wanted out of their Firebird, but always ensured Nix didn’t leave the encounter feeling like it was one sided.

He used Nix, but never left him feeling used.

Having that, having someone who could take what had to be a terrifying mess of a situation and give Nix something to look forward to must be part of what was keeping Nix going.

He’d been through so much already, the fear of having that security blanket pulled away from him was probably sending him tail spinning. The only reason he was able to keep such a collected outward appearance was due to his impeccable survival instincts. Nix rarely showed his weaknesses to others.

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