Page 29 of Villain

They were wholly uneventful.

It was almost laughable, and Nix had been torn between dealing with the range of emotions he felt over what he’d been forced to do in the Roost, and how all of his efforts might have been in vain. He was no closer to discovering which King Branwen had been talking with. No closer to even knowing if anyone on campus was friends with her.

That group of students had been so eager to discuss what the Demons had been up to over the summer. Why wasn’t anyone mentioning the girl who’d killed herself? Had he simply not heard any of the comments yet, or was it as he was starting to fear?

Did no one here…care?

Nix hadn’t been as in touch with her as he should have been. The past few years, he’d been so busy with his studies and he’d just assumed it was the same for her. They touched base during major holidays and through the occasional text message, but he wasn’t as involved in her life as he’d been when they’d been highschoolers. He was positive that she’d had friends, because she’d mentioned them in passing once or twice, he was absolutely certain of it. But…He couldn’t recall if she’d ever given him their names.

Couldn’t recall if she’d ever openly dated anyone on campus. Hell, she’d been using this app same as everyone else, and she’d made it to the top. How many of the student body had she been sexually involved with in order to achieve that goal? Yes, the app was anonymous, but only to an extent. Case in point, Nix’s final Favor had been in person, sans masks, hadn’t it?

Those same unmasked men who were coming up on him now.

Those three Kings.

The only three he’d identified so far.

Could one of them be the person he was after? All three?

Had Nix inadvertently blown the man responsible for his cousin’s death?

Lake reached him and passed, dropping down into the seat on his right before Nix could feel any sort of relief or misunderstand his motive. He was no longer looking at him, instead kept his gaze straight ahead while his friends settled in around them.

West made himself comfortable next to Grady, while Yejun took the spot on Nix’s left.

“What’s up, Firebird?” Yejun plucked a goji berry off of his tray and popped it into his mouth.

“Better question,” West propped his elbows on the table and leaned forward, ignoring the way Grady tilted his body to avoid any sort of contact, “what the hell is that?” He pointed to the slab of meat that was still untouched on the tray.

“You want it?” Nix asked boldly, refusing to cower in front of them. He’d already done enough of that in his head. Had given them that power of him for free. He shoved the tray forward with a single finger. “It’s fry loaf. Try it.”

Instead of rising to the bait, West picked up the fork and stabbed into the meat, bringing a large chunk to his mouth. The second the morsal hit his tongue he coughed and wheezed, leaning to spit it out.

Into Grady’s drink cup.

“Sorry,” he said to Grady, not sounding apologetic in the least, “sorry. I’ll get you a new one.” He made no moves to do so. Instead clearing his throat loudly before sending Nix an incredulous look, “How could you eat that?”

“He didn’t,” Yejun laughed, draping an arm over the back of Nix’s chair. “He tricked you into doing it.”

West quirked a brow, silently asking Nix if that were true.

“Consider it as the two of you now being even,” Lake suggested before Nix could decide which way to play things. He tilted his head wordlessly at Nix when he sent him a stare.

“What are you doing here?” Nix asked once it became apparent none of them were going to willingly offer up that information.

“Eating lunch,” Yejun said.

“This is the small cafeteria.”

“Ah,” West grinned at him, “did your homework on us, did you? Why’s that, Nixie? Were you hoping to avoid us?” He clicked his tongue. “Sorry to burst your bubble, boyfriend, but no can do. You’re stuck with us for the foreseeable future.”

Gasps rose up around them, but Nix was more distracted by the sound of his heart coming to a complete standstill in his chest. “What?”

Had just called him…? No, right? And if so, it was in jest. He was teasing him.

“Are you done?” Nix firmed up his voice and straightened in his seat.

“With?” Lake asked.