Chapter 25

“Are you expecting a call from someone?” Ledger twirled the contents of his glass, dark brows lifted as he mocked Madden.

Who was checking his multi-slate for the hundredth time since arriving at Friction less than an hour ago.

He’d come here hoping to distract himself while Berga was busy with work by getting a feel for the dynamics between the Retinue and the Satellite. Rumors about the two of them had been circulating for a while now, and while outsiders had approached and asked for them to confirm or deny, so far, none of their friends had bothered.

Which was…suspicious.

Though, it probably shouldn’t be. Everyone here was used to keeping and respecting secrets. Many were most likely waiting for Madden or Berga to come clean themselves. Even Baikal hadn’t brought it up when he and Madden had passed each other earlier.

What were the odds that no one actually cared?

All that time worrying, wasted.

Maybe they could make a public announcement after all, and—

“Fuck off,” a disgruntled Flix appeared behind where Ledger and Madden were seated at the bar.

Ah. There. That was more like it.

“Excuse me?” Ledger bristled, but the Runner of the Brumal didn’t back down.

“Remember how I helped you in here last month? Return the favor and get lost.”

Madden glanced between the two of them, thinking he might have an idea what they were talking about but too curious to see how Ledge would react to interfere.

Surprisingly, the Retinue member swore but stood, flipping Flix the bird before downing his drink and slamming the glass onto the counter. “Had to go pick up my Tiger anyway.”

“Just say boyfriend, you absolute weirdo,” Flix called after him.

“What’s got you in such a bad mood?” Madden could guess, but where would the fun be in that? The two of them had somehow avoided one another all these weeks, but he’d been able to pry from Berga that his best friend didn’t approve of them.

Okay, so they’d managed to avoid each other because Madden had purposefully skipped out on any places he thought he may run into the other man. Knowing how important Flix’s opinion was to his Butcher put him on edge, and he wasn’t a fan of that feeling. Didn’t like the idea of coming in second place to anyone in Berga’s eyes.

But there was only so long he could avoid this chat, and he’d woken up this morning and had thought, fuck it.

“You, asshole.” Flix took the vacant seat and turned to rest his elbows against the edge of the counter, staring off at the rest of the building. Several other members of both groups were in attendance, but none of them were close enough to overhear or care what the two of them may or may not be discussing.

“I was wondering when you were going to come around.” Madden pointedly set his glass down. “Let’s hear it.”

“Stay away from Berga.”

“No.” He chuckled when Flix glared. “What? Come on. You have to have expected that. Tell me you’ve at least come prepared for this talk. If not, feel free to go and try again later. ”

“See,” he held up a finger in the air, “this is exactly what I’m warning Berga about. You’re too flippant to be taking this thing with him seriously.”

“Not true, but keep believing what you want to. No skin off of my back.”

“Wrong,” Flix stated. “Because if anything happens to him, I will be skinning you alive and lighting you on fire.”

“Kind of overprotective for a guy who’s supposedly just a friend.” That was the story and always had been, but Madden couldn’t shake the jealousy he felt whenever he thought of the two of them alone in Berga’s house having sleepovers on the couch.

Had the Butcher ever invited him into the bathroom with him because he was afraid of his own ghosts?

Had he—

“Why do you look like you’re about to punch me?” Flix scowled. “I’m the angry one here.”

“Have you ever fucked?”

His expression morphed into one of disgust. “Ew, what? No. Why would we do that? With each other? Plus, we’re both tops. Berga would never—” Something seemed to occur to him, and his eyes widened. “No way. No fucking way. Are you topping him? Is he letting you top him?!”

“Keep your voice down,” Madden said. Personally, he didn’t give a shit if they were overheard. Hell, he’d tell everyone who had ears if it was up to him. But Berga had been clear that he wasn’t ready for that after their racing bet. He’d explained Baikal’s side of things and why he believed laying low was the right move for them for the time being.

In a state of complete blissed-out nonsense, Madden had stupidly agreed without thinking it through. That’s what he got for making important decisions five minutes after milking his dick.

“Guess he doesn’t tell you everything after all.” He smirked, liking that tidbit of information at least. That, and considering his reaction, it was obvious they were both telling the truth about the status of their relationship. “Best friends for life, huh? Cute.”

“Let’s call up Kel and tell him you think so,” Flix oozed sarcasm. “Aren’t you his?”

“Yup.”

“I won’t let you play around with Berga.”

“Last I checked, I never asked your permission. And neither did he, for the record. Quit treating him like a child. Don’t you think you’re overreacting a bit here?”

“No,” Flix said. “I don’t. You’ve seen him when he’s in the midst of a delusion. I may not be able to do anything for him there, but I can at least ensure nothing else goes wrong in his life. Dating you? That’s wrong on so many levels.”

“Why is that?” Madden scratched at the collar of his shirt and debated whether or not he could get away with removing it. Probably shouldn’t. Flix would no doubt take it as a challenge that it wasn’t meant as. He didn’t want to fight him, mostly because he wasn’t a complete fool.

Berga might have told him to call their relationship whatever he wanted when he’d been itching to climax, but he was still very much on the fence about them for the long term, and Madden wasn’t happy about that. He knew what he wanted, even if it was taking the Butcher a lot longer to catch up.

Madden was never going to let him go.

Getting on Flix’s good side was paramount for things running smoothly from here on out. They’d need allies if they were going to make this work and convince the rest of the planet to ignore the fact they were Retinue and Satellite.

“Baikal won’t allow it. He’ll see this for what it is, a threat to his position and the power of the Brumal,” Flix practically growled. “The Butcher isn’t just a member of the mafia, he’s an intricate part of its inner workings. We lose him, and half our shit falls apart in an instant. What if, one day, the Imperial family is no longer satisfied with power divided fifty-fifty? You’ll fight with Kelevra. Berga will—”

“He would never betray the Brumal.” Even Madden knew that. “He’d never betray you .”

“Oh, for the love of Light,” Flix snapped. “We have not fucked, we are not fucking, and we will never fuck, got it? Stop being bitter over our friendship and listen to me. Yeah, Berga would never betray me because he’s formed a deep attachment to me.”

“If I smash this glass over your head,” Madden picked it up, “how mad at me do you think he’ll be? Scale of one to ten.”

“My point is that he’s capable of forming deep attachments, asshole.”

He perked up a bit at that. “You’re worried he’ll get attached to me?”

“I’m worried he won’t be able to choose if it ever comes down to having to,” Flix said. “Foreign or intense emotions can set him off. There’s still so much we don’t understand about his condition. Already, he’s gone from slipping into psychosis a few times a year to twice in the span of a month. The only new factor that could have caused that is you.”

“This is why you shouldn’t leave on random vacations,” Madden drawled. “You end up missing things and not getting the whole story. You should go talk with Bay. Looks like you really do need to do more research before we continue.”

Flix frowned. “You’ve spoken with Bay?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to help.”

“Bullshit.”

“Like I said,” Madden shrugged, “believe what you want.”

The two of them had always gotten on in the past. Madden might have even considered them friends—real ones, not just the type for a show of peace between their two groups. He’d always known how protective of the Butcher Flix was, and vice versa, so this display of affection wasn’t surprising.

But he had sort of hoped, because of their friendship, that Flix would take it a little easy on him. Maybe consider things from his perspective and have a little faith, despite his reputation. He was the one who always made himself available to others for favors, after all. The one they called, both the Retinue and the Satellite, when they needed help with something no one else had time for or was capable of doing. Even though the Satellite had Yuze, their own personal Royal, many of them still came to Madden because his family had more sway over the planet.

“You all use me already,” he drawled. “When it’s convenient to you, you act chummy and rub elbows and tell me you’ll eventually return the favor.”

“Don’t act like you don’t collect on them,” Flix said.

“Of course I do,” he agreed. “Who wouldn’t? My point is , we all preach about getting along and I have always been the first one to act the part. But I can’t have Berga even after all of my efforts?”

“He’s not a piece of meat.”

“He isn’t a child either. He can weigh the risks for himself.”

“Berga doesn’t understand the exact level of risk he’s in,” Flix argued. “Baikal is our Dominus before anything else, and the elders are pressuring him already as it is. Many of them still believe him to be too young to lead the Brumal. If word gets out he can’t even control his Satellite…That may be his breaking point.”

“You think he’d harm Berga?” Madden clicked his tongue. “Impossible. You said it yourself, the Butcher is too important to your organization. Baikal is intelligent.”

“He’ll threaten him,” Flix said. “Maybe even with expulsion from the mafia. From the one place Berga has always felt accepted. If he’s abandoned by the Brumal, he won’t survive. His condition—”

“I would never let him succumb to that.”

“It’s not like I’ve been sitting on the sidelines twiddling my thumbs all this time,” Flix snapped. “It’s not that simple.”

“I’ll simplify it then.” Madden was confident he could. There’d already been progress, hadn’t there? And that was before he’d known he was helping. Now that he’d realized and decided to put in the effort, it was only a matter of how long it would take to cure Berga. “There is no if in this equation. The Butcher wants to be with me. So he will be.”

Flix grew quiet momentarily, silently staring Madden down before finally saying, “This conversation is getting us nowhere.” He exhaled in frustration. “Let’s spar then.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Fight me for it.”

“For what exactly?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one making that offer?” Baikal stepped up, gaze latching onto Flix. “I don’t think you have the right to chase him away when I haven’t even done so myself yet.”

Madden’s eyes narrowed. Yet?

So much for thinking all was fine when they’d passed one another earlier. Had the Dominus merely been biding his time? To what end?

“This is ridiculous.” He stood but didn’t retreat.

“Why? Because you know you can’t take me in a fight?” Baikal taunted.

“Not if you use your powers.” Probably not even if he didn’t, honestly. Madden knew it, but if they were going to play this game, he was going to stand his ground.

“That’s fair.” He pointed with a thumb over his shoulder toward the center ring. “Shall we then?”

“What exactly are we sparring for?” Madden asked, following him over anyway, stripping out of his shirt with a relieved sigh.

“You’ve been dying to do that all night, haven’t you?” Baikal drawled, shaking his head. He kept his clothing on but leaped into the ring, stretching as he waited for Madden to do the same. “This? This is just a friendly match, that’s all. When was the last time we trained together?”

“Never.” At Friction, both groups were on equal footing. Many of them sparred all the time, but Madden had never fought against Baikal. As the secondhand to Kelevra, his station always set him slightly apart from the rest, and he’d viewed it as poor taste to challenge the leader of the Brumal .

“Are we—” He’d been about to ask about rules, but almost as soon as his first foot touched the mat, the other man was attacking. Madden just barely had enough time to evade, dodging and rolling, lifting back on his feet to hold up his arms and block another punch that rattled him straight down to the bone. “Seriously?”

“Did Berga tell you about the body we got in last week?” Baikal asked causally, as though he hadn’t just made a move to attack Madden’s face.

“No,” he replied. “But I imagine the Brumal gets bodies in all the time.” Was he fishing to see if the Butcher had spilled Satellite secrets? “We don’t talk about official business with each other.”

“Really?” He hummed. “That doesn’t sound very healthy. Relationships should be open and honest.”

“Open, huh?” Madden delivered a series of blows, all of them blocked. “You share Rabbit?”

“Not that kind of open,” he growled, a spark of emotion finally lighting in his blue eyes. “And I caution you to watch what you say.”

“You’re allowed to talk shit about my boyfriend, but I can’t do the same, that it?”

“If you wanted fair, you should have chosen to date one of your own instead of one of mine.”

Madden dropped to the ground and swung his leg out, sweeping it toward Baikal’s shins. The other guy jumped out of the way, but having anticipated that, Madden kicked out with his other, landing a blow to Baikal’s gut that sent him flying back a couple of feet.

“Correction, actually, he’s mine. He works for you. He’s loyal to you. But don’t overstep here, Dominus.” Berga was going to be livid when he found out about this, but Madden couldn’t hold himself back any longer, the words pouring out of him gruffly.

“Even if the elders disapprove?” Baikal said.

He snorted. “We both know you’re clever enough to come up a way with a way to control them.”

“Why should I though? Why should I overexert myself just to make sure your love story has a happy ending?” Without waiting for a response, Baikal zipped back into action, punching Madden’s side hard enough that his legs almost went out from under him.

“Because,” he sucked in a breath and retreated, “you’re friends.”

“Are we?”

“You care about him,” Madden insisted. “Otherwise you would have ordered him to break up with me last week when the two of you spoke about it. Admit it, you know I’m good for him, and what’s good for the Butcher is good for the Brumal.”

“Well put,” Kelevra’s voice echoed from the side of the ring, and they both turned to find they had drawn a decent sized audience. “We all want the Brumal to thrive,” he said it casually, but the look he set on Baikal was weighted.

It’d be wise to take advantage of his distraction, but Madden smartly waited, sensing things could potentially shift his way. Were the two of them coming up with some silent sort of agreement? Could he even hope for something like that?

“A body was brought in a bit ago,” Baikal stated suddenly. “One of ours. He was shot in the back of the head, and we’ve recently discovered this person’s identity.” He tore his gaze off Kelevra and settled it back on Madden. “You’re involved as well.”

He frowned and straightened. “How so?”

“Madden wouldn’t attack the Brumal,” Kel clicked his tongue, clearly finding the accusation absurd.

“I didn’t say he had,” Baikal corrected.

“Then how does it involve me?” Madden pursed his lips and considered. Nothing all that exciting had happened the past couple of months unless of course… “You’re not saying Grimes and Fraunz are behind it, are you?” That didn’t make sense. “They were hitting me up for coin, it wasn’t that serious.”

“And how do you think they knew to go to you in the first place?” Baikal quirked a brow. “It’s not exactly customary for a man to share his other debts with his loan shark.”

That was true. Madden hadn’t really questioned how they’d known about Eric’s spending, figuring he’d either blabbed or they’d done their research. He’d owed Madden money, so it wasn’t like he was expecting a paycheck he could turn around and give to Grimes and Fraunz to pay off his balance.

“They were put up to it,” Baikal continued, seeing that he had Madden’s full attention.

“Why? I’ve never done anything to piss off the Brumal.” His frown deepened. “Whoever this Brumal solider was, I didn’t know him. If one of my friends had passed, I would have been notified, even if you tried to keep his death on the down low.”

“We didn’t,” Baikal said. “And no, I don’t think you knew him.”

“Why would they attack the boathouse then?” Kelevra asked, as lost as Madden was.

“That’s simple.”

“Shit!” Flix swore from where he stood a few feet away on the opposite side of the ring. “It’s Berga. The target is Berga. Why didn’t you tell me this when I got here?”

Baikal shrugged. “The Butcher can take care of himself.”

Madden rushed forward, grabbing Baikal by the collar of his shirt. He ignored the protests thrown his way from various audience members, too focused on the tightness in his gut. “What are you talking about? Who is after Berga?”

“An Academy cadet.” He didn’t struggle or try to free himself from Madden’s hold. “His name is Ives. Ring any bells?”

“No.”

“Yes,” Kelevra said at the same time that Madden spoke. “He’s in the same class as Rin. ”

“Don’t tell me…” Flix shook his head. “This isn’t because of what took place when we were kids, is it?”

Baikal shrugged. “Yuze is still looking into things. As of now, the motive is still unknown. But you,” he grabbed onto Madden’s wrist tightly, “should probably get going. My last communication with Yuze said he’d lost track of Ives. While it’s doubtful he’d be stupid enough to attack Berga head on, there’s always the chance—”

The Butcher was in danger.

Madden didn’t need to hear more. He tossed the Dominus aside and practically sprang from the ring, already trying to recall where Berga was supposed to be at this hour.