Chapter 12

Everyone was already gathered in the living room when they finally entered, and Nix found it difficult to meet Juri’s gaze as he came to a stop at Lake’s side.

“Are you all right?” Juri asked him tentatively, glancing between the two of them before taking in the other Demons. “You ran off so quickly yesterday, and then I heard…” His eyes settled on Nix’s neck.

“I can’t believe you had the audacity to come all the way here and stick your nose in someone else's business,” West said. “You’ve always been such a little bitch, Juri. What’s changed?”

“If it’s because you have a crush,” Yejun warned darkly from where he stood by the window, his shoulder propped against the glass, “you’re about to leave heartbroken. Isn’t that right, Firebird?”

Nix couldn’t tell if Yejun was confident or silently warning him as well, but it didn’t really matter. He’d already made up his mind. Ignoring the Demon, he sent an awkward smile Juri’s way.

“I appreciate you being worried, but I’m all right. You can—”

Lake took Nix’s hand before he could finish and tugged him over to the coffee table. Juri and West were both standing behind the long couch, so the table was the perfect location for everyone to get the best view. As soon as they were there, his touch gentled, and he pushed suggestively on Nix’s lower back.

“You can’t force him,” Juri snapped, but Lake merely looked at him cooly.

“Does it seem like that’s what I’m doing?” He hummed. “Lay down on the table, Songbird.” He removed his hands so no part of them was touching, a move meant to show Juri that Nix was operating fully of his own accord.

Nix’s breathing was stuttered as he followed the order, kneeling down on the table before stretching himself across it lengthwise. Once he was settled on his stomach, he waited for the next command.

“Put your arms up and grab onto the edge,” Lake said, his voice slipping into the clear, firm tone he’d always used when he was Maestro talking to him through the app.

“What are you doing?” Juri sounded unsure, watching as Nix got into position.

Lake lowered to the table at his side, hands roaming up his spine before settling over his shoulders. He began to message them, easing the tension away. “Relax,” he whispered. “Pretend we’re doing another Favor.”

“You always locked the room,” Nix reminded, resting his cheek against the cool wood so he could glance over his shoulder and catch sight of Lake looming over him. He hated to admit it, but the Imperial looked phenomenal.

That was always a point of contention for Nix. How damn sexy Lake was, even when he was doing the worst things imaginable. Even when he’d somehow convinced him to allow this in front of another person.

Three others, if Yejun and West were counted, which Nix realized with a scowl his subconscious hadn’t been.

Lake pressed his thumb between Nix’s brow and smoothed it away. “Relax,” he repeated. “I’ve got you. You’re safe. Nothing is going to happen that you don’t like.”

That he wouldn’t like maybe, but that he didn’t want?

“You’re always so clever with your phrasing,” Nix mumbled, and earned himself a light chuckle in response.

Someone gasped, probably Juri, but then Lake’s hands were massaging him again and Nix forgot all about it.

“You were with West so long, I thought for sure he was taking care of you,” Lake said, still using that husky tone that automatically eased Nix into a semi-state of arousal. “But your muscles are so tight. Does it hurt?”

Nix shook his head.

“Come on, I—” West clamped his jaw shut when Lake sent him a single dark look, rolling his eyes even as he went quiet.

Nix blinked, some of the comfort of the gentle touches and Maestro's voice dissipating at the sound of West’s annoyed words. He’d been trying not to think about the others. Was Juri watching him with disgust right now? Did he think he was pathetic for giving into the Demons?

Lake shushed his spiraling thoughts and continued, working the knots out of his shoulders and upper back, allowing Nix to simply lie there for a bit until he felt boneless and his eyes started to slip shut. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to the curve of Nix’s ear, speaking low enough the others couldn’t overhear.

“Would you be comfortable removing your shirt for me?” he asked.

Nix hesitated, but then gave a single curt nod of his head, rising to his knees when Lake started to help him up. He reached for the buttons of his dress shirt, undoing two of them while Lake spent that time rolling up his own sleeves. It took longer than it should have because Nix’s fingers kept fumbling, but eventually, he peeled the silky material off of his body and held it out to Lake.

The Imperial folded it in half and then tossed it onto the armchair at the head of the table, then he sat down in front of Nix, keeping him kneeling as his hands danced over his bare skin. He brushed them over the rise of Nix’s collarbone and then down the center of his chest.

Nix focused on his breathing, trying to block out the sensations and the way his body seemed to be buzzing. When Lake’s pointer finger tugged on the top of his belt buckle, he made a sound of protest, but didn’t move to stop him.

“A promise is a promise,” Lake said, flicking at Nix’s right nipple instead. He grinned when Nix gasped at the contact and then repeated the motion, waiting until the bud was rosy and throbbing before turning his attention to the other one.

Sparks of electricity skated down his spine and Nix found himself arching backward into the touch, lips parting as his thighs shifted wider. He’d be embarrassed that he was getting turned on from a little nipple play, except his straining dick was too distracting to keep up with being self-conscious.

“Back down.” Lake grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lightly shoved him forward until Nix was sprawled over the table a second time. He massaged one of his ass cheeks over his pants, chuckling again when Nix whimpered.

It felt like forever since the last time Lake had touched him like this, even though in reality it’d only been a week or so. It wasn’t long before he forgot all about the audience in any capacity, his mind pulling him into that familiar headspace he’d always entered whenever the two of them were alone.

Lake’s hand traced the curve of his spine downward, but didn’t stop there. He slipped beneath his waistband, fingers delving between his cheeks. The second he found Nix’s hole, he hooked his pointer there, bending to rest his chin on Nix’s shoulder when he jerked. “Ready for me, Songbird?”

Nix nodded. “Yes.”

“I can’t hear you.”

“Yes,” he said louder. “Put it in me.”

“Should I?”

“Damn it, Lake, enough teasing. Get on with it.”

Juri sucked in a sharp breath and Nix’s eyes popped open, a cold chill blanketing over him as reality snapped back into place.

But Lake didn’t leave him there for long. His finger pushed forward, spearing past his defenses to bury itself deep. He started moving, driving it in and out of him with measured pumps, paying close attention to his prostate whenever he found it.

Nix gasped and writhed on the table, spreading his legs wider without having to be told to.

“I should go,” Juri cleared his throat, but West grabbed onto him before he could retreat more than step away.

“Nix is doing this because of you, you know,” Lake stated, adding a second digit as he spoke. “Since you insisted on seeing it for yourself, you can’t leave just yet.”

“I get it,” Juri snapped. “This isn’t necessary.”

“You made it necessary.”

“So it’s my fault that you’re—”

“Finger fucking him?” Lake scissored within Nix and then pressed hard against that spot with him.

Nix arched off the table and moaned.

“Don’t be so na?ve,” Lake tutted. “Does it look like he’s being forced into anything?”

Nix buried his head in his arms, unable to stop the groans from coming as three fingers were thrust into his body. His hips started grinding down against the surface of the table—or maybe he’d been doing that for a while already, he couldn’t recall. All he knew was he was desperately chasing that electricity, his dick soaking through his pants.

“Nix,” Juri gave it one valiant last attempt, “if you don’t want this, just say so.”

“Please,” Nix lifted his head so he could be heard, “stop talking.”

“He prefers the sound of my voice when he’s turned on,” Lake said, as though giving an apologetic explanation. The smug grin he sent Juri’s way was anything but contrite, however. “Have you really seen enough? Sure you don’t need to stick around for the grand finale?”

Juri glared. “You’re a piece of work, you know that, Lake?”

“That’s your future emperor you’re talking to,” West growled.

Stubbornly, he lifted his chin. “I’ll do it.”

“Do what?”

“I’ll be your sacrifice.”

Nix frowned. “What?”

“Shh,” Lake pushed his head back down, his fingers still working him open with quick and hard motions. “Don’t worry yourself over nothing, Songbird.”

“We have our sacrifice,” Yejun said, waving at Nix. “Obviously.”

“Use me instead,” Juri insisted.

“Why the hell would we do that?” West crossed his arms.

“I don’t know what you’ve promised him to get him to agree to this,” Juri waved at them, “but I know what being alone in the Club is like. He’ll need someone.”

“He has someone,” West corrected. “Three someone’s, in fact.”

“I mean a friend,” he snapped. “One who doesn’t want to use him for sex or anything else.”

Yejun grunted. “Who you think you’re fooling, Ferd? You don’t want to fuck him?”

“That tent in your pants says otherwise,” West drawled.

Nix frowned, but Lake’s hand was still on the back of his head, keeping him down so he couldn’t look even if he wanted to. They couldn’t be right though. It had to just be the situation that was making Juri horny. The other guy had never shown any interest in him outside of friendship.

“You guys always twist everything,” Juri said. “Who wouldn’t be hard watching that? Is it hot? Yes. Do I still think you coerced him into it? One hundred percent. Nix will need a friend. A real one. If I’m back in the club—”

“The club you abandoned willingly,” Yejun reminded.

Juri’s mouth thinned into a line.

“Fine,” Lake surprised everyone by saying then. “You want back in? You’re back in. We’ll use you as the sacrifice, and if you change your mind before the time comes, we’ll still have Nix anyway.”

“Seriously?” Yejun sneered.

“He’s watching Nix take pleasure from my hand as we speak,” Lake pointed out. “If he didn’t know who Phoenix Monroe belonged to before this, he does now. Isn’t that right, Juri?”

There was silence for a moment and then Juri clipped out a single, “Yes.”

Nix had agreed to this to help Juri avoid having to return to Club Essential because he hadn’t wanted to be the reason his friend felt pressured into doing so. But if he was going to willingly rejoin on his own…

Nix reared up, the suddenness of his actions catching Lake off guard enough he couldn’t stop him. Not that he needed to. He turned so his back was to the others and grabbed onto Lake’s shoulders.

“Great, glad we cleared that up,” he said, gaze locked on Lake’s green one. “Now get out.”

“Nix—”

“I appreciate it, really, but I also need to take my pants off now, and I’d rather you not be here to see that.”

“Yeah, I’m calling it.” West shoved Juri toward the door. “Let’s go. You heard him.”

“Remove your hand,” Nix said the second he heard the sound of the front door slamming. As soon as Lake listened, he scrambled off the table and stripped out the rest of his clothing. Then he crawled onto the table again and laid down on his back, staring at Lake all the while. He draped his legs over the either side and planted his feet on the ground. “Keep fucking me.”

Lake grunted but couldn’t hold back the smirk as he shifted forward and brought his hand back between Nix’s thighs. “Someone’s getting bossy.”

“Can’t help it.”

“What are you thinking about?” He pressed three fingers against his hole and slowly eased them inside until Nix was squirming for him.

“You,” he breathed.

“You’re always so easy when I have you like this. So,” Lake pumped into him harder, and watched as Nix’s dick swayed from the impact, “responsive.”

Nix let go of the table edge with one hand and reached for himself.

“What are you doing?”

“You like to watch,” Nix reminded, stroking himself in time with Lake’s thrusts. Precome gushed from his rosy cockhead and he moaned, rocking his hips back onto Lake’s fingers as much as he was able.

“Do it how I like then,” Lake demanded.

Nix rolled his thumb over his crown, smearing traces of himself across his skin before he slicked his palm back down and cupped his balls.

“Good Light.” Yejun’s breathy groan came a second later, and Nix didn’t have to look to know the other Demon had pulled himself free from his pants and was whacking off to them now.

“Are you thinking of me, Songbird?” Lake asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Thinking about what my cock would feel like splitting you open down here?” He wiggled all three fingers and Nix cried out.

“Yes!”

Lake laughed. “It’s too bad we made a deal, isn’t it?”

Nix frowned.

“Those were part of your terms, remember? And I agreed to them.”

Terms…shit.

“Wait.” Nix let go of his dick and tried to sit up, but a single shake of Lake’s head had him lying back down.

“Your hand isn’t where it’s supposed to be, Songbird.”

Nix cupped his balls with his right one, the fingers on his left wrapping around his dick again.

“That’s better.”

“I’m going to come before he does,” West stated, the sound of skin slapping against skin from where he was jacking off with the couch blocking the view caught Nix’s attention and his head turned that way.

“Songbird,” Lake’s low warning instantly brought his gaze back. “We were talking about my cock, remember? And how badly you want it.”

He licked his lips and nodded. “I do.”

“That’s the lust. It’ll get better once you’ve orgasmed.”

Which meant Lake wasn’t going to give it to him.

“Are you pouting?” Yejun cursed. “That’s so hot. Holy shit.”

“What if I beg you for it?” Nix asked. Lake liked it when he begged.

“Did you already forget you made me promise not to fuck you?” Lake drawled.

Sure, but that was before Nix’s entire body felt like it was coiled up and on fire. And when he’d feared Juri would be here watching the entire thing. What did it matter at this point if he was fucked in front of Yejun and West? They’d already seen him in this position.

“I changed my mind,” he said.

Lake’s free hand went to his belt, but paused. “I better not. You might regret it once you’re in your right mind again.”

“I won’t.”

The Imperial leaned over him and started tapping wildly against his prostate, not letting up even when Nix started to shake. “Remember this the next time you set terms. Remember that I keep my word.”

“Lake.”

“Sing for me,” he ordered. “Set the record straight, once and for all, that you’re mine.”

Nix opened his mouth but all that came out was a sharp cry as pleasure ripped through him. He came, waves of sticky, hot spunk squirting all over both him and Lake as his prostate continued to take hit after hit. He’d only managed a single breath of relief before he realized that Lake wasn’t planning on letting up.

He shifted over the table, but Lake didn’t remove his fingers.

“Again,” the Imperial ordered, and Nix made a pained sob as he started to slip into oversensitivity.

“No, I can’t.”

“Again.” Lake slapped Nix’s hand off his dick and took control, stroking up until he was hard and achy once more.

“No!” He shook his head and clawed at the surface of the table. “I can’t! It’s too much.”

“Come again, Songbird.”

“No, I—” He screamed as another orgasm crashed over him, his vision momentarily winking out as he was forced into another fit of rapture that seemed to tear him from reality and shove him into an abyss of pure, undiluted bliss.