Chapter 24

“Nix, over here!” Grady waved at him from across the gallery, Khloe standing at his side. When he spotted Lake, his smile diminished, but he didn’t rescind the invitation, waiting while the two of them walked over.

This was the first time Nix had visited the art buildings since his “fight” with Yejun, but he’d also never explored the massive gallery attachment before. The ceiling was high and domed, with a skylight that let in a rare midafternoon glow of sunshine. The walls and floors were stark white, and paintings and sculptures were displayed in neat rows throughout. There were four rooms in total, and Lake and he had just entered through the entrance, finding Grady and the others still occupying the first square space.

“Did you happen to see Dew out there?” Khloe asked once they arrived, frowning when Nix shook his head. “Where the hell is he?”

“Is he an art student?” Lake said to Nix, only mildly curious. He was doing his best to seem interested since these were Nix’s friends, and even though it was obvious, Nix sort of appreciated that.

“Yeah. He’s probably got work hung up,” Nix replied.

“He does,” Grady told them. It’s in the third room. We were just about to head there but we were waiting for him.”

“He isn’t responding to my texts.” Khloe clicked her multi-slate and then gave up. “What about Juri?”

“He’s busy,” Nix answered. He’d left Juri with Briant again. Or, maybe he hadn’t. They seemed happy in each other's company. Perhaps Juri was hanging out with his cousin less as a favor to Nix and more because he wanted to. “He told me to take pictures.”

“Figures,” Grady snorted. “He’s been super busy later. I can hardly ever see him.”

“Yejun’s piece is in the final room,” Lake informed him. “We could stop at your friends and then head there.”

Their group started walking, and though it was awkward at first, Khloe was the first to attempt to break the tension as they passed through the first room without stopping.

“Imperial Lake—”

“You can just call him Lake,” Nix interrupted.

She gave a wide-eyed glance to Lake, who nodded and then cleared her throat. “Lake, so, uh, how did you know Nix was the one?”

“Good Light,” Grady grumbled.

“He cures my insomnia,” Lake replied.

“What?” Nix turned to him. “Since when?”

“Since the beginning,” he admitted as Grady led them to a painting in the corner of the third room. “After our first…encounter, I slept like a baby for the first night in over a decade.”

“I didn’t know that.” He doubted anyone did. The others still commented on Lake’s insomnia all the time. “You’re always gone in the morning when we spend the night together.”

“Oh.” Khloe grinned at them and waved both hands when Nix looked at her. “Sorry. Sorry. This is just unexpectedly wholesome. Except for the sleeping together part. But, like, that was obvious so…Please, continue.”

“No,” Nix held up a palm before Lake could, “Let’s not.”

Dew’s painting wasn’t very large, around thirteen by eleven inches or so. It had swirls of vibrant colors, mixtures of neon pinks and purples with flashes of bright yellows and greens. Admittedly, Nix didn’t really get it. It was pretty, but a bit too chaotic for his personal tastes. Still, he snapped a photo and sent it to Juri, then leaned into Lake.

“Want to move on?” he suggested, leaving Grady and Khloe there as they discussed the color palette—though it seemed like neither of them understood what their friend had intended with it either.

He and the Imperial entered the final room, which held less work and more blank space between hung canvases. The entire opposite wall was empty aside from a single piece that was still shrouded with a white cloth.

“Made it just in time.” West appeared at their sides, hands tucked into the pockets of his black dress pants. He motioned toward the covered canvas with his chin. “They’re about to unveil June’s work.”

Since his piece was the focal point of the gallery showing, there was a big reveal for it, and a crowd had already gathered in the room, waiting. There were a range of ages as well, not just students milling about like in the rest of the gallery. Older men and women also lingered nearby.

“Reporters,” Lake explained, catching his eyes scanning the space, “and art collectors.”

“He’s a Sang, after all,” West added. “This is his first showing of the year.”

“His parents aren’t happy it’s taking place here,” Lake drawled, and when Nix frowned, he shrugged. “Foxglove University is prestigious, but they wanted him to open his own gallery first. He disagreed because he didn’t feel the need to overshadow the hard work of his peers.”

Yejun had known he’d bring in a crowd if he took part in this school show and only this school show, was what Lake was implying.

How…altruistic.

If only the Demon could be that way toward Nix.

They still hadn’t spoken since that night, and the strain was starting to get to everyone.

“It’s about to happen,” West said and they all turned to watch as one of the art professors walked over to the three feet by three feet piece and bowed in greeting to them all.

“Where’s Yejun?” Nix asked as she started to present the artist and there was no sign of him.

“Fashionably late,” West leaned in and told him in a hushed tone. “That’s his thing with these. He’ll show up once everyone’s had a chance to ooh and aah over his work.”

The professor finished what she’d been saying and bowed again to a round of clapping. Then she reached up, grabbed a fistful of the cloth, and dramatically tugged it free to expose the painting hidden beneath.

The entire room gasped in unison.

Except for Nix, who for a moment couldn’t process what he was looking at.

The color scheme was warm, beige, browns, and golden hues. An exposed rear took up most of the canvas, rounded cheeks flushed, one with a slight imprint of a hand across it. The subject's thighs were only partially drawn on the page, but his balls and the tip of his dick were visible. Glistening globs of white were leaking from his hole, painted in such detail that it almost appeared to be a photograph.

The subject’s ass was the main focal point, but it’d been drawn at an angle that allowed for the tip of his head to appear toward the far right corner of the canvas, his sandy blond hair an exact match to Nix’s own shade.

“Oh My Light,” someone hissed nearby. “Isn’t that—”

“It’s him, isn’t it?”

“This was approved?”

“Yeah, I’d tap that too if—”

The voices seemed to rise up as spectators became emboldened, but Nix hardly heard them, too busy drowning in a sea of sheer humiliation that had his shoulders shaking and his heart threatening to explode out of his chest.

Even if his face wasn’t depicted, it was so obvious who that painting was of.

And what they’d done just before the moment had been permanently captured with acrylics.

Time seemed to stop and when Nix became aware of his surroundings again, Lake was standing at the front of the room. At some point, he’d torn the painting from the wall and was currently demanding everyone there to delete any photos they’d taken.

West was doing the same, blocking the exit and practically snarling at the trapped crowd.

Nix only had a split second to feel relief that at least they hadn’t been in on it before one of the side doors opened and in strolled Yejun Sang.

Lake reached him first, the crowds shocked exclamations turning to screams when he punched Yejun clean across the face. Blood exploded from his nose, spraying against the closest white wall a second before Yejun stumbled into it.

“What the hell ?!” Yejun straightened and went for Lake, but then West was there to stop him. “What’s your problem?!”

“How could you do that?” Lake’s voice was dark, dripping with rage.

The sound had Nix’s spine straightening and the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, and he wasn’t alone. It was as though someone hit the mute button, the entire room going so quiet it seemed like people were too afraid to breathe.

His tone even gave Yejun pause, who stopped struggling against West’s hold and frowned. “What? Do what?”

“Your painting was fucked up,” West said. “How could you do that to Nix? I thought you said you were going to try and fix things with him.”

Had the two of them spoken about him? Nix didn’t get to wonder for long.

“My painting?” Yejun glanced over to where Lake had dropped the canvas face side down and then stormed over to it. “What are you talking about? My painting is of—” He lifted it and then froze.

The sudden confusion buzzing between the three was palpable, and somehow Nix finally found strength enough to move. He walked toward them, halting when Yejun’s eyes lifted and landed on him.

“Firebird, I…” Yejun gripped the canvas hard enough they could hear the wood creaking, “I didn’t. I didn’t do this.”

“That’s clearly your work,” Lake stated.

“No, I mean, I drew it. But this was meant to be your birthday present,” he told the Imperial. “The last I saw it, it was locked up in my studio. I don’t know how it got here.”

“You’re claiming you didn’t hang it to embarrass Nix?”

“I’m not claiming anything.” He tossed the canvas to the ground. “I didn’t do it!”

“Who else has access to your studio?” Lake asked, and then movement caught his attention over Nix’s shoulder and he lifted a hand and motioned with two fingers. “Beck, come in. Everyone else, sit down and stay quiet. If I see any of you texting, filming, or taking photos I will charge you for treason and have you and your entire family jailed. Is that understood?”

The entire crowd nodded and one by one, they lowered to the floor.

Beck, who’d just arrived and was in the doorway, came forward. “What’s going on?”

“Someone switched my painting,” Yejun said, hands on his hips as he stalked back and forth.

“Why would they do that?” Beck tried to move closer but Yejun wouldn’t let him touch him.

“Who fucking knows, but I’m being framed.” He paused long enough to stare at Lake. “I am being framed.” Then something seemed to dawn on him and his gaze swept over the crowd. “I should gouge their eyes out. They shouldn’t have been allowed to see that. I—”

“It’s okay,” Nix’s voice was so quiet, if not for the silence otherwise, there’s no way he would have been heard. He wrung his hands and tried to speak with more conviction. “Don’t hurt them because of me.”

“It’s not because of you.” Yejun stepped over and cupped Nix’s cheek, too distracted with his own tumultuous emotions to notice when Nix flinched. “It’s because someone thought they could pull this shitty prank without any consequences.”

“June, think about who could have done this,” West suggested.

Yejun pointed to the professor who was kneeling on the ground less than ten feet away. “You. Who switched my painting? I came here this morning and hung my piece on the wall.”

“Yes!” She bobbed her head. “It wasn’t what we were shown at all. You painted a bird on fire.”

A…phoenix? Nix inspected his face, but Yejun’s attention was on the professor.

“Who had access to this area?” Lake took control of the conversation.

“Screw this.” West swiveled on his heels and stormed out, using the door Yejun had just appeared from. Nix frowned after him, but no one else made any moves to follow.

“Lots of people,” the professor replied. “It was open to all of the students involved in the showing. People have been coming and going all day.”

There weren’t many other pieces in this section of the gallery, but there were enough to make it difficult to narrow down anyone who might not have belonged. Though, Nix felt like someone probably should have noticed if the main piece had been removed and swapped. What did he know.

“Get up and go find my original work,” Yejun ordered, pursing his lips as she scrambled to her feet and exited through another side entrance.

“Clearly someone is trying to drive a wedge between you,” Beck concluded then. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. That, or they seriously hate Nix.” He glanced at him. “Do you have any enemies, Nix?”

He shook his head, but before he could get a word out, his multi-slate dinged. As he was lifting his arm to check it, Yejun grabbed him, hitting the screen to open the text.

“Unknown,” the Demon read the contents out loud, “guess now we know the reason you didn’t take my advice and get out of dodge is because you were too busy sitting on Demon cock.” He growled. “Who is this?”

“I don’t know who they are. They’ve been texting.” Nix couldn’t look any of them in the eye.

“What? Why didn’t you tell any of us this?” Lake demanded.

“I—”

The side door banged open and West strolled back in with a tablet in his hands. “The guy we’re after was smart enough to erase the security footage of the gallery,” he said. “Got most the cameras that lead to your studio, too. Except for one. I’m downloading the footage now. In a minute, we’ll know who stole your birthday gift. Whoever that is, they’re most likely also the person responsible for swapping them out—Why is everyone staring at Nixie like that for?”

“Did you know he’s been getting threatening text messages?” Lake asked.

“Yeah,” West threw them a curve ball by stating. “Why? Did he just get another one?”

Nix was too confused to speak up, but…He was fairly certain he’d never said a word about the unknown messages to West. Either he was lying to help him save face, or he’d known about it all this time. Which was it?

West must have realized he was having an internal debate over it because he blew out a breath and rolled his eyes. “Nixie, we’ve been sharing a bedroom for a week now. Of course I’m going to have seen random messages popping up on your screen when you’re in the shower or taking a dump.”

He winced at that last, and totally unnecessary, example. Nix wanted to ask why he hadn’t said anything, but now wasn’t the time, and if it helped to calm Lake and Yejun down so they could all think clearly, he’d let them believe West and he had spoken of it already.

“I think we should focus on what’s important,” Beck said. “You’re saying you can find out who did this to the paintings?”

“Yeah,” West nodded.

They huddled together as they waited for the program he was running on the tablet to finish up. It didn’t take long. As soon as it dinged, the video appeared full screen, and West tapped a button to increase the speed so they wouldn’t have to sit through hours of footage in real time.

“How far back did you go?” Yejun asked as they all watched students and professors zip up and down the stairwell. The camera must have been tucked in a corner somewhere, and it only caught one section of the stairs, but it was enough to make everyone who came and went out clearly.

“Last night,” West replied. “Here, there’s you leaving.”

“This was eight this morning,” Yejun said. In the video, he was carrying a canvas with the same white cloth draped over it. They couldn’t make out what was beneath the sheet. “You believe me, don’t you?”

Nix realized he was talking to him and considered it. He remembered the moment painted on the canvas at their feet vividly. It’d been the first time he and Yejun were intimate, just the two of them. The whole encounter had been electric and exciting. After they’d finished, the Demon had posed him and told him to stay still while he sketched.

He’d mentioned that he’d come up with an idea on what to gift Lake for his birthday.

“Yes,” he decided. He was still mortified and wished the ground would open and swallow him whole, but he believed Yejun hadn’t been responsible for the way people kept sneaking glances at him.

Even though they were terrified of the Demons and of Lake’s threats.

Damn it.

Once word got around campus, he wasn’t going to be able to show his face.

“That’s the last time I was there,” Yejun sounded relieved that Nix didn’t doubt him and went back to the video. “I didn’t check, but I was there all night adding the finishing touches to the phoenix, so there’s no way anyone took Lake’s present before I left today.”

“So, we keep going.” West hit the button to speed it up even more. “Does anyone stand out?”

Yejun shook his head. “It’s not that easy to break into my studio. It’s locked. Until now, I would have said you were the only one who could hack in. The only other chance is someone who’d used the room before me.”

“You didn’t change the passcode?” Lake obviously found this foolish.

Nix didn’t blame him.

“The guy who’d been assigned it before me graduated and moved off planet,” Yejun said. “I didn’t think it was necessary. Besides, who would dare break into one of our places? And even if they did, I didn’t think there’d be anything all that awful they could do. I don’t keep valuables.”

“Are you saying a naked photo of Nix post-coitus isn’t valuable?”

“Please don’t talk about it like that.” Yeah, Nix definitely wished he could vanish. They were talking too closely for anyone else to really listen in at this point, but still. He didn’t want anyone reminded about the painting.

“It’s most likely someone who’s used to the art building,” Beck surmised. “Someone who knows you well enough to have seen you type in the password before.”

“What about the other studios on that floor?” Nix suggested. “Could one of them have seen you input the code at some point and memorized it?”

“I mean, sure. It’s possible. It’s only four digits,” Yejun replied.

“You are such a moron.” West shook his head at him, then paused the video footage with a harsh tap of his finger that almost had him dropping the device altogether. “Holy shit. Look who it is.”

“Why?” Nix leaned in, watching as a familiar student headed up the stairs. The stairwell was empty for six minutes in total, and then he appeared again, descending the steps.

This time, he was holding a painting covered in a white cloth.

“That’s Juri.” Yejun cursed, but Nix was already spinning away.

He tore off his multi-slate and hit the call button, fear and disbelief bubbling up within him.

“Juri Ferd did it?” West sounded pissed. “Where the fuck is he? Let’s go catch him right now before he can get away.”

“His friendship with Nix seemed real,” Lake added.

“Let’s find him and—”

“There’s no need,” Nix interrupted, still holding the device up to his ear as he turned back to face them. “I know where he is.”

“Where?” Lake asked.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “With Briant.”

Briant, who wasn’t picking up.

What had he done? What if Nix had left his only remaining cousin alone with a wolf in sheep's clothing?

What if it was already too late and something terrible had happened?

A million and one worst-case scenarios played through his mind as he waited and listened to the line continue to ring.

And ring.

And ring.

And ring.