Chapter 18

West tossed the drea in the air and caught it, the circular fruit's shiny blood red skin reflecting the harsh overhead lighting of the classroom as he waited for the rest of the students to poor out.

"Are you planning on eating that or just going to play with it all day?" Beck Bardin, Imperial seventh in line for the throne, and also a professor at Foxglove, asked dryly. He flipped through the screen on his tablet, standing behind his desk with his other hand in his pocket.

"You've really got this whole teacher look down," West said.

"That's because I am one," he reminded, finally looking up to send him a questioning look. "Do you need something?"

"Just hanging out." He snapped his fingers almost as soon as he'd finished the sentence. "Actually, yeah. Has Lake spoken to you yet?"

Beck straightened, brow furrowing. "About?"

"Your father."

The Imperial family was always a hot mess as far as West was concerned, but they'd really taken it to the extreme in recent generations. Beck's father, Hendrix, was Lake's cousin on his father's side, though through marriage. Because it'd been a fairly political merger of two bloodlines, Hendrix had been given the title of Imperial and placed in the line of succession. His son, Lake's cousin once removed, Beck was also in line, though one step below his dad.

Lake wasn't particularly close with his family, even less so after the deaths of his parents had left him an orphan and Hendrix had refused to take him in. Since they had no blood relation, he'd claimed he wasn't suitable.

Even though they were only two years apart in age, Lake had never been interested in trying to form a relationship with Beck, either. They'd attend the same Essential events and exchange pleasantries if Beck initiated it, but that was about the extent of it. Which was why it wasn't all that surprising that Lake hadn't talked to him yet, despite promising West and Yejun he would.

Beck pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back against the projection board. "What has he done now?"

This was one of the reasons West liked Beck. He wasn't a slave to his father's bullshit the same way West allowed himself to be. More often than not, he wished he could be more like Beck, borrow some of that indifference. Unfortunately, no matter how much he talked himself up beforehand, the second West was in the same room as his father all of those preparations were dashed to smithereens.

It wasn't so much that he wanted to please his old man. West just wanted to be acknowledged. That was something people like Lake and Yejun would never understand, the first because he'd never cared about such things, and the later because his parents both showered him with adoration.

"Maybe nothing," West admitted, tossing the fruit again, relishing the satisfying thump it made when it hit the center of his palm. "We were hoping you could tell us."

"I haven't heard anything," he said, thinking it over. "What's made you suspicious?"

"You know that hacker the Order is after?"

"The one they've tasked you to find?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "We've managed to establish they're most likely trying to stop Lake from ascending."

Beck frowned again. "He's next in line."

"Yup."

"There's really nothing they can do to prevent him from taking the throne," he pointed out. "The only reason he hasn't already is because the mourning period on this planet lasts so long."

Six months. That was how long they had to wait before Lake could officially be announced as the next emperor. Of course, they'd only been given two to unearth their enemy and present him to the club.

"If we fail this task, it'll give someone reason to argue against Lake claiming the crown." They both knew who West was referring to. The Order didn't have many seats, but out of them, almost half followed behind Hendrix like lost little lambs. "The only thing that could stand against following the line of succession are the Essentials."

It was a precarious situation. The government was so entangled between its two rulers—the Emperor who sat as the face of command, and the club who operated in the shadows. No one would dare try to argue against things if the entire Essential Order as a whole called for a change in the process and demanded someone other than Lake be named. The only way that would be possible?

If Hendrix could prove to the rest of the Order that Lake was unfit to rule, either because of his age, incompetence, or both.

"Lake's wanted the crown for as long as I've known him," Beck said. "He won't give it up so easily."

"Neither will I," West confirmed. "I've hitched my star to his and we're both in it to win it."

"And Yejun?"

"Yejun goes where we go." West cocked his head, unable to hold back the smirk. "When are you gonna grow a pair and confess to him? You wait any longer and you might miss your chance."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Beck lied, unable to meet his gaze while he did. He moved back over to his tablet and started flicking through reports again, clearly not staring at any of them long enough to actually process what was written on them. "But even if I did…What do you mean exactly?"

West grunted. As far as he knew, the others had yet to pick up on Beck's crush, but he'd noticed. It'd been a while, too. Whenever they were all at those fancy events, Beck could be found sending Yejun longing glances from the corner of the room. He pretended like that wasn't the case whenever he actually interacted with Yejun, which was probably why Yejun hadn't realized himself since he was typically pretty good at picking up on things like that.

It was tempting to help them out and move things along by saying something himself, but it wasn't West's place, and he was no cupid. Besides, Yejun had never once shown any sort of interest in Beck aside from being friendly and polite.

He certainly had never looked at Beck the way he'd looked at Nix the other day.

"What? Don't tell me you haven't heard the rumors," West teased, knowing that Beck absolutely had. Hell, some of the students in the class that had just ended had been not so quietly discussing it amongst themselves when West had walked in.

Beck's finger paused over the screen before he got a hold of himself. "Even if the three of you have decided to choose a fourth, that doesn't mean anything. Yejun is hardly the monogamous type."

"I don't know," he drawled. "Maybe he just hasn't found the right one yet." Movement out in the halls caught his attention and he glanced out, grinning when he spotted Nix just as he passed by. "Speak of the devil."

Beck followed his gaze, but Nix was already out of sight.

West dropped the fruit onto Beck's desk. "Let me know if you end up hearing anything." He waved but didn't stick around to see if there was anything else Beck wanted to say to him, too focused on catching up to Nix in the halls.

It didn't take long. West draped an arm around Nix's shoulders, laughing when the slightly smaller man tried to pull away and set a surprised look on him before it registered who he was.

"West," he said his name tentatively, almost as though he was gearing up for something crazy.

The two of them hadn't interacted much since the blowjob. Maybe that was why. Admittedly, that hadn't been the best first impression he could have made, but Lake had been the one calling the shots. West had simply been rolling with the punches.

"Where you off to, Nixie?" West pulled him to the side, stopping them by a row of coffee-colored lockers. "Can I make a suggestion?" He caught Nix's chin and forced his face to turn back to his when a couple of giggling girls passing by had him looking away. "Focus."

"I have class," Nix said, brushing his hand off.

West allowed it since he didn't make any moves to leave, standing there quietly as though waiting for him to finish whatever it was he'd stopped him for. "You adjust quick, huh."

Most people would be freaking out if within their first week of school they were publicly claimed by a group like the Demons. Not only that, but Nix had been placed in several uncomfortable situations thanks to them. Maybe someone else had already smoothed things over?

"How was last night? With Yejun?" West asked.

"I don't kiss and tell," Nix replied.

"Ah, so you've kissed." He propped a shoulder against the lockers. "Have I fallen behind? That won't do."

"I really do have class right now, West."

"What about that comment you made to Lake?" he pressed anyway, a bit irked by the reminder that Nix had said his bestie tasted better. "Sounds like you need a refresher."

"Comment?" Nix frowned and clearly thought it over. He sucked in a sharp breath the second he seemed to recall, glancing around at the audience they'd collected.

Students were not so subtly pretending not to be watching, but they were too silent or leaning in too closely for that to be even slightly believable. Since it was so obviously making Nix uncomfortable, West considered shooing them off. If he were Yejun, he would. As it were…

"You've got to get used to that too," he suggested. "It's only going to get more intense from here. Why don't we start practicing by," he hooked a finger into the band of Nix's pants, laughing when he stepped away, "playing."

"Stop messing with me," Nix said, keeping his voice down.

"Make you a deal." He pushed in closer. "You promise to give my dick another try after, and I'll let you run off to class like the good little boy you're pretending to be."

He scrunched his nose but caught himself, dropping his gaze before he'd fully set that displeased expression on West.

Which, oddly, West wasn't a fan of.

"Hey." He gripped the short hairs at the back of Nix's skull and yanked them just enough to tip his head up. "You're scared of me. Why?"

"Oh, I don't know," Nix drawled. "Maybe it has something to do with how you almost killed me our first meeting?"

He blinked. "Did you really think I was going to choke you to death? Come on, Nixie. Have a little faith."

"I don't know you," he reminded.

West was about to argue but…That was fair. His fingers uncurled and he patted the tender spot he'd just assaulted before dropping his arm. "There's no time like the present to get to. After," he added when Nix stubbornly opened his mouth and it was clear what he was about to say, "your class."

Nix eyed him suspiciously but didn't argue when West spun him around and wrapped an arm over his shoulders again.

"Which room?" he asked, pulling Nix in close when they passed by a guy and a girl staring at him with more interest than West was comfortable with. He sent them a dark look the moment they passed, and the two quickly shot down the hall as though they'd forgotten they needed to be somewhere.

"You aren't seriously walking me to my class," Nix said.

"We could always return to my earlier suggestion and duck into a broom closet instead," West offered. He reached down and pointedly adjusted his semi-hard cock, drawing Nix's attention to it. Remembering how it'd felt to have that plush mouth wrapped around him had him instantly aroused, and it was taking all his willpower—willpower he wouldn't have bothered with if Nix had been anyone else—not to carry through on his threat and simply force Nix to give him what he wanted.

This was a long game though, and after the way Yejun spoke about Nix at the clubhouse…West couldn't be the only one of the three that Nix didn't like. He'd apparently been nice to Yejun, and he and Lake had come into this with some weird connection already established. That just left West in the lurch.

He hated coming in last place.

"It's this one," Nix pointed to the class they were coming up on the right.

"Not my preferred choice, but I'll accept it." West pulled them both into the class and let Nix go so the other guy could lead them to his seat. Then he followed behind, taking the empty one on his left. He shrugged when Nix frowned at him.

"What are you doing?" Nix asked.

"Here's that broken record thing again," West rolled a finger in the air. "Relax. I'll let you concentrate."

"Don't you have something else to do?"

"Nope."

"…West."

He shushed him and motioned to the front of the room just as the professor entered.

Nix continued to stare at him for a moment, but then he sighed and gave in.

Which was good.

Pretty soon, West was going to have him ready to give in to all of his demands at any given notice.