“Everyone’s into you,” Baikal bit out, his gaze hardening a little.
“You say that like being pretty is a crime.”
“No, but your ego should be considered one.” Kal tipped his head. “Speaking of crime—”
“Good Light,” Kelevra cut him off, “don’t tell me you’re about to spout some bullshit about consent. Madden got the drugs from one of yours if you recall.”
Baikal snorted. “Consent? If he doesn’t want you now, make him change his mind.” He lifted a single shoulder in a shrug. “Simple as that.”
Simple. Right. Kelevra had never been very good at paying attention to other people’s needs. He had his own desires to contend with, after all. But there’d been something odd in his chest when he’d seen Rin crumple like that.
Kelevra had wanted to make him feel better.
Somehow, he’d ended up getting angry and tossing the guy onto the ground like some bitch.
Rin wasn’t a bitch.
He was a flower, perfect and pretty and in full bloom, ready for the picking.
The idea of him wilting, and worse yet, for Kel being the reason for it…It didn’t sit right with him.
Which pissed him off.
Caring about other people was a bore, and tedious, and not something he’d ever thought he’d have to bother wasting his time with, and yet, here he was. Inviting Rin to Friction, not so he could toss him down and fill him up and order him to want him back—like he wanted to—but because Baikal Void had told him to find out what Rin needed most and become the sole provider of it.
Rin needed an outlet, that much was obvious.
And since mind-numbing sex hadn’t been enough for him, Kelevra figured this, Friction, might be.
He was so riled up he needed Baikal to tap his shoulder and point toward the entrance to realize the object of his fascination had just walked through the door.
The building had insanely high ceilings and a glass dome that opened at the touch of a button. Someone had it that way already when Kel had arrived, the chilly air filling the place with the scent of pine from the forest. It’d grown dark, an inky star-studded sky staring down at them.
Kelevra only noticed because Rin paused for a brief second in the doorway, head tipped back so he could look at it, a strange, almost nostalgic expression shifting his features.
An identical copy of Rin stepped up behind him and leaned in, whispering something against the curve of his ear, far too close for Kel’s liking.
The copy, his twin Sila, also happened to be looking back at Kelevra, holding his gaze unwaveringly. He had to have heard what’d been done to his brother—both the night at the penthouse and earlier in the locker room—but if that bothered him in any way, he didn’t show it.
Rin had mentioned something about being acquainted with a devil earlier…
As badly as he wanted to, Kelevra held his ground, even going so far as to lean back and sprawl out his arms on the bar as he waited. His instructions had been clear. He wanted Rin to present himself, which meant waiting the torturous minutes it took for his flower to locate him and cross the expanse of the room.
Had this place always been massive? It was a single level, a wide open space with some bleachers set against the same wall where the entrance was, the bar to the far right, and another door to the far left that led to another locker room and showers. There were three rings total, two smaller ones flanking a larger one set dead center on the concrete floor. Blood stains, spilled beer, and a few other questionable substances stained the ground, but aside from that, it was all kept clean and ready for use.
Rin was still in his uniform from earlier, the Academy pin attached to the leather belt cinched at his tapered waist. He looked wary, mismatched eyes pinging between Kel and Baikal who tipped his head in greeting at their approach.
His brother had ditched the school outfit, dressed casually in a red leather jacket that Kelevra was a little covetous of on sight, and sleek black jeans that hugged his long legs in all the right places. He trailed his eyes down them, making a note to put his flower in tighter pants the second they’d moved past this little dilemma and there was less of a risk of being punched for “treating him like a doll”.
There was one upside to them being twins. At least he got to see what Rin might look like in other clothes, even if Rin wasn’t the one currently wearing them.
“What?” Rin practically barked the second the two of them came to a stop some ten feet or so away.
Kelevra motioned with a finger for him to come closer, grinning when Rin opened his mouth to so obviously refuse, only to have his brother lean in a second time.
Whatever he said, it had Rin’s spine straightening. “You’re the fucking worst,” he said, loud enough for both Kelevra and Kal to hear.
Sila chuckled, maintaining eye contact with Kelevra when he replied, “You love me.”
