Kelevra tensed, but his worry was for nothing.
Just as Flix was about to lash out, Rin gave Sila one last dark look and spun, dropping to his knees. Flix’s arms ended up swinging over his shoulders, leaving him open for Rin’s attack lower.
He punched him in the side, right over the liver, and then shifted behind him while Flix sputtered and grabbed at the injury.
Flix growled and tried hard to regain the upper hand, barreling forward, delivering as many attacks as he could. But each and every one was deflected. It became painfully apparent that Sila had been right earlier.
Rin had been faking it, taking all those hits to make it seem like he was weaker and less skilled when in reality…
He was toying with a Brumal member like this was a beginners class for children and Flix was some wide-eyed five-year-old kid who’d mouthed off to his trainer. Only, Rin wasn’t glaring or trying to teach him a lesson like a pissed-off trainer would be.
No, he was grinning. A real grin too, the elation on his face mixed with the hard steel of his eyes taking Kelevra’s breath away.
His hair was matted from sweat and there was blood still dripping from a cut over his left eyebrow and the side of his lip. But his muscles bunched as he moved, clipped and steady, well-thought-out motions that looked as though they’d been choreographed for how accurately delivered they were.
It seemed like Rin could go all night, but after a particularly hard blow to the side of his head, Flix did the unthinkable.
The asshole tapped out.
Sila met Rin at the side, standing still when his brother jumped down and slapped a palm against his shoulder, jostling him. But they were both smiling, laughing. Sharing a moment.
“Someone is pretending not to be a devil,” Baikal said at Kelevra’s side, watching the twins same as him.
“You think something's off about Sila too?” Kel didn’t like how weirdly close he was to his brother. But also, he recognized the signs for what they were. Saw that in some ways he and the older twin were similar.
Baikal gave him a look. “I wasn’t talking about Sila.”
Chapter 14:
Kelevra and Sila were having a standoff.
Rin had disappeared into the locker room a few minutes ago with his brother, but then Sila had exited just as Kel was about to enter, blocking the door with his broad frame.
“Move.” Kelevra was two seconds away from rearranging his face. Literally. He hated how alike to his flower the other man appeared. When he’d first discovered they were twins, he’d taken a moment to consider if that excited him. The possibility of bedding identical people was everyone’s fantasy, right?
Apparently not his.
It wasn’t just because the very idea of Sila’s hand wandering over Rin’s bared flesh—flesh that belonged to Kel—made him see red. He also wasn’t physically attracted to him. Go figure. Identical, and yet Kelevra’s dick didn’t so much as twitch as he stared Sila down.
“You don’t like me very much.” Sila tilted his head, inspecting him.
“I see the feeling is mutual.” He glanced over his shoulder to the closed bright red door pointedly. “I gave you an order.”
“We aren’t at the Academy right now,” Sila replied.
“I’m your Imperial,” Kelevra reminded, baring his teeth. “We don’t have to be anywhere but on this damn planet for you to have to listen to me.”
“Rin wouldn’t like it if you tried to hurt me.” The corner of his lips turned up tauntingly.
“What he doesn’t know and all that jazz.” Kel was trying to figure out if he should swing, or simply shove him aside. He was a little bit bigger than Sila, and he was able to overpower Rin easily enough so…with how similar the two were, he was guessing he’d be able to do the same with him.
“I’m not as easy to hide as a pill in your pocket,” Sila said. He glanced pointedly down at Kelevra’s pants but then seemed to consider something. “Trade you.”
Some of his anger subsided, replaced with curiosity. “What?”
“I’ve got somewhere to be anyway.” He held out his palm. “Give me the pill and not only will I move out of the way, I’ll leave entirely. There’s something more interesting waiting for me downtown.”
He was going to ditch his brother? In exchange for a single drug? Kelevra almost asked him who he intended it for, but then he realized he didn’t care.
