“Person?” Flix laughed and then seemed to realize Kaz didn’t find it funny. “No offense, man, but you and people? Don’t really get along long term. You’ve got like three friends and that’s because we sort of have to be.”
“Wow.”
“Am I wrong?”
Kazimir wanted to disagree and be pissed but…no. He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated by the night's turn of events.
“Truth hurts,” Flix said. “But hey, it’s not like you’re the only single one here. I have commitment issues, too.”
“I don’t have commitment issues.” What he had was an inability to properly connect, or even the urge towantto do so. Relationships, at least in the traditional sense, require emotional stability and being able to express and receive things like affection.
Kazimir had never seen the appeal of affection. It wasn’t a necessary component of anything important. If he was horny, he fucked, and then afterward, he left. Affection didn’t get someone into his bed, charm did. And affection wouldn’t get him to stay the next morning. It only made him bail faster.
There was no set name for what he was. According to the doc, he’d tested positive for narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and dark empathy. It was the last that stuck the most as the medical field in their galaxy continued to learn more and understand what dark empathy entailed. No one had outright labeled him a psychopath, but the words Machiavellianism and dark empath were thrown arounda lot.
Or, at least they had been before Kazimir’s dad had thanked the doctor and then promptly slit his throat so the news wouldn’t spread past the main Brumal’s front door.
And Ersa Ambrose thoughtKazhad problems.
Insert eye roll here.
He’d picked up a new therapist, one that he’d been seeing ever since, but even then, the details of his situation had been carefully contained and minimized. His father ordered him to get help, yet didn’t want him sharing all the details he’d need to in order to properly receive it.
“Screw you guys for putting this bullshit in my head.” He needed to fight someone. Preferably someone with skillsthat would allow him to break skin and potentially even bone. Checking the time on his multi-slate, he wondered if it was too late for anyone to be at Friction, the private fight club they co-owned with the Retinue. There was one member of that group he needed to contact anyway…
“Maybe you should give what Baikal did a go,” Flix absently suggested. “Worked for his cranky ass.”
Kazimir quirked a brow. “What did Kal do?”
“You know,” he waved his hand in the air between them. “Hunted Rabbit down like an animal and didn’t leave him alone until the feelings were mutual. Forced proximity with a dash of Stockholm syndrome. Find a good guy and corrupt the shit out of him. That sort of thing.”
Sounded like it’d take time and effort and energy, three things Kaz wasn’t really in the mood to part with. How his cousin had managed to bother was beyond him, even if the final results had gained him a Possessio.
Actually, Rabbit had come along at just the right time. Baikal had lost his father shortly after, and having another family member in the form of his boyfriend seemed to be helping with the grief. He hadn’t gone out to the docks to blow money on shitty races the way Kazimir had, anyway.
Rabbit had been a good guy and now he belonged to one of the wicked Devils of Vitality.
Claiming someone like that…That…didn’t sound half bad actually.
At his extended silence, Flix turned to look at him, blinking when he noted the expression on Kaz’s face. “Wait. I was totally joking. Don’t do that. I wasn’t serious!”
Kazimir wasn’t listening. Baikal had all but challenged him just now, and though Kaz hadn’t taken it to heart initially…It really irked him that his cousin truly thought he was better. Sure, he was the leader and, rightfully so, but that didn’t meanhe had the right to look down on Kazimir. Maybe he didn’t have Shout blood coursing through his veins, but he was every bit as Brumal as Void was.
“For real though,” Flix tried again. “Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to get in trouble for putting crap in that thick skull of yours. I really didn’t mean it. I—” Something caught his attention across the street and he stopped abruptly, brow furrowing. “What’s he doing with that asshole?”
“Who?” Kazimir followed his gaze, pausing when his eyes landed on a familiar form.
Nate Narek.
The pretty racer was currently dressed in a tight navy blue t-shirt that hugged him in all the right places. He’d tossed a brown leather jacket over it, but it was far too thin for the cold winter night they were standing in the midst of. His dark brown hair blew wildly in the wind but he didn’t so much as flinch from the chill, as though he hadn’t felt it at all.
Or maybe he was simply too distracted from helping the old man in his hold into the shiny limousine that had pulled up to the restaurant they were standing in front of.
Kaz scowled at the sight, instantly pegging Mit Parker. He did business throughout the planet, but nothing that involved the Brumal. Still, his reputation proceeded him, and it was well known that the man in his late fifties had a proclivity for buying younger men to warm his bed and keep him company. Typically, sex work wasn’t something that bothered Kaz, but seeing this…
“Nate knows Mit Parker?” his voice sounded gravely and low even to him, but Kazimir didn’t tear his gaze off the two across the street to bother checking to see if Flix had noticed as well.
“I didn’t think so—Wait.” Flix turned to him. “You’re not still holding a grudge, right?”
