A slew of open fire shut him up instantly, bullets clipping into the dirt ground to send heaps of dust swirling into the air. They moved quickly, ducking behind two of the tables and flipping them to add a barrier.
Flix and Berga ended up behind one, while Rabbit, Baikal, and Kaz were behind the other.
They left Gannon where he was, right in the middle of the danger. Sure enough, the shooting slowed, and they listened as a couple of people risked exiting the forest to retrieve him.
“Shepards,” Kazimir peeked around his table and told them.
“Aneski?” Berga rolled his eyes when Flix growled.
“He would never,” Flix stated, catching Baikal’s eye. “He wouldn’t.”
“Are we just going to let them take Gannon?” Kaz asked.
“They won’t get far. First,” Baikal motioned to Flix’s multi-slate, “call your Onus.”
Flix typed in the number quickly, popping out the earpiece to listen as it rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Just as fear started gripping him, the other line finally connected.
“Hey, firebug,” a familiar, yet distinctly not Ani’s, voice drawled. “Been a long time. Sorry we can’t catch up, but Aneski and I have to meet up with his brother.”
“Where the fuck is Ani?” Flix demanded.
“On his way out of town. He never should have been left in your care in the first place.”
Without waiting for permission, Flix snapped onto his feet and threw his arms out toward the group of Shepards currently pulling Gannon to what they imagined to be safety. He let loose as much electricity as he could, unalarmed by their gunfire. His power cut through the bullets with ease and had all four of the Shepards twitching on the ground in less time than it took to blink.
Even in his anger, he left Gannon as the sole survivor, not wanting to hurt Ani by murdering his friend. So consumed by worry for his Tiny Terror, he hardly noticed when the idiot stumbled to his feet and took off. It didn’t even occur to him to chase after, not caring about Gannon or anyone else at that moment.
Flix ended the call, knowing it would be useless to bother trying to negotiate with the man on the other line. Instead, he turned to Berga, who was still kneeling. “Can I borrow Madden for a bit?”
Chapter 25:
“You’re really not coming to lunch?” Rexton stalled in the doorway of the studio.
“I’ve got a week's worth of work to catch up on,” Aneski reminded, waving him off with clay-stained fingers. “Just bring me back something.”
His friend was hesitant to go, but Ani ignored him, hoping he’d eventually get the hint and leave him be. He wasn’t lying, there really was a ton to do now that he’d lost five days, and his midterm project wasn’t anywhere near where it needed to be for him to earn the grade he deserved.
It was frustrating, but also…
It was going to be fun complaining about it to Flix later. Maybe, if he was particularly annoying, he could even convince Flix to make it up to him somehow. Preferably in the bedroom.
Or the living room.
Or the shower.
Hell, the two of them had yet to fuck in the library, and Ani thought that could be a lot of fun.
Things were moving quickly, but at the same time, none of it felt like it was happening fast enough for him. He still felt nervous whenever he took too long of a pause, like maybe it wasall too good to be true, and one day, he’d blink and realize it was all just another elaborate fantasy.
On the flip side of that same coin, there was Russ.
Flix was giving Ani space to deal with the revelation about his brother, but he’d ask him more about it sooner or later. The problem was, he still didn’t fully understand how he felt about that whole situation.
