“No, you and Russ.”
“Why would I have slept with Russ?” Thinking back on it, he vaguely recalled something from when he’d been chainedto the wall last month. “You were serious about that dating comment? Not a chance in hell.”
“Is this really the time for this conversation?” Madden called out to them, pulling his leather gloves off and dusting them on his pants with a hard slap. “I’ve got places to be, Firebug.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Flix waved him off, then motioned with his chin in that direction. “Let’s finish this talk later, okay?”
The other two riders that had come with Madden weren’t Retinue or Satellite, and Flix gave them a thankful nod of his head as he approached. Since he spent a decent time at the Docks, he was familiar with them, though he wouldn’t say they were close. Surely not close enough to risk their lives for him.
“Thanks for coming so quickly,” Flix said to Madden, holding up a hand for a quick fist bump, “and for bringing backup.”
“It sounded important,” Madden shrugged. “Besides, what are friends for?” He took a single step closer, voice lowering. “You’ll uphold your end of the deal though, right?”
He nodded in agreement and bent down to remove Bowser’s multi-slate from his wrist, being a little rougher about it than absolutely necessary.
“How’d you manage to locate them so fast?” Madden asked, and Flix held up his left hand to show the white gold ring on his middle finger. “No shit?”
“Tracking devices,” Ani pulled his out from where it was hidden on a chain beneath his shirt. Since he was constantly working with his hands and getting them dirty, they’d agreed he’d be better off wearing his around his neck. “Great idea, don’t you think?”
“Let me guess,” Madden laughed, “you came up with it?”
“My Onus is many things,” Flix ruffled Ani’s hair, grinning when that had the younger guy glaring, “but modestisn’t one of them. He insisted we both get them for peace of mind.”
“Admittedly, I didn’t count on us needing them this soon,” Ani added.
It was endearing when Aneski stopped them in front of the store at the mall yesterday and asked for them. They’d picked out a set of rings they both liked, and Flix had joked it was like they were getting married. The tracking devices hidden in them were linked to each of their multi-slates, so they could always find the other.
They’d gotten them since trust was still such an issue and old wounds took time to heal, more a statement than anything they’d actually thought they’d ever need. But it’d definitely helped in this scenario.
“We really have to lay off getting kidnapped for a bit,” Flix joked. “It’s starting to get tedious.”
Madden sent Flix a questioning look, but he merely shrugged and lifted Bowser’s multi-slate. The time he spent with Ani at the hideaway was still a secret, and it was going to remain one if he had anything to say about it.
Without further delay, Flix dialed the last number called, waiting for the other line to accept, leaving the device on speaker so everyone could listen as it rang.
“Where are you?” Russ’s voice came through in less than a minute.
“Long time no see,” Flix drawled.
There was a pause and then a low chuckle. “Guess the plan didn’t work out.”
“Nope.”
“And Aneski?”
“Shouldn’t you be asking about your boyfriend?” He quirked a brow at Bowser, who was gritting his teeth but silent. Kind of surprising that he wasn’t trying to alert Russ to hispresence. Maybe he was just as curious as Flix was whether or not this thing between them was real.
“Him?” Russ grunted. “We’re friends, that’s all.”
“That’s not what he said.”
“We sleep together for fun sometimes,” he insisted. “That’s really all.”
There was a chance Russ was downplaying their relationship in an attempt to keep Flix from harming Bowser, but…The relaxed way he was speaking didn’t sound like a lie. Lying wasn’t really Russ’s strong suit either; that’s why he’d skipped town so quickly after discovering whatever it was he’d found out about Haroon. He’d known no matter what he said, Haroon wouldn’t trust him not to spill his secrets eventually.
“So you won’t mind if I cut his ears off then.” Flix reached into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade, making sure the click of the weapon springing free could be heard through the device.
“Not especially,” Russ said. “Though, I do have to ask, why the ears?”
