Flix frowned when he started pulling the black pants on and noticed the pin attached to the belt loop. The Vail University crest had to be worn by students whenever they were on campus. The accompanying shirt was also black, the color for seniors, which Aneski was but…
“What’s a Guest student doing with this?” Or, better question, who’d given them to him?
Did Aneski have friends at Vail? It wasn’t unheard of, but it also didn’t sit right with Flix for unknown reasons.
Reasons he didn’t have the time for.
He made his way back into the studio and checked out the long row of windows set against the right wall. It was starting to get darker out, but he could see they were surrounded by trees. A hoverbike was parked on a patch of gravel, but that was the only vehicle in sight.
There was no telling how long it would be until Popcorn made an appearance, which meant he needed to do some quick thinking.
Burning the entire place to the ground really was the best plan. Just start a fire and get the hell out. Leave it all behind and figure out Popcorn’s identity later. As for Aneski, he’d either wake before the smoke inhalation got to him or…
Flix pursed his lips, not liking how his chest ached slightly. He didn’t owe him anything, though, especially not after all of this. You didn’t just get to mess with a Brumal member and walk away, either. Him having to pay with his life? Fair trade. There were also his earlier thoughts about Berga to consider because he hadn’t been exaggerating.
He went back to the white room, eyes dropping back to Ani.
They weren’t actually that many years apart in age, but when they’d met, Aneski had looked even younger and had been half the size he was now. Russ had pretty much been an absentee parent toward him, more than a brother. Always out working or fooling around with that idiot Haroon.
When things had ended, and Ani had been left on his own, it’d been Flix who’d purchased the apartment in Russ’s name so he wouldn’t have to worry about moving. Flix who’d filled a bank account for Aneski with enough money to keep him comfortable through the next three years of schooling at Guest.
He’d done all of that, and for what? To be hated and blamed in the end anyway?
Was it really all that important that Aneski didn’t have the details about his brother’s disappearance?
Was it really worth doing all of this?
Flix hadn’t realized just how pissed off Ani truly was. How pissed he’d apparently been these past three years, holding this grudge against him as though he’d had anything to do with Russ’s stupid decisions.
He’d always been hot-headed and rash, and despite the sexual nature of the torture, Flix could probably forgive him for this whole debacle—eventually. There was really only one reason he’d need to kill Aneski, and since the guy had changed the ropes at the final stretch, it was clear Flix’s concerns there were for naught.
The metal chains he’d put him in must have been a fluke. If Aneski had known Flix’s secret, he never would have switched to rope, especially not during sex, when he’d be at his most vulnerable.
Aneski didn’t know shit.
Which meant Flix didn’thaveto kill him…
“Screw it.” Flix walked up to the first camera and snapped his fingers, a tiny blue spark forming between the two. When he held his hand up to the device, it shot forward like a miniature bolt of lightning, destroying it with one zap and a single puff of smoke.
Shout powers.
His greatest secret, and also the thing that would have killed him if Any hadn’t messed up now and given him the opportunity to escape.
Getting to leach a little felt good, and he made quick work of the other two and then came back around, stopping at Aneski one last time as he pondered his next move.
Leaving him lying there wouldn’t do. He’d need a big enough head start, and there was no way to guess when Aneski might wake.
Flix’s gaze shifted toward the door to the room he’d been kept in, and he grinned at the picture forming in his mind. When he stooped and grabbed onto Aneski’s ankle, dragging him carelessly across the smooth concrete floor, he felt a genuine twist of excitement.
All this time of him carefully avoiding Aneski, only watching from the sidelines, sure not to get caught. He’d been doing him a favor by keeping his distance. Had been trying not to get him tangled up in Brumal bullshit. But if this was the way he was going to be repaid?
He might not be willing to take Aneski’s life.
But Flix was going to take everything else.
“Payback is a Devil, Ani.”
Chapter 7:
