“You should have left well enough alone,” Flix said.
“I should have been satisfied with you pretending we’ve never met?”
Something sharp uncoiled inside of him and Flix tipped his head. “Were you after my attention, Ani? That it?”
“I want answers,” he snapped. “Tell me what happened between you and my brother!”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“That’s not why I’m here. I didn’t come to talk about Russ. I came because you made me—literally.” Flix waited until it dawned on Ani what he meant. “You’ll pay for that as well. I wonder if you counted how many times you made me orgasm against my will.”
“I didn’t,” he replied. “But I’m sure you’re going to give the number.”
“Nah,” he grinned. “Too easy.”
Aneski started to appear uneasy. “What are you going to do, Flix?”
“First,” he took another step closer. “Correct your manors. Call me be’tessi.” Like he used to. Before everything had gone to shit. Flix had only ever allowed one person to refer tohim as that. Anyone else who tried was immediately told Flix wasn’t a born Vital and didn’t uphold those traditions.
“No fucking way,” Ani practically growled.
Flix clicked his tongue. “It wasn’t a request.”
“If you’re here to torture or kill me, then get on with it already. Either way, I’ll never bow down to you. You want something from me? You’re going to have to force—”
He chuckled, cutting Ani off. “We aren’t in the same league, Tiny Terror. I don’t need to lower myself to your standards to get what I want. Force you? Like how? With chains and ropes and fucking toys that’ll do all the work for me? I don’t think so.”
Aneski bristled but didn’t reply.
“I’m going to have you on your knees begging for my forgiveness,” he continued. “And if you do a decent job of it, I might decide to punish you with my cock instead of my blade.”
“Just stab me and be done with it.”
“You’re trembling,” Flix noted. “Are you scared? Or…” He grinned. “Dirty. You’re turned on, aren’t you? Picturing it right now? Picturing yourself on the ground with your lips wrapped around my cock?”
“I’ll bite it off,” he threatened, though it fell flat.
“You’d never. You want it too badly. Actually, maybe you’re right.” There was literally no chance in hell either of them would be walking away before Flix got a taste, but Ani didn’t need to know that. “Maybe giving you my cock wouldn’t be a true punishment. Maybe,” he slid a step backward, “Ishouldturn back the clock. Ignore you like I’ve been doing.”
Aneski moved after him, catching himself before he could make it more than a foot forward. The way his cheeks-stained pink in embarrassment and self-loathing was kind of cute.
Since he’d struck a nerve, Flix intended to keep this ruse going for a bit, but the sound of voices outside the closed doordashed those plans in an instant. He shot forward before Ani had a chance to catch on that in seconds, they would no longer be alone, snatching up the sculpting tool and capturing Aneski all at once.
He twisted behind him and pressed the blunt tip of the blade against Ani’s back. They both knew he couldn’t do much damage with it, but it was more the meaning behind it anyway that counted. Flix draped an arm around him, settling himself behind Ani, and had just dropped his chin to his shoulder when the door opened and two male students came into view.
They paused the second their eyes landed on Ani and him, and the corner of Flix’s mouth turned up. He pressed the tool harder against Aneski’s back, feeling him wince, and then greeted, “By all means, welcome to the party. Come inside. I don’t bite.”
“Let him go,” one of the guys said, worry painted across his face. He had thick dark brown hair and purple eyes that would have been pretty if he weren’t setting them on Ani longer than Flix was happy about.
The other one, obviously both friends of the man in his hold, remained silent, but moved deeper into the room along with the first.
“We’re just playing,” Flix began, stopping when they got close enough he could smell them. He made a big show of sniffing the air, ignoring the way they both frowned at him. “Popcorn.”
It was unmistakable and coming from the quiet one.
Flix gave him a once over, recognizing him as one of Aneski’s longtime friends. “Rexton Xiphus. You were on my list of potential suspects, but I don’t recall you smelling like this before. What changed? Your diet? Word of advice, you should lay off all that processed butter. It’ll kill you.”
