The sour liquid exploded on his tongue, helping to ground him a bit. It wasn’t exactly the picture of a big-bad mafia member, sipping from his juice box, but Flix drank the stuff whenever he needed an extra boost of focus. Typically, that was in the middle of a big job from Baikal or finals, or if he’d let himself get too close to overloading and needed to leach.
Literally none of those things were going on at the moment.
What the hell was wrong with him?
“You’re usually not the type to sit back and let a friend put themselves in danger?” Baikal continued. “At least, not without putting in your two cents.”
“I missed the whole main event,” Flix said. “Besides, who am I to tell Kazimir and Nate not to be together?”
“Right,” he didn’t sound convinced. “Still, it’s not like you not to at least want to check for yourself.”
“How can you be so sure I haven’t already?” Flix’s specialty was lurking through the shadows out of sight, after all. He could have easily snuck around Nate’s house and checked on the dynamics of Kaz and him.
“Have you?”
He blew out a breath. It wasn’t worth lying about. “No. Why aren’t you on Berga’s case, huh? He’s closer to Nate than I am.” Even as soon as he said it, he knew how dumb it sounded.
Baikal’s brow furrowed ever so slightly. “Berga doesn’t have a conscience.”
“Though I would prefer nothing too bad happen to Nate,” Berga stated, not the least bit affected by the comment. “He’s a kind person.”
Flix seized the opportunity to turn the tables again and twisted to face his best friend. “You still haven’t told me what you were up to when I was gone. Well? Anything spectacularhappen? Don’t tell me you named an Onus too.” He laughed because the very idea of that was hilarious in and of itself.
Only, no one else at the table seemed to find it funny.
Flix glanced between the two of them. “Wait…That was a joke. Nothing really—”
“What is he doing here?” Berga cut him off, staring blankly across the room toward the entrance.
Flix lifted his gaze, freezing when Aneski strolled in like he owned the damn place.
Dressed in another Vail Uni uniform.
Where the actual fuck was he getting these?
Better question,whowas he getting them from?
Ani paused as soon as he walked in, but not for long. His gaze swept the room, finding Flix over in the far-right corner a lot faster than he should have been able to considering the place was packed. He maintained eye contact the entire walk over, his steps confident.
Not at all like the angry and bitter mess Flix anticipated him being after the last time the saw one another.
Flix forced himself to remain seated, figuring standing would only alert the others that something was wrong. He didn’t want them to attack Ani, but he also didn’t want to tip off that the two of them were close. Neither instance would be well received. His relationship with Russ had started before the Shepards, and that was the only reason Baikal and the others had looked the other way.
Now?
Ani wasn’t just in the gang. He was the person in control of it.
Baikal leaned back in his chair, waiting until Aneski was standing at the head of their table before lazily turning toward him. He opened his mouth, no doubt about to demand an explanation for his presence, but before he could, Ani pounced.
Flix sucked in a sharp breath a second before Aneski’s tongue plowed past his lips. The back of his skull was captured in a firm grip and held—not that he was resisting, too shocked to even consider doing so. There was no taste of alcohol from Ani’s mouth, so the guy wasn’t wasted, and when Flix grabbed onto the front of his button-up shirt, Aneski slammed a palm down onto the table.
He frowned at him when Ani pulled away, a mixture of emotions momentarily clouding his judgement, cutting off all logical thought.
Until Baikal’s growl cut through the moment like a star crystal blade.
“What the hell is this?” the Dominus demanded to know.
Aneski stepped back, forcing Flix’s hand to drop from his chest. Then he turned to Baikal, arguably the most powerful man on the entire planet, and stated blandly, “Couple photo.”
