Yuze shot to his feet and dipped his head in a bow, but before he could say anything, Saint discovered his voice again.
“Your Onus is the leader of the Shepards?! Does Baikal—”
“He knows,” Flix cut him off.
“We’ll get going now.” Yuze moved to walk past him, but Flix moved his foot in the way, tripping him so that he stumbled into Saint, almost taking him down.
“Seriously?” Ani scolded. “So childish.”
“Want to come a little closer and repeat that?” Flix suggested, only to have him roll his eyes. “Did you see your friend on your way in? The tent in his pants was impossible to miss.”
“Who?” Ani glanced around the room with a frown. “The only people I know in here are you and Yuze.”
“Gannon was here a moment ago.” Odd, maybe the guy had run off to cry some more. Honestly, Flix couldn’t completely blame him. It’d be weirder if people weren’t attracted to a guy as sexy as Aneski.
But looking and touching were two different things, and it’d been blatantly obvious that Gannon had been holding out hope for the latter for a long time. Best to nip that in the bud sooner rather than later, otherwise Flix would be hitting someone else, and he wouldn’t just stop at one punch.
“It is, right?” one of the strangers nearby asked his friend, not overly loudly but still clearly enough to be heard by Flix. “That’s the guy from the Bind movies. Hey!” He stepped forwardquickly, dropping a hand on Aneski’s shoulder. “Looks like you have a type. How about you give me a ride?”
Ani shoved his arm off him and turned defensively, but the guy didn’t seem to care.
“Come on,” he pointed to his head, “I’m blond. Doesn’t that mean you’ll fuck me? Bet I’ll be better at it than—” The idiot shut up abruptly.
Probably due to the blade tip sticking out from the center of his throat.
Pavel Hart, the owner of the club, peered around the gurgling man and nodded at Flix. “My apologies. There are rules here that all VIP members should know better than to break. He must have scampered in with someone.”
“I was letting him dig a deeper hole and then planned on breaking his kneecaps and making him crawl down the fifty flights of stairs to the lobby, but,” Flix shrugged, “that works too.”
“I apologize again,” Pavel said. “Your plan sounds like it would have been much more entertaining than the solution I came up with.”
Aneski scowled and crossed his arms. “You two seem super chummy. Didn’t realize you were this close with members of the Retinue, be’tessi. Kind of hypocritical? Hitting Yuze while having relations with Pavel Hart.”
“I’ve never screwed Pavel,” Flix pointed out.
“Your boyfriend isn’t my type,” the Retinue member of topic reassured Ani, who merely narrowed his eyes.
“Make sure it stays that way.” Aneski didn’t back down even when Pavel’s empty gaze stuck to him for a lengthy moment.
“I see why you’re the leader of the Shepards.” He pulled the knife he’d slid into the back of the blond guy's neck free, the body toppling to the ground in a lifeless heap at his feet. Then hesnapped his fingers and waved over his shoulder once, two large bouncers stepping from a shadowy corner of the room to deal with it. “You have an interesting Onus, Flix.”
“He’s pretty great,” Flix agreed, “yeah. Thanks for letting us use the room.”
Pavel chuckled. “You shouldn’t bother with that. Aren’t you curious how much money you made me with that show you put on? Everyone here paid a hefty sum the second they found out one of the Brumal Satellite was performing.”
“Are you saying that guy knew who Flix was and still tried hitting on Aneski?” Saint pointed at the dead body being carried away and let out a low whistle. “Damn.”
“That’s a special kind of stupid,” Yuze agreed, clearing his throat when Flix looked at him pointedly.
“Would you look at the time?” Saint shoved Yuze toward the exit. “We’ve got to be on our way. Great atmosphere as always, Pav.”
“Only enriched by the impromptu murder,” Flix teased, though Pavel merely nodded.
“I agree.” He took a glance around at the remaining people still in the viewing room, all of which were now giving them a wide berth. “Everyone else here is on the VIP list, and I’m familiar with their faces. If you’re all right with ending this matter here—”
“Yeah,” Flix waved him off. “However,” he addressed the room, “feel free to spread the word about my possessiveness over my Onus. The next person who tries to touch what’s mine will get worse than a knife through the jugular, got it?”
There was a resounding yes and head bobbing.
