“A lot?”
“Not enough.” Bay bit the bottom of his lip, clearly wanted to say something but unsure. Sila waited him out, until finally he blurted, “So you don’t remember anything you said to me that night either?”
“You keep asking. Why? What was said that was so important?”
Bay pushed at him lightly, sitting up and moving to the edge of the couch when Sila released him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking…sad.
Sila didn’t like it.
He got up as well, moving to sit behind him and wrap his arms around the older man’s body. Resting his chin on his shoulder, Sila tried to make his tone as soothing as possible, though he knew comforting people wasn’t exactly his strong suit.
“You were so angry after you found me on the bridge,” Bay whispered. “It seemed real.”
“Oh, thatwasreal.” The fury was just about the only thing Sila could recall with perfect clarity. “I was, and am, mad enough about that still it’s tempting to drag you into the bedroom and lock you to the bedpost so you can’t try it again.”
“I won’t,” he promised. “I don’t have any interest in killing myself.”
Sensing they’d most likely already had this conversation, Sila opted not to beat a dead horse. He nipped at the underside of Bay’s jaw. “Want to get naked?”
“The doctor said you needed rest.”
“I did rest,” he told him. “While you were cleaning.”
“Why don’t we watch a movie instead?”
Sila quirked a brow. “One of your dirty movies, Professor?”
He lowered his head but hummed in agreement.
“Do you have one of those on hand?” Sila asked. That wasn’t exactly the sort of thing he expected anyone, let alone a prestigious teacher, to carry around on their person.
“On my multi-slate,” Bay replied, then untangled himself from Sila’s hold to make his way over to the large holo-screen set on the wall opposite the couch.
“You know,” Sila drawled, leaning back against the black leather while he watched Bay sync his device with the square gray box on the shelf next to the holo-pad the images would project from, “I bought that for this very reason. I was thinking we could watch a few together and take notes.”
“This is perfect for that,” Bay said.
He stretched his arms over the back of the couch and drummed his fingers. They’d been through a lot in the past week, so there was a good chance he was imagining things but… “You seem off, Kitten. Something on your mind?”
Sila had assumed when he’d woken in the hospital with Bay by his side that things were good between them. That no matter what had taken place in that lost time, he hadn’t done anything overly extreme that would cause the other man to run from him. Bay had also been telling the truth just now when he’d said he didn’t want to die anymore, he was sure of it.
“Is it about your grandmother?” That made the most sense. “Because we weren’t able to find any physical evidence?” In Sila’s mind, the fact the guy was dead would be enough, but he and Bay weren’t the same. Perhaps the professor wanted more for closures sake.
“I don’t care about that.” Bay stepped away from the screen, but instead of returning to the couch, he stood off to the side, clicking away at his multi-slate, seemingly selecting the right file to play.
He had been on the fence before over whether revenge or justice was what he was after. Haroon having his throat slit and his body swept under the proverbial rug where no one would ever find him was pretty decent revenge in Sila’s book. But if that wasn’t what had his kitten twisted and sullen, what—
“…why your grandmother?”Footage of the scene on the bridge from earlier flickered and settled over the screen. Haroon was holding Bay against the siding, the camera picking up on the audio, though it wasn’t very loud. “Picked it at random, honestly.”
Sila stood slowly, unable to keep the frown from furrowing his brow. “What is this?”
“A confession,” Bay said, gaze locked on him. He didn’t so much as glance at the screen as the scene continued to play out.
“The dashcam,” Sila guessed. Their car had been facing that direction and the windows had been left open. It could have easily recorded the entire events of the night as well as captured what they’d said. “Why didn’t you turn that over to Kelevra?” Why’d he keep something like that to himself when it would easily be enough to prove his grandmother’s innocence?
“You don’t get it, do you?” Bay sighed and rocked on his heels, slipping his hands into his front pockets. He was trying hard to come off relaxed, but Sila could see right through him. He was nervous despite his casual tone. “You’re so used to being on the other end of these types of things, it makes sense.”
His eyes narrowed. “Easy, Kitten.”
