The two moved out of Sila’s earshot so he wasn’t able to catch the rest of their conversation, but he hummed to himself as he moved across the wooden planks, entering the quad they’d just vacated. Unlike the girls, he wasn’t curious about what had happened to August, but that was because he’d bugged Bay’s office.
After he’d tossed the bait about August mistreating him, he’d overheard a conversation between Bay and the other student which had taken place the next day. The talk itself had been innocent enough, with Bay even going so far as to ask if August wanted to become his TA for the semester. It was the offer of tea that had tipped Sila off to what was really going on.
Berga had been in there the day before and he and Bay had also had a rather interesting discussion. Apparently, the Brumal member was working on perfecting a more potent batch of Abundance, a strong drug that made someone act aggressive before they eventually passed out.
Bay had made sure to shoo August out of his office before that part of the effects could set in, but August had stumbled out into the hallway shaking his head as though to wake himself from a stupor, a clear indicator he’d consumed the stuff.
Their stalker was crafty and a bit obsessive.
Sila kind of liked that.
Though, he’d gone after the Shepards for a reason, and this was proof he’d been correct when choosing his targets. Bay used to live in a nice house, but that home was currently occupied by the highest-ranking gang members. Apparently, Idle Delmar had a gambling problem which had led to her losing everything.
A little extra digging had uncovered that, at least initially, Bay hadn’t believed that and had tried to fight with Haroon Caddel, the leader of the Shepards, but the legal battle had gone nowhere.
It wouldn’t have. Haroon may be a member of an unimportant group, but the Caddel’s still had a small hand in the proverbial cookie jar. His uncle was a judge and had paid off the lawyer Bay had hired. Guess there was a reason Haroon had turned to forming a gang and becoming a criminal instead of doing something upright with his life.
Being a shitty person must run in the family.
Sila passed beneath a row of lightning oaks, tall trees with neon yellow leaves that rattled in the breeze, and caught sight of Rabbit sitting alone at one of the tables within the gazebos that made up the East Quad.
Rabbit was too busy typing away on his tablet to notice Sila’s approach and he read a few lines of the report over the older guy’s shoulders quickly.
“You’re still doing this?” He slipped onto the empty bench seat across from Rabbit. He’d heard about the group assignment his friend had been given in one of his classes and from the looks of things—i.e., him here alone—the rest of his team had ditched early.
Last year, this had been a frequent occurrence and Sila found himself uncharacteristically annoyed on someone else’s behalf.
Rabbit was popular, but friendless, and while he was cold and aloof, there was a hidden softness to him that called to Sila’s darker nature. Only, not in the way it should. In the grand scheme of things, Rabbit Trace was obsolete, but that didn’t mean Sila didn’t enjoy his company now and again.
“I’m bored,” Sila said. “Let’s get out of here and find something fun to do.” It was an empty suggestion. Their definitions of fun were no doubt vastly different from one another and something told him Rabbit wouldn’t be up for the sorts of things Sila was into.
“I have practice after this.” Rabbit went back to typing on his holopad and Sila sighed.
“Again?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t you find it draining?” Sila understood what it was like to be tied to something, it was why he couldn’t go longer than three days without getting in the water. But Rabbit didn’t need to know about the things they had in common and, unlike Sila, Trace wasn’t good at managing his time or compartmentalizing.
Would Sila like to jump into a pool and stay there forever? Yes. Would he? Absolutely fucking not. What a waste of life.
“No,” Rabbit lied without blinking.
To keep himself from smirking at that, Sila rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to get out more, Rabbit. Live a little. Oh.” He propped his elbows on the table. “How’d last night go? You had your redo date, right?”
His suggestion to Arlet had gone as expected and she’d spoken with her father to arrange a meeting for her. Apparently, their first date hadn’t gone very well, but they’d given it another shot and Sila was a bit curious to know how things had gone for them.
That spark of interest died a swift death, however, when he caught sight of Bay watching from afar.
The professor was standing on one of the wooden walkways closer to the entrance of the quad, pretending to scroll through something on his multi-slate. It was clear he was actually sneaking glimpses of Sila though.
He’d tested his theory out again the other day by mentioning Lan Avel and, sure enough, this morning he’d caught sight of the other student leaving Bay’s office in much the same state August had. Now there was only one question left, and that was to find out whether Sila’s involvement with these particular Shepards was what had Bay acting up.
There was always the chance it was purely coincidence, since clearly Bay hated anyone that had anything to do with the gang. That was going to be a little more difficult to figure out, so he needed to switch things up a bit and instead of claim he was dating losers, target someone timid instead.
A freshman walked past then, someone Sila had spoken to a handful of times with little conviction. Good enough.
“Hold that thought,” he told Rabbit before he stood and headed after the freshman. He made it to the table the black-haired kid had selected a moment after him, plastering a flirtatious smile onto his face as he eased into the seat across from him. “Hey, Noah, what’s up?”
