The fib seemed to do the trick, because Bay turned back to the knife, this time with a different kind of hesitancy.
He was contemplating it.
“I do this and you promise you’ll let me out of this forest,” Bay asked, “alive?”
“Nice touch,” he commended. “Yes. You put on a show for me and I’ll let you leave here breathing—with,” he added when Bay opened his mouth to argue, “all of your insides still there.”
There was another charged moment where nothing happened, but then Bay reached for the knife, and Sila internally purred in satisfaction.
Chapter 10:
Was he seriously about to do this?
Bay wrapped his fingers around the wooden handle of the knife and picked it up. He inspected the blade once he had it closer, his eyes partially adjusted to the darkness now. It wasn’t great, he still couldn’t see well enough to make out all of Rin’s expressions, but it was better than it had been earlier when he’d stumbled around even with the light from the flashlight.
His multi-slate was lying in a pile of fallen leaves a few feet away and he tilted his head, staring at it for a second. He was the one with the weapon now. Could he maybe make it to his device and fend Rin off before the younger man got to him?
“You could try,” Rin’s modulated tone cut through the chilly night. He kept changing it to match Bay’s reactions, something he’d caught onto as soon as Kelevra Diar had been mentioned.
Rin was trying to emulate emotional responses to either soothe or get a rise out of Bay. Basically, whatever reaction he wanted Bay to give, he adjusted his speech to make it so. A moment ago, he’d come off conversational, his tone light and welcoming. Now it was somewhat smoky, deeper and with an edge of challenge.
He was letting Bay know, without so many words, that he was fine no matter which way he chose for things to go. He’d told Bay he’d let him decide and he’d meant it.
Bay turned his head to face forward again, tearing his gaze off of his multi-slate. He was immediately greeted by Rin’s.
The man was holding it up with two hands, watching Bay from the screen. Filming.
He was going to film his humiliation.
“Decided against it?” Rin asked. “Probably for the best. Believe it or not, cutting you open is becoming less and less appealing as the time goes on.” He noticed where Bay was looking now and shook the device a little. “This? Don’t worry about this, Kitten. I’ll be the only one who ever sees it.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” If that video got leaked, his entire life would be over.
“Afraid of being fired?”
“Screw my job,” Bay snapped. “If people see that, they’ll—” He clamped his mouth shut.
“There’s the fear again,” Rin murmured, but it was as if he was speaking to himself. “It’s different. When you’re afraid of pain and afraid of social ruin, you look different. I noticed, however, during all of your trips to the Seaside, that none of those videos you put on ever had exhibitionism in them. Why do you think I kept the fact that I was watching to myself, even though we’ve been texting for weeks?”
He hadn’t sent Bay that video until he’d been ready to confront him in the flesh.
“You wouldn’t care about me,” Bay said anyway. “My feelings don’t matter to you.”
“Fair,” he agreed. “But my own do. I play well with others, but only on my own terms. Sharing isn’t exactly one of my past times. There’s only one person in this entire universe who could ask me to pass you around, and he’s not interested in either one of your personas, Kitten. Stuffy professor and edgy street racer aren’t his preferred flavors. How do you think you ended up with me?”
Bay dropped down, his bare ass hitting the ground, twigs poking at his skin, though he hardly noticed.
“Is that heartbreak?” Rin asked, and this time, there was an honesty in his voice that had only come through once or twice this entire night. He genuinely wanted to know. “I don’t think I’ve seen it before. Is it because my brother doesn’t care about you?”
Something clicked for Bay then, and his spine stiffened. “You’re doing this on purpose.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re trying to capture my emotions on film, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question because he was positive he’d hit the nail on the head. So far, Rin had scared him, shaken him, and now he’d gotten him to feel sad.
“So smart, professor,” Rin praised. “That’s another thing I like about you, however, the fact that sexy brain of yours is working properly again means we’ve wasted far too much time. You’ve cooled off and we need to get your body temperature back up before you catch a cold. It’s not exactly the middle of summer, in case you don’t recall.”
The adrenaline and constant fluctuating of his emotions had kept Bay from noticing the goosebumps all over him. He shivered as soon as it was brought to his attention and Rin laughed.
