Hewas in the process of changing.
Bay Delmar should have been dealt with in the forest and left there. Sila hadn’t planned on killing him, only because that would draw too much unwanted attention, but the events that had taken place hadn’t been on his to-do list either. At the time, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal. He was acting on instinct in a contained setting where it was safe for him to do so. But afterward…
He’d taken Bay home because the thought of leaving him unprotected, unconscious in his car in the parking lot hadn’t sat right with him. Once inside, Sila had brought him to bed and cleaned him off, applied ointment to his injuries. That should have been enough, but he’d sat on the edge of the bed, watching Bay sleep until the sun had risen.
Then, instead of leaving like he should have, he’d snooped around. Since Bay’s home was one of the few places he hadn’t bothered with, there’d been a lot to see. Sila had already discovered that Bay used to live comfortably when his grandmother was still alive.
The house Bay had grown up in now belonged to the Shepards, a group of useless idiots who couldn’t even decide how to spell the name of their gang—some wrote it as Shepherds, others as Shepards, and that had led to the city divided on the proper way of it.
Haroon Caddel, their leader, was clearly the biggest fool of them all, since he’d allowed something like that to happen.
Sila had already been looking into them, but he hadn’t taken the search seriously. When he’d first arrived on planet and had been eager to learn who was important and who wasn’t, the Shepards had decidedly fallen in the latter category. He’d never had any interest in playing with them, since it was apparent games with them would be child’s play.
Yet for some reason, when he’d heard Bay stir awake and gone to find him sitting up in bed, Sila had changed his plans for the man. Again.
He slapped at the end of the pool and then came up, inhaling deeply as water ran down his face. Even before he opened his eyes, he could sense the presence nearby and knew he was being watched. Taking his time, he lifted himself up onto the ledge and twisted so he could sit, leaning back on his palms.
“Hello to you, too,” Aneski, the only member from that pathetic group Sila didn’t look down on, drawled. The sound of his combat books moving closer came a second later. “Did I get the meeting time wrong?”
“You got it right,” Sila said, though he didn’t turn to greet him. Yesterday, after Bay had agreed to further games, Rin had called. He’d left to go deal with his brother and, on his way to the Brick, had contacted Aneski to call in a few favors that were owed.
“Is this a safe place to talk?”
Though the Shepards were nothing in comparison to the Brumal Mafia, they still took part in illegal dealings and were typically looked down upon by the rest of society. Unlike the Voids, who’d garnered wealth and prestige out in the open, carefully conducting their shadier business ventures under the table or in the protection of night.
Aneski’s brother was a founding member when the gang had first been formed three years ago. Sila had learned the guy had been murdered, most likely during a scuffle with the Brumal. He didn’t know all the details and he didn’t care to find them out.
A dead person could do nothing for him.
“Everyone knows I reserve the pool room during this time,” Sila replied. Though it was open to every student, his dedication to swimming had spread around campus and there was rarely—if ever—anyone else here to disturb him during his scheduled sessions. Another reason why being known as a nice guy could be more beneficial than being considered a loner.
Aneski knew a little more than the rest, but only because Sila had allowed him a glimpse in order to lure him into his clutches. That was why the Shepard owed him a favor to begin with, because Sila had helped him track down the truth about his brother’s death.
“You make uncovering secrets a habit?” Aneski asked then, though his tone was indifferent. “Who’s this one for? Don’t tell me Professor Delmar actually asked you to look into it for him.”
Something twisted at the center of Sila’s chest and he paused, taking a moment to inspect the foreign sensation. It felt an awful lot like anger, but there was no reason for Aneski’s words to have triggered that type of emotional response in him.
“Do you know him?” Sila asked, tipping his head to the side as he waited for the answer.
“The professor? Half the school swoons over him because that face of his, so I know of him. But I’ve never taken one of his classes before.”
There. It happened again.
Sila pressed his palms against the gray tile and lifted his legs out of the water until he was standing, then he slowly turned to face the Shepard.
Aneski wasn’t ugly himself, with ginger colored hair and sharp jade green eyes. He had an eyebrow piercing, a small golden bar at his left brow, and his nails were painted. The pattern switched back and forth between mint green and burnt orange. He was wearing all black, the color indicating he was a senior, and the school’s pin winked under the fluorescent lighting from where it was secured on his belt.
“What?” Aneski frowned under the scrutiny and rested his hands on his hips. “What’s up?”
Sila debated whether or not to order the other man to stay the hell away from Bay, but it was illogical and his anger was misplaced. Not only because there’d been no indication in Aneski’s tone that he held any interest in Bay as a man, but also because, as they’d established yesterday, Sila already owned him.
Bay was smart, smart enough to know that when Sila had told him they wouldn’t be pretend, he’d meant Bay wasn’t allowed to fool around with anyone else.
“Nothing.” He shoved strands of sopping hair off his forehead and tugged lightly at the golden star huggie earring in his left lobe, allowing his body to relax so he presented the picture of someone with casual interest. Aneski didn’t know how important this information actually was to him. “What did you find?”
“Nothing really,” he said, blowing out a breath.
“The gang is young,” Sila reminded. “Most of your members are still in college. There’s barely even a paper trail to follow.” Three years’ worth wasn’t much and typically people hung on to their important documents at least that long.
