The quiet and shy Sila had been an act through and through. Nothing about him was soft or demure, it was simply a façade used to help hide his and his brother’s true personas from the world. But masks were only useful when they were used to hide the right things, and since Sila had spent all that effort recreating his image into one of a friendly and flirty individual, he was going to have to properly do away with the one he’d worn all last year.
Since Rabbit was the only one who’d gotten to know that fake version of himself, it made sense to nip that in the bud right away.
Sila followed, slipping into the cafeteria, hands casually in the front pockets of his black jeans. His shirt was a light gray, telling everyone who glanced his way as he walked in that he was a sophomore. The school’s color-coded uniform system had made him chuckle when he’d first learned of it.
His brother had cursed and rolled his eyes, annoyed, but then every little thing could set him off.
Rabbit was already collecting his lunch tray from one of the workers serving behind the long bar to the left of the room, and Sila hung back just long enough to watch him select a table off to the side before he walked over and got his own meal.
He smiled at the lunch lady as she packed his tray, glancing over to the corner where he was certain he’d spotted Baikal Void sitting with a couple members of his Satellite—or as Sila liked to think of them, the Brumal Prince’s cute little posse.
Sure enough, he found him there and, unsurprisingly, he was staring at Rabbit from afar.
Like a total creep.
Sila chuckled to himself and took his tray with a thank you. He admired that about Baikal, truthfully. The guy knew how to lay low and play his cards. Too bad for the future leader of the Brumal Mafia, Sila was going to have to stir the pot a bit to get things moving since he’d grown bored with being the only witness to the man’s possessive glances from across the room. The only question was how…He’d yet to figure that part out. But it would come to him.
“Hey,” he greeted Rabbit as he slid into the booth across from the older student, smiling widely, sure to keep his head tipped up to maintain eye contact.
Rabbit blinked at him, caught off guard by his boldness and then slowly lowered his fork. “Hi. Did you…have a good summer?”
“Yeah, it was great. I got to meet a lot of new people.” Sila pretended to find interest in opening the can of soda on his tray and then took a slow sip, watching Rabbit closely over the top of the can as he did.
Rabbit Trace was a senior this year, not that he needed the degree from Vail to make it big in life. He was a musical prodigy who played a rare instrument called the beiska. It was made out of a local crystal and had some weird properties to it. He also happened to come from money, since his mother was a famous musician herself who spent most of her time touring throughout the galaxy.
Sila had gotten the sense there was animosity between mother and son, but he hadn’t bothered to pry. Everyone had their secrets and so long as it didn’t interest him, he wasn’t about wasting time trying to uncover every tiny boring detail in other people’s lives. He’d only even noticed because of all the time he’d spent around the older guy and the look that was constantly on his face.
It was a familiar look. Sometimes Sila’s brother wore it when he thought no one was paying attention.
The look of feeling trapped.
Maybe that was why he kind of liked Rabbit for real. Why he’d never once considered trying to play with him.
“What about you?” Sila asked, popping a piece of fruit into his mouth. He could barely taste it but whatever. Some of the foods here were too bland for his liking. “Did you do anything fun?”
Rabbit dropped his gaze. “I spent the summer practicing.”
He shouldn’t care that Rabbit was a loser and had nothing going for him other than music, which was so obviously suffocating him it was a real wonder none of the professors had pulled him aside and warned him to take it easy. Sila wasn’t the caring type. And yet…
Even if the emotions weren’t the same, Rabbit reminded him a lot of his brother. Closed off and hiding. The latter was due to their circumstances, but the first wasn’t necessary. In fact, blending in and fading into the background were two entirely different things. He wasn’t above teaching his brother that lesson and it seemed Rabbit could do for a little instruction himself.
Besides. If he was going to be spending this entire year with the older guy, Sila wasn’t putting up with his melancholy mood. It was a drag.
“Hey, Sila!” Eager, a junior Sila had met at a party, waved at him from across the room before taking a seat with his friends.
Sila nodded at him in return then turned back to Rabbit who was watching him closely once more. “What?” he laughed. “I told you. I made friends. You should try it. A lot of the students here are really nice.”
They were vapid and unintelligent, but close enough.
He kept his eyes on Rabbit, pretending not to notice when Baikal and his cousin walked by, even making sure to keep his voice steady and just loud enough to be overheard as he said, “You can’t be a zombie forever, Trace. Should I set you up with someone? Tell me what you’re into. I’m sure I can think of a good candidate.”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Baikal slow but forced the smirk back. Messing with the Brumal Prince was almost too easy. He’d expected a lot out of the man when he’d first arrived on planet and heard half the place was owned and run by a mafia. Since they were years apart, he’d had no reason to approach Baikal, unfortunately, so the two were still unacquainted, though that was probably for the best.
“Oh, no thank you,” Rabbit shook his head. “I’m not in a position right now for a relationship. I’ve got too much work to focus on.”
Baikal made a sound, maybe a grunt, Sila couldn’t be sure, and finally moved off, his cousin Kazimir trailing behind him like the little bitch he was.
Sila checked his multi-slate for the time, noting to himself that Bay should be returning from his lunch break soon. He’d considered the best way to stage their first interaction—should he bump into him accidentally, knock on his office door and request a private meeting—in the end opting for his favorite route: shock value.
