And he was currently racing through the streets with a boner while a twenty-year-old hunted him down like an animal.
The crowd had thinned somewhat, but it was a small reprieve since there were still far too many people wandering Main Street for Bay’s comfort. Many of them turned their heads to watch as he darted past, some pointing and whispering to their friends. But Sila had been right. No one reached for their multi-slates to contact the authorities and no one attempted to stop him and ask if he needed any help.
Bay had grown up on these streets, the home he’d lived in only a fifteen-minute hovercar ride away, so he was familiar with all the hidden nooks and back alleys. Knew which places would be his best bet at staying hidden.
“Are you hoping I don’t catch you?” Sila asked.
“Yes,” it was a lie, but Bay said it anyway, the word cracking past his lips as he finally came up to the turn he’d been waiting for. It led between the bakery and a sticker shop, narrowing out toward the end before the opening would deposit him on Igor Road, directly behind Main Street. It was still part of the general area, filled with shops and restaurants, so he wouldn’t get away from prying eyes for long, but it was better than sticking to the most popular street.
He shouldn’t, because it was wrong on so many levels, but Bay wanted to be caught. He wanted Sila to find him and give him a repeat of the other night. He wanted that so badly, a needy moan escaped him.
“Weren’t you the one who told me consensual non-consent wasn’t your thing?” Sila taunted from the earbud still secured in Bay’s right ear. He didn’t sound nearly as out of breath as Bay was.
Was he even chasing after him like he’d promised? Bay twisted around another building and halted, sucking in as much air as he could.
“Why’d you stop, Kitten?”
Oh. He was chasing him. Good.
Bay started running again without giving a response.
“You won’t get far,” Sila told him.
“Shut up,” Bay didn’t want him to. He liked the sound of his voice too much. That was the problem. Even as his heart thumped wildly in his chest and his thighs burned, his dick didn’t seem to care that the rest of his body was aching. He was still stiff and hard as a rock, and running like that wasn’t easy by any means.
As badly as he wanted to be consumed by Sila, Bay understood the assignment. Just because they were both willing didn’t mean things had to be boring between them. Hadn’t that always been his secret desire anyway? In all the inappropriate fantasies he’d had of his student, not a single one of them had been of the missionary position. Bay didn’t want soft or sweet.
He wanted to feel alive.
He wanted something, anything, to breathe this dead thing in his chest back to life, if only for a moment.
Maybe he hadn’t been bluffing when he’d brought up the bridge earlier. Maybe a part of him had finally been voicing the truth that he’d kept buried within himself since he’d chickened out while peering over that edge the first time.
Bay had been very close to giving up last year when he’d heard Sila’s laughter and had spotted him standing across the courtyard. It didn’t matter if it’d actually been Rin, if the twins had swapped places that day and Bay had gotten it wrong. Because in that moment something within him had shifted, had brightened and yawned and stretched for the first time in a long time and Bay didn’t give a damn which Varun was responsible.
Back then, he’d been close to giving up, and now here he was, racing through the streets as though his life depended on it. As though his life was important enough for him to even want to hold on to.
With a start, he realized he’d been unconsciously heading in the direction of Sickle bridge. It was a large bridge that stood over the Kefa river. Many people crossed it to make it into the heart of the city for work, so there were two hovercar lanes and a bike lane and walkways on either side.
Jumpers sadly weren’t unheard of.
The lights from the bridge winked almost viciously at him in the distance and Bay slid to a stop, almost slipping in the dirt. At the last second, he changed directions, a small needle of fear piecing through him as he deviated and moved off to the left.
Somehow, despite the fact they hadn’t actually known one another very long, Bay knew without a shadow of a doubt that heading this way had been the wrong move. Sila was probably thinking he’d done it on purpose, that he’d headed toward the bridge to—
The large body came out of nowhere. One second Bay was running down the narrow passage between two buildings, circling back around to Main Street, and the next he was being shoved roughly against the brick wall.
His head whacked against the stone and he cried out, momentarily seeing stars. He was forced against it. His chest connecting with the wall, his palms coming up in a poor attempt to press back against that force.
Sila was too strong though, and he kicked Bay’s feet apart and then forced one of his legs between his thighs. When his knee bumped against Bay’s hard-on, he chuckled darkly, a gust of hot breath fanning across Bay’s ear and the side of his neck.
The click of a knife blade springing free had Bay’s eyes going wide and he stilled.
“Always so easy with you in the end,” Sila said, shifting so that he could bring the blade up to the side of Bay’s face, allowing him a good view of it as he tilted it in the lighting provided from the street at the end of the alley. “Just a little promise of real pain and you freeze up like a deer in headlights.”
“Hold on.” Bay’s eyes went to the opening of the alley. They were somewhere in the center, with a turn at the opposite end, but the one in front of them was busy enough people walked by every now and again.
“They won’t be able to see us,” Sila promised, knowing exactly what he was fearing without him having to articulate it. “If you aren’t careful, however…Sound travels. So,” he leaned in and pressed his mouth to the curve of Bay’s ear before dropping lower to nibble on his lobe, “you have to be really, really quiet.”
