“Because I…” Rabbit swallowed and looked away.
He took his jaw between his thumb and forefinger, forcing Rabbit’s gaze back to his. “Are you afraid of the dark?”
The only reason he hadn’t already come was standing had relieved the pressure of the tip of the plug which had been hitting his prostate before. For a split second, he actually considered holding his ground a second time and refusing to answer, since now that they were out of the classroom there was no longer an audience with which Void could use against him.
But then his inner voice laughed at his naivety.
If he didn’t have another card up his sleeve, Baikal never would have brought them here.
“Yes.” It sounded foolish when he said it out loud. He was a twenty-two-year-old openly admitting that he still needed a nightlight to sleep. If not for the fact Baikal had already broken in and seen that for himself firsthand, Rabbit would be even more embarrassed.
Maybe embarrassed wasn’t the right word. It wasn’t so much that he cared what the other man thought of him—at least not in this regard—but more that he was disappointed in himself. He was disappointed that he’d been unable to overcome such a common childhood fear.
“I have my reasons,” he added.
“I didn’t ask.” Baikal spun him around so they were both facing the large wall of mirrors hanging behind the sink and reached for the zipper of Rabbit’s pants. “But I like you being forthcoming all on your own.” He freed his dick. “Tell me.”
Rabbit moaned and leaned back against the Brumal Prince at the first skin-to-skin contact, his eyes drifting momentarily shut until Baikal gave a warning pump of his fist with a little too much aggression. It drew out a whimper, and when their eyes met in the mirror it was obvious the sound had turned them both on even more.
“My mom,” he hissed when Void started stroking him, “she used to lock me up whenever I upset her.”
“How?”
“Usually it was beiska related. Either I couldn’t get a note or a color or something like that. At our house—our old one, not the one you broke into like a creep—had this tiny walk-in closet attached to the living room. She’d put me in there and block the door so I couldn’t get out until she let me. At the new place at least the practice room is big. It got better once we moved.”
“No light?”
Rabbit shook his head. For a while he’d even believed he’d gotten over the fear, the larger practice room space at least tricking him into thinking he wasn’t suffocating like the smaller one had.
Then the event last year had happened and…well.
Rabbit had discovered he wasn’t as cured as he’d believed.
Amongst other things.
“Focus,” Baikal ordered. Roughly, he shoved Rabbit so he was leaning over the sink with his arms bracing him at either side, then he worked the jeans down to his thighs. When he went for the plug Rabbit made a sound and he chuckled. “Relax, I’m going to give you something better, I promise.”
He froze, spine stiffening, and the change didn’t go unnoticed.
Baikal met his eyes again. “Relax,” he repeated, more soothingly this time, even going so far as to run his palm comfortingly down the curve of Rabbit’s spine. “I don’t mean what you’re thinking. The first time I make you take my cock we sure as hell aren’t going to be in the men’s room. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Even if I say no?” Rabbit had no clue what had come over him, but he kept still anyway, watching the range of emotions play across Void’s face, trying, and failing, to pinpoint them.
“I’m not sure what you want me to say,” Baikal admitted finally. “It seems like you’re pushing me on purpose because you like the fight, but I can’t be certain, because other times it’s clear you’re legitimately angry with me.”
“No one likes being forced.”
He clicked his tongue. “That’s not true and you know it. There’s no shame in liking when I take control of you, little bunny.”
“I don’t.” Rabbit simply thought the other guy was hot. That was it.
…Right?
“That’s fair, too,” he shrugged like it was no big deal. “Even if you don’t, I’ll make sure you like the end results. You, coming alive for me.”
Rabbit frowned, but then Baikal slowly eased the plug out of him and he ended up gripping the edge of the sink with all of his might. It felt just as weird exiting his hole as it had entering it, and for a moment after he felt strange and empty, that muscle clamping down on nothing but air as if confused as to where all the pressure had gone.
Baikal angled his ass up higher with a hand and groaned. “Look how open and welcoming you are. It’s like you’re silently begging for me to fill you up.”
