He went to text back something snarky but paused. Why should he? Why should he give him anything else? With a growl, he attached the device to his wrist and began to gather his things. Rabbit would go home, but only because he had nowhere else to be.
It wasn’t until he was turning for the door that he realized there was another letdown that he’d somehow overlooked.
The table overflowing with gifts was lacking the most important one of all. He practically dropped his instrument case on his way over, moving vases and bouquets out of the way as he searched, hoping that maybe it’d merely been buried by the other things. But no.
Baikal Void wasn’t the only thing missing from this room.
There was no Rose Ephemeral either.
And just like that, all the elation he’d been feeling over unlocking a new color and making a breaking advancement with the beiska turned to dust, drying out his throat and causing the corner of his eyes to prick with tears.
For a moment, a brief and bright moment, Rabbit had actually believed there was someone out there who truly did care for him.
Both the Brumal Prince and his mystery admirer had just proven how foolish of him that had been.
Chapter 17:
The East Quad was unsurprisingly packed around lunchtime, but Rabbit pretended like he wasn’t aware of all the attention he was receiving. More than usual, even. It’d been like this for over a week, ever since Baikal had pulled him out of the lecture hall in the middle of class and had been caught with him in his dressing room before the recital. Rumors were spreading like wildfire, some students bold enough to approach and ask him outright if the two of them were dating.
Rabbit always politely excused himself and refused to give a set answer, knowing that no response would make him look good. Either he said yes and risked Void correcting it when he heard, making Rabbit look the fool, or he said no and everyone assumed he was either easy or that he’d been targeted by the Brumal.
Although, things had died down a little the past couple of days, mostly because Baikal hadn’t been around.
Or, at least, he hadn’t been around Rabbit.
The last he’d seen him had been standing backstage. There’d been nothing since. Aside from that one text, the last message in their chat log was that lewd photo of his erect cock. At first, Rabbit had feared Baikal was pissed at him for not responding to that, or that he’d done something wrong on stage, but then he’d realized it wasn’t his style. If he was angry with him, he would have certainly shown his face by now and done something about it.
No doubt something sexually deviant.
He’d come out here to study in peace, not wanting to deal with the chatter of the enclosed cafeteria, but he couldn’t stop his gaze from continuously slipping over to his multi-slate or glancing around, and with a sigh of frustration he gave up and decided to just admit it to himself that he was curious.
Where the hell was Void, and why hadn’t he contacted him in almost a week? Was he crazy, or had Rabbit gotten used to the attention? Used to the thrill of not knowing what to expect? Now it just seemed like there was…nothing. No threatening or dirty messages, no terrifying midnight appearances in the middle of his bedroom or his kitchen. Baikal hadn’t even attended the lecture period they shared.
If this was meant as some sort of fucked punishment, like he was ignoring him on purpose to get a rise out of him, Rabbit decidedly didn’t like it. In fact, he hated it. If it weren’t for his own personal stubbornness, he would have reached out to Void himself, but as it were, every time he opened their chat feed intending to do just that, he was greeted by that massive dick pick.
And then he chickened out.
Because wasn’t this actually what he’d wanted from the beginning? To be left alone? To not have the threat of that giant cock and the man it was attached to looming over his head?
He reached into his bag for the candy bar but stopped before his fingers so much as brushed the wrapper.
Ever since he’d tasted Baikal’s cock, the mint chocolate just hadn’t been the same. It’d lacked the edge he needed for it to help settle his nerves. Whenever he tried to eat a piece, his mind went right back to the dressing room, with him on his knees, that cock stuffed—
Cursing, he bitterly zipped his bag closed, leaving the bar where it was.
There was still the video to consider, of course, but if Baikal really had simply grown bored and moved on, wouldn’t that also mean he’d forget all about that as well? Rabbit didn’t care so much about gathering proof it’d been deleted. He only needed to know it would never be released to the media.
So, despite the small sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach—the one he absolutely refused to acknowledge was disappointment—Rabbit should be elated by this turn of events. Hewaselated.
…Right?
“Did you hear?” A student passing by his table with her friend said, loudly enough it caught Rabbit’s attention. “They found the body by the Pier this morning. Ronnie was having breakfast with his parents there and he says he saw it.”
The other girl with her gasped. “Do they know who it is?”
Rabbit held his breath, only realizing that was ridiculous a moment too late. If there was a body, he shouldn’t be worried about it being Baikal.
It was more likely Baikal was the one who’d done the killing.
