“Breathe, little bunny,” he was talking to him, may have been doing so throughout the entire struggle for all Rabbit knew, his voice soothing and velvety. “You’re safe. I’m here. Nothing can get to you so long as I’m around. Breathe, Rabbit. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
Safe. It was an odd word, sounding foreign and wrong in many ways and yet…right, at the same time. Baikal was the person who’d made his life a complicated mess this past month. The person who’d twisted his insides and forced him to do deplorable things against his will, and yet…
Only a devil could defeat a monster.
And Baikal Void was the biggest devil Rabbit knew of.
He stopped fighting to get away, his shoulders sagging as he clutched at the material of Void’s shirt over his back. He went from desperately trying to escape to silently begging with his body not to be left alone.
Focusing on his breathing, he started to calm, and the steadier he was able to get his heart rate, the more those horrible memories drifted back into the abyss he kept them in. It wasn’t until they returned to hazy recollections with no real discernable details that he recalled where he’d been before waking.
He tried to pull back again but Void held him firm.
“It’s okay,” he said, words muffled against Baikal’s neck. “I’m awake now.” He wet his dry throat. “Which means I’m wondering where I am and why.”
“Do you remember what happened at school?” Baikal pulled back just enough to meet his gaze. There was real concern in his teal eyes and a hint of anger that was impossible to ignore, though his next statement made it clear it wasn’t directed at Rabbit. “Some asshole drugged you and was trying to kidnap you.”
“Rin!” Rin had arrived just in time and tried to help him. “What happened? Was he hurt?”
“He’s fine,” Baikal told him. “Worry about yourself. You’ve been out for an entire day. How do you feel?”
He blinked in surprise. “That long?”
“I called you out of class and told your music advisor not to expect you,” Baikal continued. “I also replied to your mother after she blew up your multi-slate with over twenty messages.”
“You what?” That fear he was only just starting to shake returned full force.
“We’ll circle back to the fact you were apparently on your way to a date with that girl, half the messages were about that. After, Professor Ludo must have spoken to her about you being sick so she wouldn’t stop calling. Eventually, I picked up and just told her I was a friend of yours and you were too ill to talk to her at the moment.”
Right. The date. He’d been in the process of trying to decide whether or not he should inform Void. Considering this was the second time things had gone awry, he doubted Arlet would be interested in giving them a third try. At least that was one problem dealt with.
Rabbit hadn’t wanted to hurt her feelings, but he hadn’t thought of her once since this thing with Void had begun, which had to mean he wasn’t interested. And while before he’d been more than willing to involve himself anyway just to avoid punishment from his mother, now—
“Wait.” He frowned, his mind catching up with the rest of Baikal’s statement. “You told her what?”
He’d told his mother they were friends and he was taking care of him.
His mother knew Rabbit had someone in his life…
Rabbit shoved him away without really processing what he was doing, scrambling back until he hit the headboard with a hard whack.
Baikal’s initial anger dwindled the longer he stared, but Rabbit barely noticed, too busy trying to think up an excuse he could give his mother that she would believe. What if—He frantically shook his head. No, no he had to remember who this was he was dealing with. Who they’d both be dealing with.
He’d considered the repercussions before, hadn’t he? Had already concluded that December Trace wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and go after the Brumal Prince. Not to mention all Baikal would have to do if she did was play that video for her and she’d shut up really quickly. Hell, the guy she’d hired to beat the shit out of Oli that night was now one of the members according to Void so—
“What’s going on?” Baikal cut into his tumbling thoughts. “Why are you so afraid?”
Rabbit couldn’t tell him. Telling him would mean bringing upOli and he refused. The memories had faded once more, but if he started talking about it there was little doubt in his mind his brain would try and force him to remember like it always did whenever he was presented with a similar set of circumstances—like performing on stage—and he didn’t want that.
So he did the first thing he could think of.
He changed the subject.
“Why did someone come after me?” He made a big show of narrowing his eyes. “It’s because of you, isn’t it?”
Baikal’s mouth thinned into a line but he didn’t bother denying it.
“You kept going out of your way to make sure people on campus saw us together and now look what happened. My life is in danger because of you, Void. What sane person wouldn’t be frightened right now?”
