Rabbit gave a full-body shudder at those words, but Baikal had already turned and exited, shutting the door tightly behind him. His surroundings were suddenly a lot more interesting than they’d been a moment ago, and it wasn’t long before he found himself tossing the covers off and slipping his feet onto the cold floor.
The walls were painted a light, almost white-gray, and there were a couple of framed glossy posters of hovercycles. There was a bookshelf filled with knickknacks and a glass case with an old-fashioned blaster gun, taken apart with its pieces displayed. The whole room felt sterile and cold, yet surprisingly belonged to a man in his early twenties. It was almost as if Baikal had forgotten he wasn’t a sixty-year-old man with the weight of the world on his shoulders and he deserved to enjoy things.
Rabbit shook his head at himself for having such a foolish thought. How would he know that just by looking at the guy’s room? He was an idiot for making assumptions. He didn’t know Void, and Void didn’t know him. Period.
He made his way over to the shelf by the bathroom door which had been left ajar, fiddling with a glass orb with a flat bottom, vaguely wondering what it did. When he couldn’t figure it out, he placed it back down and turned, opting to just go back to bed and wait, when something inside the bathroom caught his attention.
The Insight 3.0 glasses that Void typically wore were set on the sink countertop, the black frames standing out against the silver marble.
This was his chance.
All he had to do was sign in to Baikal’s multi-slate with the glasses and delete the footage. If he did that, their deal would be pointless since the Brumal Prince would no longer have anything to hold against him. He’d claimed he wouldn’t allow Rabbit to leave, sure, but so far his actions had gone against all of the threatening things he’d said—mostly.
Rabbit could do this. He’d erase the video and then insist on going home once Void returned. If he had to eat whatever food he brought with him first, so be it. Then he’d go and he’d tell Void things were over once he was back in the safety of his own home with the locks firmly in place and the Brumal Prince on the other side of the doors.
A part of him ached at the concept of this thing between them ending, but Rabbit forced that feeling away. This was for the best. Now that his mother was aware of them, it wasn’t just for him either. Separating ties with Rabbit would also be the better choice for Void. Rabbit didn’t know much about his situation, but had heard what everyone else on campus already knew.
Baikal was gearing up to take over both the conglomerate and the Brumal from his father one day. Whatever that entailed, it must keep him terribly busy.
His mother wouldn’t actively start a fight against the mafia, but there were dozens of companies under the Void name. He wouldn’t put it past her to make her way down the list of smaller ones, and with her influence, she’d probably succeed in destroying a couple before Baikal’s father ever got wind of what was going on from his seat at the top.
Void was an asshole, but Rabbit didn’t want to mess with his family’s business.
No, this couldn’t continue. It didn’t matter that he’d gotten used to those heated touches or that he kind of wanted to cry a little as he slowly made his way into the bathroom and reached for the glasses. He had to do this, and once it was done, things could go back to normal. It might take some time for him to adjust back to the mundane existence he’d been living this past year, but that was nothing compared to the suffering his mother was capable of inflicting if he didn’t choose this path.
He slipped the glasses onto his face and pressed the hidden button on the top of them. He’d never actually used a pair before, but he’d played around with one at the store when the first models had dropped. They’d been all the rage, allowing people to connect to interactive games and even watch videos with no one knowing.
Still, it took him longer than he’d hoped to find where Baikal kept his videos stored. When he tried to select them, however, the file refused to load. Instead, there was a beep and a red X appeared over the lens. A second later, four blank boxes flashed across the screen, requesting a passcode.
Rabbit swore. Of course it was password protected. Why hadn’t he considered that?
“Two seconds,” a deep, dangerous voice cut through the stillness of the bathroom and Rabbit whirled toward it, bare feet almost slipping on the smooth tile in the process. Baikal stood in the doorway. “That’s the amount of time I’ll give you to explain.”
“I—” His mind was a blank. He couldn’t think up a single believable excuse, not with that angry look locked on him.
“Time’s up.”
Rabbit found his voice just in time to scream as he was grabbed around the throat and tossed from the bathroom.
Chapter 19:
Baikal had tried being kind, had taken things agonizingly slow despite the very real and incredibly aggressive urge within him to brand and conquer.
Rabbit Trace washis. Perhaps he shouldn’t have bothered with courtesy. If he’d done things right from the start, taken the way he’d been taught, they wouldn’t be here now, with his tiny obsession trembling on his hands and knees on the floor of his bedroom.
Appearing every bit the small and frightened animal he’d been named after.
Rabbits weren’t common on their planet but were flown in and often kept as pets, and on more than one occasion he’d speculated over why December had chosen that name out of all the possibilities for her one and only child. He’d planned on asking, eventually, but the topic had never come up and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be the focal point of tonight.
Not after what his little bunny had just been caught trying to do.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what his plan had been. He’d hoped to delete the video himself and tell Kal to screw off. Only, he’d vastly underestimated the lengths in which Baikal would go to achieve his own goals. If he had to descend into the actual pits of hell to get what he wanted? So be it.
He’d yanked Rabbit from the bathroom and tossed him to the ground uncaringly, his anger getting the best of him as he fought against it. He wanted to make the other man his, but that didn’t mean he wanted to do any permanent harm.
To his credit, Rabbit didn’t move, sitting on the floor, staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes. His breathing was uneven, but it didn’t appear as though he was about to experience a panic attack, so that was something. If he did, Baikal might have stopped, but as it were…
Slowly, he lifted his hands to the hem of the black t-shirt he was wearing and tugged it over his head. He tossed it to the other side of the room, gaze holding Rabbit’s hostage as he did. Then he started on his jeans, undoing the button and easing the zipper down to expose his charcoal-colored boxer briefs. He was rock hard beneath them, his cock straining up toward the waistband, itching to get free.
