Page 33 of Dark Love

Wait… that means. “You boxed?” It shouldn’t surprise me. A person can hardly crush people with their bare hands if they don’t know how to fight.

“As a kid, I boxed. When I was older, I got into MMA.”

“Why boxing?” I mean, other than the fact you’re built for it. And you’ve developed this super scary persona.

“There was a free boxing gym.”

“Free?”

“Yeah. I thought it was strange too. But this place was legit. Some bored old military types had too much time on their hands, so they opened a gym and taught wayward teenagers how to defend themselves.” He almost smiles. It’s a little crack in his hard exterior.

“You, a wayward teenager?” Was he as scary looking when he was younger? “That’s hard to imagine.”

“Don’t be cute.” The corner of his lip tips up just a tiny bit more.

Me cute? That’s never a term anyone uses to describe me, nerdy or boring maybe, but never cute.

How did my life get so twisted upside down? Nothing makes sense right now.

“Wanna watch some television?”

“Um, sure.” I try to pull the blanket away again, but noodles formerly known as arms don’t cooperate.

“You don’t need to go anywhere.” Vex walks over to the bedside table and picks up a tablet.

In seconds, a screen drops down from the ceiling, and all the windows are blacked out.

“You have your own little movie theater in here.”

“Wait until you hear the surround sound.”

In that moment, he looks like a little boy describing his new toy.

“I think there’s a game on.”

Is there ever a time where there isn’t a game on?

“You can handle baseball, right?”

“Sure.” Play it cool. This guy doesn’t want to know what a nut you are.

“Oh, I should probably get you some water first. Barb said it will help you flush the drug out of your system. Are you hungry? I don’t keep much in the house, but I can microwave some popcorn.”

My stomach feels completely hollow, but I’ve been hit with gently lapping waves of queasiness since I woke up. “Popcorn sounds good.”

I zone out the pregame show.

How could this happen?

Is any of this real? I have a vivid imagination. This could be a dream. In what world would I ever dream about being roofied? Though I could totally imagine Vex living in a place like this. Everything about this room screams luxury with an edge. These are the softest sheets I’ve ever felt, but who has inky black sheets. They’ve got to be a nightmare to keep pristine. A cat would cover it in hair. To be fair, I’m probably doing the same.

Would I ever dream of a man that has black sheets?

I haven’t dreamed about a real man in…too long to think about.

Everything about this feels so real.

But if it’s real that means… I was drugged… Someone wanted to hurt me badly enough to drug me.

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