Page 45 of Three for a Girl

Romeo forced him back, walked him across the outhouse until he held Chad to the wall. He struggled, but it only took a few seconds of the hold for his limbs to weaken. A few more seconds, and Romeo was a blur, all Chad could see of him was his eyes, and the hatred pulsating in them.

He couldn’t fight, he couldn’t scream for Romeo to stop, all he could do was plead with his eyes, find Romeo in the swirl of darkness, strike some kind of recognition, and bring him back.

Chad’s eyes drooped, too heavy to keep open. The pain in his throat was second to the feeling in his head.

A stuffiness like something had been pumped into him.

Too much.

He could feel his heart, no longer the panicked skip and trip of danger, it was slow, slower, slowing, still beating, but sluggishly, the whoosh in Chad’s ears became almost lazy, and his head continued to fill, until he craved it bursting.

“Goodbye, Detective.”

The words hurt more than any of it.

Romeo—the monster—recognized him, and wasn’t going to stop. Chad’s one last effort to bring his Romeo back to the surface with his gaze failed, his vision closed in from the sides, until Romeo’s murderous eyes were all he could see.

The white flashes of lightning came from the excited glint in Romeo’s eyes, and a triumphant rumble that passing through his snarling teeth was the thunder.

Chad succumbed to the storm and fell.

****

Chad gasped, spluttered, choked.

He rolled on to his side, and tried to open his eyes, but the room spun, the lights were too bright, near blinding and he was forced to squint. His head pounded worse than any headache, or hangover he’d had before.

His knees ached, and the ground was ice against his palms. He rolled his forehead against the cold, gasping in more air. When he reached up to remove the pressure crushing his neck nothing was there.

As he held his throat, pieces of the night came back to him.

His mind sought an answer, and he struggled to make sense of it.

He’d dreamed about Marc.

He’d gone to find Romeo.

Romeo had turned on him.

He collapsed back, leaning up against the wall as he tried to get his bearings. He wheezed in another lungful of air, then another, before retching on the floor.

The cold concrete floor.

He was in the outhouse, there was a row of furniture in front of him, and behind it, stood a blanched Romeo.

There was so much horror in his open mouth expression, all Chad wanted to do was ease it, soothe it, but when he tried to speak, a croak left him and he grabbed at his throat.

Romeo dug his fingers into the side of his scrunched face. He growled through his teeth, but it tapered off into a raw sound of despair.

Chad swallowed, trying to find Romeo through the nausea.

Romeo’s waterlogged eyes spilled tears, his lip wobbled, and blood flowed from where he’d forced his nails into his skin.

The lights burned bright.

The room spun.

Chad closed his eyes again, and swallowed.

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