Page 27 of Madness & Mercy
It’s the kind of place that pretends to be underground even though everyone knows it exists. A red-lit corner of the city soaked in secrets and sin. The name glows in flickering neon above a black door with no windows, tucked behind a brick alleyway like a bruise.
I kill the headlights and park across the street, lighting a cigarette with shaking fingers.
The smoke steadies me. The waiting doesn’t.
I’ve been sitting here for two hours. Watching. Waiting. It’s raining now.
People come and go—slick bastards in suits, women with collars, couples with the kind of tension you can feel from across the pavement.
All kinds of fucked up wander through that door like it’s a church and they’re the faithful.
But still no sign of Nico.
I shift forward in the driver’s seat, my eyes fixed on the entrance like it owes me answers. My knuckles go white around the wheel.
Maybe I was wrong.
Maybe he’s not here tonight.
Maybe I missed him.
Screw it.
I crush the cigarette out in the ashtray and swing the door open. The moment my boots hit the pavement, I’m locked in.
No more waiting.
It’s time to go inside.
CHAPTER 5 – NOCTURNE
NICO
The bass pounds like a second heartbeat beneath the thrum of my blood. Heat and sweat mingle in the sticky air, shadows flickering across bodies lost in their own dark desires.I own this place.This is where I come to purge the rage. The lust. The chaos beneath the surface I keep so carefully locked down.
She’s on her knees in front of me, blindfolded and bound, her lips wrapped around my length like she’s trying to swallow every inch. The slick wetness of her mouth, the desperate press of her tongue should be enough to pull me under.
But when I close my eyes, it’s not her face I see.
It’shis.
That proud, fierce expression as my knife grazed his skin, teasing the fine line between pain and control.
I can’t help but wonder what his smug face would look like contorted in pain.
I try shifting my focus to the warm weight of her hands, the tight grip of the leather cuffs biting her wrists.
But all I feel is the cold edge of that memory.
I grit my teeth and push harder, needing release, needing distraction… but his face won’t fade. The way his eyes held mine, unflinching under the blade, like he was daring me to break.
I’ve never been attracted to men.
But the fire he stokes inside me is hotter than any pain or pleasure I’ve ever chased.
Fuck.
I fist her hair and bury myself in her throat, feeling her body tremble beneath me as I sink into her.
