Page 12 of Only in the Dark (Bound By Darkness Duet #1)

“Are you saying you’ve preferred the company of women in the sex club?” I nudged her arm with my elbow. “You sly dog.” I put on my best teasing voice, hoping she’d know I would never judge her.

“Sometimes I enjoy my time with couples, too,” she responded.

I was learning more about my best friend. It wasn’t like we talked about our sex lives often. She was there when I complained about Matthew, but she didn’t open up about hers, and I didn’t ask.

We sat down at the bar, and the bartender greeted us with a bright smile.

I could tell she loved her job. I’d probably get a kick out of bartending at a sex club, too.

“Welcome. What can I get you to drink?” she asked.

I wondered whether the guests tipped well.

Did an orgasm make them happier, and therefore better tippers?

I handed her our drink cards. Sarah and I had always shared the same taste in alcohol.

Fruity drinks or mixed vodka. “Two Titos and cranberries, please,” I ordered.

I almost felt like drinking them both on my own with the way my muscles were tense, coiled like tightly wound springs, and my shoulders felt rigid as if they were locked in place.

Every breath seemed shallow, barely reaching my lungs, and a persistent, knotted sensation gripped my stomach.

My brain told me we needed to be on edge and alert, but maybe that was a good thing.

I shouldn’t fully relax in a private room with a dangerous stalker.

We sat at the bar and sipped our drinks until five minutes before nine. The time had gone by too fast, and now I found myself minutes away from meeting the shadow who haunted my every move.

“Remember that I’ll be right here if you need me, Lovebug.

There’s security in the hallway, so don’t be afraid to yell for them.

And no worries…they won’t come running for general screaming, only if they’re called.

” Sarah attempted to wink at me, but she wasn’t good at it.

“I’m ready for my little bird to fly away.

I’ll be here waiting for you. And if you decide to jump him in the parking lot, I’ll be ready. ”

I pushed my chair back, feeling its legs scrape against the floor, and rose to my feet.

I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled slowly, feeling the air fill my lungs, before exhaling in a steady stream, hoping to calm the fluttering nerves within me.

“I’ll never be truly ready to see the mask fall, but I’m as ready as I can be.

I promise to tell you if anything happens, and run out here screaming if I need you. ”

Sarah pointed me in the direction I needed to be, and I eventually found the sign for the rooms, following the hallway until I saw room four. I passed one security guard and exchanged smiles. My key card had been a tap card that opened the door.

Inside, a bed sat in the center of the room.

the headboard against the left well. Behind the bed were two hooks for restraining someone.

The bedside table had an array of products, such as condoms, lube, and handcuffs.

There was an ottoman at the bottom of the bed with floggers, whips, and impact play items. I wasn’t sure if these were items set up by my stalker, or if these were general items kept in the room.

I wasn’t a stranger to impact play, but we hadn’t discussed it.

We hadn’t really discussed anything about tonight except me being here.

It was dimly lit, the light mainly focused on the bed, and I couldn’t hear a single sound from another room.

The wall across from the bed had a window with nothing visible beyond darkness.

There could be a hundred people watching in there, and I wouldn’t have known. Weirdly enough, the idea excited me.

I noticed a coat hook on the back of the door and took off my long cardigan, hanging it up. The lace lingerie we had chosen covered everything important, but I still felt naked.

I sat on the bed and clutched at my body, suddenly insecure. My stalker touched me in the dark. What if he didn’t like me when he could see me better?

The lights dimmed further, and my breath hitched.

There was nowhere to run now. I accepted my fate as I remained glued to the bed, listening as the door creaked open, watching as my stalker—donning his Ghostface mask again—stepped inside.

Frozen with fear of the unknown, I sat unmoving as he approached, standing before me and looking down with a tilted head.

“So beautiful,” he whispered, the back of his fingers trailing a soft caress down my cheek. I flinched when I realized he wasn’t wearing gloves tonight.

“You told me you’d take off the mask tonight,” I reminded him.

He chuckled. “I did, but I didn’t say when. You’re mine, Olivia. I’m going to show you how you belong to me, then I’ll reveal myself,” he explained, causing me to gulp. His tone was serious.

“I’m not yours, and I never said you could have me.

” I crossed my arms against my chest defiantly.

We were at a sex club, and I was wearing lingerie, so it was stupid of me to try to deny him like I had a choice.

I knew what I was getting into. Maybe this would end his obsession with me.

He’d see it was nothing like the encounter he imagined in his head—that I was nothing like the girl he built me up to be in his mind.

“You can’t be trusted not to hurt me. I’m going to put you in the restraints.

” He leaned forward, causing his shadow to stretch across the dimly lit room, and I instinctively retreated further onto the bed.

My movement only seemed to draw him closer to me, making it easier for him to reach me when he cautiously placed one knee on the edge of the bed, causing the mattress to sink slightly under his weight.

As he moved closer, his hand pressed into the plush comforter, and he leaned in further.

Our faces were so close I could feel his breath through the mesh material; smell the cologne radiating off his body.

There was no doubting who he was when his cologne matched the same in my room that he had left behind after his visits.

I thought I was making it up or imagining Matthew’s smell lingered after his short visits, but it seemed off.

I thought he was going to kiss me somehow, but instead he used our proximity as a weapon to throw me off guard.

He leaned in closer, his presence looming over me, pushing me to lay my head back against the headboard.

He took the opportunity to grab my right wrist and cuff it, connecting my cuff to the hook in the wall.

I wiggled my wrist, but it didn’t budge.

The loud clinking sound annoyed me into submission.

He grabbed my left wrist quicker than I could pull it away, hooking it up to the other.

“Time to play, darling.”