Page 2 of Only in the Dark (Bound By Darkness Duet #1)

Olivia Mercer

My eyes flew open as I lurched upright, chest heaving, sweat slick on my skin.

The nightmare felt more real this time than ever before.

I could feel the ghost of his fingertips grazing my cheeks, smell the cedarwood of his cologne permeating the air.

I wasn’t a deep sleeper until a couple of weeks ago.

Several nights a week, I jolt awake in the darkness, my heart pounding. The shadows seem to shift around me, and a faint, lingering scent of unfamiliar cologne hangs in the air. My skin prickles with unease as if the room still holds the presence of someone who doesn’t belong there.

I wish it were just a feeling, but it seemed all too real.

Nothing happened to cause a change. My routine had been the same for years—reading a paperback book an hour before bed, drinking a chamomile tea to relax, and doing a three-step skincare routine.

I looked at my chihuahua, Pixie, who was yawning and stretching near my feet.

If someone had been in my room, Pixie would’ve been barking.

She was small but mighty—at least in her eyes.

She was my protector. And she barked obnoxiously, so I knew no one had been there, even if my gut was arguing.

It was in my mind. When I told Matthew my worries, he told me it was in my head.

That, of course, I couldn’t have a stalker.

It wasn’t like I did anything exciting. My past was my past, and I left it there, needing to start over after how close I came to a life in jail.

I thought about calling him, but he either wouldn’t pick up or wouldn’t care.

He’d groan and tell me everything was fine and I needed to sleep.

I wasn’t dumb. I knew what Matthew was up to and why he would ignore me for hours and never stay over.

Why I stayed with him wouldn’t make sense to a normal person, but I wasn’t normal.

I needed a normal, boring guy to make my life look complete to the outside observer, much like how male serial killers were often married with kids.

No one could expect anything odd from Olivia Mercer.

I chose to dial my best friend’s number instead. She’d be here in an instant, so I could sit comfortably on my bed until she got here and cleared the area. She’d take me seriously, always. Sarah was an angel sent from hell. I know that phrase didn’t make sense, but it did to anyone who knew her.

“What do you need? Does the situation require a gun, knife, or sword?” she questioned with a voice that didn’t seem like she had slept yet.

Knowing Sarah, maybe she didn’t. It was a little after two in the morning, and she worked at a nightclub doing bottle service four nights a week.

Tonight wasn’t one of those nights. Sarah was the reason I chose to move to Chicago.

We grew up together outside of the city, but I moved away to Texas at a young age.

She said I’d blend in with the millions of residents here, and two years later, she was right.

I met Matthew downtown when he was walking to his job. He followed me into a coffee shop, told me I was the classic kind of beautiful, and asked for my phone number. With the way he chased me, I thought he might be a decent guy.

“Calm your tits, Lovebug. Nothing too crazy. Maybe your knife. I just…I feel like someone was here again. Can you come clear the place?” Sarah wasn’t scared of anything.

She’d run around my house with a machete, yelling for someone to come out if they were hiding, and I’d happily let her.

I thought she was braver than Matthew, considering he didn’t come out to make me feel safe.

“I’ll be there in ten,” she said, hanging up our call immediately.

I had no doubt she’d be here in less time.

She lived nearby, and she had no qualms about driving like a race car driver when she deemed a situation worthy.

She had a key for times when I needed her, since I could rely on her more than Matthew, clearly.

I remained immobilized in my bed while I waited for her.

I felt like I was on the verge of dying from exhaustion, but the shaking in my bones kept me awake.

I could tell when she arrived seven minutes later by the way she opened the front door and started shouting that she’d kill a motherfucker if he didn’t show his face.

A sigh of relief escaped me when she entered my room with a baseball bat in the air, prepared to strike down any intruder. I giggled at the sight of a disheveled Sarah in pajamas. My hero.

“Now tell me why you can’t get your ass out of that bed and do a search yourself. I know you’re more than capable of caring for yourself, Liv,” Sarah said. She set her bat down on the ground and took a seat at the edge of my bed.

“Well, for one, it feels like I’m permanently grounded to this bed.

I’m so exhausted I can hardly move a muscle, which is no state to fight an intruder off in.

For two, it wasn’t like I was some badass fighter.

My job didn’t involve physicality,” I reminded her.

Sarah and I kept no secrets—we had known each other since we were five.

I trusted her more than I’d ever trust another human being, Matthew included.

“And when were you going to tell me Matthew finally stepped up and pulled a romantic gesture?” she questioned, her lips curving into an accusatory grin.

But I had no idea what she was talking about or where she got the idea.

Nothing had happened between us that was romantic.

Did he do something downstairs I hadn’t seen yet?

Was it all a misunderstanding, and he was in my house, planning something for me?

The idea that he decided to do something romantic excited me, giving me the burst of energy I needed to emerge from my comforter.

“What do you mean? As far as I know, he hasn’t done a romantic thing since our first three dates when he brought me to the nicest restaurant in the neighborhood, which he had rented out for us,” I repeated the story like she didn’t know it.

I had called her after each date to talk about how happy I had been.

I felt like I could not only have the man of my dreams, but I could have love and a stable, idyllic life.

It was all a facade he put on to grab my attention and make me feel special so I’d keep seeing him.

He slowly faded into the average man I had come to expect.

“You need to check your kitchen island, babe,” she responded.

Neither of us knew whether to be happy or shocked, unsure if Matthew had decided to put more effort into our relationship or if something more sinister was at play.

Sarah grabbed her bat from the floor and led the way down the stairs and into my kitchen like a bodyguard. I had a knife in my nightstand but stupidly left it there, too curious about what was waiting for me in the kitchen.

I smiled when I saw flowers…until I got closer and saw the note that made me freeze.

It was folded and standing with my name on the outside, and when I picked it up, a photo fell out.

I picked up the photo and recognized myself asleep, in last night’s outfit, with a knife being held in front of the camera. All the muscles in my body seized up.

My Darling Olivia,

I know you’ve felt like someone has been watching you.

I’ve been lurking in your room while you’ve slept.

I’ve stood over your body and watched you drool.

I’ve felt the softness of your skin under my touch.

You belong to me, and soon you’ll know it.

It’s time we meet and I unmask myself to you.

If you’re interested, here’s where you’ll find me. And I know you want to.

Where: Club Obsidian

When: Halloween, 9PM

Attire: Black lingerie

Don’t tell anyone…except Sarah. Especially not Matthew. If you call the police, I’ll know, and Matthew will suffer. Hope you enjoy the flowers. You deserve the world. See you in your sleep, my darling.

Okay, so the letter was a little alarming.

Someone had admitted to being in my home, watching me every night, and even knew the flowers I dreamt of being given.

They knew about Matthew and Sarah, and obviously it wasn’t Matthew if they threatened to hurt him.

I handed the note to Sarah, letting her read it for herself.

Her jaw dropped. “You’re living the dark romance dream. It’s worth it to see who he is. If you’re not interested, just don’t fuck him. I’ll stand by and jump him in the parking lot.”

“I don’t even know what Club Obsidian is,” I responded, like that was the best argument I could make against going to meet a stalker.

I could’ve mentioned how I didn’t want to track down my stalker.

Could’ve said I had no interest in meeting him.

But it would also be a lie. I was trying my best to leave that kind of life behind me, to get out of the darkness and head toward the light.

The girl living an idyllic lifestyle wouldn’t go to a club to meet a dangerous man who watched her sleep. “What if it’s a trap?”

“It’s a sex club, babe. I’ll go in a wig and disguise myself, so I can be there if you need me.

You need excitement in your life. I do, too.

You’d be doing me a huge favor. You don’t have to fuck the guy unless you want to.

” Sarah spoke as if it were a totally reasonable idea and not at all insane.

I loved her, but she had a crazy idea of excitement.

“I’ll consider it. It’s a week away. I think I’m close to getting Matthew to propose.

” It was a half-truth. I needed to convince him I was worth marrying; better than the girls he chose to see on the side.

I had to see if I could get him to give them up.

Him being reckless was a danger to the life I had built.

“Wait. Why do you know about this place?”

Sarah’s cheeks flushed. “I’m a gold member. Who doesn’t like a bit of exhibitionism?” she asked nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.

“Me. Mother may have taught me how to seduce men, but I hardly ever slept with them. I refused to grow attached before she died because she’d have me kill them. I knew she would. She thought relationships made you weak. So, I don’t have much experience. Matthew is very…vanilla,” I explained.

Before we slept together for the first time, I had hoped I would be good enough for him, but truthfully…

he wasn’t good enough for me. He couldn’t last more than five minutes—which was why I chose not to fight when he wouldn’t listen to me a few weeks ago.

I knew it’d be over quick, whereas fighting might cause a longer strain in our relationship.

Stability came at a high cost, but it came with safeties and assurances I needed.

“Now is the time to explore, babe, and your stalker is giving you the perfect opportunity. You don’t have to know who he is. An anonymous night of fun. Or, find out who he is and then make a decision. Either way, it seems like you have to go,” Sarah explained.

Did she really not see the danger in me meeting with a stalker at a sex club?

Not only for the possibilities of who he could be and what he could do, but for the fact that I had been trying to escape a darker lifestyle for a normal one.

Normalcy didn’t involve following a stranger to a sex club and letting him rail me where other people would potentially see.

“I promise if I decide to go, you’ll be the first to know,” I said, knowing my intention was to sit at home that night and watch scary movies with Matthew. It was our second Halloween together and would become our tradition.

“The flowers are cute. You should keep them, even if they came from some deranged stalker. Might be the last time you get flowers,” Sarah teased, elbowing me, attempting to lighten the mood.

I wasn’t as freaked out as I should’ve been, but now I had an assessment of the threat.

It was one of the things I was trained to do by the woman who raised me. Maybe I could turn the tables on them.

“You’re so funny, Sarah. Has anyone told you that?” I rolled my eyes. “I’m going back to bed. The threat is gone, so you can head out. I feel like my eyes are fighting me to close again.”

“I’ll take the couch. I’ll keep the bat close by, just in case.”

“If Matthew comes in, he has a key. Don’t hit him with a bat, okay?” I crossed my arms and glared at her.

“No promises.”