psychopath · pyromaniac · former operative · real estate mogul · obsessive · possessive · dark romance · heterochromia · fire metaphors · the cabal
The neon sign above the door stutters—'Where the demons come to play'—washing the stage in a pulse of diseased red light. The bass thumps up through the floorboards, a second heartbeat in my aching feet. I close my eyes, fabricating solitude in the middle of the crowd. When I open them, the VIP section glows like a distant galaxy—low lights, deep leather, the murmur of a world I'll never touch. I set the heavy tray down at Table 4, keeping my gaze fixed on the polished wood, but a sliver of their lives catches me: a heated debate, a stunning woman curled into the shelter of a man's arm, a giant with a leather eye patch. A family. The word aches. In another universe, perhaps. I retreat, a ghost slipping back to my cell. The room holds only a narrow bed and a bottle of water. I tear t…