Page 22 of Dark Verse

“Well, boss,” I smile down at her, “Looking forward to our first day on the job.”

Walking away without turning back to her, I can still feel her eyes track me across the parking lot to my bike. Pulling on my helmet, I rev the engine, passing within a few feet of her as I leave, joining traffic on the main road.

I have never felt so wrecked from a simple conversation. Everything between us felt so charged with energy, and the sensation lingers in my body, desperate to get out. In years past, I would direct that energy to all kinds of bad behaviors and choices. Drinking too much, legal and illegal drugs alike, sex, and driving too fast.

Now I only allow myself two addictions. Exercise and coffee.

Still wired from the three coffees I drank while I waited for Raven, I head to the gym closest to the band’s rented house. But an hour on the treadmill and a half hour on free weights have barely tamped down the energy in me.

The showers at the gym offer privacy. As soon as I close the curtain and the hot water hits my skin, I grab my bar of soap. I pull on my cock, already semi-stiff and sensitive. Pre-cum weeps from the tip of my cock, the natural upward curve giving me the perfect view of the nearly clear liquid. The veins look angry to my eyes, blood pumping rapidly through my dick. I’m rock hard after just a few strokes, my mind quickly pulling forward images of Raven. Some of them are real, memories from that night in the alleyway or from tonight. The way she smelled. The way her hair lay against her shoulder. The way her thighs hugged my body.

Some of them are full-blown fantasies, things I can literally only dream of doing to her and with her. For a moment, I imagine it’s her hands wrapped around the base of my shaft, stroking me slowly but firmly. I imagine her hands and her mouth and her legs and her everything on me, my release cresting. My cum is quickly washed away by the running water, my ragged breathing covered by the sounds of an active shower room. I finish scrubbing down, but feel only marginally more stable than when I walked in.

Back home, lying in bed, my mind continues to comb over every little detail of our interaction. Unable to sleep, I grab my phone, fully intending to scroll my various socials until my brain is so overloaded that it will have no choice but to shut down for a few hours. Instead, I open my notes app and begin typing.

CHAPTER TEN

KNOX

“ALL AT Once”

Verse 1

I wasn’t looking, wasn’t ready

Just another ordinary night

Crowded room, the hum of strangers

Then the world narrowed to your light

Time slowed down

Like it knew it should behave

Every doubt I’d ever carried

Stepped aside and made a way

Pre-Chorus

I’d heard the stories, never trusted

Love that comes without a fight

But my defenses fell like harvest apples, ripe

The moment that I caught your eye

Chorus

It hit me all at once, no warning sign

A spark in the dark, an unseen fault line

One look and suddenly everything’s new

I didn’t choose it, I just knew