Page 112 of The Chemist

“D? It’s me. Zero.”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Diesel pounded his fists against his head.

Give in.

Fight it!

Just let go. He doesn’t really care about you.

He loves you. He came here to rescue you. Are you really going to hurt the only man who ever truly understood you?

With tears flooding his eyes, Diesel turned to face his knight in shining armor.

“I… I can’t…” he whimpered, struggling against the rage and feeling so fucking tired. He wasn’t sure how much longer his mind could hold on.

Staring into Zero’s pleading chestnut eyes, Diesel’s heart broke.

Was he strong enough to resist the chemicals flowing through his veins?

It was getting harder and harder to tell what was real and what was a hallucination. Perhaps Zero wasn’t even there? Staring up at him like he couldn’t believe the monster he was seeing.

No matter whether the man before him was real or fake, there was no way in hell he was going to harm the only man who broke through his defenses and latched onto his heart.

Smiling down at that gorgeous washed-up underwear model’s face, Diesel did the one thing he could think of to keep Zero safe.

“I love you,” Diesel whispered before stepping into the bear trap and screaming when the sharp metal blades cut into his flesh.

The pain was excruciating.

Anger, rage, sorrow, love. All those emotions came rushing over him.

Staring up at the stars, his mind finally gave in to the rage that possessed him, but not before he saw Zero’s loving face staring down at him.

Zero was safe.

42

DIESEL

Groaning, Diesel shifted slightly before pain shot up his leg, reminding him that he was injured and that his leg was fucked.

Okay, it wasn’t fucked in the way that his life would be drastically changed or altered in any way—it was fucked as in he had to wear a bandage and get his wound cleaned every six to twelve hours. That, and the pain he was in, was excruciating, especially given that he was trying not to take any painkillers. It wasn’t that he was addicted to them; he was just trying this new thing where he remained clean and sober… at least until after he recovered. Who knows, perhaps he will enjoy the mundane life and try making it a permanent thing.

He wasn’t ready to make any commitments, but hey, you never knew.

Mmm. He could feel the saliva sliding down the side of his open mouth and pooling on God knows what was pushed up against his face.

He was lying on his back, leg elevated, of course, while his body was curved slightly to the left, cuddling into a large, warm body pillow. One that came with extremely hard nipples and asarcastic mouth that needed to be plugged at least twice a day whenever possible.

Slowly, he opened an eye and smiled. Lying peacefully next to him, mouth slightly open, was Zero. The man hadn’t left his side since he was rescued from the mad doctor and his facility of drugged-up killers.

It had been three days since he and the others were rescued and the mad doctor arrested. Marc had given the drugs to a chemist friend of his who was able to break down the drugs and provide a detailed report about the effects of the drug on the body, including hallucinations and uncontrolled aggression. Seriously, it was a miracle that Diesel hadn’t killed Zero or anyone else for that matter.

As it turned out, the winner of each competition was released back on the streets, having no memory of the ordeal or experiment that they had endured. The drug they were given at the party was administered to the participants every six hours to ensure that the winner had no memory of the ordeal they had survived once they were returned. Surviving the murders was the winner’s award.

In addition to Dr. Baasch’s arrest, Marc was able to pull the IP addresses of all the users who subscribed to the doctor’s deranged broadcast. Interpol was currently working on issuing warrants for the arrests of all those individuals.

Sadly, there had been one victim, the woman who had been taken along with Diesel and his two male companions. Her body was recovered, and the police were currently searching the property for the bodies of other victims who had been kidnapped by the mad doctor. It was scary to think how close Diesel had come to becoming one of those markless graves.

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