Page 30 of Asphyxia
Why did disturbing and exciting always walk hand in hand together?
This building gave me the creeps. It was eerie, like a haunted house—or something out of a Silent Hill movie. I was just waiting for Pyramid Head to pop out from around a corner and drag me to hell.
I need to stop watching so many horror movies at night…
A shiver trailed down the back of my spine as the heady smell of mold and mildew assaulted my senses the lower we descended. I still failed to understand why we were here and not at one of the actual police precincts.
“Before you say anything stupid, which I already know you are thinking—” Drake started, and I immediately fisted my hands at my sides, resisting the urge to sucker punch him right to the back of his skull. “My team has been using this building for the past seven years. We may all work for Minneapolis SWAT, but down here, we are a completely different division. One I thought necessary to bring into action.”
There's nothing better than feeling as though I just bit off way more than I could chew. What the fuck kind of assignment did Conrad put Dean on that would catch the attention of a secret, underground division of law enforcement?
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Drake turned around another corner, bringing us to a long, dimly lit cement hallway. My stomach shot straight up into my chest, and I swallowed hard.
I wasn’t scared, but I wasn’t fucking calm either. My heart rate accelerated as I watched Drake approach the only door with light leaking out from underneath it.
“Are you coming? Or are you just going to stand there questioning when I’m going to turn around and murder you?”Well, that was a fucking morbid statement.
I groaned, my legs disagreeing with my every decision as I dragged my heels down the cold hall, imagining if this was what it would feel like if hell froze over but still existed.
“For the record. Secret hideouts are childish.” I mocked when I stopped beside Drake, waiting for him to open the door so we could get out of this sinister fucking hallway and into aroom that I assumed—well hoped, would be far less daunting and hazardous to my health.
Drake scoffed, rolling his eyes as he held a black metal card up to the sensor pad, turning the handle once the light had shifted from red to green with an audible click.
Pushing the door wide open, Drake gestured me into a bright room filled with computers and monitors displaying cameras from around the city in what appeared to be a dispatch center—only it wasn’t.
Everyone in the room was geared up in full SWAT uniform; not a single body in here looked as though they worked for a standard call center. They didn’t even acknowledge my arrival, too busy with their heads bowed, scanning whatever was on their screens.
“Welcome to Alpha-Six. Ready to get to work?” Drake chuckled as he shoved past me and swaggered to the doorway of what I assumed was his office, residing at the far back of the room.
What. The. Fuck.
Chapter 16
Madison
Itookthedayoff, unable to focus and dreading being back in the ED after the last time I was there—when I snapped. I had weeks of PTO accumulated, so I figured what better time than now to use it? Anything to avoid another Scott situation.
I didn’t want Marcus or Dean to avoid their jobs just for me, so I played it off as if I still had my usual shift, only to come home and curl up on my couch instead.
The quiet was nice, but without either of them here, I felt like a piece of me was missing.
Chyler always called me the romantic one, and while that description rang true for how I acted around her and Alexis with Adrian—they never really knew the gravity of our relationship.
I loved Adrian with all my heart and soul, and a love like that blinds you to the apparent, toxic behavior.
Adrian wasn’t good for me, a black flag, and I saw that vividly now that he was gone. Honestly, I’d probably still be with him this very day if no one had stepped between us and woke me up from my fantasy. Although sometimes, I felt like I still was when he haunted my dreams at night.
I wrapped a cream-colored jersey-knit blanket around me as I paused the movie I was watching and stood up from the couch to grab a drink. After entering the kitchen, I pulled a glass out of the cupboard above the sink and filled it with water from the dispenser on the fridge door before turning around and glancing down at my phone on the island counter.
I don’t remember the specific moment I became infatuated with Marcus—for lack of a better word. From the start, he was always just supposed to be the nextfixto keep my emotions from tipping me over the edge, and now, here I was, anticipating his next text—wanting me.I may as well add Dean to that list, too.
I desired both of them more than anything, and even though I had been with Marcus longer, I wanted Dean just as much—no more, no less. Without a single doubt in my mind, I knew they were mine and that I’d kill any woman who so much as attempted to stand in my way.
Marcus was easy—he was a player. He had never invested his time and efforts into having a real relationship, making claiming him the easiest. Give the boy what he wanted, and he’d stick around as long as you kept him satisfied.
Dean, on the otherhand…
That very first night, when he recognized me, I could see deep within his eyes that he expected me to be someone else. It almost made me…jealous?
