“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.” – Anne LamottJORDAN POV“First night as an official couple. What are your plans for the rest of the night?” I intoned latching a hook onto her bandage, then smiled down at her before brushing a pad of my finger on the rough material. “I had planned to take a long bath, soak inside my tub while reading My Stepbrother and His Friend…” she mused lightly before a burst of loud laughter rumbled out of her at my shocked expression. “Not what I had in mind.” I contradicted, my hand falling on her bare thigh. “You might have a better idea. I’m all ears.” She threaded her fingers with mine, and for the umpteenth time since I stepped foot into her bedroom, I wondered if I was in the presence of Bloody Mel, or the sweet innocent Laura. The latter was rather befitting. The woman in front of me had laugh lines at the corn
“You are only as free as you think you are and freedom will always be as real as you believe it to be.” – Robert M. Drake JORDAN POVThe morning came sooner than I hoped, and I fought curses from raining down my mouth as I rolled off the bed before sitting on the edge of it, my feet disappearing into 4 plies of lushness and softness of the big rug in Mel’s room. My head felt heavy, and my back felt like it was under the endless torment of being pricked by millions of needles every now and then. My skin was hot, feverish even, and my breath smelled like I swallowed 10 dead frogs. A heavy groan escaped from my mouth as I got up, and winced when a slicing pain soared through my back. I stood stoic for a second, letting my body get accustomed to being awake and very much alive. I must have pissed the gods. That would be the only plausible explanation to my sudden rotten luck. But hey, all of that started when Melody walked into my life. But last night made me see her with a differen
Chapter 20“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” – Plato MELODY POVUnease settled in the messy puddle of my stomach, terror icing the blood in my veins with every tension-filled second. Damir showed up unannounced in the morning, before dropping a bombshell to our lap that they were invaded by some miniature cartels forming all around him. I previously thought it might take time before the dimwits revealed the color of their roots, or show the world how stupid they were. But all of that was a white lie. They were up and acting. And they were acting fast. They did not just attack our Russian base. They hit us in the stomach by bombing our Krokodil plant. And that was going to cost us a fuckin’ arm and a leg to recover. Krokodil was lethal, and it was our best-selling drug thus far. Man-made morphine that guaranteed you a prolonged state of high, and some sweet, sweet addiction. I grew impatient in
“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.” – Walt WhitmanMELODY POVBreath ragged from the run, I yanked off the band that held my curls in an upward ponytail throwing it into the neatly trimmed bushes marring the small roundabout in front of the manor. I didn't stop until I was pushing the heavy double doors made of pure oak only to halt when a pair of hard eyes landed on me. My heart skitted to a stop before I found my breath, and all I managed to do was let out a small smile. Jordan stood by the staircase, looking as sinful as ever in a pair blue of jeans and a white T-shirt. The ink running down his arm was on full display, and my mouth dried up instantly."You’ll tell me when you're done glaring." his voice sounded like Christmas morning, and it took every ounce of my willpower to not jump his bones and start kissing the living life out of him."You are early." I was abrupt as I took small steps to where he was standing. My main target was the staircase, not him."Change of
"When you have a dark side, nothing is ever as good as it seems.”- PinkMELODY POV As much as I hated to admit it, Damir's plan was actually genius. Put aside everything that happened in between. But everything did happen the way he said it would, and I would be a lying ball sack if I said I wasn't loving every minute of it. Not that I would tell him that. Damir was the kind of guy who had an ego bigger than the Kilimanjaro itself. I wasn't ready to be graced by his everlasting, undying conceit.But that was beside the point. Right now, the tabloids were going berserk with pictures of Jordan and I, and things were looking pretty for Thomas thus far. As predicted, the people seemed to be focusing on the possibility of their favorite politician joining hands and forces with their idols, US. And it was funny how they all seemed to think my marriage with Jordan was going to save the world from AIDS. Jordan and I fell into our roles, playing the lovey-dovey couple in front of the whole wo
Chapter 23“What you see in me is what you don't see... And what you don't is what I am.” - Omesh Crasher.Jordan POVI'd always imagined marriage as nothing but an impediment. Waking up next to somebody for the rest of your days, put up with their shit and temper tantrums. whenever I tried to broaden the aspect, I would see the little shit machines that were going to be neglected when the going gets tough. Literally, everything that would have me running for my life. I have seen married people before, happy married people. But something always told me a lot was going on behind closed doors, and that scared the shit out of me. The idea of spending the rest of my life with one person was mortifying enough. But spending life with the person you barely knew was far worst.That was all until I met Melody. She never hinted anything of happily ever after, but I found myself thinking of something entirely apart. Now I knew it was more than the vows said in front of the priest, false promi
CHAPTER 24“All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.” - Swami VivekanandaJORDAN POVMy fist slammed into his stomach, sending a stabbing pang into my arm through my knuckles. The blow was intentional, hard, and precise.Kory grunted before hissing like a feral cat, then leaped backward and grinned like the idiot he was."Welcome back to the game, brother." he jumped effortlessly on his toes as he glared at me. We were going down at it without gloves, and anyone would have backed out as soon as a bare fist made the first contact with their ribs. But Kory loved the ache. He got off from sore ribs and blue eyes. He wore his bruises like a medal."Don't hold back." I wiped the sweat dripping down my forehead with the back of my hand, then braced my ground. Adrenalin soared through me with a roar as he countered with his right leg. I leaped into the air and landed on my good foot before hooking my knee and ja
“Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily." _ Napoleon Bonaparte.MELODY POVI was far from perfect. matter of fact, I perfected in imperfections. My whole life revolved around all the wickedness and unwavering vileness of this world. I always found ways to go against the laws of humanity.I broke the law of gods and men like I broke necks. I did all the bad things in the world, to the point where I believed the devil hated me.Word has it that he hates competition more than he hated salvation.With all the sins I have committed in my 23 years in this world, not even once did I flinch. I was not capable of things like regret, andI slit a throat right now and went home to watch Tom and Jerry before dreaming of my next kill. Never have I felt even a slight smidgeon of guilt. it was my life, and nobody ever made me feel shitty about it. But right now, I was placed before a black mirror, forced to look at the monster I have become. The blackness of my soul fo