Chapter 1: Introduction
The bass drummed like it was out to break through my ribs. Lights bounced colors across the room, reflecting off skin damp with sweat, and illuminating flecks of MDMA that sparkled like stars twinkling across the club. The crowd moved as one—muscled bodies and curves undulating together—toward the DJ at his altar.
Nights like these had lost their allure for me. I glanced around for an escape route.
My eyes caught on the dingy restroom sign as if it were a beacon in the cacophony, the pulsing lights, and the intensity that was swallowing me whole.
I pushed the heavy metal door open, sighing as the sounds of liquid ecstasy retreated behind me. I leaned against the cool concrete wall, collecting myself. I should have known better than to come here. It was just another night of witnessing bodies writhing in a club, making connections without consent-ones that would ultimately end without commitment.
I felt a sudden pang of loneliness as I glanced at the graffiti-ruined walls, the cracks and smudges depicting stories of fleeting passions that had once existed in this very space.
I was feeling hopeless, lost in the crowd, when I heard it—the soft sounds of flesh rubbing against flesh from the next stall. I took a deep breath and tried to ignore it, but there was something about it that piqued my curiosity.
I could hear it, the quickening panting, the soft whimpers cutting through the ambient music playing faintly. I couldn’t help myself; I peeked through the crack in the stall door.
Our eyes met in a sudden moment of shock, and when she smirked at me, I felt a flush spreading across my cheeks. I recognized her now—Lola, dressed in an aquamarine two-piece that drew the eye of everyone in the room. She looked like an ethereal ocean mermaid dancing among mortals.
Her skin glowed, slick with sweat and adorned with a glittering crown of rhinestones. I couldn't look away, coursing with an insatiable hunger to dive beneath those captivating eyes and swim in her depths. Our eyes locked, her smile widening into a knowing smirk.
I felt blood rushing through my veins as I gripped the edge of the stall, leaning closer. I licked my lips, the tip of my tongue tracing the shape of her name in the air.
"Lola," I whispered.
The sound of her name seemed to trigger something in her. Her smile widened. She tilted her head back, giving me an unobstructed view of her throat. She rubbed herself faster and harder, a gasp escaping from her lips, filling the stall with the scent of her desire.
I found my own hand tangled in the fabric of my jeans. My movements mirrored hers, our heavy breathing syncing up, desire fueling each aching move.