“He lives in the housing projects in Trenton, near the old fire station on Fletcher. Apartment 5A. Why do you want to know?” he’d asked with a frown.

“We have a project for astronomy class and he’s my partner…”

He’d laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you, Aylee, but astronomy—school in general, is the last thing on Max’s mind. As you can probably tell, he’s not really focused on passing his classes, let alone working on a school project. Trust me, I think you’d be better off asking Mr. Solomon to give you another partner, or better yet, just do it alone.”

Another person discouraging me from pursuing this thing with Maddox should’ve been reason enough to have me turning around and heading back home, because clearly this is a bad idea. But despite my better judgment, I keep going. It’s nearing five o’clock when I finally arrive at his apartment building. The gravity of what I’m doing doesn’t fully settle on me until I park my bike a few feet away from the building teeming with occupants who stare at me with full knowledge that I don’t belong here. Ignoring the heavy weight of their stares is a huge task that has my hands trembling as I fasten my bike lock to the black pole of the Tow-Away Zone sign.

I head inside the building nearly gagging at the terrible smell that seems to stick to my taste buds. Shallow breaths make it tolerable, but barely. There’s so much noise coming from almost every door I pass. Arguing, pounding footsteps, and the muffled wails of a baby filter in from the paper-thin walls. When I finally get to apartment 5A, I’m suddenly overtaken with the overwhelming urge to flee. But my desire to see this through is so much stronger, it’s what drives me to raise a fisted hand ready to knock. Only there’s no need. The dark brown door has been left slightly open.

Deliberating on whether to go in or stay where I am to wait, I choose the former and push the door open a little further. Before proceeding inside, I give out a call. “Hello?” Tinged with nerves, it comes out too soft.

So I’m not surprised when there’s no answer. What does however take me off guard are the laboring breaths and heavy, guttural moans and grunts from inside that sound too much like a struggle. If it were anyone else, they would’ve probably gone in the opposite direction, clearly to avoid a possibly dangerous situation. I’m hurtling toward it without even a single thought to my own safety.

But I wish I did. I wish I’d taken a moment to consider my action. To listen more carefully and realize that the sounds could be something else. If I’d put more thought into it, I would’ve spared myself the scene I’m left to witness.

Maddox and two girls. They’re at a partial angle, but Maddox has his back facing the front entrance of where I’m currently rooted. He’s naked. In fact, they’re all naked. Except it’s on Maddox that my eyes lock on. Greedily, I take him in, feast on every inch of his fully-decorated, sinewy physique. There’s a massive tattoo of a geometric stag head on his back. It’s a breathtaking piece of work. Everything from the line work of the antlers running up his shoulder blades, to the shadowed details of the face, especially the eyes, is utterly astounding. Even the three simple black triangles that form the stag’s jawbone ending at the curve of his firm buttocks is something to behold.

“Oh, God, oh, God, right there…” That breathless voice forces me to pry my gaze away from Maddox’s beautiful back tattoo and take in the scene as a whole. “Fuck, so good…God, Max, harder…gonna come…” I can’t see the face of the one who’s talking because her head is thrust back in obvious pleasure. The second girl is between her parted legs, and while she’s on her hands and knees, Maddox has a firm grip on her hips as he furiously moves back and forth, his butt cheeks clenching with every forward thrust.

It’s lurid and obscene and way too much for me to witness. I know I should be getting out of here, turning and leaving as quietly as I came in before they notice me. I know all of this. I’m screaming it inside my head and yet I’m unable to pull myself away. Unsure of how long I stand there, I die a slow, mortifying death when they finish and turn to find me as their unwanted audience. I can’t even express how badly I want the floor to open up and drag me down. I’d be willing. Right about now, even hell felt like a good place to be. I nearly swallow my tongue when he turns around. Not even the large, intricate tattoo of a Hindu deity covering his torso can keep my eyes from involuntarily trailing down…

His chuckle carries across the short distance of space; it’s a dry, mocking sound that makes me want to curl up and cease to exist.

“Enjoy the show?” There’s a slight lift of his left eyebrow as he keeps his sharp, gray eyes on me. Following the path of his hand, I turn my head away when he unabashedly pulls off the slick condom.

“Hey, don’t I know you?” the one who’d had her head thrust back asks with a smile while slipping on her panties. She looks familiar but I can’t recall her name.

“I think it’s Aylee, she’s Mallory’s friend,” the other girl replies, seated casually on the hardwood floor. “Wow, Max, how’d you convince her to be a part of the site? Whoa, are we having a foursome?”

“I don’t know, are we, Aylee?” he mocks, “are you going to join us, little stalker?”

He makes it sound so crude. “I…” I lick my lips nervously. “I’m not here for…that…”

“Then why the fuck are you here?”

Chapter 9

Maddox

It comes out harsher than I intend. But shit, I didn’t expect to see her here. I don’t shock too easily, but the fact that she’s actually standing in my rathole is fucking with my head. People like her don’t crawl down to these parts. Unless, of course, they’re looking to score. I look at her, standing there, nervously shifting her weight from one leg to the other and I can’t see it. What the fuck is she doing here?

“Uh…” The pink flush in her cheeks deepens and she scrunches her face in what I can only take on to be concentration. Searching for an answer to a simple question shouldn’t be this damned difficult.

There’s no evidence of a junkie. What she is, however, is the same scared little woodland creature that follows me around school with those otherworldly eyes. She thinks I haven’t noticed but I’ve seen her more times than she even knows. How could I not when every time I turn around there she is. Like now for example. I should be concerned that she’s taken her stalking this far but I’m more curious to find out what the hell she wants.

“Cat got your tongue?”

She frowns. “I’m sorry…I’m going to go…” And she turns to leave.

“Stay right where you are.” She stops like my words are the absolute law, and I find a perverse pleasure in that. “We’re done here, ladies.” I don’t look away from her when I say this, “I have your PayPal emails, expect a deposit in a week or two.”

Danielle and Alecia don’t linger. In and out, just how I like it. They know the drill by now. They waste my time, we don’t fuck again, and they don’t get paid. Pretty fucking simple. They dress quickly, grab whatever shit they came with, and after saying their good-byes find the nearest exit all with the proficiency of trained amateur porn stars.

“So, are you going to tell me why you’re here? Or are you just going to stand there and stare at my dick?” I ask at the click of the door closing. Heading over to the tripod, I turn off my camera and walk back to stand where I was, only a few feet away from her.

She huffs, and her plump bottom lip ends up curling between her porcelain-white teeth. “I’m not staring.” Her reply has bite and for some reason I find myself smirking at that. I laugh when her eyes flick down for a second and then back up again. “I’m not,” she states firmly with a glare.