Chapter 3 THREE

Her eyes flamed up with the lights as she wrapped herself with the blanket. Tom was there, with Elle on his shoulders, fast asleep.

But it was Armani that was the closest to her, leaning against the fire truck. "Are you okay?" He asked, squeezing her shoulders firmly. Alyssa looked up to him and back at her family, not knowing any other feeling but relief. "I'm relieved" She whispered.

The sheriff walked over to her, strutting over the splatters of blood over the suburban pavements. And Alyssa beheld his company, shivering beneath the blanket.

"I wish i could tell you she was a good person-" She paused. "But the truth is-"

"The truth is, no one fucking knew her"

FIVE HOURS EARLIER

The knock pierced his ears as he withdrew his knuckles from the door. He couldn't believe how sharp grazed the woods were.

Birds chirped in the trees above him as he patted his feet against the ground nervously. He threw his head over his shoulders, looking back at the alleyway through which he was directed.

Armani was fond of hookups but he couldn't shake off this odd feeling within him. "I gotta go soon" He whispered to Alyssa over the phone, who didn't hear him over the vacuuming she was into.

"Okay" She said regardless, hanging up. Now, she had made it clear how surprised she was that Armani was already meeting up with the hot guy who he'd only got matched with that day. And the truth he was surprised as well.

But as the guy wasn't willing to waste anytime, he figured he wasn't either-

Harry118: hey handsome.

R.Manie: hii.

He couldn't wrap his head as to how they went from that to exchanging a few pictures.

And his location read only a few kilometers away.

Harry118: you're hot. Wanna meet?

And that was it. Of course, this wasn't tinder.

He lied to Alyssa. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was here, at the address Harry had dropped-

-freezing under his jacket and looking briskly around the silent lanes. This was the ghetto of Yonsdale if there was anything like that. But the outskirts would be a better word to describe it. He'd driven an hour and a half to get stood up at the door bit it was as he was about to turn his back that he heard the lock click, slowly sliding out of place with a key and alas, the door opened.

He turned around to see a close to six foot bearded man without a shirt, who happened to Harry.

His eyes fell from the crown of his head to his hairy legs. "Hey" Armani muttered, feeling he had to say something before entering the house.

Harry was silent as she closed the door after him. But at least he looked like his pictures. Not everyone on grindr did.

-

"Are you in a sexless marriage? Is your marriage lacking some sense of emotional intimacy?" Alyssa looked to Tom as she sat up uncomfortably.

Now, it wasn't her fault that came up on the tv, or maybe it was. But Elle was seated just beside her, her face buried in her coloring book. "You know baby, how about this going here" Al awkwardly took the book from her as Tom reached for the television remote.

Alyssa stared from the corner of her eyes as he put it off. "Here are ways you can spice back u-" And once he put it off, he stood from the chair, heading back into the bedroom.

"You know Elle, how about you hold this for a minute" She said, standing up to follow him behind. Clenching her nightgown, Alyssa made her way to the bedroom where Tom had slammed the door. "Why did you put it off?" She asked.

"Why did you leave?"

"Why did i put it off?" Tom echoed. "Because our fucking daughter was there" He turned his back before heading into the bathroom.

"That's a lie" Alyssa replied. "What is it now? I just got back from a long day at work. I really don't need this Alyssa" Tom palmed his face as he turned to face her.

Tears welled up in her eyes just as she leaned against the wall. "Is that what this is? A sexless marriage?"

"Do you even want me at all anymore?" She yelled above his voice when he wanted to speak.

"I feel like you're just trying to start an unnecessary fight over something so unnecessary"

"Answer the goddamn question Tom" She yelled, and he just scoffed, deflating his shoulders.

Now, the only that was worse than a negative response was not responding at all. The tears fell from her eyes as she scoffed as well.

"I guess i got my answer-" "No, Alyssa. There is no damn answer" By this time, she turned to find Elle lurking by the door.

She walked up to her, carrying her in her arms and escaping Tom, all whilst tears streamed down her cheeks. "Mummy, are you okay?" She nodded firmly, wiping beneath her eyes.

"Mummy is okay" She whispered to her baby, as she walked into her room. "Mummy is okay-"

-

"So what kind of stuff are you into?" Harry asked, pouring Armani a glass of his favorite whiskey.

He looked around, sitting out of the couch.

The insides of the house were abundantly adorned with cowboy hats and chains. It was like a wood cabin but in the suburbs.

Harry had a fascinating taste, a weird one and a middle eastern accent. He drew back, never breaking eye contact with Armani.

"I-I don't know" He stuttered. "Everything?"

Now, he might not have meant that but there was always this part of him that wanted to see how far he would go in terms of flirting.

And something told him that Harry liked that reply. Because it could only mean no limits.

He dropped the bottle on the table and moved closer to Armani who rested back on the chair. Harry was in a pair of briefs and nothing else, he wasn't as ripped as a cover model, but he was fit.

And a tad bit hairy, which was Armani's type.

He had the bare minimum as standards. He fisted his hands and placed a knee to the couch, between Armani's thighs and he uncomfortably looked up at him, budging a little as to how close to him he was.

"You?" Armani whimpered as Harry cupped his chin, slowly opening his mouth. "I'm into everything" He said the same thing, lowering his voice to sound as mysterious.

"What do you mean by everything?" Armani whispered, tilting his head back a bit as Harry widened his lips, placing a finger into his mouth.

He choked, but Harry didn't move.

He only went further and further in till he reached the back of his throat and it was then Armani turned away.

His finger dripped before he wiped it against his skin, and he backed away. There was a furrow between Armani's brows as he looked around.

"Everything. Ageplay, bdsm, raceplay, furrows-" Harry went on and on, before pausing. "Roleplay" Armani sat back up.

"Raceplay?"

"You want to try that out first?" Harry asked and Armani's eyes widened.

"Actually-" "Can i use your bathroom?" "Far right from the kitchen" Harry said, falling into the couch.

Armani rose, walking through the corridors and he didn't stop until he got to a particular room. Harry had struck him as a kinky person but everything changed once he opened that door.

He was sociopath, and weird.

And till then, he didn't even know the meaning of furrows. "I need to get out of here-" He whispered, forgetting to even close the door.

He ran, ravaging through the doors for the bathroom. And once he got in, he made sure to lock it back up.

He climbed the water closet to open the windows as he sought a way to escape. Upon looking down, he convinced himself he could make the jump of a few feet, anything to get out of this place.

He slipped, letting the window cover fall from his hands and it shattered on the ground into a million pieces with a loud noise.

It didn't take long till Harry started banging against the doors. And Armani's heart wanted to fly out of his chest.

He balanced on the window pane, ready to make the leap and he prayed to God in that moment that let this not be the way he would die.

He closed his eyes and then he jumped, grazing his knees against the pavement. He didn't take time to recover from the failed jump, he just ran as fast as he could to his car.

He grappled the keys and tried his best to steadily ignite the engines. Pretty sure he caught a glimpse of Harry by the doorstep, but he didn't wait that long.

In a second, he sped along the driveway and into the shrubs as he made a sharp turning to the roads. "Fucking hell" He yelled out of the windows as the winds blew right in his face. He heaved a sigh of relief before his phone went off.

He was startled until he saw the name across it. Alyssa. He looked between the roads and his phone till it cut off.

Then she typed a message-

Alyssa: still up for a jog?

-

"You won't fucking believe. This man's whole house was a red flag. It's the fucked up people you meet on the internet" Armani vented, jogging along the pavement with Alyssa who'd zoned out for a minute.

They headed out a few hours ago and now they were on their way back home. Alyssa found it as a way to clear her head of what had happened earlier that night.

"What the fuck is even furrow sexually? Raceplay?" Alyssa zoned back in.

"Raceplay?" "Isn't that racist?" She asked, for the first time laughing that night.

"Man, i don't know man. I've never run that fast for my life man" Armani said. "My advice, never use a dating app. I would die to have what you and Tom have-" Alyssa scoffed lightly at how ironical that sounded.

And from a scoff, she began to laugh.

Laugh so much that tears welled up in her eyes and she started crying.

"Tom doesn't even love me" There was a crack in her voice as for a moment, she paused to catch her breath. "What?" Armani asked, gulping water.

"You heard me" "My husband doesn't love me. I asked him and he didn't reply-" She said.

"What if he just didn't know how to say it?" Armani asked. "I mean it does make a lot of sense why he won't even look at me. I think everything just happened so fast. Met in high school, fell in love. Got married in college as some sort of commitment then Elle. The years went by so fast" She added.

"And now he's bored. And i am too. You know-" "At what point do you know that your marriage isn't worth saving?" She turned to Armani but just as he was about to speak.

A queue of police cars sped past them, blaring the sirens at the loudest. It grabbed the attentions of both of them as they continued staring, knowing there's only one direction that road headed.

Yondsdale district 6b-

-which was where Alyssa lived. "What's going on?" Armani asked, picking up his pace as an ambulance drove past away. The air was filled with misty gloom as Alyssa picked up behind him.

Curtains were pulled aside as people crept by their windows. The sirens wailed in the winds like it was some sort of military parade, and Alyssa's heart pounded with each noise.

They began to stop and queue around the district while Armani went further beneath the tapes that had already been drawn across the roads.

He'd parked his car in Al's driveway and now there were tapes around.

Black and yellow tapes that read caution. "Armani" Her feet gripped the ground, forcing her to come a halt. He stopped as well, looking ahead before turning back to her.

The lights blazed in her moist eyes, like a lightning strike which he could see. Before them were red and yellow tapes which could only be significant to a crime scene.

The tapes kept aside the crowding pub as Alyssa begun to look around. It was her house.

NOW

"Are you okay?" Armani asked, squeezing her shoulders firmly. Alyssa looked up to him and back at her family, not knowing any other feeling but relief.

"I'm relieved" She whispered.

The sheriff walked over to her, strutting over the splatters of blood over the suburban pavements.

And Alyssa beheld his company, shivering beneath the blanket. "I wish i could tell you she was a good person-" She paused, her eyes meeting Tom's for a deadly second.

"But the truth is-"

"The truth is, no one fucking knew her" "We have reason to believe she deliberately jumped off the roof of her house. landing unto her pavement where she severed her limbs and bruised her head badly"

She imagined how bloody that would have been and she was taken back to the moment when she saw the body in the bag-

-when she thought it might have been Tom.

"What?" She said, elementing shock in her voice. Armani leaned towards her, adjusting the blanket well over her shoulders.

"Madeline killed herself" He whispered without an iota of emotion in his voice. "What-"

To be continued...