Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 145088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Dex stroked his arm with a thoughtful expression. “We should tie him up then. Gag? Blindfold?”
“No gags, it’s more fun when they try to negotiate,” Hammer said, stalling when the brown eyes shone with excitement that matched his. Unlike many others, Dex understood what made him tick, and it was a revelation like no other in Hammer’s life to date. Could they perhaps share something yet more private? “I wrote down some… ideas.”
Dex’s smile widened, and he slapped Hammer’s arm. “Whaaat? Get out! You’re so fucking organized. Show me.”
“It’s not really a list or mind map. I do it… my own way,” Hammer said but was already taking out his phone.
“What do you mean?” Dex shifted closer, resting his chin on his shoulder to look at the device. “You paint your ideas?”
Hammer chuckled, waiting for the device to start with growing anticipation. “I wish. Just imagine being able to do all that exaggerated gore.” But he was already switching on his secret website.
“Right? It’s why I love horror movies, they’re so creative with it.” Dex stroked Hammer’s stomach, and it felt… nice. Back at Cora’s, their touching had been very sexual, always focused on arousal. Weirdly enough, this felt much more intimate and more like a hug than a prelude to fucking.
Hammer chewed on his lip and leaned in to press a kiss to Dex’s warm forehead. “And since I don’t have any artistic talent, I decided to express myself with fiction. You must have heard Lion thought a fragment I’ve written was actually about wanting to murder him, right?”
Dex snorted. “Must have been goddamn realistic then. No ghosts or werewolves? Do you just write about what you would do?”
“Or about the things I did,” Hammer said, remembering the bits of text he hadn’t shared with anyone yet, like the one involving Dex and a lot of porny imagery. He wasn’t sure how his usual audience might react to this kind of content, so he was still keeping it to himself.
“Aren’t you worried it could be used against you? As evidence or something?
Hammer shrugged. “It’s just horror. It’s never perfectly aligned with how things happened, even if I’d fucking love to treat Ryker to exactly what I wrote down,” he said, opening the latest entry on his website. It was a popular one, even if just a work in progress, not part of the main story he was publishing in chapters. “Do you want to read it?”
Dex kissed the back of his shoulder. “Would you read it to me? I wanna hear it in your sexy voice.”
Hammer chuckled but rubbed his hand through Dex’s fluffy hair as the boy slid to the floor, resting his head against Hammer’s thigh. It felt as if he was getting ready for a bedtime story. “Just remember it’s not finished yet,” Hammer said, struck by worry that Dex might not appreciate his literary attempts and dismiss them. Hammer figured he was good at writing his chosen genre, or else he wouldn’t be getting so many positive comments under each chapter, but he didn’t really share his writing with people in real life since Cora, the one person he’d trusted with it had just… told him his prose was interesting and then moved on from it. She just didn’t get what he was trying to do, and since indifference was much worse than outright hate, he’d kept his audience strictly online since.
But Dex seemed genuinely excited and stroked Hammer’s calf through denim, for once not trying to get into Hammer’s pants. “That’s fine. You can polish it once you know what Ryker’s last words are.”
Breath caught in Hammer’s throat as his heartbeat quickened. “That’s exactly what I’ll do,” he said with a growing smile and placed his hand on Dex’s head before looking at the paragraph.
“Holden—that’s my nickname for Ryker—knew what was coming. The sweat beading on his face tasted tangy, like the blood that would soon start flowing, and there was nothing he could do about it. Executioner’s—that’s me—form towered over him like a giant about to gut him for dinner, but despite the tension in the air, it was so quiet Holden could hear his every frantic heartbeat. Tonight, he’d be ripped apart piece by piece, but as he stiffened in fear, something swished in the air, and the massive head of a sledgehammer descended on his hand, breaking every single bone.”
“Ooh, good one. Painful but not something that would kill him,” Dex said so fast he choked on air. He seemed hypnotized by the story, so Hammer read on, sparing no gory details.
Dex didn’t interrupt him with anything beyond the occasional gasp or nod, and once Hammer was finished, with ‘Holden’s’ life still hanging by a thread, he awaited Dex’s verdict, surprisingly nervous to hear his assessment.
It took Dex a moment to realize the bedtime story was over, and he sat up, squeezing Hammer’s knee. “And what then? What happens next?”