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Friendship Tested

Author: Tyson Roy
last update Last Updated: 2025-08-31 17:29:40

The hum of Elysium is a rhythm I’ve come to know: laughter that’s too low to reach the street, the muffled crack of leather against flesh echoing from behind closed doors, the scent of candle wax, sweat, and perfume weaving together into something uniquely ours. Tonight, though, that rhythm felt slightly off—as though the song was missing a beat.

I had wandered toward the east wing’s lounge, notebook forgotten in my locker, my collar cool against my skin. Victor was occupied in the Red Room with security checks, Marco had slipped away muttering about shift rotations, and Lena had claimed she was too tired for company. I thought I might find Jennifer. She’d been sharp lately, more guarded, and despite her edges, I liked the way her confidence steadied me when mine wavered.

The lounge’s double doors were cracked open. Inside, laughter lilted—Jennifer’s unmistakable timbre, rich and mocking. I slowed, half-ready to smile and step inside. Then her words reached me, sharp as a whip’s tail.
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  • Shadows of Desire   Cassie’s Suspicion

    Antiseptic and leather don’t usually mix in Elysium. Tonight they did.Dr. Elise’s mobile kit lay open on the Red Room’s sideboard—gauze, tape, a penlight—while a nervous submissive sat on the edge of a chaise, ankle wrapped, cheeks blotchy with embarrassment and adrenaline. The suspension rig that had been holding him minutes earlier hung slack, a steel carabiner yawning at the gate like a mouth missing a tooth. The thud when it failed had punched through the room, stopped conversations, turned heads. No one was seriously hurt—thank God—but the sound was still echoing inside my ribs.Elise finished a final check, voice calm and professional. “Sprain only. Ice now. Elevate tonight. No scenes for a week.”The sub nodded, eyes wet. His Dom squeezed his shoulder; consented apologies and whispered reassurance smoothed the jagged edges of the moment. We do this right, I thought. Even when we fall, we do it right.But Elise’s frown didn’t lift. She had Marco beside her, both of them studyin

  • Shadows of Desire   Cassie’s Choice

    The truth had been burning a hole in me for weeks. Every time Victor touched me, every time his voice softened against my ear, the fire grew hotter. I couldn’t keep hiding behind silence. My article—the secret that had brought me into Elysium in the first place—had to come out of the shadows. If I didn’t tell him myself, I’d never forgive the cowardice.So I decided: tonight, I would tell him. In person. No more delays, no more excuses.I rehearsed the words in my head as I paced my small apartment. Victor, I came here under false pretenses… I was sent to write about the club… but then I found you, and everything changed. It never sounded right. It either felt too clinical, like a confession on paper, or too romantic, like an apology wrapped in longing.I told myself it didn’t matter how eloquent I was. What mattered was honesty.By the time I reached Elysium, my palms were slick and my knees weak. I wore a simple black dress Victor liked, the one that dipped low at the back. The coll

  • Shadows of Desire   Victor’s Past

    The city wore a hush the way the club wore candlelight—soft, intentional, a choice. We were at Victor’s penthouse again, the floor-to-ceiling windows turned into ink and stars. He’d killed the lamps, left only the spill of the skyline on polished wood. No music. No phone. Just the ticking breath of the HVAC and the clink of ice as he set two glasses on the low table.He didn’t sit right away. Victor never just sat; he arrived in a posture, like he was choosing which version of himself the room needed. Tonight, he chose the one without his jacket. White shirt open at the throat. Bare wrists. He looked almost… unfinished. I felt the shift in my bones.“Little one,” he said, voice low. “Come here.”I went, kneeling between his knees as he sank to the couch’s edge. It wasn’t a command scene; the collar at my throat wasn’t a leash tonight, just a warm reminder that we’d chosen each other. He didn’t touch me at first. He just looked, as if memorizing the fact of me—eyes, breath, the way I w

  • Shadows of Desire   The Tape Leak

    The night started like any other. Elysium pulsed with its usual mix of laughter, rope creaks, and the faint metallic rhythm of chains swaying somewhere in the distance. But when I saw Leo’s face at the bar, pale beneath his polished exterior, my stomach dropped.He clutched his phone in one trembling hand, glass of whiskey untouched in the other. When I slid onto the stool beside him, he flinched like a man who’d just heard the trigger click.“Leo?” My voice was barely a whisper. “What happened?”He turned the phone toward me. The glow of the screen seared my eyes. An email.Subject: We have what you don’t want seen.Attachment: video.mp4The text beneath was short, cruel: Pay, or watch your secret spread.My pulse thudded. “Oh, God…”He didn’t need to open it—I already knew. But he did. And there it was: grainy footage of his last scene with Jennifer. Leather gleamed under red light, his body taut under her whip, his voice cracking with both pain and release. A moment that had been t

  • Shadows of Desire   Friendship Tested

    The hum of Elysium is a rhythm I’ve come to know: laughter that’s too low to reach the street, the muffled crack of leather against flesh echoing from behind closed doors, the scent of candle wax, sweat, and perfume weaving together into something uniquely ours. Tonight, though, that rhythm felt slightly off—as though the song was missing a beat.I had wandered toward the east wing’s lounge, notebook forgotten in my locker, my collar cool against my skin. Victor was occupied in the Red Room with security checks, Marco had slipped away muttering about shift rotations, and Lena had claimed she was too tired for company. I thought I might find Jennifer. She’d been sharp lately, more guarded, and despite her edges, I liked the way her confidence steadied me when mine wavered.The lounge’s double doors were cracked open. Inside, laughter lilted—Jennifer’s unmistakable timbre, rich and mocking. I slowed, half-ready to smile and step inside. Then her words reached me, sharp as a whip’s tail.

  • Shadows of Desire   Jennifer’s Outburst

    The council chamber felt smaller tonight, like the walls had leaned in to listen. Candles guttered along the paneling, throwing ribbons of gold over leather chairs and the long mahogany table. Victor stood at the head as always—sleeves rolled, jaw clean-cut and set—while Marco sorted a stack of printouts and Andre polished his glasses with the patience of a priest.Jennifer arrived late.She didn’t enter so much as glide—red silk, black hair, the scent of something dark and expensive trailing in her wake. The room’s hum shifted. Even the candles seemed to straighten.“Wonderful,” she said lightly, dropping into a chair opposite Victor without looking at him. “Another war council. Did we run out of iron keys and cameras to buy, or did we simply need the ritual scolding to feel alive?”Victor’s gaze didn’t flicker. “We’re here to finalize the tightened screening protocols and monitoring coverage. We’ve identified three architectural blind spots. They’ll be gone by week’s end.”“Of cours

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