Elided Endings

Contents TRIGGER WARNING Disclaimer OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR Dedication Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Epilogue Designed in Darkness Author’s Note Acknowledgement Copyright © Kris Vanc 2023 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written consent from the author, except in the instance of quotes for reviews. No part of this book may be uploaded without the permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is originally published. This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, actual events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters and names are products of the author’s imagination and used fictionally. The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book. TRIGGER WARNING This book deals with topics like addiction. There is no active drug use in this book, but mentions of past behavior of using are talked about often. If you are fighting your own battles with addiction, and reading about it might trigger you, please don’t pick this book up. The book (and the author) does not promote drug use (neither do I judge it) . Recovery from addiction is a big part of this book. If you are in this situation, know that you are seen, heard and loved, wherever in your journey you might be – rock bottom is a great starting point and I’ll gladly come sit there with you. Hit me up for other recs if this book is not for you, I’ve got tons. You can contact me through [email protected] for any questions or those recs I just mentioned. Disclaimer At some point in this book the characters get a pet. Without giving anything away, I want to put it out there that it is not legal to keep these particular kinds of pets in the States. This book is a work of fiction, and I took some artistic liberty. Please don’t keep pets you’re not supposed to keep. Let’s keep the wildlife where it’s supposed to stay. OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR The Charlington Chronicles Roots Tempest Dominium Tellings of the Time Hidden by Hours Mourning the Minutes Seconds to Silence Deserted Lilies Changing Chords Breaking Bridges Elided Endings Dedication To the music that reaches your soul and leaves you in a million miniscule pieces – but you don’t mind because it hurts so beautifully Prologue So far all I’ve heard is that the European tour has ended and she’s coming back. All the guys are talking about it. How they’re the one who’s going to catch her and hand her to Nathan so he can kill her. And it’s making me sick to my fucking stomach. I’ve always surrendered to the lifestyle, it’s always been everything I ever knew. I was born into it and never questioned anything about it. There were friends and role models to look up to, there were relationships that I admired and there was always someone there having my back. Until that one afternoon I told my old man that I didn’t want to go with him to get my first club pussy. I told him I didn’t think I liked girls at all. I knew all about the gays. I never wondered why there weren’t any on the compound. I just believed my old man when he said that he loved me more than life itself. He never said that there were conditions to that love. So when he forced me onto one of the girls later that afternoon, I closed my eyes and pretended it was that one guy from school I was kind of into. I remember asking her to stop moaning halfway through, because it ruined all the work I was doing. When I managed to finish after what felt like an eternity in purgatory, my father declared me a man, and we never spoke about it again. But I could feel his looks. I’m pretty sure he never told Nathan about it, but I always managed to make sure Nathan had no reason whatsoever to think I wasn’t into girls. Whenever we’d go on a run I’d take a girl back to some room, to have a nice chat or a smoke. I just made him believe that I didn’t like our own club pussy. And soon everyone accepted that. The weird thing is that I felt accepted by Evan. I never told her my secret, because over the years I had learned that being a faggot will get you killed within Victorious. There are actually a lot of things that will get you killed, but as long as you know the rules to navigate you can make it. But she saw me for who I was, never asked questions, and when I learned about Nathan’s plan to kill her it was a no brainer to save her and risk my own skin. But miraculously I got away with it. Being the club weirdo does seem to have its perks. “Church in five,” Nathan declares when he walks into the compound. I empty my beer, leave the empty glass on the bar and head into church. I take my place at the right side of the head of the table. Somehow it was always assumed I was going to be VP. I never asked for the position, but I got it anyway. When we’ve all sat down five minutes later, Nathan barges in, closes the double doors behind him,