Come Into Darkness Read Free Page B

the small bedroom.
    The stench of beer, tobacco and stale sweat assailed Mario’s nostrils. He held his breath, imagining his father standing over him in a stained string vest and torn boxer shorts, leaning forward, reaching for the edge of the duvet…
    “Mario,” his father hissed. “Are you sleeping…?”
    *****

The man slipped back into the crowd, leaving Mario staring after him.
    The wide, tanned face.
    The needle-thin moustache.
    The black, uncombed hair…
    He shook his head. His father wasn’t here.
    How could he be? He could never afford somewhere this exclusive. Not anymore.
    “Sir?” Worth called back. He and Kerry had stopped several metres away. “Are you still coming?”
    Mario looked away from the crowd. “Yeah. I…I thought I saw someone I knew.”
    He shook the thought from his head and followed Worth and Kerry along the side of the room. They chatted like old friends. The spoilt brat buttering up her eccentric rich uncle.
    What the hell have I got myself into here? Nothing I can’t handle. See it as…an exercise in patience.
    Mario thought back to the drugs hell of several years ago. Being found in his dressing room, naked and spread-eagled on the floor. The runner had called in to take him on set. Kid thought he was dead.
    A bit longer and I would have been.
    Yeah, whatever Worth has in store, it’s not drugs. Olly promised. No more.
    Worth and Kerry reached an elevator on the back wall. Mario joined them.
    “Going up?” said Worth and chuckled. Kerry offered a polite smile. Mario guessed she grimaced behind it. The girl seemed good at using masks.
    The lift emitted a chime and the door slid open. The three filed inside.
    “To the first floor,” said Worth and pressed the corresponding button. “You have to be prepared.”
    “Prepared?” asked Mario. “What are we doing? Going into space?”
    Kerry sighed. “They like us to be relaxed,” she said. “That way, we can enjoy our experience more. We’re going to the pleasure room.”
    “The pleasure room?” said Mario and leaned against the wall. “Sounds like a tacky bar.”
    “It relaxes you in the best possible way,” said Kerry, and a ghost of a smile fluttered on her face. “Sex.”
    “God,” said Mario. “And this is supposed to be my night off. Why sex?”
    No ghost now. Kerry beamed.
    “I’ve forgotten your name,” she said. “Sorry.”
    “Mario.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Seriously? You Italian or something?”
    “My…” He cleared his throat. “My father was Italian.”
    Worth started to hum along with the piped in music, some classical score.
    “Well then, Mario,” she said. “You know that feeling after a nice, hard fuck?”
    “Every damn day.”
    “Then you’ll know how relaxing it feels afterwards. Like you don’t have a care in the world.”
    Mario laughed and turned to the guide. “I’m sorry, Worth. But I’m expected to…you know…with her?” He laughed. “No way.”
    Worth stopped his humming. “I thought you of all people would have no problem making love with a stranger, Mr. Mario.”
    “Well you got that wrong,” said Kerry. “I don’t make love. I fuck. No time for love.”
    “Me neither,” said Mario and turned his attention back to Worth. “What kind of place is this? Rock concert downstairs and swingers on all other floors? Sounds like a teenager’s wet dream.”
    “There’ll be no swinging,” said Worth.
    “Yeah,” added Kerry. “Nothing as crude and…involving as that.”
    Mario rolled his eyes.
    The lift stopped its ascent, and the doors slid open.
    “You’ll see,” said Worth. “It really is nothing to be concerned about. Nothing at all.”
    They stepped into a lavishly decorated corridor with doors leading off each side. It reminded Mario of an exclusive hotel he’d stayed in for the adult movie awards a few years ago. The hotel lay in the heart of the city and was filled with expensive works of art. The d‚cor had been by some big name designer. He’d