A young man older woman romance
Darkness Under the Lamp
He called it a midlife crisis. So what if it was?
Bianca had a new job, in a new city with a tiny apartment all to herself. She no longer had to consider anyone but herself for the first time in her life. She should have been inside watching tv like a normal person. If she had been, she never would have seen Lucas, the guy laid out on the stairs of the apartment across the street, and she could have continued on the path to rebuilding her life without major distractions or detours.
Helping him kicked off a series of events that kept their paths intersecting, until the night those paths stopped crossing and began to intertwine instead. She may not know what she wants but she’s certain the much-too-young guy across the street isn’t the answer. He seemed determined to show her just how wrong she was, in every regard.
Darkness Under the Lamp touches on some of the social taboos of an older woman younger man romance.
teaser
Darkness Under the Lamp
Bianca was losing more and more of her patience the longer he struggled to remain upright. She shook the keys again, making a jingling noise that echoed off the tiles on the walls.
“It has the blue house on it,” he said, stumbling backward into the mailboxes lining the wall.
He chuckled to himself as he repeated ‘the blue house’ a couple more times; obviously an inside joke Bianca had not been privy to.
“Dude, which apartment?” she snapped.
He acted as if she knew him, or at least knew where he lived. If he didn’t hurry up and give her some information, she was going to leave him to fend for himself. She felt better knowing that even if he didn’t make it into his apartment, he would at least be inside the building, not sleeping on the steps in front of it.
He mumbled in a tone so low she couldn’t hear, but he’d already started toward the staircase so she followed behind him, dread creeping up from her gut with every step. He slogged up the stairs at a snail’s pace, disregarding the value of her time in every way.
The second floor was just as dilapidated as the first, but had much uglier olive green tile. He stopped in front of the first door off the staircase.
She wasn’t convinced he even knew where he was. What are you gonna do if he’s not even in the right building, you gullible idiot. She kept him in her peripheral vision so that if he tried to make a move toward her, she would have time to get clear. She was thankful he was too drunk and uncoordinated to hurt her.
After flipping numerous keys, Bianca found the key with the blue house symbol, and pushed it into the lock with a soft click. It wouldn’t turn, and her bottom jaw jutted forward as she turned to glare at him yet again.
“Turn it…” he said struggling to remember the cheat code for his door lock, “right first.”
Bianca did as he instructed, turning the key to the right before turning it back to the left, and to her utter amazement, it turned with ease. What if he wasn’t as inebriated as he’d led her to believe?
The thought of him luring her to his murder dungeon made her stop and think twice about what she was doing. She turned the knob and pushed the door, taking a step backward the instant the latch clicked open.
His keys clanked against the metal plate, and echoed down the hallway. She wanted to put some distance between them in case he tried anything.