Page 67 of Below the Shadow of the City

“Even the fact that we had seen each other before we’d even met, it’s hard to deny that something bigger than us was at play there,” he says.

“So you really weren’t stalking me?” I laugh.

“No, I swear I didn’t even make the connection until you’d shown up in the laundry room the first time we actually met face to face.”

“Well, if you weren’t stalking me that night, what were you doing in that alleyway?”

“It would probably make a lot more sense if I showed you,” he says with a lazy smile.

“Right now?”

“If you’re up for it.” He takes my body in, no longer with the voracious lust as before, but with a delicate gaze. It’s like he’s an artist observing a landscape before deciding which stroke to paint on the blank canvas first.

“If it makes tonight last longer, then absolutely,” I raise myself from the bed and stretch when he grips around my waist and pulls me back onto the sheets. A giggle bubbles out of me despite my best efforts. He pins me down and gives me one more lengthy kiss while cupping my chin.

“You’re delaying our outing,” I say with a pout when our lips part.

“It was well worth it,” he replies with a smile.

Maddox leads me from the corridor below my building into the alleyway through a large steel door that swings open with little effort on his end.

“You guys leave so much shit unlocked up here, anybody could wander into anywhere,” he quips as he pushes the door shut behind him. I stand at the end of the alley, precisely where I’d seen him standing before. I look down at the sidewalk and imagine myself there. What was he thinking then?

He follows my gaze towards the streetlights and handful of passersby. “I didn’t come up here to watch people walk on the street, I truly wanted to avoid being seen at all.” I nod along, I wish I knew it was him that night, though freaking out in an alley could have had worse repercussions than freaking out in the basement.

“Anyways,” he says. “This is not what we came here to see.” He takes my hand and pulls me down an even narrower alley along the backside of a club I used to frequent with Perrie. I can clearly hear music from inside, barely muffled through the wall.

The music continues and he grabs a few crates and stacks them atop one another. He gestures for me to climb up and I follow, we’re now eye level to one another.

“Hi,” I whisper with a grin, I grab the sides of his face and pull it towards me and place a kiss on the tip of his nose.

“Hi,” he whispers back, then he grips my shoulders and turns me until I’m facing a window. From here there’s a clear view of the stage and the band playing on it from directly above.

“You just wanted to see live music?” I ask.

“I found the schedule online, looked up the bands, and then would decide if I wanted to watch them. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of live music in my neighborhood, but this is…different.” He didn’t have to continue for me to know exactly what he meant. There was a thrill of sorts doing something that feels forbidden, the same kind of rush you’d get when you’d sneak out of your parents house. He could dart between shadows, fully hidden, and enjoy something without a single soul knowing. And now, he’s sharing it with only me.

The music plays, some shoegaze indie rock that from this vantage point sinks directly into my bones. I don’t know the name of the band, or the song, yet there’s a familiarity to it. The chord progressions and beat feel like something I inherently know.

Maddox turns to me, “would it be bold to ask you for a dance?”

His glasses have slid down his nose slightly and I lean over to push them back up, “a lady wouldn’t refuse.” I whisper against his lips. Rough hands grab my waist and pull me off the crate.

“Follow my lead,” he whispers against my hairline.

He leads well, stepping gingerly across the sidewalk, despite his massive size. I spin out and pirouette back into the warmth of his arms, identical to how I’d seen every princess do so in movies from my childhood. I almost wish I wore a ballgown in this vignette of romance, twirling in taffeta in a girlish manner, playing a persona I’d never seen for myself. He sweeps me up with him as he steps and my toes graze the pavement as I float before him.

The song dwindles towards its end, and the wind picks up. It feels like the music is growing quieter, the sounds of our surroundings are trying to overtake the weepy vocalist. Small droplets of water begin dotting my shoulders, “I think it’s beginning to rain.”

“That doesn’t matter, a little bit of water can’t pull me from you now.” Maddox spins me out once more, and upon my return to his chest, he kisses me, almost stopping our dancing entirely.

It’s a teenage-dream sort of romantic, something from diary entries from over a decade ago. Swept up in the moment it's the stuff of fairytales, the self-conscious part of my brain quiets itself during these moments. It’s only the two of us here in this alley, I’m going to savor this.

The song changes from the slow yearning ballad to something faster, and Maddox sets me back on the crate. We’re eye to eye again, holding this bit of flickering magic between us like a precious gemstone. Light rain that would have driven me crazy just a few months ago now sends me into a dreamlike state.

Then the door to the bar bursts open and our moment immediately dissolves. Maddox grabs my hand and helps me down from the crates, then whispers, “run.”

I don’t necessarily run, instead I’m pulled by the wrist through dark alley after dark alley. The cold air and rain droplets whip at my face as we move.