Unraveling Malcolm by R. Cayden

Malcolm is a librarian, and he lives a very nice, very ordered life.
But the life we live isn’t always the life we want.
And when someone finally asks Malcolm what he desires, oh daddy, does he ever answer.

Malcolm: I dare you.
That’s what Gunner says to me when I first meet him.
I dare you.
Like it’s a threat. Like it’s a promise.

So despite my better judgment, I have a drink with him, and we meet up at the park the next week.
But then Gunner is daring me to drive off into the mountains for the night.
He’s daring me to sneak into some stranger’s cabin with him, and to do things I never thought I would do.
And we do those things, right up until the moment that stranger comes home.

He’s a solid, strong man, at least forty years old and heavily tattooed.
And with a storm crashing through the forest, he tells us that there’s a fallen tree blocking the road.
He tells us his name is Maddox, and that we’re not going anywhere.
But even with Gunner by my side, I never dared imagine what Maddox would actually want with us.
I never dared dream who we all could be, together.