Night of Red Spandex

Mayve, a shy, partially blind accountant, pushes herself out of her comfort zone by attending a work party dressed in a red spandex costume. On her way, she's stalked by two men, only to be saved by a mysterious, dangerous stranger who dispatches her pursuers with chilling efficiency. The encounter leaves her shaken, but it's only the beginning of her entanglement with violence and desire.

Dangerous Interventions

Kenzo, a professional hitman, is introduced as he completes a job with his brothers, Kyson and Zuko. Their family business is killing for hire, and Kenzo's cold efficiency is matched only by his fascination with blood. A chance encounter with Mayve, his former high school classmate, reignites a connection neither fully understands, setting the stage for a collision of their worlds.

Milk, Knives, and Memories

Mayve and Kenzo's paths cross again in their apartment building, leading to a tense, awkward, and oddly intimate exchange. Mayve, startled by Kenzo's presence, accidentally stabs him with a kitchen knife. Kenzo's reaction is more intrigued than angry, and their shared history from high school begins to surface, hinting at deeper psychological wounds and mutual fascination.

The Hunter Brothers' Code

The Hunter brothers' dynamic is explored, revealing their strict code: loyalty to each other and to their contracts, but little else. Pops, their manipulative father figure, looms over their lives, training them to be killers and now possibly turning against them. Kenzo's growing fixation on Mayve is both a vulnerability and a rebellion against his upbringing.

Office Politics and Power Plays

Mayve's workplace is rife with sexism and manipulation. She's denied a promotion because she's unmarried, while her rival Vanessa fakes an engagement to get ahead. The pressure to conform to patriarchal expectations pushes Mayve toward desperate measures, and Kenzo's presence becomes both a threat and a potential solution.

The Marriage Ruse

In a moment of alcohol-fueled bravado in Las Vegas, Kenzo claims to be Mayve's husband to help her secure her promotion. The lie quickly spirals out of control, culminating in a spontaneous wedding. What begins as a transactional arrangement becomes a crucible for their desires, fears, and the blurred line between performance and reality.

Vegas Vows, Real Consequences

The marriage meant to be a temporary ruse, forces Mayve and Kenzo into close quarters. Their sexual chemistry is explosive but fraught with danger, as Kenzo's kinks and Mayve's aversion to blood clash. Meanwhile, their union draws the attention of dangerous clients and criminal elements, making the stakes of their deception life and death.

Blood, Sex, and Boundaries

Kenzo's obsession with blood and control collides with Mayve's need for safety and autonomy. Their sexual encounters are intense, boundary-pushing, and often involve elements of pain and fear. Yet, through these moments, Mayve discovers new facets of herself, and Kenzo confronts the possibility of vulnerability and love.

Promotion, Paranoia, and Pretending

Mayve's fake marriage secures her the promotion, but also isolates her from colleagues and draws the ire of Vanessa. Kenzo's world bleeds into hers, as she becomes entangled with mafia clients and the criminal underworld. Surveillance, threats, and violence become part of her daily life, challenging her sense of self and safety.

Mafia Clients and Moral Lines

Mayve's new role involves laundering money for mafia clients, blurring her moral boundaries. Kenzo's reputation as a killer both protects and endangers her. Their relationship is tested by external threats, internal doubts, and the ever-present risk of exposure and betrayal.

The Neighbor's Secret

Mayve discovers her neighbor has been spying on her, with hidden cameras capturing her most private moments. Kenzo eliminates the threat with characteristic brutality, but the violation leaves Mayve shaken. The incident underscores the constant danger of their world and Kenzo's willingness to kill for her.

The Hunter's Obsession

Kenzo's obsession with Mayve intensifies, manifesting in controlling behaviors—deleting her social media, surveilling her, and marking her as his. Mayve, both repelled and aroused by his dominance, struggles to assert her independence while acknowledging her own dark desires.

Pops' Betrayal

The Hunter brothers confront Pops, discovering he's been training new assassins and targeting them. Pops' depravity—including sexual exploitation and betrayal—forces the brothers to reckon with their past and the moral cost of their loyalty. The confrontation escalates to violence, with Kenzo and his brothers forced to choose between family and survival.

Graveyard Confessions

In a graveyard, Mayve and Kenzo's relationship reaches a fever pitch—combining sex, violence, and confessions of need and fear. Their dynamic is raw, honest, and dangerous, as they confront the reality of their connection and the impossibility of a normal life together.

Captivity and Confrontation

Mayve is kidnapped by Pops' men, used as bait to draw Kenzo into a final confrontation. Pops reveals his twisted motivations and the depth of his manipulation. Kenzo, with the help of his brothers, must choose between his old loyalties and his new love, culminating in a bloody showdown.

The End of Pops

The Hunter brothers destroy Pops and his operation, severing the last ties to their traumatic upbringing. The violence is cathartic but leaves scars—physical and emotional—on all involved. Mayve survives, but the ordeal forces her to reevaluate her relationship with Kenzo and her own capacity for darkness.

Healing, Distance, and Desire

Mayve and Kenzo separate, each grappling with the aftermath of trauma and the question of whether they can be together. Mayve finds strength and confidence, supported by new friends and her own resilience. Kenzo, marked by loss and longing, must confront his feelings and decide what kind of man he wants to be.

Claiming Each Other

After weeks apart, Mayve and Kenzo reunite, acknowledging their love and the impossibility of living without each other. They accept the darkness and danger of their bond, choosing to build a life together on their own terms—marked by passion, honesty, and a shared defiance of the world's expectations.

Characters

Mayve Hitchcock

Mayve is a partially blind, introverted accountant whose life is defined by trauma, neglect, and a deep-seated sense of invisibility. Her journey is one of reluctant transformation: from a woman who hides in plain sight to someone who claims her desires, her power, and her right to be seen. Her relationship with Kenzo is both a crucible and a catalyst, forcing her to confront her fears, her sexuality, and her capacity for both vulnerability and strength. Psychoanalytically, Mayve embodies the struggle for agency in a world that seeks to define and control her, and her arc is one of self-acceptance and reclamation.

Kenzo Hunter

Kenzo is a contract killer shaped by abuse, manipulation, and a perverse code of honor. His fascination with blood and control masks a profound loneliness and a desperate need for connection. Mayve becomes both his obsession and his salvation, challenging his self-image as a monster and awakening his capacity for love. Kenzo's development is marked by his struggle to reconcile his violent nature with his desire to protect and possess Mayve, ultimately choosing vulnerability over nihilism. His psychological complexity lies in his oscillation between dominance and tenderness, destruction and devotion.

Kyson Hunter

Kyson, Kenzo's twin, is the more emotionally attuned and communicative of the brothers. He serves as a foil to Kenzo's darkness, often pushing for ethical reflection and family loyalty. Kyson's relationship with his own partner and child provides a model of what a different life could look like, and his interventions are crucial in steering Kenzo toward self-awareness and change.

Zuko Hunter

Zuko, the eldest Hunter brother, is a man of few words but decisive action. His loyalty to his brothers is unwavering, and his willingness to do what must be done—no matter how brutal—anchors the family in moments of crisis. Zuko's relationship with Alaska, another strong-willed character, reveals his capacity for love beneath the surface.

Pops

Pops is the Hunter brothers' father figure and abuser, a man who molds them into killers and then betrays them. His depravity, including sexual exploitation and emotional manipulation, is the crucible from which the brothers emerge. Pops represents the inescapable legacy of violence and the necessity of breaking cycles of abuse.

Vanessa

Vanessa is Mayve's workplace nemesis, using deception and manipulation to get ahead. Her rivalry with Mayve exposes the sexism and cutthroat nature of their professional environment, and her eventual downfall is a cautionary tale about the costs of ambition without integrity.

Marco

Marco is a powerful, charismatic mafia figure whose business dealings with Mayve blur the lines between legality and criminality. His respect for Kenzo and Mayve is tinged with menace, and his presence underscores the ever-present danger of their world.

Alaska

Alaska, Zuko's partner, is fiercely independent and unafraid to challenge the men around her. Her history of trauma and her refusal to be defined by it make her a source of strength and solidarity for Mayve.

Kalilah

Kalilah, Kyson's partner, represents the possibility of love and family within the Hunter world. Her relationship with Kyson is a touchstone for Mayve, offering hope that darkness and tenderness can coexist.

Emma

Emma, Mayve's secretary, provides comic relief and emotional support. Her presence grounds Mayve in the everyday world and highlights the contrast between Mayve's public and private lives.

Plot Devices

Dual Narration and Perspective Shifts

The novel alternates between Mayve and Kenzo's perspectives, allowing readers to inhabit both the victim's and the perpetrator's minds. This structure deepens the psychological complexity, exposes unreliable narration, and builds tension as each character's secrets and desires are gradually revealed.

The Marriage of Convenience

The central plot device is the marriage ruse, initially a pragmatic solution to workplace sexism but quickly evolving into a crucible for emotional and sexual transformation. The marriage forces both characters to confront their fears, desires, and the possibility of genuine connection in a world built on lies.

Violence as Intimacy

The novel uses violence and sexual power play as metaphors for vulnerability, trust, and the struggle for control. Kenzo's fascination with blood and Mayve's aversion to it create a dynamic of fear and desire that both repels and binds them, challenging conventional notions of love and safety.

Family Trauma and Cycles of Abuse

The Hunter brothers' upbringing under Pops is a recurring motif, illustrating how trauma is inherited, internalized, and ultimately confronted. The final confrontation with Pops is both a literal and symbolic breaking of the cycle, allowing for the possibility of healing and new beginnings.

Social Media and Surveillance

The motif of surveillance—both literal (hidden cameras, stalking) and digital (social media, hacking)—reflects contemporary anxieties about privacy, control, and the performance of identity. Kenzo's obsession with marking and monitoring Mayve is both protective and possessive, mirroring the novel's themes of autonomy and domination.

Moral Ambiguity and Antiheroism

The novel blurs the boundaries between victim and perpetrator, love and violence, right and wrong. Characters are forced to navigate a world where survival often requires complicity, and redemption is found not in purity but in the willingness to confront and accept one's darkness.

Analysis

Moments of Mayhem is a provocative exploration of the ways trauma, desire, and violence intersect in the search for identity and connection. Through the lens of a fake marriage that becomes dangerously real, the novel interrogates the costs of survival in a world that rewards brutality and punishes vulnerability. Mayve's journey from invisibility to self-assertion, and Kenzo's struggle to reconcile his violent nature with his capacity for love, offer a nuanced meditation on the possibility of healing without erasure. The book challenges readers to question the boundaries of consent, the allure of danger, and the meaning of agency in relationships marked by imbalance and risk. Ultimately, it suggests that true intimacy is found not in the absence of darkness, but in the courage to face it together—and that love, in all its messy, violent, and redemptive forms, is both the greatest risk and the only salvation.

Last updated: May 24, 2025