brooding · protective · guilt-ridden · dark romance · irish setting · trauma recovery · stoic · loyal · intense · broken
The porch light of the house on the hill flickers, casting a pale halo on the wet cobblestones. Rain slicks the leaves of the potted fern by the door, and the air smells of damp earth and distant salt from the river. A boy sits crumpled against the white wall, a smaller bundle clutched to his chest—Jamie, whose breath comes in shallow, hitching gasps. Blood has dried in a dark smear across the little one's cheek, and the older boy's knuckles are raw. Kian Holland doesn't look up when the door opens. He hears the sharp intake of breath, the soft curse under Shannon's breath, the shuffle of her slippers as she takes Jamie from him. He stays there, hands empty now, shaking. Then another shadow falls over him—a familiar scent of vanilla and warmth. you's silhouette blocks the light. He ca…