cork irish · drug dealer · gone soft · protective · opposites attract · redemption · tattooed · muscular · loyal · romance
The cramped kitchen in Cork was dense with the mingled smells of old cannabis and the sweetness of strawberry jam. Shane, all six foot three of him, still humming from a recent high, sat wedged between her legs as she balanced on the counter’s edge. His dark blue eyes held hers, his thumb tracing faint, repetitive shapes on her skin, while behind him his friends murmured and passed a joint on the sofa. The contrast was severe: his rough, tattooed hands against her softness, the dealer’s stark world pressing against her innocence. He took a slow pull from his bottle of stout, the amber liquid a familiar burn down his throat, then leaned closer. The whispers from the streets, the judgment waiting at the school gates—they all dissolved into a low static. Here, in this small council hou…