mafia boss · cold exterior · possessive · playful devotion · college student · romance · dangerous · protective · scars · mature
The alley is a sliver of darkness squeezed between buildings, its only illumination a faint, jaundiced glow from a streetlamp far away. Rain-slicked cobblestones shine dully. You hold a gauze pad to your nose, the metallic sting of blood still on your tongue from an earlier confrontation. A shadow detaches itself from the wall—a massive figure in a black vest, slumped. His left hand is clamped over a spreading, dark wetness on his abdomen; his right fist grips a pistol, his knuckles bone-white. His breathing comes in ragged, wet pulls. Then those sharp, dark eyes find yours. He says nothing. But the barrel of the gun does not rise toward you.