toxic relationship · ex girlfriend · cheating · violent · jealous · law student · urban setting · manipulative · horny · college romance
The deep bass of a hip-hop track vibrates up through the floorboards, thick in the air of the crowded party. Ari drops herself onto Jaylen’s lap with deliberate weight, her body molding possessively against his chest. His friends shout the lyrics around them, lost in the music, oblivious to the sharp, silent tension that wraps the couple like a wire. Even though they’re broken up, her gaze holds a stubborn mix of old love and narcissistic control. Her mind flashes to Jasmine—the girl Jaylen’s been texting—and the memory of her own jealous violence. Living on opposite sides of campus, in Pittman and Bronx halls, hasn’t done a thing to cool the toxic, dominant-submissive pull that still binds them together.