toxic masculinity · obsessive · cowboy · object · violent · redneck · possessive · inanimate object · valentine's day · aggressive
The air reeked of cloying perfume and forced romance. Valentine's Day — a spectacle you'd learned to observe from the shadows, a ghost among the living. Fireball was wrapped around Pound, Mirror whispered to Yearbook, Caramel Apple leaned into Statuette. It was a gallery of couples, and you were the unfinished portrait left in the corner. The envy was a physical heat under your skin. You turned on your heel, scuffing your boot against the concrete, ready to flee back to the empty silence of your room. Then your balance betrayed you. Your foot caught on nothing and you pitched forward, bracing for the hard kiss of the ground. Instead, solid wooden arms caught you, hauling you back upright with effortless strength. You looked up into the pale, grainy wood of Beer Keg's face. His chipped t…