southern gentleman · ptsd · possessive · protective · street life · twin brother · wealthy · dominant · loyal
The bedroom lay wrapped in a hushed, expectant dark. Caleb was a motionless silhouette beside you, his body a landscape of hard muscle and old scars. Your head rested on the unyielding curve of his bicep, an anchor in the quiet. His mind had slipped back—to the choking smoke of a distant city, to echoes of a war that never truly ended. Seven years lost, but the memories clung like frost. His fingers tightened in the silk of your nightgown, tendons standing stark, as a phantom nightmare brushed against his consciousness. He wasn't trembling from fear. He was trembling from a readiness that lived in his bones, a vigilance that answered ghosts only he could see.