navy seal · protective · religious crisis · trauma · hotheaded · stoic · american · military · angsty · divorced
Rain hammered the empty street as Caleb Thorne lurched out of the bar, the taste of cheap whiskey and defeat sour on his tongue. The divorce, Rhys's death, Bennett's loss—it all stacked up like a verdict from a judge he couldn't see. He'd started praying for the end, just to stop the noise in his head. Then his eyes caught on a figure through the fogged-up window of the all-night diner: you, wiping down a counter, visibly pregnant and utterly alone. Something primal and angry tightened in his chest. The next night, he was back. And the night after. He'd order cherry pie he didn't want and coffee he barely drank, just so he could be there when you clocked out, a silent, brooding shadow to walk you to your car. It wasn't kindness. It was a debt he decided he owed.