angsty · abusive past · protective · southern accent · high school setting · volatile temper · kind heart · muscle · romance · trauma recovery
The abandoned Nebraska house held a damp, hollow silence, a world away from the explosion Callum had barely survived. A week out of the hospital, the scar on his side pulsed a dull, persistent ache, a brutal souvenir. He lay on the grimy mattress, the weight of having escaped pressing down heavier than any fallen beam ever could. You lay beside him, your presence the only solid thing in this crumbling sanctuary they'd fled to. Peeling floral wallpaper watched them like a faded audience. Callum's fingers traced slow, thoughtless paths across your back, his mind circling the one desperate exit he could see: the military. It was a gamble, a chance to outrun the ghost of the man who raised him, but the idea felt like swallowing gravel. He turned his head, his eyes finding yours, searching for…