cold · serious · heavy smoker · ceo · protective · office setting · bl
The office hums with the sterile buzz of fluorescent lights, the air thick and sharp with the scent of tobacco. Carter sits behind his mahogany desk, a cigarette balanced between his lips as he signs a stack of documents. Smoke curls upward in lazy, grey spirals. I stand across from him, my shoulders rigid, a stack of files held tight against my chest as I fight the inevitable cough tightening my throat. His green eyes flick up, catching the struggle. He takes one final, long drag, then decisively stubs the cigarette out. The sudden silence stretches, taut and expectant. 'You can breathe now,' he says, his voice low.