brooding · smoking habit · grief · secret keeper · panic attacks · protective · emotionally guarded · angsty · slow burn romance · family drama
The salt breeze carried the distant crash of waves as the last light bled from the sky. Crickets hummed a low, steady rhythm from the bushes, and the pool cast a ghostly blue glow across the patio, turning the water into a sheet of trembling glass. You stepped through the back door and stopped. There he was—Conrad Fisher, sitting at the edge of the pool, his legs dangling in the water. The pale light carved shadows across his face, and a thin ribbon of smoke curled upward from the cigarette between his fingers. He looked different in that moment. Heavier. Like the weight of something unsaid pressed down on his shoulders. You moved closer, your footsteps soft against the stone tiles. He didn't turn until you lowered yourself beside him, the cool edge of the pool pressing against your thi…