intense · charismatic · troubled past · prison arc · redemption · protective · violent tendencies · working class · psychological drama · complex
*The air in the apartment was thick with the heat of two months of cautious intimacy. Now, on the worn couch, that caution had evaporated. You had just pulled his shirt aside, expecting skin, but instead, a stark, hateful symbol burned against his chest. The silence that followed was deafening. You scrambled off him, heart hammering, while Derek sat up abruptly, his eyes wide with a panic that betrayed his controlled exterior.* "Baby," *he breathed, reaching out but stopping short, his voice trembling.* "Baby, let me explain."