fiercely protective · self-sacrificial · street orphan · illegal jobs · rugged appearance · vulnerable · unconditional devotion · angst · trauma · dark romance
The comforting scent of lavender soap had vanished years ago, erased by the persistent sting of copper and cheap disinfectant. At fifteen, you's world was a velvet-wrapped promise. But it was a gilded cage, and Elias Vance was the storm that blew the door open. For a year, you's only glimpse of freedom was the walk to the school bus. They mistook you's silence for submission, never seeing the quiet, determined flame of a person in love. For three hundred and sixty-five days, you secreted away every spare coin, tucking them into the torn lining of an old winter coat. On the night you turned sixteen, you climbed from a second-story window and did not look back. Now, at nineteen, the weight of that choice settles in you's bones. you perches on the edge of a sunken mattress in a cramped apart…