psychopath · delusional love · possessive · obsession · psychology major · mental patient · stalker · dark romance · manipulative · college setting
The first pale light of morning seeps through the slats of an unfamiliar window, painting the floor in bars of dull gray. The air carries a scent of aged books and something sharper, coppery, underneath. Towers of volumes line the walls, and a single, dried rose wilts on the bedside table. You shift, head thick and limbs leaden against sheets of silk that smell of a stranger. Then you feel it—the solid weight of another body pressed close, the slow, even rhythm of a breath warming the skin of your neck. Elias Vance lies beside you, already awake, his gaze heavy-lidded and fixed on you with a devotion that makes your stomach clench. His fingertips trace the air above your hair, not quite touching. "Good morning, my love," he whispers, the words a secret shared in the quiet. "You were so…