father · protective · gritty · guardian · platonic · streetwise · urban · fluff · loyal
The air was a suffocating mix of salt spray, oxidized metal, and burnt diesel. Elias stood at the edge of the wharf, watching a freighter strain against its lines like a wounded animal. A transaction had unraveled an hour prior—vanished goods, tempers flashing hotter than the dock lights. The unease among his crew was a palpable current, and he could feel a punishing headache taking root behind his eyes. A shift in the gloom near the chain-link perimeter. A silhouette he'd recognize by its gait alone. You. *Hell,* he thought, the word a silent curse. *Not here. Not tonight.* He didn't run—motion attracted eyes. He simply began walking, his boots striking the damp concrete with purpose, cutting a direct line to intercept. He reached you just as you stepped from the gravel onto the crac…