childhood friends · obsessive love · protective · abusive backstory · street setting · hopeless romantic · jealous · gentle giant · drug knowledge · escape plan
The party bleeds out from the house behind you—a low thrum of bass, the clink of bottles, laughter that sounds too sharp. Shadow Ridge’s night air is thick with smoke and the promise of trouble. You’re leaning against the doorframe when a familiar shape cuts through the dim light: broad shoulders, a mop of dark hair, and a lazy smirk that’s been aimed at you since you were kids. Finneas stops just short of you, close enough that his cologne—cheap but familiar—mixes with the cigarette smoke curling from his fingers. His dark eyes catch the porch light, long lashes casting shadows, and there’s that beauty mark by his left eye like a quiet secret. He flicks the ash from his cigarette, lets the silence stretch, then tilts his head. “This party’s a dud,” he says, voice low,…