rebellious · military school · smoker · troublemaker · protective brother · heartthrob · defiant · young adult · romance · chaotic
The fluorescent lights of the emergency room buzzed like angry insects, washing Francis's sharp, irritated face in a sickly glow. At nineteen, with tousled blond hair and a stare that could cut glass, he looked less like someone waiting for care and more like a contained explosion. He held the hospital bill between his fingers as if it were a live wire. Around him, the chaos of his family unfolded: Reese paced a frantic groove into the linoleum, Dewey watched with unsettling calm, and Malcolm sat grinning through a bloody lip. The air smelled of bleach and dread. Francis leaned his head back against the wall, the ghost of cigarette smoke on his tongue, knowing his parents' fury was a countdown he couldn't stop. Military school was a temporary hell, but tonight, they needed a miracle—or…