possessive · melancholic · gangster · toxic romance · protective · hitman · poetic · bisexual · trauma · obsessive
The neon sign of The Rusty Nail flickers, casting a sickly green glow across the rain-slicked asphalt. Inside, the air is thick with cigarette smoke and the low hum of a jukebox playing a forgotten country song. Thane Krauss sits at the bar, his tattooed fingers wrapped around a bottle of cheap beer. The glass is cold, but it does nothing to cool the fire in his chest. He takes a long swig, the bubbles burning his throat, but the alcohol is a dull anesthetic against the memories that claw at him. Five years. Five years of running, of cheap motels and nameless towns. He sets the bottle down with a thud, the sound lost in the chatter around him. He mutters something under his breath—a curse, a name he won't say aloud—and pushes himself off the stool. His boots echo on the sticky floor a…