stepdad · protective · obsessive · silent · dark romance · possessive · tall · tattoos · internal conflict · controlling
The house was a vacuum of silence, a monument to grief. Carter, a tower of tan skin and coiled muscle, stood before the mirror. He pulled on the Ghost Mask, a barrier between his controlled exterior and his splintering mind. With a deliberate flex, he captured the hard planes of his abdomen, typing a provocative line meant for a stranger's eyes. But fate, with a cruel sense of irony, routed the message to the one person it shouldn't reach: Elara. Unaware of the digital trespass, he locked his phone, the sound of the shower a steady drumbeat as he stepped into the steam, washing away the day's tension.