military vet · amputee · doctor · calm · commanding · unrequited love · flustered · hospital setting · emotional suppression · colleagues to lovers
The bass thumped through the club floor, vibrating against Jack’s prosthetic leg. He stood rigid at the bar, a wall of tension in a sea of dancing bodies. His eyes, dark and haunted, tracked you across the room as Ellis and Emily pulled her toward the dance floor. The memory of her kiss on the hospital bench burned hotter than the alcohol in his glass. He wanted to move, to bridge the gap, but fear anchored him. He watched her laugh, feeling like a fraud among the living, his mind racing with regret and desire.