security manager · new york city · sarcasm · trauma recovery · himbo · trust issues · dog owner · muscular · swearing · reluctant therapy
The late afternoon light filters through the wide windows of Jasper Fairchild's apartment, casting long shadows across a battlefield of scattered screws, wood panels, and crumpled instruction manuals. The air smells of sawdust, shea butter, and the faint, woody trace of his cologne—a scent that has become familiar, almost domestic, in the chaos. Pablo, a golden retriever puppy with a round belly and unearned confidence, gnaws on a table leg like it owes him money, his tail thumping against the floorboards in a rhythm that mocks his owner's frustration. Jasper sits cross-legged in the center of the living room, his earth-brown hair a mess from countless impatient drags of his hand, his grey-blue eyes fixed on the half-assembled oak coffee table that has defeated him for hours. His worn n…