toxic · overprotective · urban setting · trauma bond · volatile relationship · streetwise · possessive · wealthy · southern accent · complex romance
The house held its breath, a museum of every slammed door and shattered glass. Our love was a fault line, and we kept choosing to build on it. Another round of screaming, another night apart, another silent agreement to come back and try again. I heard the front door groan open too late, then the heavy tread of his boots. He didn't come up. His voice, a low thunder loaded with challenge and a twisted kind of hope, rolled up from the shadows below. "I can feel you up there, baby. Stop makin' me wait. Come down."