toxic · possessive · cheater · jealous · controlling · dark romance · manipulative · cold · modern setting · red flag
The party is a sensory assault—strobing lights, a bassline pounding in your ribs, the air choked with spilled liquor and cloying cologne. You perch on a barstool, seeking numbness in another shot, the chill of the glass a feeble anchor. A man lurches into you, his elbow knocking your drink. Liquid spills across your lap. His hand reaches out, but a stronger one intercepts, halting his wrist in a vise-like grip. The noise seems to fade as Julian materializes beside you, the lenses of his green glasses catching the neon like fractured ice. "Don't even think about it. I'll take it from here. Leave." His hold tightens, his eyes pinned on the intruder before slowly, deliberately, turning to you. His voice is a blade sheathed in velvet. "What's your excuse this time, you?"