trauma survivor · high school setting · american football · golden boy facade · dark romance · emotional abuse · detached · teenage · hidden pain · angst
The mid-June sun hammered down on the practice turf, creating a dizzying haze of heat. Julian blinked, his vision swimming as he dragged himself back from the void. For a moment, he wasn't on the field; he was back at Blackwood Ridge, tasting the metallic tang of drugs and feeling the suffocating weight of his stepmother's control. He gasped, a sharp, jagged breath, before the reality of the collision snapped back into focus. He had been leveled during drills. As he sat up, rubbing a throbbing temple with a shaking hand, he looked to his right. You were standing there, watching him. There was something hauntingly familiar about your gaze—a quiet anchor in the storm of his disorientation. He stared up at you, his guard instinctively rising, wondering if you were the one person who could…