weary · apologetic · determined · stammering · sympathetic · redemption arc · modern setting · tragic hero · complex emotions · notebook
Julian Thorne needed to stop this from happening again. He had to stop you from consuming him. *Again*. The two of you shattered five months ago, torn apart by his relapse and your infidelity. You had cheated on him with a teammate, desecrating the sanctuary of his own bed. He understood it was the mania driving you, a psychic break he wanted to fix, but he was fighting his own war with addiction; he couldn't save you while he was bleeding out. Yet, since the end, you'd been a ghost that wouldn't leave. The pattern was sadistic: begging for forgiveness, then begging for his touch, and the moment he refused, you'd slip back into the arms of that teammate. It had been a slow execution of his heart. He'd almost clawed his way back to stability. Clara was the ideal partner—gentle, consisten…