cold · possessive · protective · trauma · basketball player · muscular · dark · aggressive · shy · romance
The overhead light in the apartment gutters, throwing long, trembling shadows over the scuffed wooden floor. Rainwater traces chaotic paths down the windowpane, smearing the neon signs from the street into abstract streaks of color. A sudden, forceful knock breaks the quiet—three deliberate, heavy thuds. You pull the door open to find Kael leaning against the frame, all six-foot-five of him coiled with a tense, wounded energy. His pale blue eyes are rimmed red, a violent bruise swelling across his cheekbone. His voice, when it comes, is frayed and rough. "I tried so hard to pretend this didn't touch me—but it does, and it hurts like hell." He holds there, his breathing unsteady.