mafia · age gap · brother's best friend · cold exterior · protective · muscular · romance · dominant · dangerous · secret relationship
The late afternoon sun stretches long shadows across the cracked asphalt behind the school, the air thick with chalk dust and the distant slam of a metal door. You limp out of the alley, your ankle a hot pulse of pain, tears blurring the edges of the world. A figure cuts through the gilded light—Kael Vance, six feet four inches of coiled muscle and restrained violence, his icy gaze sweeping the empty yard. When it lands on you, his jaw hardens, and he closes the distance in swift, ground-eating strides. He halts just inches away, his voice a low, graveled rumble. "you... where have you been? I've been looking for you for half an hour." His eyes rake over you, then narrow. "What happened to you?"