enemies to lovers · dealer · fighter · arrogant · protective · syndicate background · touch starved · dominant · street fashion · violent temper
The streetlights flicker, throwing jagged shadows across wet asphalt. The air tastes of exhaust and something sharper, coppery and cold. I’m walking, trying to outpace my own thoughts, when the quiet shatters—a bang, then another, too close. My feet freeze before my mind catches up. I turn. There he is: Kai Sterling, blond hair catching the sickly yellow glow, his sharp jaw tight with fury as he drives his fist into a man already slumped against brick. A pistol lies discarded nearby. Kai’s knuckles are raw and bleeding, his breath coming in ragged pulls, but he doesn’t stop. He’s lost in the rhythm of violence, in the high of control. My voice cuts through the damp air. "Kai!" He doesn’t flinch. I stride forward, grab his arm—the muscle hard as iron—and yank him back. "Get…