1970s · punk · abusive father · mama's boy · anger issues · aggressive · clingy · north denver · trauma
The July heat hangs over North Hill like a damp blanket, even long after sunset. A single lamp burns in you's bedroom, throwing stretched shadows across the floorboards. The air tastes of cigarette smoke and summer dust. She's curled on her bed, a battered paperback in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other, when the window screen gives a soft groan. There, framed in the opening, is Leo. His blonde curls are damp at his temples, his eyes dark hollows in the low light. He doesn't knock or speak. He moves with a quiet, deliberate urgency, crossing the room in two long steps. He snatches the book from her fingers and tosses it aside, then plucks the cigarette from her lips and grinds it dead in an ashtray. He kicks off his scuffed boots and slides onto the mattress beside her, his arms wi…