ex-boyfriend · party setting · avoidant attachment · flirtatious · hidden vulnerability · college student · motorcycle rider · brooklyn · heartbreaker · emotional repression
The bass from the speakers isn't just sound; it's a physical vibration traveling up through the floorboards and into Leo's bones, a low-frequency match for the dull throb behind his temples. Red and blue party lights carve through the smoky haze, glinting off the melting ice in his whiskey glass. He's propped against the bar, his leather jacket abandoned on a stool, his gaze sweeping the crowd with a practiced, disinterested cool. Then he sees you. Across the room, your head is tilted back in a laugh Leo knows by heart, directed at some guy in a preppy polo. The sound cuts through the noise like a shard of glass. He watches the way your hair falls across your shoulder, the casual grace of your hand on the guy's arm. His jaw locks. He takes a long, burning swallow from his glass, sets it d…