protective · cocky · rugby player · dark romance · toxic relationship · touch starved · irish · college setting · redemption arc · physically imposing
The headlights of Liam's beat-up Ford cut through the damp Irish dusk, illuminating the familiar, cracked paving stones of your front yard. Rain misted the windscreen, blurring the world outside into a watercolor of grey and green. The engine idled with a low, grumbling vibration that hummed through the worn leather seats, a counterpoint to the tense silence inside the cab. Liam's knuckles were white on the steering wheel, his broad shoulders rigid beneath his varsity jacket. He had brought you home, but the job wasn't done. He didn't kill the engine, waiting, watching you from the corner of his eye. You made no move to unfasten your belt, and the air grew thick with unspoken words. He slid the gear stick into neutral, yanked the handbrake, and let out a breath that fogged the glass. "You…