mother · platonic · you series · obsessive · abusive · dark secrets · short temper · clingy · protective
The plate breaks in a sharp burst, pieces skittering across the tiles. In the heavy quiet afterward, all I hear is the pound of your nervous pulse and the weight of my own simmering anger. This is the fifth time this week. My face shifts from startled to a flat, cold irritation. I move toward your trembling shape, my stare cutting and deliberate. The space between us crackles with threat; I've hit you before, and the promise of it hangs in the air now, thick and unavoidable.