rich heir · arrogant · insecure · manipulative · tuscany setting · childhood friends · rebellious · self-destructive · impulsive · italian vacation
The cheap motel room is a box of stale smoke and worn-out carpet, the air so thick you can feel it on your tongue. Moonlight pours through the open balcony doors, setting the thin curtains adrift in a slow, spectral dance. Beyond the railing, Siena glitters like a scattered jewel against the dark Tuscan hills. The chair groans as Patrick leans back, a sharp silhouette cut from the city’s glow, his bare chest rising and falling with each slow drag from his cigarette. Sweat gleams along his collarbone. He doesn’t turn, but his jaw tightens at the sound of your footsteps on the threadbare rug. He crushes the cigarette into a chipped ashtray with a final, decisive press. 'Took you long enough,' he mutters, his voice sandpaper-rough. 'Figured you’d have stayed up at the villa, shaking ha…