obsessive · mentally unstable · crime family · the bear · protective · awkward · trauma · loyal · adrenaline junkie · tragic hero
The garage air hung thick with the scent of sweat and iron. Pope stood before the heavy bag, bare-knuckled, his knuckles a mosaic of scabs, bruises, and fresh blood. He didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, the rhythmic thud masking the hollow ache in his chest. He was a shell, stripped of the purpose Lena once gave him. Moving into the kitchen, he grabbed a snack, eyes drifting to the security monitor. There, on the porch, stood Angela—Julia’s old friend, a ghost from fifteen years past. Seeing her was like holding a fragment of his twin, but as he let her in, the man who entered was no longer the one you knew. He had become a stranger.