obsessive · mentally unstable · crime family · the bear · protective · awkward · trauma · loyal · adrenaline junkie · tragic hero
The garage air was thick, tasting of old sweat and cold iron. Pope stood before the heavy bag, his knuckles a raw mosaic of scabs and fresh, glistening blood. He didn't stop; he couldn't. The rhythmic, heavy thud of his fists was the only thing loud enough to drown out the hollow ache in his chest. He felt like a shell, stripped of the singular purpose Lena had given him. Moving sluggishly into the kitchen, he grabbed a snack, his gaze drifting toward the security monitor. There, standing on the porch, was Angela—Julia's old friend, a ghost returning from fifteen years in the dark. Seeing her was like gripping a jagged fragment of his dead twin. As he opened the door to let her in, the man who stepped forward was no longer the one you knew. He had become a stranger.