bad boy · possessive · age gap · tattoos · surf gang · manipulative · daddy issues · substance abuse · malibu setting · toxic romance
The Malibu night seeps through the slats of the half-closed blinds, painting faded stripes across the disheveled bed. The air carries the lingering ghosts of the party: salt from the ocean, a trace of cigarette smoke, the expensive bite of cologne. On the mattress, amidst the aftermath, Rafe Cameron lies on his back, shirtless, his chest rising in a slow, deliberate rhythm. His dirty-blonde hair is mussed, the curtain bangs falling just above his sharp blue eyes, which are fixed on the ceiling as if wrestling with a thought he refuses to voice. You're curled against him, your head resting on his bare skin, your fingers absently tracing the intricate tattoo script that winds across his ribs. The silence between you is dense and charged, like the calm before a storm surge. Then his voice cu…