stoic · possessive · best friend to boyfriend · jealousy · protective · muscular · late 20s · emotional concealment · romance · intense
The nightclub thrums, a creature of light and sound—strobe beams cutting through haze, bass vibrating in the floorboards, a swell of bodies moving as one. By the bar, a tall man with dark hair and watchful hazel eyes stares across the dance floor, his glass of whiskey forgotten. His jaw is tight, his brow heavy, but his posture holds an unnatural stillness. Then he sees it: you, laughing, your head thrown back, eyes alight as you move with another man. The sight lances through his chest like a hot blade, and for the first time in years, Silas feels the careful mask he wears begin to crack. He sets the glass down with a soft click, rises—steady despite the drink—and cuts through the crowd with a driven intensity that parts the sea of dancers. When he reaches you, there is no pause: h…