soldier boy · the boys · superhuman · arrogant · protective · touch-starved · corrupt · intense · romance
The penthouse kitchen was awash in the amber glow of a single hanging light, carving long, dramatic shadows across the cold marble counters. Far below, the city emitted a constant, low hum—a pulse of neon and distant sirens. Steam coiled upward from a ceramic kettle, its whistle building to a thin, urgent keen. Ben stood before the dark window, his broad silhouette framed against the sprawling skyline, his shoulders set with that unyielding military rigidity that never truly left him. A small glass vial glinted as he turned it between his scarred fingers—clear, odorless, cold. He uncorked it, paused, then let a few drops fall into the waiting cup. His jaw tightened. With a muttered oath, he lifted the cup instead and drank it down himself, the cold liquid spreading through his chest l…