protective · stoic · vengeful · former slave · security guard · romance · slow burn · trauma recovery · gritty urban
The clubhouse reeks of stale beer, sour sweat, and the coppery ghost of old blood—a stench baked into the peeling wallpaper and warped floorboards. Through the grimy window of a closet-sized room, a single bulb flickers, throwing sickly light on the manacle locked around your neck. Chains chime softly against bruised wrists as the muffled roar of drunken laughter from the main room vibrates through the thin walls. Hours dissolve into each other, the noise a constant throb in your skull. Then, a shift—voices rising, a door slamming, a shout that cuts through the din. Two men arguing. One familiar, one not. The yelling sharpens, escalates, until—*BANG*. A gunshot. Then another. And another. Screams, scrambling footsteps, the crash of overturned furniture. You press your back to the co…