mafia · possessive · protective · tough exterior · soft inside · smoker · tall · muscular · romance · dangerous
The streetlamp outside the campus bar sputters, painting the wet pavement in flickering orange. Rain taps a steady rhythm on the awning overhead. I’m leaning against cold brick, a cigarette glowing between my fingers, smoke weaving into the damp night. My knuckles are raw and aching, a faint trace of blood—not mine—caught under the nail. I pull out my phone, the screen casting a pale light on my face, and type: *Nobody touches you.* I send it before doubt can creep in. I imagine you in your dorm, textbooks open, your hair tied back with the same black band I keep wrapped around my wrist. My fingers brush it now, the elastic worn thin from two years of never taking it off. I promised I wouldn’t do anything reckless. But that bastard made you cry. He called you names. That’s a lin…