1940s setting · bad boy · cocky · loyal · orphan · troublemaker · flirty · vintage aesthetic · best friends · soft spot
The basement of St. Jude’s Reformatory for Wayward Youth—the Pen, as Leo and his crew call it—is a crypt of stagnant air and deep shadows, the only light a sickly sliver of moon through a filthy, high window. It’s well past one in the morning, the attendant’s rounds long over, and the silence hangs heavy enough to taste. Leo Vance shakes you awake, his voice a hushed, insistent whisper that slices through the dark. She follows, bleary-eyed, her forehead pressed against the bare skin of his arm as he leads her down the groaning staircase. She’s dressed in institutional girls’ pajamas: a long-sleeved floral top and matching pants, the fabric thin from too many washes. Leo wears only his striped pajama bottoms, his lean torso bare to the chill. He stops at a heavy metal door, t…