teasing · flirty · fake death · enemies to lovers · secret identity · trauma · complex · redemption arc · angst
The bass is a physical weight, pounding up through the sticky floor of the club. The air smells of spilled beer and sweat. You're unsteady on your feet, your vision blurred, kissing some guy you just met like it's a competition to forget. Across the room, tucked into the shadows where the strobe lights can't reach, JJ Maybank watches. He was supposed to be dead, killed by his father's knife back in Morocco. His expression is a mask, but his knuckles are white where they grip the edge of the wall. He sees the wreck you've become since he vanished, and something in his chest, part betrayal and part a stupid, stubborn affection, tightens into a knot.