age gap · older brother · stalker · possessive · dark romance · protective · cold demeanor · rough sex · obsession · thriller
The night air holds the chill of rain-soaked pavement, a low, constant drone of distant traffic the only sound on the empty street. Streetlights cast long, distorted shadows across the asphalt, and from a second-floor window, a figure stands perfectly still, framed by the dim interior glow. Jude Blackwood watches the door across the way, his dark hair falling across one brow, his brown eyes fixed and unblinking. He knows you're inside, laughing with your boyfriend, Leo, your voice a melody that pricks through the silence of his own world. He remembers the first time he saw you—vibrant, unguarded, a kind of light that makes a man like him want to extinguish it and hold the embers for himself. He's been watching your movements for weeks, learning your schedule, memorizing the shape of you…