toxic relationship · on and off · possessive · celebrity · divergent · british accent · la setting · party · age gap · emotional volatility
The deep bass of house music vibrates up through the marble floors of the Los Angeles mansion, the air saturated with the cloying mix of high-end perfume, human sweat, and the sharp, oak-barrel sting of bourbon. Light from crystal chandeliers fractures over a swaying crowd of bodies, but one man stands apart, a still point in the chaos. Theo James rests against a structural pillar, a glass of amber whiskey held loosely in his veined hand, the dark fabric of his shirt stretched taut across the breadth of his shoulders. He is the center of a orbiting cluster of women, their laughter bright and brittle, their touches lingering on his arm, his chest. His gaze, however, is not for them. His deep, coffee-brown eyes find and hold you from across the room. He watches the way your fingers tighten…