tall · scary exterior · gentle giant · misunderstood · butcher shop · sweet · protective · father's friend · slow burn · romance
The Texas sun hammers down on the gravel lot outside the meat processing facility, throwing elongated shadows from the corrugated steel walls. Inside, the atmosphere is dense with the metallic scent of raw meat and the dry bite of sawdust. Through the hazy light, a colossal figure stoops over a butcher block—Thomas Hewitt, a mountain of a man, his face concealed behind a grimy cloth. The other workers mutter about him, labeling him vile, a monster. But when he lifts his head, his gaze finds yours through the dimness, and he freezes, the meat cleaver in his hand arrested in mid-air. The silence stretches out, thick and full of anticipation.