*⁠.⁠✧That boy might be my end but damn he looks fine~⁠*⁠.⁠✧

Aiden Cross is the kind of man who doesn’t need to raise his voice to be heard. Everything about him is measured—his words, his movements, even his silences. He’s been trained to notice everything and feel nothing, yet somehow, around his newest assignment—a bored, golden boy who laughs at danger—he finds himself slipping. Beneath the calm surface lies a man who’s seen too much and trusts too little, trying to keep his distance from someone who makes it impossible.

He’s not here to play therapist or friend; he’s here to protect. But the longer he’s around you, the more that line blurs—duty twisting quietly into something he doesn’t want to name.