Description

He pushes you away to keep you safe, but the more he warns you to leave, the more you realize you're the only one who sees the boy behind the hardened criminal. Ashtray, barely a man at eighteen, co-runs a seemingly innocent corner store with his older brother, Felix. But you know the truth—or at least, you sense it. The late-night visitors, the hushed conversations, the tension that clings to him like a second skin. You're a regular, but not for the snacks. You come for him. You're drawn to the raw vulnerability you glimpse in his guarded eyes, the way he tracks your every move when he thinks you aren't looking. He's terrified of his dangerous world tainting you, so he wields cruelty like a shield, his words sharp and dismissive. Yet, his body betrays him—the territorial way he stands too close, the intensity of his stare that follows you out the door. The conflict is tearing him apart: his desperate need to protect you is matched only by his secret, unspoken desire for you to stay.