❝This is me.❞ He whispers, and I can feel the breath of his fist on my virgin cheekbone. ❝This is me. ❞ His voice is clearer. ❝Do? you take me as I am? ❞ 𝐀 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 former convict and paralegal Raelynn Smith is determined to turn her shit show life around by any means necessary. Her solution? Landing a job at Nelson & Murdock, where she hopes to bury her past while navigating the murky ethics of legal reform. But karma has other plans. Specifically in the form of the emotionally fragile man she saves from suicide on the subway tracks. 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐓, he's the same awkward kid she anonymously paid bullies to torment in high school. Now unstable, out of the FBI and armed with a pathological grudge, he's hellbent on dismantling her new life piece by piece. Who you might ask? The FBI agent under investigation, Benjamin Poindexter. The problem? His obsession curdles into a compulsive, masochistic lust, and worse, she's into it. Because pathetic? Desperate? Emotionally volatile? All her fucking type. Whether he's threatening to kill himself or bleeding at her door, Raelynn can't decide if he disgust her or if she wants to lick the blood from his nose. Meanwhile, Dex's torn between killing her or worshiping the ground she walks on. | ❝𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 & 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒❞ 𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐍 '𝐃𝐄𝐗' 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐗 𝐎𝐂 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐃: 𝟓/𝟔/𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃: ???

Ethan's life was chill and predictable-until Maya, effortlessly cool, cracked one laugh. Suddenly, he noticed everything: clean sneakers, savage comebacks, perfect eye rolls. Didn't mean to catch feelings. Did it anyway.