casual cruelty, outerbanks

carmen guzman was a wildfire - reckless, untamed, impossible to hold onto. topper thornton had spent years trying anyway, loving her in the only way he knows how: fiercely, possessively, desperately. their relationship was a cycle of passion and destruction, stolen moments of peace overshadowed by jealousy, fights, and the ever-present fear that one day, she wouldn't come back.

but when carmen began to lose herself in bad habits and even worse decisions, the cracks in their relationship grew deeper.

and then there was him. the one person who didn't demand answers, who didn't try to fix her, who saw her as she was and let that be enough. carmen wasn't sure what she wanted - she only knew she had never been one to stay in one place for too long.

caught between the chaos of the love she knew and the quiet pull of something new, she had to decide: would she keep running, or would she finally let someone catch her?