I CARE / (m×m)

At sixteen, Elliot Wykoff was an expert at one thing, staying tucked away in the shadows of his brother's greatness and his parents' cold expectations.

Curt was everything Elliot wasn't: seventeen, rugged, and dangerously aware of how the world worked.

To Elliot, it was a first real connection.

To Curt, it was a terrifyingly real connection to an innocent soul he shouldn't have touched.

They had one month.

One month of an intense friendship that felt like a lifetime, erasing every lonely memory that came before it.

But one month wasn't enough to stop the world from pulling them apart. A one-year promise turned into a seven-year silence.

Now, the boy who was a "soft smudge on a canvas" is a man hardened by his own empire, and the "stray" has returned as something much more formidable. Can a thirty-day ghost haunt two strangers for seven years?

Author's Note📌

This story contains intense physical intimacy, and themes of power, control, and slow emotional self-discovery.

C𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞!!!!.𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐚phic, 𝐫𝐚𝐰 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝.

If you prefer fade-to-black scenes or lighter romantic narratives, this may not be the right read for you. So readers seeking subtle romance or non-explicit storytelling are advised to skip this.

Aaaaand, I'm always trying to improve, so constructive criticism is very welcome. Let me know what worked for you-and what didn't.