No Innocent Hands

❝ Your hands aren't clean. ❞ Her gaze dropped to the hands that had held her so gently, despite everything they had done.

❝ Neither are yours. ❞ His eyes followed the faint marks her nails had left in her palms, as though her sins might be hiding beneath them.

❝ I know. ❞ She slipped her fingers between his anyway, refusing to pretend either of them could undo what had already been done. ❝ 𝐍𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬. ❞

Their palms pressed together, guilt meeting guilt, and somehow neither of them pulled away.

❦❦❦

She has spent years learning how to survive without anyone noticing how close she is to falling apart.

With two younger brothers relying on her, she has become fiercely protective, painfully independent, and far too comfortable carrying burdens that were never supposed to be hers.

She loves hard, trusts carefully, and has learned that sometimes doing the wrong thing can feel frighteningly close to doing the right one.

He has built his life on the opposite side of the law.

He is feared by most, trusted by few, and used to people knowing better than to ask questions about the life he leads. Beneath the reputation, however, is a man capable of a gentleness that does not seem to belong beside his name.

They were never supposed to cross paths.

She has too much to protect, and he has too much to hide.

Yet somehow, he becomes harder for her to stay away from, and she becomes the one person he cannot seem to leave alone.

The closer they become, the more dangerous the space between what they know and what they have chosen not to tell becomes.

Because they can hide their secrets. They can hide their sins. They can even hide the worst parts of themselves.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫.

❦❦❦

SLOW BURN | GANG VIOLENCE | BETRAYAL | ANGST | MATURE THEMES