His knuckles were split, raw with fresh cuts.

Tyler veered around you, handing the elderly man his drink with a fake, bright, "There you go, sir." You didn't speak, not until the bells on the door jangled shut as the man hobbled away into the night street.

"Tyler-" you started. He flinched as you reached toward his battered, purplish hand.

"Save your breath," Tyler brusquely said, giving you a dry smile. "I think my therapist's got it covered."

"Let me see." You demanded gently, holding your upturned palm out. Tyler's smile sharpened into a defensive stare. So you didn't expect it at all, how he gingerly slid his knuckles into your hand. He bit his lip and glared at the floor with defeated resignation. His hand felt warm and swollen, and his fingers curled into a loose fist.

"Damn, Tyler. Did you get in a fight or something?" You said, lightly running your thumb over his shredded knuckles. Tyler sucked in a breath through his teeth and jerked his hand back. 

He silently started dragging the mop around the linoleum floor, avoiding your questioning gaze. You watched Tyler work, leaning against the counter. His shoulders stood rigid and he whisked the mop with rough, aggressive strokes. After a few, tense moments crawled by, Tyler muttered,

"I punched a wall."

"Oh." Your eyebrows raised, but you kept the noise calm, as if he'd offered a perfectly normal explanation. 

"Pent-up anger, or whatever," Tyler continued, still shuffling and sweeping the floor long after it glistened. "According to my therapist."

"What is it you're so angry about?" You asked carefully, watching him with helpless curiosity. Tyler chuckled, a dark, sardonic noise. He finally glanced up, his green eyes piercing yours like daggers.

"This dead-beat town. The elitist freaks over at Nevermore. The way my dad couldn't care less about his son." Tyler stepped closer to you, flames catching and dancing in his emerald gaze. "I wish there was a way to make everyone pay. What makes me the angriest is how powerless I am. But if I ever get any power, I'm going to rip this place apart. And I won't be any kinder than they were to me."

A thrill like fear surged through you, gazing up at the harsh set of Tyler's jaw. His flashing anger didn't burn towards you, but his ominous words hissed around you like shadows. The elitist freaks over at Nevermore. If he knew what you were, right now, what would he do to you? Alone with you in the buzzing silence of the overhead lights, with the late-night town asleep and dreary, Tyler would have that power he violently craved. He could hurt you. Or worse. "And I won't be any kinder than they were to me."

"Am I throwing you off?" Tyler said, a challenge glittering in the question. He shot a small smile, edged with guilt for scaring you. 

"It takes a lot more than unresolved anger issues to throw me off," you boldly whispered, staring up at Tyler. Like stormclouds dissolving into sunlight, you realized, "So that's why you think I shouldn't want this? That's why you think it'd be smart for me to walk away?"

"Among other things." Tyler's lips quirked into a darkly amused smile. 

"Like what?"

"Look, (y/n)," Tyler sighed, shifting his weight onto his elbow, leaning on the counter next to you. His soft, light brown hair drifted over his furrowed forehead. "I have a very... obsessive nature. If I want you, I'll want you way, way too much." A vivid, earnest light burned his eyes and he stared into yours, willing you to understand. "That's not healthy. For either of us."

"But Tyler," You innocently whispered, edging closer and sliding your hand over his bloody one on the cold, granite countertop. "You already want me. I saw it in how scared you looked when you almost kissed me." Tyler shifted back in surprise, but his hand froze, reverently still under yours. 

"Yeah, I do." Tyler cleared his throat, colliding into your gaze with the force of a raging ocean. Fierce. Passionate. Longing. The overhead lights caught orange on his hair as he leaned closer. "Listen: I'm enamored with you, (y/n). I can't think of anyone else. And that's dangerous. More than you know."

A surprised, sugary rush coursed through you at the intensity of his declaration. Tyler's breathing turned quick and shallow, as he watched you closely, with a desperate frown. He looked utterly torn up over you. 

"You're so dangerous," you said, a little mockingly. Tyler's adam's apple bobbed, but he nervously kept his eyes on yours. "Good thing I'm a little reckless." A severe, animalistic surprise flooded his eyes at your words. 

"Last chance," Tyler said casually, his body completely relaxed with his eyes flicking back and forth between yours.  "Get out of here." He reclined slightly on his elbow, pulling back. Like a gun trigger. 

You didn't move. You didn't flee behind Nevermore's black iron gates. You stared back, daring the enemy. And your last chance at sanity and peace fluttered out of the window like a swarm of dull moths. A shadow washed across your entire semester. You felt your future darken, shift, and glow like forbidden red embers. 

Because Tyler slid his free hand around the counter, ensnaring you between his arms. Your heartbeat pattered like a wild rainstorm as he dipped his nose down toward yours. 

"You think you can take it, car crash?" His eyes bore into you, glowing with northern lights. Outside, a lone wind pressed its chilled fingers against the glass. 

"Kiss me and find out, you coward."

Like a strike of lightning, Tyler's lips struck yours. Electricity fused through you, crackling with bright blue serotonin and singing you down to your fingertips. An eagle spread its wings wide in your chest, sweeping through you with a soaring sensation like freefall. You balanced yourself up with one hand pressing into the counter. Your other hand clutched the back of Tyler's neck, just underneath his jaw. You felt the soft brush of his freshly-cut hair underneath your fingers. The aroma of coffee swirled around you, and you pressed closer to Tyler and drowned in it. 

Tyler's lips molded against yours, needy and relentless. His arms stayed firmly planted around either side of you. Your other hand shot up, gripping into Tyler's messy curls and pulling him down like gravity. 

I'm kissing Tyler Galpin. I'm kissing Tyler Galpin. The disbelief, the danger of it all harmonized with the hazy silence. 

Until the door clanged open, and angry, heavy footsteps lumbered across the floor. 

"Tyler Joshua Galpin!"