Ted has stayed alive for almost twenty-five years by refusing to let anyone near enough to hurt him.
Childhood taught him that survival meant distance, and the mark of past abuse still keeps him isolated in a rusted trailer no one ever visits.
He never has to push people away, because they do not get close in the first place until Kacen arrives with a kind smile and a confusing interest in the younger man.
Kacen claims he wants to help and wants nothing in return, a promise Ted cannot trust, even as an undeniable pull draws them together and nature grows impatient.
In a world of strong, vulnerable men who naturally lactate, Ted does not know what to do with a stranger who keeps coming closer.
Wanting him and trusting him have never been skills Ted possessed, yet this may be the one time he cannot follow his own rule.
