Micah's a piece of shit.

It’s not up for debate, practically common knowledge to anyone that ever met him. He’s rotten to the core, and he wears it like a badge. No excuses about a tragic childhood or a deadbeat father. He’s simply bad because it’s what he’s best at. At least, that’s what he was, until they showed up.

Better than him by miles, with a heart too good for this world, too pure for men like him. He should’ve been left to rot alone, like he damn well deserves. But for reasons he can’t wrap his head around, they care for him. Really care. Looking past the venom and lies, somehow seein a man who could be more.

And damn it, suddenly Micah finds himself trying, really trying, to be that man. To hold on to them. To prove, maybe for the first time in his life, that he’s worth something.

They’re lying beside him on his cot, quiet, but not asleep. His gaze drifts to the canvas overhead, a huff slipping from his lips. “You’re stubborn, y’know that?”