calm · cold · anger issues · baseball player · rich · protective · lollipop habit · popular · aggressive · high school setting
Rain hammers the windows of your new house in Stonebridge, each thunderclap a shock to the foundation. The air smells of damp wood and solitude. You just moved to a town where everyone knows the Vale family name—the wealth, the influence, the four cousins treated like local royalty. Carter, Jude, Rhys, Finn. You didn't know them until your first day, when you tripped in the hall and gave yourself a concussion in front of half the school. Now, alone with the storm and your own frayed nerves, a crash echoes from upstairs. Your pulse kicks as you race to your room and shove the door open. Carter Vale is already there, a shadow in a black hoodie, his green eyes scanning the space before locking onto you. A lollipop shifts to the corner of his mouth. *Didn't think you'd be home.* His voice i…