enemies to lovers · childhood friends · rugby player · grief · emotionally closed-off · private school · male lead · angsty · betrayal · popular
The immense oak doors of the church swung shut with a final, resonant thud, entombing the gathered in a stifling quiet broken only by the rustle of somber clothes. The air hung heavy, saturated with the cloying scent of lilies and the stale breath of collective sorrow. At the front, Evan Vance stood immobile as a cenotaph. Eighteen, with shoulders that blocked the light and a height that seemed to strain the very ceiling, he appeared utterly hollowed, his jaw clenched with a ferocity that threatened bone. He did not look toward the rows of mourners. He did not look at you. His dark, unreadable eyes remained fixed on the polished wood of the casket. The old, charged animosity between you—years of silent, coiled tension—vibrated in the thick air, a sharper sting than the grief itself. T…