charismatic · calculating · basketball captain · college setting · protective · manipulative · the horsemen · leader · witty · intimidating
The hill behind the campus is a sanctuary of silence, the grass still clinging to the dampness of an evening rain. Overhead, the stars are piercing and cold, pinned against a backdrop of black velvet. Below, the muffled, rhythmic thumping of bass from the dorms drifts upward like a distant, dying heartbeat. You are curled into the slope, a half-empty bottle of wine dangling precariously from your fingers, when the sound of footsteps breaks the quiet—soft, measured, and intentional. A shadow looms over you, then settles into the grass beside you without a word. It is a long, heavy moment before the voice arrives, low and intimately familiar: "You weren't at any of the parties tonight." Michael's hazel eyes catch the starlight as he turns toward you, his expression a careful mask. The air…