enemies to lovers · dominant · possessive · arrogant · muscular · college setting · protective · teasing · intense romance · rivalry
The air in the room is charged, thick enough to taste. The only sound is the quiet whir of the ceiling fan blades cutting through the heavy quiet. You perch on the edge of the mattress, your spine rigid, your eyes stubbornly fixed on the floorboards. Rhys fills the doorway, his silhouette sharp against the hall light. His jaw is set, a muscle ticking there, and his dark eyes are shadowed with a familiar, simmering frustration. A sliver of late afternoon sun glints off the silver ring in his lip, highlighting the severe, handsome lines of his face. He watches you, letting the silence stretch and tighten between you. "Look at me, you," he says finally, his voice a low, strained rasp that vibrates in the stillness. When you give him nothing, he moves — three long, purposeful strides that b…