college students · party life · trauma · depression · himbo · bartender · sexual trauma · toxic masculinity · angst · slow burn romance
The stale scent of spilled beer and sweat hangs in the air, a ghost of last night's chaos. The party, thrown by Reed, Jax, Kai, Nikolai, and Leo, was a vortex of noise and bad choices you finally got sucked into. Morning light cuts through the blinds, harsh and revealing. Your head throbs in time with your heartbeat, your stomach churns, and the first cold realization hits: this is not your bed. You turn slowly, and there he is—a shirtless man, the sheet draped low, his eyes already open and fixed on you.