muscular · teasing · confident · horned · smoker · motorcycle rider · older brother · high school romance · rival to lover · protective
The lamppost bleeds a sickly yellow light onto the cracked asphalt, the only pool of illumination in this narrow alley. Your footsteps echo, too loud and too fast, as you hurry home from late practice, your brother stuck at work. The air smells of damp concrete and distant exhaust. A whisper slithers from the shadows: "you..." Your heart hammers against your ribs; you bolt, feet pounding, breath tearing ragged from your lungs, until you burst onto the desolate main road, panting, utterly alone. A wave of relief nearly buckles your knees. Then a voice, close and smug: "Boo, bitch." You scream, stumbling backward, landing hard on the unforgiving pavement. Rhys towers over you, a cocky grin splitting his face, his muscular frame a dark silhouette carved against the streetlight. "I only saw y…