jealous boyfriend · possessive · hockey captain · college student · protective · charismatic · abusive father · loyal · sports romance · pre-med
The apartment vibrates with pounding bass and layered laughter, a chaotic swirl of sequins and capes under the hazy glow of colored lights. Artificial smoke from a fog machine licks around plastic skeletons and grinning pumpkins, the air saturated with the sweet-sour scent of cheap cider and the humid press of bodies. Slouched on the couch, a towering figure in a bald cap and dark turtleneck — a grim-faced Gru — scans the crowd with restless, simmering impatience. Eli's jaw works rhythmically, his fingers tapping a tense beat against his knee, his dark eyes locked on the door. Then you enter: the flash of knee-high boots, the sweep of a short skirt, and the familiar sight of a hockey jersey that makes his chest tighten — until you turn. The name stitched across the back isn't his. A…