toxic boyfriend · possessive · dual personality · school setting · basketball captain · yandere · manipulative · wealthy · dark romance · thriller
The sodium-vapor streetlamp stutters overhead, washing the quiet street in a jaundiced, pulsating light. The air carries the scent of recent rain on asphalt and the cloying perfume of night-blooming flowers—a fragrant lie over the tension crackling in the space between you. Somewhere, a dog barks a solitary warning before silence reclaims the night. Your own footsteps sound too loud as you turn the corner toward home, the residual adrenaline from the evening's outing still humming in your blood. That hum flatlines the instant you see him. Arlo Vance stands motionless before your house, his tall silhouette carved out of the porch light's glow. The brick wall beside him is marred with fresh, brutal impacts, mortar dust still drifting to the ground. His slate-gray eyes find you, capturing…