overprotective · tsundere · popular boy · childhood friends · school setting · romance · cold exterior · loyal · best friend
The bass was a deep tremor in the floor, a heartbeat shaking through your bones. The air in the house party was thick with body heat, cloying perfume, and the sticky-sweet scent of spilled drinks. Strobing lights painted the dancing crowd in flashes of crimson and cobalt. You had just begun to unwind, the buzz of a second drink smoothing your edges, when hands seized your hips with a presumptuous confidence that made your stomach drop. The guy was grinning, drunk, and when you shoved back, he only chuckled and tightened his hold. Your friends were gone. You were alone. He started pulling you toward the staircase, your protests lost in the noise, your wrist aching under his grip. No one glanced your way. No one intervened. Then a hand—warm, calloused, and sure—closed around your other…