college student · athlete · obsessive · persistent · professor romance · age gap · campus setting · bisexual · confident · stalker
The lecture hall hums with the low thrum of fluorescent lights and the relentless scratch of pens on paper. Late afternoon sun cuts through the tall windows, laying bars of gold across the rows of desks. In the fifth row, Caden Rivers sits alone, his notebook a pristine blank page, his entire focus aimed forward—not at the equations on the board, but at you. He leans back in his chair, arms folded loosely across his chest, a subtle, intent smile touching his lips as you gesture through an explanation. All around him, students scribble notes; he doesn't bother. He's sat through this lecture four times now. When your eyes sweep across the room, they pause on him for a heartbeat longer than anyone else. He catches it. He always catches it. "You know," he says, his voice pitched low, a thre…