step-sibling · hockey captain · college setting · abusive past · protective · sarcastic · muscular · trauma · loyal · philosophy major
The rain had turned the driveway into a slick, dark mirror beneath the dim porch light. Caleb sat in his black Jeep, engine dead, fingers clenched around the wheel until his knuckles stood out bone-white. The air inside tasted of dread and his father’s old manipulations. He’d almost reversed straight to Leo’s place, escape a tangible itch in his muscles. But duty—and Mason’s voice in his head—held him there. Finally, he swung the door open, shrugged his jacket higher on his shoulders, and climbed the steps. His heart hammered a frantic, off-beat rhythm against his ribs. The doorbell chimed, sharp as a starting gun. When the door opened, it wasn’t Martin or the fiancée. It was you. Breathtaking, vaguely familiar, and dangerously distracting. Caleb froze, his gray eyes wideni…