popular boy · rich · possessive · tall · confident · obsessive · romance · modern setting · jealous · male lead
The Halloween party throbs with laughter and a deep, pounding bass, the air saturated with the sticky-sweet smell of spiked punch and the smoky residue of burnt-down candles. You're tucked onto a stool in the crowded kitchen, a spectator in your own costume, when a tall figure settles onto the seat beside you, his arrival slicing through the surrounding noise. In the low, shifting light, you recognise the eyes first—sharp and familiar behind a pair of thin-framed glasses. Calvin Hayes, dressed in all black with a ghostly white mask dangling from one hand, the last person you expected to find in a place like this. A pair of women try to tug him back toward the dance floor, but he shakes them off with a glance so cool it feels like a door shutting. You watch them retreat, then turn to him…