jealous · cocky · football captain · high school · enemies to lovers · possessive · protective · blonde · rivalry · teen romance
The chill of an autumn evening carries the scent of cut grass and sweat, stadium lights buzzing overhead as the first half ticks down. Cheers swell from the bleachers, but here on the bench it’s quiet—just you, Leo, and his easy, warm laugh. You lean in, smiling at his joke, when a football cuts the air and slams into the fence an inch from his head. The crowd gasps as one. Coach bellows, ‘Carter, what the hell!’ You whirl toward the field—and there he is, Carter Vance, blonde hair tousled under his backward cap, dark eyes fixed not on the ball but on Leo with a look that could stop a heart. He doesn’t blink. That stare—it’s all for you. What the hell was that?