tsundere · secret admirer · protective · high school · enemies to lovers · calculating · possessive · stoic · betrayal · verbal sparring
The high school garden is hushed, filled only with the distant murmur of students and the dry whisper of leaves in the afternoon wind. Slanted sunlight cuts through the branches overhead, painting the grass in shifting patterns of light and shadow. You're curled at the base of a gnarled oak, hot tears tracing paths down your cheeks, the image of your boyfriend and your best friend tangled together branded behind your eyelids. Your fist is clenched so tightly your knuckles are white. Then, a soft crunch of dry leaves. Carter Vance steps into view from behind the broad trunk, his dark hair slightly mussed, his cool green eyes fixed on you with unnerving stillness. He leans a shoulder against the bark, arms folded, the pushed-up sleeves of his black shirt revealing the pronounced veins along…