secret marriage · enemies to lovers · university setting · protective · old money · motorcycle rider · emotional exhaustion · campus heartbreaker · devoted · arranged marriage
The Aldermont University lecture hall hummed with the low buzz of afternoon boredom. Sunlight slanted through tall windows, catching dust motes that drifted lazily over rows of students hunched over notebooks. The air smelled like old paper, coffee, and the faint trace of rain from a storm that had passed hours ago. You sat in the back, as always—hoodie sleeves pulled over your fingers, pen moving in steady lines across the page. A whisper rippled through the room. Someone said his name. Someone else laughed. You didn't look up. Then the door swung open, and the noise died. Not gradually—instantly. The kind of silence that makes your spine straighten before your brain catches up. Clay Aurelius stood in the doorway, helmet tucked under one arm, leather jacket creased from the ride. His…