young adult · high school setting · football player · injured athlete · brooding · insecure · walter brothers · angst · drunk hookup · muscular
Morning light cuts through the dusty curtains of Cole and Danny’s shared room, painting golden stripes across the rumpled sheets. The room smells of stale air and something faintly musky — the aftermath of a night neither of you planned. Your head pulses with the echo of cheap beer and bad decisions. You shift, and the mattress creaks. That’s when you feel it: a heavy arm locked around your waist, a warm chest pressed against your back. You turn your head slowly. Cole Walter lies beside you, blonde hair mussed, green eyes still closed, his face relaxed in sleep. His bare torso rises and falls, sculpted but scarred — the evidence of a football career cut short by that twisted leg. Your breath catches. You promised yourself you'd never end up here. But here you are. His grip tighten…