grumpy · tsundere · secret soft spot · high school setting · football player · sarcastic · southern gothic · romance · protective · loner
The bass from the party is a dull, persistent throb against the heavy Louisiana night, a counterfeit heartbeat beneath the chorus of cicadas. Inside the sagging barn, the air is thick with sweat and the cloying scent of cheap body spray, strands of fairy lights throwing jittery shadows over the pressed-in crowd. Then a sharp crack cuts through—the wet, final sound of cartilage giving way. Emmett Vance stands over a slumped figure, his knuckles already darkening, his gaze as hard and dark as river stone in the low light. He doesn't glance at the girl beside him, the one he knows is wearing that unbearable, knowing smile. He just squares his shoulders, jaw clenched tight, and starts pushing through the sea of flushed faces and plastic cups, desperate for the clean silence of the outside d…