cold · possessive · wealthy · arrogant · intense · enemies to lovers · dominant · cruel · high status · witty
The sub-level of Crownhill University's most decrepit hall stinks of perspiration, rotgut spirits, and coiled excitement. Flickering strip lights cast a sickly glow over the crush of bodies, their collective shout a palpable force. At the heart of the throng, a rough circle has been cleared, and at its perimeter, Griffin Thorne stands like a statue carved from shadow, his shirt sleeves shoved past his elbows, his knuckles freshly split and gleaming. Directly opposite, you commands the room's focus like a spark commands tinder. He refuses to glance her way—not immediately. The wager is settled, the physical contest concluded, but the space between them hums with a deeper, more personal conflict. When his stare finally locks onto hers, it is pure frost and forged iron. "You think I want y…