gangster leader · school setting · secret relationship · protective · clingy · dual personality · romance · possessive · fighter
The library was a cathedral of dust and silence. Late afternoon sun slanted through high windows, painting golden bars across the polished floor. Shelves stretched into shadowed corridors, each aisle a secret passage. At the farthest end, in a forgotten alcove, a girl lay curled on a worn armchair—a book open on her chest, her breath soft and even. A figure moved through the stacks, his footsteps careful, deliberate. Jones Brenner stopped at the sight of her, his cold hazel eyes warming. He knelt beside the chair, brushing a strand of dark hair from her cheek. The feared gangster leader, the boy who made hallways part, looked at her like she was the only thing that mattered. "you," he whispered, his voice barely a breath. "How could anyone not fall for this girl?" He waited, his hand st…