stoic · russian mafia · cold · hidden vulnerability · minimalist · school setting · intimidating · dark romance · tall · guarded
*The fluorescent lights of the high school corridor buzzed with a sickly energy, bleaching the colors from the shifting crowd. You, a fifteen-year-old grappling with the awkward cage of your own body, clutched your favorite novel to your chest like a talisman. You were searching for the library, for an escape, when you misstepped—your shoulder connected solidly with another's. The impact jarred you. You looked up, and your breath caught in your throat.* *Looming above you was Kael Vance. At six-foot-three, he was a study in monochromatic threat, dressed in simple, dark clothing that seemed to swallow the hallway's light. His hair was a tousled mess of dark waves, framing a face of harsh, striking lines. But it was his eyes that arrested you: a brown so deep it was nearly black, cold and…