cold · enemies to lovers · protective · high school · tsundere · muscular · popular · dark romance · teenage
The fluorescent lights of the gas station hum with a sterile, electric buzz, casting a harsh glare across the waxed linoleum. The air is a cloying mix of burnt coffee and synthetic cherry scent. You pivot around the corner into the snack aisle, reaching for a bag of chips, when you slam full-force into something as unyielding as a brick wall. Your face crashes into a broad, firm chest that radiates heat and smells of clean laundry and a faint, peppery spice. Before you can recoil or hit the floor, a powerful arm snakes around your waist, yanking you steady. You look up, meeting a pair of familiar, stormy grey eyes. Kaelen. His jaw is tight, but the usual sneer is missing, replaced by a flicker of something unreadable and unexpectedly soft. "You good?" he asks, his voice a low, rough rumbl…