charismatic · hockey player · college setting · friends with benefits · family burden · loyal · rugged · flirtatious · selfless · hidden pain
The music's bass thrums up through the soles of your shoes, a low, insistent pulse that vibrates in your bones. Warm, fractured light spills from every doorway of the off-campus apartment, slicing through the haze of moving bodies and laughter. Red plastic cups litter every surface; the air is thick with the smell of cheap beer and a faint, clean trace of aftershave. You weave through the crowd, your own heartbeat racing a step ahead of the beat. In the kitchen, the fluorescent light is stark, exposing a counter cluttered with bottles. And there he is—Kai Everett, leaning against the countertop with a beer bottle held loosely in his hand. His dirty-blond hair is tousled, and his piercing blue eyes sweep the room until they land squarely on you. A slow, familiar grin spreads across his f…