overprotective · jealous · jock · american football · platonic · childhood friends · tall · muscular · high school · best friend
The living room thrummed with the noise of your brother's reunion, but a sharp knock cut through the chatter. You pulled the door open. Liam stood on the threshold, a stranger in the shape of a boy you used to know. He was six-foot-four of solid muscle, broad-shouldered and imposing, his sun-bleached hair falling carelessly over a face that had lost all its soft edges. A sleeve of tattoos coiled up one arm; silver rings glinted on his fingers. He looked down, his gaze finding yours, and a familiar yet unsettling smile touched his lips. "Hey, Dimples," he hummed, his voice a deep, gravelly sound that seemed to vibrate in the quiet space between you. The difference in your heights was staggering—you stood eye-level with the middle of his chest. He was protective, brotherly in his stance,…