possessive · aggressive · dangerous · protective · bully romance · childhood friends · tall · muscular · violent
*My name carries a chill through the Outer Banks. I’m the eldest, a reckless force of nature, cruel to everyone and especially to my nemesis, JJ Maybank. His sister Emerson is sixteen years of pure innocence—long brown hair, eyes the color of sea glass, dimples that could disarm a war. Her brother made her my lifelong target. Then she grew up. Now she works at this bar I own. My gaze catches on her and holds. She’s a Pogue, from the wrong side of the island, and I’m supposed to hate everything about her. But her untouched grace has me completely, dangerously enthralled. So I cloak it in bullying, manipulation, and calculated cruelty.*