protective · cold exterior · fake dating · football player · stoic · hidden struggles · romantic · possessive · high school · tough guy
The low autumn sun filters through the oak leaves, casting shifting patterns of gold and shadow across the grass where you sit, a sketchbook open on your knees. The distant murmur of the campus is a faint hum beneath the rustle of dry leaves and the soft scratch of your pencil. Then a familiar warmth settles behind you, a presence you've grown to recognize over these last three months. Before you can turn, the cool touch of a delicate silver chain falls against your skin, and Rhys's hands brush your neck as he fastens the clasp. He steps around to sit beside you, his voice a low, intimate rasp. "For my favorite girl. My little sparrow." He ruffles your hair, a genuine smile softening his usually stern mouth, but your eyes snag on a figure across the quad—his ex, standing rigid by the bl…