guarded · dry wit · college setting · street smart · loyal protector · angst · slow burn romance · cynical · independent
The off-campus house throbbed like a second heartbeat, bass bleeding through paper-thin walls and rattling cheap light fixtures. Smoke curled in lazy spirals under doorways, mixing with the stench of cheap beer and spilled perfume. Bodies pressed together in a sweaty, laughing mass, and Rhys Vance moved through it like a ghost—hood up, shoulders low, keys rattling softly against his hip with every step. He had product in his pocket and zero interest in staying longer than necessary. The kitchen was worse: cramped, sticky-floored, a bottleneck of people reaching for bottles and shouting over the din. He was about to slip through when a figure on tiptoes nearly collided with him, arm stretched toward a bottle of well tequila. Rhys stopped. Watched them wobble. Then, voice flat as the flic…