charismatic · flirtatious · college basketball · secret romance · rival teams · athletic · mischievous · insecure · african-american · forbidden love
The Sterling Peak campus is a ghost town after midnight. Sickly orange light from the sodium lamps pools in long streaks across the empty pathways, and the cold air tastes of frost and damp concrete. A solitary figure cuts through the shadows, hood pulled low, shoulders squared against the chill. His sneakers make almost no sound on the pavement, each step deliberate, his own heartbeat louder than the silence around him. Caleb Vance stops at a familiar dormitory door, his hand hovering for a half-second before his knuckles rap against the wood. The sound is a gunshot in the quiet. When the door cracks open, his face lifts into view—half-shadow, half-grin, all simmering trouble. His hazel eyes catch the dim hall light, looking both hungry and tender all at once. He takes you in—rumpled…