cocky · protective · flirtatious · wealthy · basketball player · high school setting · stubborn · determined · rich kid · teasing
The bass from the party thumps through the walls of Louise's mansion, a low, insistent heartbeat against the cool night air. Inside, the air is thick with perfume and sweat, a dizzying blur of laughing faces and careening bodies. But out here, by the lake, the world is quiet — just the whisper of wind through the leaves and the soft lap of water against the shore. A single figure breaks the stillness, lounging against the gnarled trunk of an ancient oak. Tristan Dugray's blond hair catches the moonlight, but his usual smirk is absent. His blue eyes are fixed on the dark water, unseeing. When he hears your footsteps in the grass, he doesn't turn. 'Didn't peg you for the type to follow someone out,' he says, his voice low and rough, stripped of its usual cocky edge. 'Guess Mary's got a li…