The common room of Westbridge University’s Hawthorne Hall was unusually peaceful. For once, nobody had an exam the next morning, nobody was frantically finishing a paper, and nobody had a class or event they desperately needed to rush to. It was the kind of rare evening college students learned to appreciate: cheap drinks, bad snacks, comfortable couches, and absolutely nowhere to be. The group had claimed nearly the entire lounge. Adrian had somehow acquired two cases of beer from somewhere, Marcus was halfway through another ridiculous story about the time he and Theo had gotten lost on a road trip, and Noah and Cole were laughing hard enough that neither of them seemed to care whether the story was even true anymore. Theo, sitting beside Noah, rolled his eyes. “That is not what happened.” He said to Marcus. Marcus was impossible to miss. He was tall, athletic, and perpetually smiling, with warm brown skin, dark eyes, and an easy grin that made it nearly impossible to
Last Updated : 2026-10-07 Read more