"Too deep, Luca... I’m so full."
Luca—my best friend, the boy I’d secretly loved for years—was having sex with my roommate on the other side of the wall.
Ever since my parents died, he was my entire world, my only anchor. I even tore up my dream school’s acceptance letter just to stay by his side.
And what did my devotion buy me? Nothing but degrading silence and ultimate humiliation.
"Enough."
I turned away from the door, walked across the hall, and knocked on the door of his worst rival—Julian Vance.
West bridge’s hockey king opened it, his grey-blue eyes dragging down my soaked shirt.
"Sure about this, sweetheart?" he murmured.
I nodded, gripping my suitcase.
The next second, the lock clicked—and he slammed me hard against the door.
"Move in, and you play by my rules." In the darkness, his knee forced my thighs apart, his scorching breath burning my earlobe.
"Tonight, you sleep in my bed."
Chapter 1
Aria’s pov.
The moans slipped through the wall, again.
Luca, my best friend, my secret crush for years, was having sex with my roommate on the other side of the wall.
The sounds were louder than usual tonight, a sharp, rhythmic thudding against the drywall that felt like it was happening inside my own head.
It felt deliberate, like Serena wanted to make sure I heard every single gasp, every single second of her winning. It was a shitty way to end a twelve-hour double shift at the coffee shop.
I lay on my bed, my eyes burning from the caffeine and the fluorescent lights I’d been under all day. I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. Serena’s moans were reckless.
I looked at the small, framed photo on the corner of my desk—my parents and my older brother, Anthony, smiling in the sun.
They’ve been gone for five years now.
The car accident that took them when I was fifteen shattered my entire world in a single afternoon.
Luca was the only one who didn't let me drown in the silence of that empty house.
He held me while I cried until I had no tears left. He stayed whe... parking lot was deafening.
Julian looked past me. Straight at Luca. His expression shifted into something lethal. He stepped out of the car, closing the distance with unhurried confidence.
Luca stood his ground, but I saw it, the hesitation.
Julian stopped just close enough to make the message clear. “The lady said to leave her alone,” he said evenly.
Each word landed like a controlled detonation. “Leave. Her. Alone.” A beat. “Don’t make me force you to.” No shouting. No theatrics. Just certainty.
Luca’s fists clenched. But he didn’t move. Julian held his gaze a second longer, then turned away like Luca wasn’t worth another second of oxygen.
He walked back to the driver’s seat. Got in. And without another word, he drove off. Fast. The campus blurred past the windows. My heart was still racing. My lips were still tingling.
My brain was still trying to process what had just happened. I had kissed him to get back at Luca. That was the plan. But the way Julian had kissed me back?
That hadn’t been part of it. Silence filled the car. Thick. Charged. After a full minute, he spoke. “Was that tactical,” he asked calmly, eyes on the road, “or should I start worrying about my self-control?”
I swallowed. “I needed him to stop,” I said. A muscle ticked in his jaw.
“He’ll stop,” Julian replied quietly. There was something in his tone that made my stomach flip again. Not relief. Not satisfaction. Promise.
I turned to look at him. “Julian…” He glanced at me briefly. And for the first time since I’d met him, the mask was gone. What was underneath wasn’t indifference.
It wasn't a strategy. It was something far more dangerous. “I don’t do things halfway, Aria,” he said softly. My pulse stuttered.
And for the first time since I’d moved into his guest suite, I realized I might have just started something I wasn’t prepared to finish.
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