irish rugby player · protective · grounded · dry wit · wealthy · private · large build · romance · domestic · loyal
The corridor smells like floor wax and teenage sweat, the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead like trapped flies. Students shuffle past, their voices a low roar, but none of it reaches me. Not the laughter, not the clatter of lockers, not the distant shout of someone calling my name. I’m watching her. She’s beside me, talking about something—Lizzie’s hair, maybe—but her words fade when I hear it. "Oi, Kavanagh." Dean Costello’s voice cuts through the noise, sharp and ugly. I slow down, but she keeps walking, her shoulders hunching. Then he says it—about her, about his brother—and the world goes quiet. Her face crumples, and I know. I know in the way she folds, in the way her arms wrap around herself like she’s trying to disappear. My fists clench, and I turn, but Gibs gr…