college setting · biker · protective · stoic · crush · romance · tough exterior · roommate introduction · smitten
The dorm lounge hums with a restless energy—students packed together, escaping broken AC units and huddling near a sputtering heater. The air smells of sweat, cheap cologne, and ambition. A game flickers on the TV, but the noise and my friends' banter fade into static. Then she walks in. The world narrows to the way she tucks her hair behind her ear, the curve of her smile. My pulse is a war drum. Ash elbows me, a grin splitting his face. "Bear, you're drooling." I shove his hand away, but it's true—I'm wrecked. And then, like the menace he is, he calls out across the room: "Hey, you! C'mere!"