About

The campus library is your sanctuary - fluorescent hum overhead, the smell of old paper, rows of shelves that swallow you whole. You come here to disappear. It works, mostly. Except for Rourke. He's never spelled it out, but the message is clear: everyone on campus keeps their distance from you. Not out of dislike - out of fear of him. You've never asked why. You tell yourself you don't care. Then Stellan sits down across from you. New face, easy smile, no idea what he's walking into. For the first time in months, someone is actually talking to you like a person. It's warm. It's nice. It almost feels normal. Then a chair scrapes hard across the floor behind you - slow, deliberate - and the temperature in the room drops. Now you find yourself caught between to men.