Nakiya Charles has mastered the art of holding everything together: her grades, her future, her family, her friends. Asaan Bennett has always believed that the right people find you when you're not looking for them. When a chance meeting during their senior year of college keeps turning into another... and then another, an unexpected friendship begins to bloom between two people who have spent most of their lives being everything for everyone else. But as they grow closer, so do the fears they've carefully kept hidden. Because sometimes the scariest thing isn't falling in love. It's trusting someone enough to catch you. Can two people who are used to being everyone else's safety net be brave enough to become each other's? "Boy, you got me tripping, falling with no safety net." (Safety Net by Ariana Grande & Ty Dolla $ign) Disclaimer: All images featured in this book belong to their respective owners. I do not claim ownership of any photographs unless explicitly stated. They are used for aesthetic and storytelling purposes only.

After moving to Chicago to start a new life, Sveya isn't looking for nothing beyond a fresh start. Between church, school, and learning how to exist without losing herself, her life feels limited...until she meets Solomon.

"Beautiful things don't ask for attention." In a world that thrives on conformity, August is an anomaly. Raised in a secretive overbearing family, she was chosen to leave its hidden grounds-not for freedom, but for duty. Sent to college to become the strategic mind for her generation behind the family's growing empire, she tries to move through the world like a ghost, draped in gothic shadows with secrets too heavy to share but her style is just too much to go unnoticed by judging eyes unscathed. Then she meets Kason through his older brother. A rising rapper with a reckless charm and a hunger for something real, dealing with battles of his own, he's instantly drawn to August's eerie demeanor and the quiet storm that lingers behind her dark mysterious eyes. She's nothing like the women he's used to-unbothered by trends, and untouched by the need for validation. The more she resists, the deeper he falls, his infatuation turning into an obsession he can't shake. One he cant let go of. As their worlds collide, the slow burn of their connection threatens to ignite everything August has been taught to suppress. With her past closing in and expectations pressing down, she must decide if she's willing to defy everything she's ever known for the chance at something dangerously real. In a society that demands she fit a mold, August stands in defiance. Unfortunately, love has a way of making even the strongest question their silence. STARTED; February 22nd , 2025 PUBLISHED; MARCH 18th, 2025 FINISHED; MAY 27th, 2025

" I don't even like you like that." Her face scrunched up in disgust watching water drip from curls in his hair. " 'Cause you love me. Just like I love you." He retorted with a grin, disregarding the deflecting she was doing. --- They were two sides of the same city-until one move split them down the middle. Elijah and London were inseparable once, bonded by childhood summers, beat-up bikes, and secrets too deep for anyone else to know. Unfortunately, when Elijah's mom packed up and moved her family across Onyx to a rival neighborhood, everything changed. She always thought when she spoke to him again he would've changed like her. She was witty, sarcastic, and had a low tolerance, but he was still the same calm , sweet, cute boy with a heart the size of the sun. Some things haven't changed. Some things never change. The pull between them, the memories that still burn etched marks in their brain, and the words they never said out loud. In a world where loyalty can be life or death, and love isn't always enough to cross old lines, Elijah and London find themselves circling each other again. --- STARTED; MAY 26th, 2025 PUBLISHED JUNE 6th, 2025 FINISHED; SEPTEMBER 27th 2025

kis·met /ˈkizmit,ˈkizˌmet/ noun destiny; fate. how do you know when you've met your soulmate?

A promise. It seems like the simplest thing in the world to keep. But so often, they're broken, empty and hollow. They seem like the easiest thing in the world to believe, but after the words are left out to bleed, after they leave you waiting and wanting, after all the emptiness and hollow words-how are you going to believe the one who actually say what they mean?

Peaceful would be the perfect word for Mila to describe where she was in life. She was a single mother, raising her daughter alone-which wasn't anything new, anyway-but she'd escaped. She'd escaped the life she was born into and created a new found family that didn't exude toxicity. But as her best friend never let her forget, the next addition to her life had to be...love.

"Your heart has no concept of time, if it wants to move on, it will. With or without you,"

"𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭." 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦. "𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘈𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭." 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦.

'Staring at the sunset, babe Red lips and rosy cheeks Say you'll see me again Even if it's just (pretend, just pretend) in your wildest dreams, ah-ah, ha (ah) In your wildest dreams, ah-ah, ha Even if it's just stayed in your wildest dreams, ah-ah, ha In your wildest dreams, ah-ah, ha' Caroline Forbes x male Oc Slowburn