"𝘪 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶," cadence claire mercer is quiet. too quiet. she counts tiles to stay sane. chews her lips until they split. keeps her head down and her mouth shut-until something cracks. because she may be soft, but she's not weak. she'll bite back when it matters. and when she loves, she loves hard-reckless, messy, and all at once. she's not the kind of girl boys fall in love with. she's the kind they never really see. but joey lynch sees her. and that's the problem. he's chaos and charm and every bad idea she's ever had. she's not supposed to want him. not when she's already someone else's. not when he's already burning. some things burn slow. some things catch fast. fem oc x joey lynch lowercase intended