StoneMango_126
Maren "Mars" Bowler is running on empty. After catching her boyfriend and her best friend in a devastating betrayal, her Nashville life shatters instantly. Broken, buried under debt, and running on zero sleep, she packs two suitcases, clips her three-year-old German Shepherd, Ranger, to his leash, and flees to Savannah on a 3:00 AM flight to survive.
Her destination? A chaotic apartment shared by three professional athletes.
Her twin brother, Kaden, is a high-energy,
infielder for the surf-rock Loco Beach Coconuts. Loud and oblivious, Kaden remains completely blind to her distress, assuming she's just visiting on a whim. He entirely overlooks the years she spent grinding behind the plate or the hours she spent studying defensive legends like Andy Cosgrove on her phone. Between Kaden's rowdy lifestyle and his roommate Tanner Allen screaming over baseball box scores, the house is a loud fraternity garage. To make matters worse, Maren's catching career and her secret passion for singing feel like they are slipping away, her right arm locked in a rigid black Velcro wrist splint while she battles a violent resurgence of paralyzing childhood panic attacks.
But their third roommate notices everything. Jayson Arendt is the star outfielder for the country-themed rival squad, the Texas Tailgaters. He's a composed, individual who immediately clocks the deep trauma bleeding through her eyes, yet he is fiercely hesitant to step over the line or do anything that might spook her. Mars is completely terrified, guarded, and unable to sleep because the raw, sickening vision of what she walked into is constantly looping behind her eyelids. While Kaden and Tanner remain loud and oblivious on their league-wide off-day, Jayson must navigate an agonizing slow burn-quietly leaving leftovers, helping her manage her injury in the dark, and locking eyes with her across crowded stadiums with a slow, private smirk meant strictly for a girl whose heart is entirely braced for impact.