stuck

things with wings, book one, song intro/song one

Akira Bailey spiraled during her junior year of high school, reckless, chasing alcohol and adrenaline. After the betrayal of her eight-year best friend, she couldn't hold onto a single friendship. Everyone she let close became nothing more than a placeholder, someone to fill the silence and pass the time. No one saved her. She clawed her way back alone, earning straight A's her senior year, graduating with a 4.0, and escaping to her dream college just an hour outside New York City. But just as she begins to rebuild her life states away from home, her ex-best friend resurfaces on her new campus, playing the same dangerous game she ended almost four years ago, forcing Akira to confront the wounds she thought she had finally left behind.

Nikolai "Niko" Sora is fighting a more dangerous war. Since his best friend's death, grief has carved him hollow, leaving him numb, volatile, and barely holding himself together. Racing, the one thing that once made him feel alive, now terrifies him, and the future he built for himself is slipping further out of reach. So he fills the silence with alcohol, smoke in his lungs, and anything strong enough to blur his thoughts. It almost costs him everything. One reckless night pushes him further than he ever meant to go, forcing him to confront how far he has fallen. For the first time, he realizes how close to the edge he has been all along. He tells himself he can pull himself back, that he can fix this on his own. Then he meets Akira, and suddenly staying alive, sober, and present feels like something worth fighting for.

Drawn together by a set of twins and a mutual love for speed, Akira and Niko form an unexpected bond, as they push each other toward healing, their pasts fight back harder, threatening to reopen wounds that never fully healed.

Facing their demons alone almost broke them. Facing them together may be the only way forward, if they're brave enough to stop running.