WARNING!!
contain sex
After surviving a toxic and abusive relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Luca starts his sophomore year of college quietly carrying the weight of scars-some visible, most not. Though admired for his gentleness and maturity, he avoids close contact, especially with girls, haunted by the touch that once hurt him. Only a few people, like his loyal friend Reina, are allowed near his guarded world.
Just as he starts to settle into a fragile sense of control, Luca's life is shaken again-this time, not by fear, but by familiarity. Noah, a childhood friend he hasn't seen in years, unexpectedly transfers into the same college. Noah is calm, grounded, and carries with him the memories of a safer time, when Luca still believed in soft love and innocent connection.
As old memories resurface and new feelings bloom, Luca is forced to confront the pain he's buried deep-and the possibility that maybe, the boy who knew him before everything can help him heal what was broken after.
‼️ This story definitely comes with a trigger warning ‼️
She was born in a bathtub and raised in a battlefield.
Lily doesn't remember the first time her father made her feel small-but she remembers the last time she tried to fight it. When she ran away, it wasn't for freedom. It was for air. For the brief, flickering chance that someone might hold her without leaving bruises.
Noah is the boy she wasn't supposed to fall for. Quiet hands. The boy across the state, with gentle eyes. The kind of softness that makes her skin feel like it belongs to her again. He's everything her world is not.
But hell has gravity. And when Lily is pulled back to the house that made her, she learns that walking away is not the same as letting go.
He came to bring her home.
But first, he'll have to convince her she deserves one.