𝑻𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑮𝑶𝑳𝑫

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕: a tight-knit friend group, a position on the best cheer squad in the conference, and a social life filled with parties and laughter. Kate loves her life-the matching pajama sets with her girls, and the good vibes.But there are cracks in her perfect picture.Vanessa Cross, the ice-cold cheer captain with a cruel streak and a smile that never reaches her eyes, has made it her personal mission to destroy Kate. The co-captain position was supposed to be an honor, but the psychological warfare is exhausting, the subtle sabotage constant, and Kate's starting to wonder how long she can keep smiling through it.But then there's Justin Carter.Twenty-four years old, six-foot-three of pure muscle and danger, with brown fluffy hair that curls at the ends and hazel eyes that shine. The star quarterback. He doesn't do anything that might make him vulnerable on or off the field.Except he can't stop watching Kate.There's history between them- a connection that terrified them both. And then nothing, because Justin walked away, and Kate let him go.Kate tells herself she's over it, over him, over the way his eyes find her in every crowd. She focuses on her friends, on surviving Vanessa's cruelty, maintaining her smile.Because when Justin watches her on the sidelines, when those hazel eyes lock onto her during routines, something changes. The intensity he brings to football bleeds into the way he looks at her, possessive and hungry and barely restrained. It's not the kind of attention a shy girl like Kate knows how to handle.
As the season progresses, the stakes get higher. Vanessa's attacks become more vicious, The pressure on Justin mounts, and his control starts to slip. And Kate finds herself caught in the middle-between a vindictive captain who wants to break her and a quarterback who wants to own her.This