Bad Habits

He was trouble.
She wasn't afraid of it.

Brinley knows how to survive chaos. She's sharp-tongued, unflinching, and done letting anyone decide who she's supposed to be. Cade knows how to disappear inside it. Angry, guarded, carrying a past he never asked for, he's learned the hard way that caring too much only gets you burned.

They were never supposed to be more than proximity.
More than tension.
More than stolen looks and late nights that feel too real.

But when lines blur and secrets surface cop sirens, bruised knuckles, family ghosts, and a boy who keeps choosing her even when it costs him everything
Brinley and Cade are forced to decide what they're willing to fight for.

Because loving someone doesn't make the world softer.
It just makes the stakes higher.