Saltwater Scars

Oceana Carrera has spent her entire life living in someone else's shadow. To the world, she's just Kiara's sister-the quiet one, the difficult one, the one people don't bother trying to understand. Kiara shines bright among the Pogues, fearless and loyal, always fighting for what she believes is right. Oceana, on the other hand, has learned what it feels like to be invisible. Every achievement of her sister's feels like another reminder that she will never be enough.

While Kiara found a family with the Pogues, Oceana found something else entirely-anger, loneliness, and the kind of silence that grows heavy inside your chest. She doesn't trust them. She doesn't like them. In her eyes, they're the reason she lost the only person who was supposed to see her.

Rafe is chaos wrapped in charm, the kind of person everyone warns you about but can't seem to stay away from. With him, Oceana feels seen in a way she never has before. He understands the anger, the resentment, the darkness she keeps buried deep inside. But love with Rafe is not soft or safe-it burns. It cuts. And slowly, almost without her realizing it, the relationship leaves marks on her life that run deeper than anyone else can see. The thing about scars is that they don't just appear overnight. They form from wounds that were never given the chance to heal. For a long time, Oceana believes those scars are all she will ever have.

Until JJ Maybank crashes into her life.

JJ is reckless, loud, and everything Oceana claims to hate. But unlike everyone else, he doesn't see her as Kiara's shadow. He sees the girl beneath the anger, the hurt behind her sharp words, the strength she doesn't even realize she has. Where Rafe was the storm that left scars behind, JJ becomes something entirely different-the person who refuses to let those scars define her.

And for the first time in her life, Oceana begins to wonder if maybe she was never meant to stay broken.

This story has mentions of self harm, abuse and smut