Touchstarved

Rue Bennett never meant to ruin everything that night.

Running from her mother, high, angry, and desperate to avoid rehab, Rue ends up at Cassie Howard's house in the middle of a complete emotional disaster.

And in true Rue fashion?

She accidentally exposes Cassie and Nate's secret relationship right in front of everyone.

Including Maddy Perez.

The girl Nate broke.
The girl Cassie betrayed.
The girl who was secretly starting to fall for her best friend before everything collapsed.

After that night, nothing stays the same.

Friendships end.
Trust shatters.
And while the rest of their town moves on like nothing happened, Maddy and Rue somehow find themselves drifting toward each other instead.

At first, it's just late-night conversations.
Shared silence.
A place to escape when the world feels too heavy.

But over the years, heartbreak slowly turns into comfort... and comfort turns into something far more dangerous.

Because Rue sees the parts of Maddy nobody else notices.
And Maddy loves Rue in a way that doesn't ask her to become someone else first.

But loving each other isn't simple when both girls are still haunted by the people they used to be.

Especially when one of them has always been terrified of needing anyone too much.

Raw, messy, and painfully intimate, Touchstarved is a story about addiction, loneliness, healing, and two girls discovering that sometimes the person who understands your darkness best... is the person who teaches you how to survive it. 🖤