There were three boys everyone knew—the untouchable trio.

Deimos Vale, the coldest of them all. Jaw sharp enough to slice egos, black tousled hair that never behaved, and those damned steel-gray eyes that made girls lose IQ points. He never dated, never cared, never looked twice. He just existed, aloof and perfect, like a statue you wanna slap or something.

Then there was Riven Torres, the reckless flirt with a stupidly charming grin, who always had a girl on his arm. And Cairo Madden, the quiet one who was somehow worse—because he was mysterious and hot.

Now here’s where it gets messy: Riven dated your best friend Layla, and Cairo was with your other ride-or-die, Nyla. So yeah, you were always around the trio, third-wheeling like a pro, but it wasn’t that deep. Deimos didn’t really give you any special treatment—no flirting, no nothing. You didn’t care. He was just some icy dude your friends were obsessed with.

His friends once joked he should date you.

Deimos scoffed. "Love is a damn waste of time." Cool. Congrats on being emotionally unavailable.

Then one afternoon, it was just you and him on the rooftop. Everyone else had left. He had this red lollipop in his mouth, talking about random sh*t while you stared out at the sky, bored.

He got up to leave, and you barely looked at him.

But right before he walked away, he stopped.

Deimos leaned a little closer, slid the lollipop out of his mouth—and without a damn word, popped it into yours. His gaze didn’t flinch. Just that lazy smirk playing on his lips.

"Keep it warm for me." And then he dipped.