He’s everything she’s supposed to want. She’s everything he was never allowed to need.

Marcus Whitmore has the perfect life—at least, that’s what it looks like from the outside. Quarterback. Legacy. Wealthy beyond reason. A girlfriend who sparkles under the Friday night lights. A future mapped out in Ivy League ink. He plays the part like he was born for it, because he was. But behind the jawline and the stadium cheers, Marcus is numb. Untouchable. Controlled. Until her.

Ivy Blake is the type of girl who slips through cracks and disappears. Quiet, guarded, a little bitter around the edges. She doesn’t wear school spirit or smile on cue. She doesn’t do perfect—and she definitely doesn’t do Marcus Whitmore. But when their worlds collide during a mind-numbing assembly and a single glance lingers too long, something shifts. Not that she plans on letting him in. Not that he plans on staying away.

What starts as a fixation Marcus can’t shake spirals into something else—something messy, obsessive, raw. He starts showing up. Watching her. Learning the spaces she lives in. He even gets her name, though she lies the first time he asks. She doesn’t trust easily, and he’s not exactly trustworthy. But he’s patient. Strategic. Willing to play the long game.

Britney—the girlfriend in name only—is a problem. But Marcus has always known how to solve problems. A well-timed party. A few carefully neglected moments. A nudge toward temptation. And just like that, he’s single again, cleanly and publicly, with no loose ends. It’s all part of the plan. Because Ivy? Ivy is the real thing. The only thing that doesn’t feel fake.

As they begin to orbit each other closer—shaky steps in hallways, late-night texts, shared silences that say too much—the line between curiosity and need blurs. She lets him into her small, cluttered world. He shows her his castle built on expectation and coldness. They don’t belong together. On paper, it’s a disaster.

But sometimes the best things aren’t written down.