About

Blair Monroe has mastered the art of disappearing in plain sight. An antisocial nerd with a sharp tongue and a guarded heart, all she wants is to finish college quietly while hiding the truth: she's living on borrowed time. Bryan Carter is everything she despises loud, arrogant, wildly popular, and worst of all, a known playboy who treats feelings like temporary games. To him, Blair is just another name to tease... until she bites back.Their war of words ignites something neither of them expects. Underneath the insults lies curiosity, then something dangerously close to affection. As Bryan chips away at her walls, Blair finds herself dreaming of more time, more life, and maybe... love.But some love stories aren't built to last. And some hearts are meant to break before they even get the chance to heal.

Chapter 1 Invisible, Just the Way I Like It

Blair's POV

"I am safe. I am strong. I am whole. Today will not defeat me."

I whispered the words the way I did every morning half asleep, my voice raspy, like it wasn't mine yet. They didn't always feel true, but they were mine. A ritual. A rope I clung to when everything else felt like it was slipping.

My eyes blinked open slowly to the familiar beige ceiling. Faint lines of sunlight crept through the blinds, lighting the dusty corners of my tiny room. Another day. Another mask.

I pulled myself up from bed, wincing slightly at the dull ache crawling up my spine. It was going to be one of those days. But I didn't complain. I'd learned not to.

Sliding into my usual grey cardigan, I reached for the hoodie that had become my second skin. I tugged it over my head, the soft fabric instantly hugging my face, shadowing everything beneath. This was how I moved through the world: hidden, safe.

Downstairs, I found the small square container of food on the counter. Labeled with a sticky note and my name in my mom's hurried handwriting. She hadn't come home again last night.

She was always working, always tired. I didn't blame her. We lived like ships passing in the night glancing, never docking.

I ate quickly, packed up, and caught the first bus to campus. The world outside the window blurred like wet paint, and I let my thoughts drift away with it. I had lectures today. Lab later. No talking. No eye contact. Just the way I liked it.

The moment I stepped onto campus grounds, the volume of life hit me like a punch to the gut. Laughter. Footsteps. Shouting. All too loud. I ducked my head lower under the hoodie, arms wrapped tightly around my books.

I moved fast. Left building. Second hallway. Third locker from the corner my safe zone.

The metal creaked as I unlocked it, fingers trembling only slightly from the morning chill... or maybe from the effort of pretending I didn't hear what was happening just down the hall.

Voices. Loud. Cruel. Sharp like knives wrapped in grins.

I didn't have to look. I already knew.

Bryan Carter. The king of every room, god of juvenile cruelty, and apparently, the school's most decorated heartbreaker. The school bully. And resident playboy.

I heard the thud of a body against a locker and a chorus of laughter. My stomach twisted. I wanted to leave. I needed to.

But fate, as always, had a sick sense of humor.

As I turned to close my locker, I caught him looking at me. Bryan. Towering, smug, with those sharp eyes that could slice you open and smile while doing it. His gaze narrowed like I was something stuck to the bottom of his designer sneakers.

I held it for half a second, then broke eye contact so fast it probably looked like I was afraid. I wasn't.

Okay, maybe I was.

Disgust pooled in my throat, hot and bitter. I slammed my locker shut and walked off before he or any of his crew could say a word to me.

Let them bully the world. I had built mine far enough away.

And I had no interest in stepping into theirs.

Not now. Not ever