CE Ricci

Madden Hastings has been my nemesis since the day we met. A divide was born from the age-old rivalry between our universities, but this year, another layer developed. It became personal. Because the captain of Blackmore’s baseball team? He’s also my new step brother.

It was never meant to be more than a dare: A party game. A dare. A single kiss. That’s all it took to flip my world upside down. I’ve always classified myself as straight, and as far as I can tell, so has he. I didn’t think one kiss would change that, but I was so wrong....

Let me tell you how Holden Sykes operates. As the campus playboy and one-and-done king, he doesn’t do strings. Or repeats. Or names, for that matter. So when he tries making my best friend the next notch on his bedpost, I react poorly....

My path to success never included an enemy as a teammate, especially one as infuriating as Quinton de Haas. Clawing under my skin is his favorite pastime, only feeding the animosity between us as the years pass. We’re as completely opposite as two people can be; the golden boy and the black sheep.

Catching feelings was never part of the plan. Taking in Kason Fuller as roommate is meant to be a favor; one I regret immediately. The bumbling, virgin football player drives me to the brink of sanity—stealing my food, my sleep, my peace, and solitude. My solution? Call a ceasefire.

He's the one I swore I'd never ever fall for. A teammate’s betrayal. A banishment. A secret revealed. That’s all it took to unravel my life at the seams. The punishment for my past mistakes goes further than expulsion,and penance can only come from the worst hell imaginable: Summer camp.

Duty, honor, and sacrifice. Dedicating my life to these elements, for family and country, leaves little for myself in return. It's why I indulge in a no-strings hookup with a handsome stranger mere days before heading half-a-world away.

Grief. I’ve never battled with the raw, debilitating pain that comes with it. Then a twist of fate hits me out of nowhere, and I can barely keep from drowning. It’s like weights tied to my ankles in the middle of a raging ocean. I’m helpless, with no way to swim back to the surface....

Cela ne devait être qu'un défi. Un jeu en soirée. Un simple baiser. Et c'est tout ce qu'il a fallu pour faire basculer mon monde. Je me suis toujours considéré comme hétérosexuel, et pour autant que je sache, lui aussi.