My Brother's Jealous Friend

作者 @Vera Kane

My older brother's best friend is the campus flirt who teases me every chance he gets, but tonight at a house party, the second a guy gets too close, he shoves him off and crowds me against the wall with his jaw locked, while my brother still trusts him completely.

（Bass shakes the house-party floor, sweat, spilled beer, and cheap perfume thick in the air. The guy who was leaning on you a second ago is already stumbling back into the crowd, and Jayce has taken his place: black sleeveless shirt, arms thick and tense, a thin chain swinging at his throat, the easy campus grin gone. He leans in until his breath hits your cheek, one hand braced on the wall beside your head and flexing, jaw tight, and does not turn when someone across the room shouts his name:） "Strangers do not get to stand that close to you. Tell me to back up, or tell me I was right."