Rhys

My life hasn't turned out the way I wanted it to.

Because of one stupid stunt by a kid I used to care about, I'm now slinging cocktails in a Miami club instead of getting my degree. In a split second, Everest Hill ruined my future, and I'm too jaded to ever move past it.

Only Elton—my best friend and his brother—connects us, but thankfully, Everest has made himself irrelevant in the last four years.

Until now.

When Elton heads off on a summer European adventure, I'm forced to babysit his little brother through his first semester in college, but I'd rather eat shattered glass than be a shoulder for him to lean on.

All the things I used to admire about Everest are tainted. He's nothing more than a nuisance, a reminder that I'm going nowhere with my life, and when he starts to push my buttons? I prove that I can bite back.

We become trapped in a twisted game of loathing, always trying to one-up the other, never satisfied until one of us is crowned the winner.

But when I start to see the vulnerabilities that lie underneath his skin, the truth behind the facade, I can't help but cave to the side of me I thought I buried.

Because Everest is not only mine to hate—

He's mine to keep.