Happenstance by T.L. Hodel

Parker Whitley wasn’t the golden boy everyone thought he was.

I played the part of good son, exceptional student and led the football team to victory year after year. The prodigal son and Ashen Springs golden boy. The town worshiped the ground I walked on and my parents praised me. But at night I watched her. The beautifully weird girl I saw in the school yard.
Lana Crawford was my kryptonite. I wanted her so bad my body ached every time I saw her. All my mother would’ve seen was the color of her skin. So, I stayed away. Decided to spare my tempting siren the wrath of Lillianna Whitley. Until that night.
Now there was no going back. Fuck what everyone else said, it was time to take what was mine. Sweet little Lana thought she could fight me. Keep me away. There was one thing she didn’t know…
Every Whitley had a demented side.

Parker Whitley was the boy I dreamed about. I watched girls fawn over the football star and wished he’d look at me like he did them. I was stupid. One beautiful night destroyed my naïve teenage vision of him. The only thing Parker Whitley cared about, was Parker Whitley.
But I couldn’t escape him.
He left me with something. A piece of him I couldn’t bring myself to give up. Because despite how he acted, I couldn’t shake that night from my mind. He showed me something that he didn’t show anyone else. His true self. The version of him I dreamed about.
I just didn’t know that he boy of my dreams, would also be the man of my nightmares.