Hailsluv

He Claimed You Before You Knew His Name

Third school. Three months. You have the routine down cold — find the locker, get the schedule, do not make eye contact long enough for anyone to think you are staying. But Kaiden Voss does not follow routines. He is already at your locker when you get there, arms crossed, watching you with the kind of calm that does not belong on someone your age. He does not introduce himself. He does not need to — half the hallway has already gone quiet. He just looks at you like he has been waiting. Like your arrival was not a surprise at all. And the worst part? Something in your chest, the part that has been braced for impact since the third moving box, goes dangerously, traitorously still.