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“That's Kieran Wheeler,” I heard Mady's soft, almost fragile voice on my other side, which should have thrown me off balance.

But I was too focused on this odd stranger to wonder where she had suddenly come from, and I even managed to block out the sweet scent of her AB by deliberately controlling my breathing.

Kieran Wheeler.

And as if the scene he was presenting to the entire campus wasn't enough, I now spotted the Copelands, who had stopped playing with their ball and were now heading straight for him.

“One of Nash and Emely's closest friends,” Mady continued.

Great, so another aggressive football player who probably wanted to slit Ruisangors’ throats.

Nash's guys surrounded him with delighted faces, but let him get off his motorcycle first before Nash gave him a brotherly hug. Noah patted him on the shoulder, followed by Emely, who grinned at him and then fell into his arms.

“Did you say friend?” Miles murmured beside me, sounding different than usual. More reserved. More tense.

“They’ve known each other since childhood. The Copelands are probably like siblings to him.”

Miles didn’t respond to Mady, just stared, like me, at the scene a good hundred feet away from us.

“Kieran is the epitome of a fuck boy,” Mady continued, and my gaze automatically slid back to said fuck boy.

The way he reacted to Noah with a reserved smile that didn't reach his eyes, the way he crossed his arms over his broad chest, and even the way he stood there spoke for itself.

What was I supposed to expect? That he played with dolls?

“The thing is, the women on this campus don't care, even though they know what he's like. They still throw themselves at him like predators, even though he dumps them all after sex.”

Oh, damn.

What Mady told me about this man should have put me off, made me feel disgusted. But all it did was spark another tingling sensation inside me.

This Kieran seemed like a man with clear principles. A man who wanted fun, but nothing serious, and who stood by that. Unlike most of my ex-boyfriends, who had promised me heaven on earth, even though there was only hell.

“Where has he been all this time?” I voiced the thought that had been occupying my mind for the past few minutes.

Mady seemed to know who he was and how he usually behaved on campus, even though she had only been studying here for one semester.

He must be well known here, which wasn't difficult with his looks and a motorcycle like that.

“Semester abroad,” Mady replied curtly.

I just nodded.

And then I remembered the phone call Emely had had with that strange guy from the States. That must have been him.

I tried to remember him and the way he spoke, but not much information could have been gathered from that conversation.

“I think now you should definitely invite this Wheeler guy for a ride,” Miles laughed amusedly beside me. “If he’s friends with the Copelands, he’ll definitely want to tear you to pieces if you drive faster than him.”

I felt Mady's questioning gaze on us and wanted to punch Miles for speaking so carelessly in front of her, but I was too captivated by this mysterious stranger.

The last time I had stared at someone like that, I had ended up turning into a bloodsucking monster, and this someone had turned out to be my goddamn uncle.

So I forbade myself to have even the slightest naughty thought, but I couldn't get my irritated mind off this man standing a hundred feet away.

It was the encounter at the winter ball that my mind remembered all too well. The memory of his warm hand on my shoulder. The details I had been able to make out up close in his masculine face.

“Careful...” he had said, as if he were anything but a fuck boy. Until the moment he had pushed me against the wall and threatened me.