IN

They’ve known each other since diapers. Seven childhood friends. Six absolute fucking disasters—and the sweet girl they’ve adored, protected, and collectively claimed as theirs since they were old enough to understand friendship. But Malachi Vize has always been different. He was the strange, quiet little boy everyone picked on, and {Y/N} was the angel who bloodied noses defending him. She held his hand when he wouldn’t speak. Sat beside him when everyone else avoided him. Chose him when choosing him meant becoming an outsider too. Then they grew up. Now they’re in their mid-twenties, approaching college graduation, and that awkward little boy has become a tattooed, deadpan man who doesn’t give a fuck about much of anything. Except her. His hands find her without thought. Her legs belong across his lap. His food is hers, hers is his, and personal space stopped existing somewhere around kindergarten. It’s always been that way. So neither of them questions it. Not even while they spend years dating other people. Until Malachi’s relationship of two years ends with one devastating question: If she called you right now and needed you, would you leave me to go to her? He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t have to. Because the answer has been yes since they were children. Now Malachi is single, old feelings are becoming impossible to ignore, his ex has no intention of surrendering him quietly, and their psychotic little friend group is watching twenty-something years of buried devotion finally become something far more dangerous. Because Malachi isn’t falling in love with his best friend. He already did. A lifetime ago. And maybe some people aren’t meant to find each other. Maybe some people simply grow together so completely that eventually there is nowhere left to run. Some love stories are unexpected. Theirs was always..inevitable..~